szescstopni @szescstopni@qoto.org

Old #RuralBroadband technology has to go. The terminal at the top of that mast was four metres higher a moment ago, before it was lowered. It wasn't working properly. 5 Mbps at most on a good day, and good days were rare. Putting the new GSM terminal on the mast gave poor results. Those people were cut off from the world, and they had serious sciencing to do.

One BTS we use is down after a storm and no one will fix it before Monday. #RuralBroadband is hard.

The Affordable Connectivity Program is coming to an end. Native American communities will be hit the hardest. Rural areas are a challenge for ISPs – I know this, the business I'm in might be shutting down in the near future. I haven't made much money on it. No one can without subsidies. I am really sorry for customers who will be left with limited possibilities in the digital world here in Eastern Poland. But Europe is more civilized than the US – people here will suffer, but they'll survive. Native Americans got fucked by their government. Again. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/01/tech/tribes-congress-cuts-acp-internet-subsidy/index.html
#RuralBroadband

After seven years we're slowly starting to shut down the larger part of our small #RuralBroadband operation. Some of our customers will be completely cut off from the Internet again – they have to cellular range and no fiber. Our not so large infrastructure operator s losing their frequencies to bigger players. Some of our customers now worry that their new operators won't deal with their problems as well as we did. It's nice to hear we did a good job.

It looks like our small #RuralBroadband business will be shutting down. Not our fault – bigger players are taking over the frequencies we've been using. Now working hard on making sure our customers have a soft landing. It was fun while it lasted.

I had to remove this unused Ethernet cable very carefully so as not to damage the ivy. Time flies.

#RuralBroadband

Our #RuralBroadband customer yesterday. They had serious doubts whether we could achieve anything better than their 3 Mbps. Now they have 40.

I get various calls from my rural Internet customers. Like "Do you want to buy a goose? Alive or plucked, same price".

#RuralBroadband

I spent the last days mostly tending to an ill dog and a not very healthy #RuralBroadband network. Priorities are important. At least one of them is getting better.

#IdąPsięta

Some of our #RuralBroadband customers use the company e-mail for complaints not directly connected to our services. Like "There are very few #mushrooms in the forest this year". What can I say? "Try turning the forest off, wait 60 seconds, then turn it on again".

Another difficult #RuralBroadband installation. The cranes flying above us refused to help.

A frequency reshuffle is planned in my country and my backbone operator might lose their band in a few months. This means I'd go out of business too. This would be really bad for a lot of my customers who have no chance of getting a reliable connection in their godforsaken villages and forest settlements. I went into the #RuralBroadband business a couple of years ago, as it was the only way to have Internet in our forest house. Guess it's time to start breeding carrier pigeons and switch to #IPoAC

A lightning just struck ground a few dozen meters from a BTS. Some 50 households lost their Internet. Hoping the transmitters didn't fry.

#RuralBroadband

Some of our #RuralBroadband customers think the more external antennas the routers have, the better they are. I'm thinking of ordering hundreds of small plastic sticks, for a few cents each, buying dozens of cheapest WiFi routers and super glue, gluing them together and selling them with a huge markup.

A nice patch of #lichen on a roof of a house where we had a #RuralBroadband installation a few days ago. Good to see that the air here is clean – lichens are usually a good indicator of air quality.

#LichenSubscribe

Driving back home from a day of #RuralBroadband installations. Quite early, but it's a Saturday and I need some rest. I'm now less than a kilometre from home. #RuralRoads are beautiful, but our cars hate them and make weird sounds when forced to take them.

We had great support from our customers during today's #RuralBroadband installation. The one in front is a rescue dog, the smaller one is a typical #EasternPoland village dog, and they're great friends. Dogs: 10/10. SINR: 17/18, stable 20 Mbps. Pretty good for this area.

#DogsOfMastodon

The Ascent of Internet.

#RuralBroadband

On a difficult #RuralBroadband installation. Looking at those clouds, hoping we manage to finish before they decide to fall on us.

Another #RuralBroadband installation. The place is completely surrounded by trees, so we had to go very high up to get a connection that allows comfortable #RemoteWork