Category Archives: INTERNET

starlink.com

https://www.starlink.com

This is Elon Musk’s low earth orbiting constellation of thousands of satellites.
To see if it’s available to you fill in your approximate address..
Then, To see then if it  can reach you where you live, get the App. from the site above onto your smartphone and use its camera to ‘look’ at the Sky- It will need at least a 100 degree clear sky view in a particular direction.
Not sure of the effects of trees leafing out later if you do this in Winter : )

Surprisingly easy to install, the base equipment as it is currently is a single small rectangular panel about 2′ x 3′ on a single pole.
You use the same App to Aim it.
You can pick up the ground station kit at Best Buy ot order it at the site, currently $600 as of post date and sometimes available refurbished for less – Speeds I have seen average 120MBps– Plenty.
Low Latency- comparable to Cable Internet,
IF you live ‘off grid’ it uses almost 100w of power in operation and more when de icing (!) but can be Turned On and Off with ease and even scheduled. Great design!

AT&T, the telecom company in our area, stopped selling new DSL Internet Digital Services in October of 2021. This is the Internet service delivered over what was your phone line starting around 2001.

It’s been obvious for some time that AT&T have simply wanted their ‘copper’ digital internet subscribers. especially in our high maintenance low-profit-margin rural areas to Just Go Away.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxqvkq/atandts-decision-to-kill-dsl-could-leave-millions-without-broadband

‘copper’ meaning the service was delivered over the original pairs of copper wires originally used for telephone calls.
In urban areas, switching to fiber optic has been easy and yields handsome returns, so they focused on that, not us,

Not So out here. So, they are letting us go.

This was achieved through low priority reponses to support calls, spotty and unreliable service, and indifference to systematic failures. I call that ‘attrition’- We will not dump you just yet, will just become gradually unusable.
The only shining light it the AT&T linemen who are genuinely dedicated and helpful, given the horrible company they work for, some for many years.

Now I believe AT&T propose to end all DSL services in our area and likely nationwide, altogether around June 2022,
I have been unable just yet to site the information other than that provided by couple local repair shops but, it seems credible.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxqvkq/atandts-decision-to-kill-dsl-could-leave-millions-without-broadband

Alternatives. If you live ‘in town’ or even some areas outside the City Limits then Xfinity/Comcast Cable works well when you wade past some of the most disliked corporations in America.
(Full Disclosure- I install these systems for clients)
Their service, I grudgingly admit, is fast & reliable but their billing often gets screwed up and their support can be hopeless at best. However– again– their Linemen (And I guess Linewomen?) save the day with their dedication to the cause of getting things up and running– IF the Dispatch System does not screw up,
which nearly always happens!

Alternatives?

Terrestrial Wifi: Signals are sent up to 10 miles over the ground with little or not latency, BUT you must be with line of sight, at least from the top of something near your property, of their transmitter.
http://www.smarterbroadband.com
http://www.digitalpath.net

Starlink.Com : Elon Musk’s Low Earth Orbit Satellite Internet.
Little or no latency- NOT to be confused with Hughes.Net Satellite Internet

MIFI:  Or, Internet over Cell Service-
“Verizon Local” using 5G again aimed at urban areas may make it out here but it not yet a Reality.

ATT/Verizon/Sprint Internet over cell net

.. TBA– Continued.

 

Moving Steps

This entry is about Moving a Website off one host onto another.

  1. Get all Contact details for the client; Send This Checklist : )
  2. Save & Mark Off completed Stages
  3. Get Consent from Site Owner & Former Host
  4. CHECK existing site for issues and errors
  5. Enquire about or AVOID anyone else moving any Parts
  6. Gather all usernames and passwords:
  7. For * Domain Name Registrar, * Host, *Email, * Control Panel, * FTP etc
  8. Name Registration should NOT be touched less than 60 days before Moving 
  9. Admin login to * WordPress if used
  10. Create NEW Host Account for site to move to (IONOS)
  11. Generate SSH/SFTP/SCP Login to Sync Data Over
  12. Launch Name Registrar Transfer (Takes up to a week)
  13. DUMP SQL database site.sql from old site
  14. Secure table prefixes (DO NOT keep “wp_” for Security!)
  15. take over & replicate BUT DO NOT CHANGE MOVED DNS servers
  16. Shorten TTL from 3600 mins to 5 mins ready for  Site Switch
  17. Modify Email DNS SPF records, SSL (Secure Site) & auto redirect
  18. Warn Client that site changes at this point may not Transfer.
  19. Wrap Up; NEVER us an admin login of “admin”. You Will BE Hacked!
  20. Hand Over Full Creds to New Site
  21. Get Okay & Bill