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Internet in the Sierra Foothills
This is to help people discover their choices for internet connections in my area. This includes the towns of Grass Valley, Nevada City, and the Nevada County region
• If you are very close to a town such as Grass Valley or Nevada City, you might be able to get cable internet from Comcast, or Optimum in the Southern Nevada County area. I hear people complain about poor customer service from Comcast, but it's one of the fastest connections you can get in this area.
• UVerse from AT&T would be a second choice, but it is not as available outside of the more densely populated areas, such as downtown Grass Valley or Nevada City. DSL from AT&T was previously available, but they have stopped offering it to new customers. If you already have it, you can continue to use it, but if you ever cancel it, you won't get it back. I have heard the AT&T would like to eliminate DSL completely, but they have not yet done that. DSL a slower service than most of the other options.
• If cable, U-verse, or DSL is not available (or DSL is too slow for you), you can check with SmarterBroadband, a wireless service, that may be able provide service in areas where the others cannot. There is also Digital Path, a similar wireless service. The wireless services can have large set up costs and long-term contracts. You also must have a good line of sight to one of their radio towers, without obstruction from hills or too many trees. Check with both before making a decision.
• You can use your cell phone as a hot spot (like a wireless router), and connect your computers and other devices to it. The speed can be acceptable, but the cost could be higher than the other solutions. From my experience, Verizon has the best reception in the Nevada County area.
• Your last and worst choice would be satellite (except for Starlink, which is mentioned later). Some of the satellite companies are: Viasat, HughesNet, DirecTV, and Dish. They are not always reliable, and if you use too much bandwidth per month, they slow your connection down to an almost unusable speed.
Generally, a "wired" connection, such as cable, UVerse, or DSL, will be more reliable, and a better choice than any of the wireless services (SmarterBroadband, Digital Path, cell phone, satellite). But you will need to decide based on what's available, the minimum speed you need, and what you are willing to pay. If you are using digital phone lines (VOIP), reliability is an important factor, even though a typical call does not require a lot of speed.
★★★ Race Telecommunications is involved with distributing a high-speed wired connection throughout parts of our area (Nevada county). That connection promises to be the fastest and most reliable internet in our area, but it could be a long time before everyone can get it.
About Starlink
You may already know that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has created another company called Starlink (www.starlink.com), that is providing internet access. They are launching thousands of satellites to provide fast internet service from almost any point on earth. They can offer download speeds of 100 Mbps or more with an extremely low latency (ping) of 20 milliseconds. This is great if you live in a more rural area with limited internet options. The other satellite providers (HughesNet, ViaSat, etc.), will not come close to providing what Starlink can. Service is available in most areas of the U.S., but right now (November 2024), there is a waiting list to get it in our area (Nevada County, California).
About SmarterBroadband
I have been using SmarterBroadband, a local Grass Valley company, since 2015. I also have DSL service from AT&T. I got the DSL when AT&T was still offering it, and I use it as a backup in case there are problems with SmarterBroadband. SmarterBroadband is a faster connection (12MB down, 2MB up) than the DSL (2.5MB down, .42MB up), but because the internet is so important to my business, I must have a backup.
In the past, I had problems with the SmarterBroadband speed not being consistent. I was often not getting the download rate that I was paying for. The speed was often less than half of what it should have been, especially in the evenings. It's was not down too often, but when it was, it was anywhere from a few minutes to all day. The DSL rarely went down, and had a slow, but consistent speed, so I kept all my VOIP phones connected to that network, and used the SmarterBroadband for the computers, tablets, and phones. It was a bit frustrating for me to pay SmarterBroadband $89/month for service that had varying speeds that were often less than half of what I was paying for.
For the past year or so (2024), the speeds with SmarterBroadband have been much more consistent, and I can usually get the download and upload speeds I am paying for. However, since they did an upgrade to their systems in early December 2024, I have been getting slower speeds again, especially in the evenings. This is the same thing that was happening in the past and is again becoming an issue. You can view my speed tests from links listed below. From the speed tests you will see that during evenings in December 2024 I'm typically getting only about one-third to one-half of the speed I am paying for. It sometimes has been much lower than my DSL speeds.
Overall, I have been happy with SmarterBroadband (not considering the current problem of slow connections at certain times), and their customer service has always been good. However, at some point in the future, I might consider switching to Starlink. I have friends that have had Starlink for quite some time, and they report high reliability and no speed problems. Starlink would cost me $120/month instead of $89/month with SmarterBroadband, but it would be much faster (according to reports). Starlink is not affected by local weather, which can be a big advantage. There was a day when our area had high winds that caused the power go out at the SmarterBroadband radio tower, and the internet was out most of the day (I'm glad I had my DSL backup). It was not the fault of SmarterBroadband, but our friends with Starlink had no interruptions.
My upload speeds don't vary as much as the download speeds do. I'm guessing the speed problems in the evenings could be caused by a lot of people streaming movies and shows, and the local radio tower cannot keep up with the demand. So even if I tried another local wireless provider that uses radio towers, such as Digital Path, the speed results might be the same. Maybe Starlink can provide faster speeds for a larger number of people becuase of the large quantity of satellites they have in low orbit (eventually they plan to have 42,000). I have read that their business has grown quickly in the last few years, especially in rural areas.
I have performed various SmarterBroadband speed tests. I wanted to see what was really happening over certain time periods. Note that I typically run the speed tests when I notice that the connection is slow. Below are the results.
Table of 12MB service starting 2024, taken at various times
Visual chart of 12MB service starting 2024, taken at various times
Summary & Conclusions
Getting great internet in the rural Sierra Foothills can be a challenge. If a wired connection is available to you, such as, Race Telecommunications, Comcast, or Optimum, I would most definitely go with that. Otherwise, if you want very consistent fast speeds, it appears that Starlink is the best choice, if you don't mind paying a bit more. SmarterBroadband and Digital Path use local radio towers, and can be good if you have decent line-of-sight to the towers. DSL from AT&T is no longer available to new customers, but if you have it, you can keep it (at least for now). It's the slowest of the options, but the most reliable in my experience. That's why I have it as a backup to my SmarterBroadband service.
UVerse from AT&T is a wired connection, but may not be available in your area, or may not be available in the speeds that you require. Using your cell phone with a “hot spot” connection, can work for some people, but unless you have good reception, the speeds can be disappointing, the cost could be high, and you can exceed the bandwidth usage limits if you use it a lot. A satellite service other than Starlink is typically the worst choice and should only be considered as your last option.