Internet Woes?
In the very recent past, buying your dream cabin in the woods upstate may have meant being off the grid, at least in internet terms. High speed internet access is so commonplace in our lives today that we take it for granted. Some buyers don’t even think to ask if the property they are purchasing has internet access. And while the idea of being off the grid may sound appealing at first, the reality of it tends to be tedious after a weekend or so.
Until recently, the most common solution was to set up a satellite internet account with providers like HughesNet or Viasat. Unlike cable or fiber, satellite internet is not unlimited. Rather you purchase gigabytes of data, which run out shockingly quickly particularly when streaming anything - think Spotify, Netflix, YouTube. Basic emails and web browsing are manageable but at slower speeds. Don’t even think about downloading or uploading anything heavy. Once you run out of data, you can always add more. But as you can imagine, it can get expensive quickly, just for the sake of a few movies. And then you have to realize that satellite is fundamentally dependent on clear weather. It’s not uncommon to lose internet access due to clouds, rain or snow.
There have been some important changes in this internet space recently that homeowners should know about. In 2015, Governor Cuomo made a large and ambitious state broadband investment, $500 million, to achieve statewide broadband access by 2018. That was the target timeline, anyways. Governor Cuomo has now secured high-speed Internet upgrades for approximately 2.42 million locations statewide, which means 99.9 percent of New Yorkers will have access to broadband. Check out the state program, Broadband for All, for more information.
Here’s what this means for you if you don’t currently have cable internet access: it’s possible that your remote road may be eligible to receive cable internet access for free. The program is in place, but it’s now a matter of execution. And if you make noise for your area, it’s possible that you’ll be moved closer to the top of the list. There are two ways to make noise: 1) call the CEO of your local cable company, and 2) call your New York State Assemblymember. Ask both for the status of cable access on your road, and make an argument for why you should be pushed to the top of the list.
We recently went through this process at my own house. A dream cabin in the woods with satellite internet. We called the CEO of Spectrum and our local Assemblywoman, Aileen Gunther, multiple times. We were very pleasantly surprised at how responsive both offices were. Even so, it took about a year before we had full access to cable internet. But we did get it for free due to a little patience.
There is another option for those who need to speed up the process to gain access to cable internet. It’s not uncommon for homeowners to bypass the state program and just work directly with the internet provider to lay the cable at cost. Depending on how far the cable needs to be run, this may be a faster and still affordable option that you just mentally add on to the cost of purchasing your house. I’ve also seen homeowners go in on the cost with other neighbors on their road.
