How Does Your Garden Grow…in Tok?

I used to have a brown thumb. I’m not really sure if my thumb was actually a brown one or if my brain just wasn’t tuned into plants, and therefore I forgot about them, and therefore they died. As I child, I had a vegetable garden and loved plucking fresh veggies from the vine. But looking back now, I realize that in the same way parents end up taking care of a child’s first pet, my folks took care...

Fiber Optic Coming to Tok?

Image via Wikipedia A little birdie told me a few months back that Tok would be getting fiber optic as early as the Fall. Well, now rumor has it that it may be much sooner – like sometime in the next few months! Anyone who has been following my quest for high speed – and affordable – Internet in rural Alaska knows that “high speed” and “affordable Internet” are not...

Interview with Rick Thoman from NOAA

After “The Great Tok Weather Controversy,” Rick Thoman from NOAA stopped by to talk about the weather. Here’s a video of him up on mDialog (click on link or video image to go to site and play – QuickTime required). Play the video… Also received the attached PDF files and following note from Rick that may be of interest. Daily Temperature Comparison, Tok NWS Cooperative vs. C4591 (Turks...

Oh, My Aching Gigabytes

In only 6 days I’m already at nearly 3 Gigs into my bandwidth allowance. At $30 per gig over my 10 Gig limit, I’m already seeing that I will have to change my evil bandwidth hogging ways if I’m going to keep my Internet access bill under control. Any tips? Advice? Can I get someone’s unused bandwidth allowances like carbon offsets? Related articles by Zemanta Why is the Internet so...

Satellite Internet in Tok or HughesNet Might Save My Ass(ets)

Image via Wikipedia Just spoke with a rep from HughesNet this week after repeated unanswered calls and messages to Starband. Here’s what I found out: 1. I can get a faster Internet connection via satellite than DSL in Tok. 3 meg download compared to 512k on DSL. That speed, of course, doesn’t include the latency of satellite Internet connections which take getting used to because that pause feels...

The Latest on Internet Connectivity in Tok, Alaska

                          After several more calls with AT&T and then a conversation with AP&T (Alaska Power & Telephone), the word was: “Yes, we service Tok and you can get an Internet card from us to access the Internet. We even have a tower there.” (AT&T rep) “No, we don’t service Tok at all, andyou won’t even be able to get any cellphone signal in...

Rural Internet: Stuck in the Slow Zone

Image via WikipediaA Twitter & SL friend, Becky McCray (@beckymcray), founder of Small Biz Survival, just pointed me to a post on the 37 Signals blog called Rural Internet: Stuck in the Slow Zone. I still haven’t had a chance to read all of the 159 comments, however, one person did mention Wild Blue as a satellite option. Well, I already checked into Wild Blue, and they don’t service Tok, much less...

Internet Connectivity in Tok, Alaska

Image via WikipediaI’ve been preparing for my move to Tok, looking into Internet connectivity which is an essential part of my work as well as my life. So far, I’ve found out that the main way to connect to the Internet in Tok is through Alaska Power and Telephone (AP&T). And they only offer DSL. I spoke with a rep from AP&T and this is what I found out: I can get the 10 Gig DSL account –...