The Farm Gets Broadband

Posted by Nick  | 05 Jul 2014  | 0 comments

Yus! It’s confirmed: The farm, in all its isolated glory, can indeed be connected to the outside world. What an inexpressible relief.

We were dubious about what a wireless broadband connection might mean in terms of speed and reliability, but we’re overjoyed to report that we are getting the same speeds as we do in Auckland! I shit you not! In fact, it might be even more reliable because there’s much less competition for bandwidth during on-peak hours this far out in the sticks. What a win.

A monument to the age of information affixed to our humble cottage roof.
A monument to the age of information affixed to our humble cottage roof.

When we arrived at the farm late last night (Friday) we spotted the little dish mounted to the roof of the cottage, pointing to the transmitter on a distant hill whose line of sight we’d recently cleared of trees. The installation had gone ahead during the week in our absence. Once inside we eagerly booted Char’s laptop and connected to the network. No issues. Okay, launch browser… Websites downloading with no noticeable delay… Good. Do a speed test… Yes! Success! More-than-adequate speeds brought squeals of relief.

We can rest easy now, because although we did confirm that we’d be able to get wireless broadband at the farm before we dove in and bought it, speed was no guarantee. Had it turned out to be slow and unreliable it would have not only put a dampener on our efforts to update this site and research the innumerable topics relating to farm life, but also impinged considerably on Char’s work. It was the final uncertainty about moving to the boonies. We can now say with absolute confidence that we think we’ll be almost okay.

With the internet as our crutch, how could we possibly fall? Right…?

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