Doe anybody know who we have to pressure to get high speed internet in Northern St. Mary's county? Are any business owners pressing for it or is there simply not enough interest up here? Just curious.

I have it in Wicomoco with Metrocast.

Verizon's the better of the companies unfortanently they're not widely avalible.

DSL availability is a function of physical constraints, i.e. how far away you are from the phone company's equipment. FOIS (fiber optics) does not have distance restrictions. But Verizon will start with the highest density areas and work their way out. They can probably make more money wiring 2 blocks in DC than doing all of St. Mary's County.

Cable is really the answer. Cable is a franchise, i.e. government sanctioned monopoly. If cable is not available in your area, then the best people to pressure are the County Commissioners. It is an election year and it is not too late to make it an election issue.

I believe the current company was just awarded a very long contract. There are probably terms in their contract that specify what they have to do to expand coverage. Either way, you can still put pressure on the politicians. Its almost hard to believe that in 2006 entire parts of the county do not have access to cable.

If you can't get DSL or cable, somdwireless offers HS wireless in a limited area. Other than that, there is satellite. We have links here:

http://somd.com/relocate/internet/index.php

Metrocast way out here in the 7th.

We have Comcast, near Route 6/5 in Mechanicsville.

What about a verizon broadband connection? Not the DSL but the card they sell for laptops?

I have Netzero High Speed dial-up. It rocks! not.

What about a verizon broadband connection? Not the DSL but the card they sell for laptops?

Do you have to have broadband at home for that to work?

Do you have to have broadband at home for that to work?No, it is actually a card that acts as a "modem", dials out and makes its own connection...

My doctor told me to slow it down, so I'm sticking with dialup!

Comcast does cover the Nothern end of St. Mary's. However, some of those areas are pretty rural.

How about getting a VZW or Amp Mobile EVDO card if DSL is not available in your area?

If cable or DSL is still unavailable in your area, I suppose about the best you can do is get a dial-up service like Earthlink, which offers a 5X speed booster, which is said to up your normal speed that many times.

I had it before DSL came into our area, and it did help downloads a bit.

I kept a Voodoo Chicken perched on my router to do the same thing.

Thanks for the info and suggestions folks! Apparently our little community is one of the few that has not been wired for cable. We're on the other side of the Veteran's home and one of my neighbors is an installer for Metrocast....says it would be pretty simple to run cable from the Vets Home to our road. I'm going to contact the Commissioner and look into some of the other suggestions. I have Earthlink now...we'll see. Thanks again. :yay:

No, it is actually a card that acts as a "modem", dials out and makes its own connection...
How good does it work down here in St Marys and what kind of speed?

If cable or DSL is still unavailable in your area, I suppose about the best you can do is get a dial-up service like Earthlink, which offers a 5X speed booster, which is said to up your normal speed that many times.

I had it before DSL came into our area, and it did help downloads a bit.

I have Earthlink with the accelerator. I'm paying extra for the service but what it appears to do is use pages already stored in your temporary internet file folder to speed up the process. This means that it loads old copies of whatever page you are going to. I have my machine set to delete these files when I log off so the accelerator really doesn't work for me.

I've tried to find other companies such as Verizon and ATT for DSL service but I'm told that DSL service is not available in my area. Short of going with Satelite Internet with Hughsnet, I guess I'm stuck with dial-up until I move somewhere else.

I have Earthlink with the accelerator. I'm paying extra for the service but what it appears to do is use pages already stored in your temporary internet file folder to speed up the process. This means that it loads old copies of whatever page you are going to. I have my machine set to delete these files when I log off so the accelerator really doesn't work for me.

I've tried to find other companies such as Verizon and ATT for DSL service but I'm told that DSL service is not available in my area. Short of going with Satelite Internet with Hughsnet, I guess I'm stuck with dial-up until I move somewhere else.

IE does that with cached webpages. I always thought accelerators have higher compression rates.

IE does that with cached webpages. I always thought accelerators have higher compression rates.

Not sure. All I know is that when I had the accelerator active I was always getting old data on the web pages it brought up. I would always have to delete the files in the temporary internet files directory before the current pages would be displayed.

What is the monthly cost of Metrocast basic cable and cable modem? Anyone have it off the top of there head? I need to give them a call. Tried Verizon three times and they said no problem. Yeah right!

What is the monthly cost of Metrocast basic cable and cable modem? Anyone have it off the top of there head? I need to give them a call. Tried Verizon three times and they said no problem. Yeah right!


I pay $49.95 per month for the upgraded speedier package. But I would advise you NOT to call them this week as they repair storm damage.

I pay $49.95 per month for the upgraded speedier package. But I would advise you NOT to call them this week as they repair storm damage.Is that with the basic cable included? I figured this week wouldn't be a good time to call. I'll wait till next month. Thanks. :yay:

Is that with the basic cable included? I figured this week wouldn't be a good time to call. I'll wait till next month. Thanks. :yay:


Ummm.... Yes and No... I don't subscribe to anything other than cable modem. If you ask for BASIC Broadcast cable they will charge extra for it. But they can't reduce the signal enough to block out these channels and still make the cable modem work. So you basically get basic cable without asking for it. Just remember not to complain if the picture is fuzzy on some channels. :whistle:

Ummm.... Yes and No... I don't subscribe to anything other than cable modem. If you ask for BASIC Broadcast cable they will charge extra for it. But they can't reduce the signal enough to block out these channels and still make the cable modem work. So you basically get basic cable without asking for it. Just remember not to complain if the picture is fuzzy on some channels. :whistle:Thanks. :yay: