rural internet

I had to stay in the city 45 minutes away on Sunday night as I had an appointment with Her Majesty’s representatives early Monday morning regarding a matter that required my attendance. As a result, I stayed at C.’s and made sure my suit and tie was well pressed. Monday morning turned out to be hot – one of those hot sultry days when wearing a black suit and a tie is more than suffocating.  After my appointment, the apartment heat was almost unbearable.

“Darling, would ye like to go up to the trailer?”

“Absolutely! Let’s get out of here.”

That’s all I needed to hear.  Forty five minutes north, it was still hot but much more bearable with a bit of a breeze going on. One of the nice things about the trailer park is it’s proximity to a place in Ontario where the highest elevation for a settlement is as well as the fact that although Lake Huron is more than an hour away, the west winds off the lake are prevalent and have a moderating effect on the temperature making it much more comfortable than areas like the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) that are only just over an hour’s drive away.

When we arrived, we turned the water on as well as the propane and got the water heater pilot lit. Then it was food preparation time. We picked up a pork loin roast, which I cut into sections to make pork loin steaks.  Roast potatoes and vegetables, all done in tinfoil over the campfire, completed the delicious meal.  We seem to eat quite late when we’re at the trailer or are camping, and by the time we had consumed our copious amounts of food, it was going on 11PM. But the campfire was crackling away and the beer in the fridge was calling our name… which meant for a few hours of staying up much later than most other people.

However, Tuesday morning arrived fairly early considering the time we finally got to sleep. And I had a lot of work to do.

Ah, this is the life! Working with a laptop, at a trailer park, with the outdoors all around – working at a picnic table while the birds sing! And a beautiful woman for a girlfriend enjoying the sun while helping with brunch!  It really doesn’t get much better than that – getting my monthly invoicing done, following up with clients via email, taking a break means going for a bike ride along a hardly used Ontario highway to a rural convenience store, and then going for a dip in the pool to cool off!

I do wish the internet connection was a bit better.  Bell Mobility’s broadband is better than Rogers in the sense that at least I can get a connection – but it’s flaky and I have to often wait until the modem picks up the signal.  I’m still tempted to call up one of the radio wireless internet providers to see if they might be able to service this area and have a tower within a direct line to where I am. But for now, being able to work outdoors is awesome!

My brother kindly drove me out to the trailer to help me clean up some stuff. Because I don’t yet have a fridge, all my food has been in the cooler. And due to the circumstances of last Tuesday morning, I have not been able to be at home to eat the food in the cooler. I was afraid I was going to get a cell phone call from the trailer park owners telling me about a wicked smell coming from my camper, or worse, animals managing to get inside.

Prior to driving out though, I inquired about Bell Mobility’s internet service and whether they would be able to assure me they had coverage at the location of my new home.  They told me that they believed I would definitely be able to get Internet connectivity with a Novatel Wireless U998. The local Bell Mobility store had some in stock and I picked one up. There was an additional challenge in that I use a Linux operating system, so I needed to get it running under Linux. I had been able to get a Rogers Rocket Stick running previously, but had no internet connection at the trailer with it.

I did manage to get the U998 working under Linux – it was actually easier (although more time consuming as I was searching and looking in the wrong places) than the Rocket Stick.

Off we went to clean up the cooler and of course, I took my laptop along. I was still feeling quite pessimistic about getting internet over broadband as my Bell Mobility cell phone has a difficult time keeping a connection here.

When we got there, I powered up the laptop, plugged in the U998 and lo and behold! Internet! At speeds that were not too bad – not great, but faster than dial up!

So that was something to be very happy about.