Comments on: nTelos Wireless Tower Goes Up Wednesday Afternoon North Of Nellysford – UPDATE 9:20 AM EST

By: Intelos cell | Infomcgconsulting

Intelos cell | Infomcgconsulting — Tue, 31 May 2011 04:44:19 +0000

[...] Nelson County Life Magazine : » nTelos Wireless Tower Goes UpWe also activated a new cell site that provides outstanding coverage to the Stoney Creek Golf area and surrounding communities. … We live very close to Amy and Colin and rushed out to Intelos Sat. The salesman showed us the router he recommended for the Franklin CDU-680 card he sold us. He selected this card because most… Uncategorized by admin [...]

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:12:55 +0000

I hope so, we are really looking forward to it! We must have driven by the tower a hundred times to see if anything was happening. Thanks for your reply.

By: NCL Mag

NCL Mag — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:44:17 +0000

Hi Jen,

In some informal discussions we have been told it will be active in the next few days. Like you, we haven’t noticed any increases in the EV signal strength here in the Rockfish Valley. But have been told fairly soon, a matter of a few days. -T-

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:28:37 +0000

Does anyone know if the tower is working…we have been waiting, but have not noticed any changes in our signal?????

By: Martha Makel

Martha Makel — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:19:56 +0000

We live very close to Amy and Colin and rushed out to Intelos Sat. The salesman showed us the router he recommended for the Franklin CDU-680 card he sold us. He selected this card because most of our computers run xp (not vista) and mac systems. Intelos sells the NexAira NexConnect 3G Wireless Wifi Hotspot Router for $170. We just bought one from ebay for $145. He also suggested trying Best Buy.

By: Colin Winter

Colin Winter — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:04:38 +0000

One other followup–I tested the speeds near intersection of 664 and 151 (our house essentially) and was getting 700-1000 kbs. download and 150-300 kbs upload. I uploaded a 51 MB file in 4 minutes last night. This was vastly faster/superior to our WildBlue service (at least 10-15 times faster.)

By: Colin Winter

Colin Winter — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:02:37 +0000

I am the husband to one Amy W. above and we’re getting 4-5 bars as she said. I’m curious, someone mentioned you can by EVDO routers online for much cheaper than the ones offered on NTELOS site…can anyone advise on a model or two we could search for/order? Do you plug the aircard into the router, or just set up the Wi–fi router with our NTELOS login info/etc.?

Thanks so much in advance…

By: Rev. Tommy Thompson

Rev. Tommy Thompson — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:39:39 +0000

Just for kicks, I received a call from IBEC today. The rep told me I should be able to surf the net now. I tried, and it didn’t work. I called them back and the rep who answered the phone said, “Well, you should be able to get on one page at least for now.” WHAT??!! Then he was not able to tell me when I would have adequate service and also told me that the average speed was 200-300kbps.

I am glad to be sending my modem back!

By: Rev. Tommy Thompson

Rev. Tommy Thompson — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:36:35 +0000

Okay, I was able to get a new card from Alltel, and this one works better. I found the best place in my house and purchased a Cradlepoint MBR1000 modem. So, I am able to get around 700kbps to 1Mbps now since i can keep the air card stationary in the best position in the house. Hurray! I cancelled my wildblue today and am sending the BPL modem back tomorrow morning.

Alltel’s customer service can be frustrating, but maybe this service is for you. I will say, if you go this route, don’t get the Huawei EC-168 air card. it WILL NOT work with the cradlepoint routers. Ask for the UTstarcom UM175 instead; it is compatible. Cradlepoint did tell me that the Huawei EC-168 will be compatible in like 4 months when the firmware update comes out.

I hope this helps someone else.

By: Amy W.

Amy W. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:34:00 +0000

We got our nTelos card today, and it’s lightening fast compared to WildBlue. They weren’t sure we’d get service down here (we’re in the ski barn/spruce creek area) but we are, and it’s been a huge improvement. I would highly recommend it … give John a call and tell him I sent you BPL modem is getting returned on Monday! Thanks to all for the info posted here – I wouldn’t have known about the nTelos option if it wasn’t for you guys!

By: Rev. Tommy Thompson

Rev. Tommy Thompson — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:06:46 +0000

Well, the Ntelos didn’t work for me here in Faber, so i thought I’d go with Alltel. I get full bars 1XEV on my blackberry curve, so i thought the air card would definately work. I called and spoke to a salesperson in Charlottesville who told me she was getting 2-4Mbps in Nelson. However, i am averaging 250kbps download and 100kbps upload. I will say, Alltel’s customer service has NOT been helpful either.

I guess I am stuck with Wildblue or IBEC.

By: NCL Mag

NCL Mag — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:16:07 +0000

Courtney, thanks! We have BPL info coming to us from the Faber area and thus far it has been pretty problematic. Reports of having to plug into certain outlets, slow speeds, difficult setups, and the speeds and range not being up to par. Think you have made the correct choice.

We have decided here to either wait on the nTelos site near us to be activated or simply stay with satellite if necessary. In our biz we can’t be without reliable internet.

The reports we have had from the Tanbark area say of you simply want to view web pages and have no real aspirations of downloading large files or viewing videos, etc, then BPL will probably be okay, but it’s far from being as advertised last summer. as noted in your comment.

By: Courtney

Courtney — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:16:58 +0000

Ahhh sigh of relief, I just mailed my BPL modem back to IBEC. Yay!!!! We bought a new laptop (nothing fancy, sorry techie fans), and our Ntelos wireless works AWESOME! So pleased. On a funny (ironic) note, when I opened my BLP modem box to put the return instructions inside, I noticed this on their “READ THIS FIRST” sheet- “Depending on your location within the substation we will have your service in place within 8 weeks.” HAHAHAHAAHAHA I received my modem in August, ummm I think it’s been a little more than 8 weeks. Oh well, all’s well that ends well. Good luck to those of you waiting for BPL. Try Ntelos wireless if it’s available to you.

By: Brady

Brady — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:57:15 +0000

FWIW, I am experimenting with an Alltel aircard this morning. I was getting 2.0mbps down and 750kbps up near Tye River in southern Nelson. However, in Roseland I’m getting 120k down and 70k up. So, for some people an Alltel card at $62/month after taxes might be a real possibility.

By: Erik

Erik — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:31:53 +0000

Well…. John just wrote me and let me know that my place is not in range….. yet.
But they’ll be putting in another tower “soon” and perhaps that will change.