[egolise]

Hi, potentially planning a move to Connecticut and will likely end up outside a major city. I work remotely (lots of Zoom) so I’m looking to hear about your experiences with internet services in more rural parts of CT. Especially interested in the Avon, Simsbury, Granby, Barkhamsted areas. But also considering other rural areas too so feel free to share your experiences.

Who are you using and how are the speeds?

For context, we’re a household of 2. Not a ton of streaming or gaming, but I’ve gotta be on video calls quite frequently. I’ve gotten away with a Verizon SIM card in a 4G router before but speeds hovered around 10-20 mbps download. That was not ideal but it mostly got the job done in a very rural spot in the southwest US.


Thanks!

[nico7]

I had Charter/Spectrum in Woodstock and the internet was always solid. I was working from home, on video most days. One thing I did have to change was my cellular carrier, because AT&T was very spotty there. Verizon was the only cell service that had a decent signal.

[CTlibrarian]

GoNetSpeed and Frontier have been installing fiber internet all over the state. I believe that if you go on their websites and type in a zip code, it will tell you if that area has fiber. Other choices are cable internet, which I hear is more expensive and sometimes has data slowdowns or caps.

[brownedbits]

The towns you listed are not rural, though it may seem that way if you are coming from an urban area. High speed cable internet is readily available in the towns you listed. Fiber is slowly making it's way through the state but your best bet at this time will likely be cable. This may not exactly follow town boundaries, but generally Comcast/Xfinity services Avon and Simsbury, Cox services East Granby, and Spectrum for Barkhamstead. You can go to each provider's website to see exact promised speeds and decide what you want to pay for. Gigabit is likely excessive for your needs, but it's there if you want it. These aren't rural DSL-only towns.

[jcpct]

I live in a fairly rural area of the state (Harwinton) and have Comcast/Xfinity as a internet provider. My upload/download speeds are 94 and 13 respectively. I know they are also installing fiber in the area now as well but I don't have any experience with it to share with you at this point.

[WouldLoveTo]

Originally Posted by jcpct

I live in a fairly rural area of the state (Harwinton) and have Comcast/Xfinity as a internet provider. My upload/download speeds are 94 and 13 respectively. I know they are also installing fiber in the area now as well but I don't have any experience with it to share with you at this point.

94? Are there faster packages in your area?

[jcpct]

Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo

94? Are there faster packages in your area?

I actually think they advertise much faster speeds but that's what I'm getting on my computer via wireless connection. Probably would be faster if I used a wired connection but it's handy using wireless. The speed also seems to vary a lot depending on the time of day/night.

[okbymeman]

There are no major cities in CT. The cities are poor and by no means have better infrastructure/services than the suburbs and rural towns. It’s not like NY where the closer you are to NYC the more amenities you have.

[mdovell]

I can pick cox or frontier. Frontier kinda lied about coverage and customer service broke wind while on my call and didn't say a word so I went with cox. No problems/issues.

Now for cell phone coverage that's totally different.

[hvexpatinct]

Many companies in Hartford have been remote work-friendly for decades - the internet infrastructure in suburbs and even the more rural towns is more than sufficient for working from home.