Internet

[Tobina+1]

   OMG, Mr. Gray!  I'm so sorry!  I apologize for not looking closer at who asked the question!

Yes, it's very odd to me that the cell phone companies won't let you buy cell phones if you don't live in their coverage areas!  Even though all their maps say they have nationwide coverage (and the phones work), if you don't live in the "network" area, you can't buy a phone without giving a phony address!  And the people at the stores encourage that (you're supposed to change the address to receive your bills, though)!  That's why I still have a Kansas City cell phone number... when I moved here and went to Wichita to get a new number, they wouldn't give me one... even though I was already a customer.  They told me I could give a friend's address in Wichita and then change the address back to my real one.  I didn't think that was too smart, so I declined and kept my old number.
I also think that with the new SKT towers getting into service sometime soon, we'll have even better phone service and coverage in all rural areas of Elk County! 
Bit of info (that some may have already known and I don't fully understand)... I asked Lonnie from SKT about the tower just North of Howard, and he said that is an AT&T tower.  The ones a few miles north of Howard and south of Moline and West of Grenola (among other places) are all SKT towers.  I asked him why the duplication of towers so close, and he said that AT&T uses a different type of technology than SKT (and US Cellular and Verizon and others).  So, even though there is a new tower so close to Howard, if you haven't noticed any better phone reception, it's probably because your cell service doesn't run off that tower.  He says there is another company that uses the AT&T technology, but I can't remember which it was (T-Mobile maybe?).  Maybe some techie on here can explain this all better?

[W. Gray]

Thanks Tobina,

Verizon broadband wireless works in Elk County.

Slow, but happy to have it.

[Lazy Bear]

SKTC's air card is a godsend for people in rural area's if it's worth the cost to you. I've been testing and running the card for about a month now and am highly impressed with it's performance. As far as I know the tower north of Howard and south of Howard are hot and in service. The card is supposed to work off Sprint and Verizon Towers and that will include Alltel as soon as Verizon completes the buyout of Alltel. I carry it with me and have yet to find a place where it would not hook up. At my home it downloads and uploads at over 2 MB per second. If they ever get the cost down to about 1/2 it should be the wave of the future. And altho I have not networked it yet, I'm sure it can be thru ICS as that is the way we had to do it in the early days of Direct PC (Hughes Net).

[DanCookson]

I have seen the SKT cards in action and they do work very well.  It will solve a need in the rural areas that have been lacking any alternative to dial-up.

[Tobina+1]

Excellent news!  Anyone know what the price of the card and service is?  This will be a great new tool!

[DanCookson]

I will find out and post info on here!!