Working from a Rural Home in the early 2010s
Summer is finally here, it’s my favourite season! Which makes it difficult to sit indoors working when I want to be outside. The past few years has taught us that we can effectively work from home, even from our back decks or, in my case, the front porch. Where we work while at home brings me to my next story…
Mobile cellular and Broadband satellite were working, so I cancelled my dial-up internet. I struggled along for a few years and then decided to try a newer technology called the Rogers Hub (Bell had the same technology, but we already had a Rogers plan). It was supposed to be quite a bit faster than both the mobile cellular stick and satellite system. When it arrived in the mail, I was so excited to set it up. I connected it to my computer and installed the software. It was ready! I connected to the internet and entered a few keystrokes and…. and…. it responded. At the same speed as the mobile cellular stick and satellite! I couldn’t believe it, it wasn’t any faster than the other technology that I had already invested in. I did some research and noticed that it might not be getting the best signal in the room I was in. Old farmhouses have what is called a ‘summer kitchen’, it’s a room off the house that was used in the summer to cook over a wood-fired stove to keep the heat out of the house. Before we moved into the farmhouse, my husband renovated the summer kitchen to have drywall and use it as living space with a wood stove for heat. I moved my desk, computer, and internet modem to the large dining room.
I connected to the internet and voila! It was twice as fast as when my office was in the summer kitchen! Out of curiosity, I disconnected the new hub and connected the mobile cellular stick to see if it was faster, and to my dismay, it was too. I could have had faster internet by just moving my desk to a better location in the house! I cancelled the broadband satellite and continued using the hub and the mobile stick (which was portable; I could use this stick anywhere I travelled as long as a cellular tower was close by) in a new, sunnier location in our home.
As published in Hello Country – June 2022 edition.