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TomChum
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# Posted: 3 Apr 2011 10:58am - Edited by: TomChum
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Starting this post for the philosophical discussion of electronic intrusions to your simple OFF-GRID retreat. For the technical discussion please go to this thread.
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INTERNET: I always knew I'd need internet, because if I don't have to run home to work, I can stay out here longer! Also checking the weather forecast has been useful. My wife, who spends some time on the internet, thinks it;s worse than TV.
TELEVISION: I would never consider television at my cabin, although we do watch DVD movies at night on the computer. But....!!! My wife follows the soccer games, and I think being able to watch it here would increase her attendance (a little). So TV *might* make its way into our cabin (strict rules apply! Soccer ONLY! ).
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naturelover66
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# Posted: 3 Apr 2011 11:03am
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No...... dont need or want either at the cabin.......
Its my "get away" from civilization. A weather radio is the only electronic gadget i will allow.
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dabones
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# Posted: 3 Apr 2011 07:10pm
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I like a radio *sometimes* at my land.. I'd rather have it quiet, and just hear the birds and wind in the leaves, but once in a while it's nice to have some music to work to..
I have a VZW prepaid cell phone, I get 0-1 bars, so it's just enough to send and receive text/pic msg's.. this is fine, because sometimes our kids stay home, and this was we can still communicate with them.. and I like to show off my progress to some of my friends, but I am not a big chater anyways, so it's only a few msg's per day.. I do like to be able to check weather..
I have a netbook and there are lots of free wifi places around where I can check weather or directions somewhere..
(one town near by, I can drive down the main street and my netbook auto-connects to 3 or 4 different ppl's unsecured wifi's, LoL)
I would maybe get a TV, but that would be years down the road, I dont' think I'd get any channels over-the-air, and really wouldn't want to pay for sattelite for the few times a TV would even get turned on.. I'd rather everyone be forced outside to enjoy the 10 acres of nature we own!!!
Things would be different if it was a full-time home.. then I would want to have Internet and TV...
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Rob_O
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# Posted: 3 Apr 2011 07:35pm
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My property is on the far outside edge of a major metro area. My girlfriend and I both have adequate cell reception for both voice and internet. If someone wants to contact us they can leave a message and we will get it, we may even respond. Checking the weather on the phone is very handy when we're trying to finish *just* before the rain hits.
We have no need for TV out there. The truck has a radio for local news, we also have satellite radio and a pile of books to read.
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SmlTxCabin
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# Posted: 3 Apr 2011 08:45pm
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I will be living in my cabin full time. Therefore I will have internet and TV. I enjoy watching my Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys, movies, and my construction (do it yourself shows) shows. It is how I have learned a lot of the things that I have implemented in my cabin. I enjoy the solitude of being in the country and the peace and quiet, but I like being able to check on my forums, do research, and watch my sports too. : )
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SmlTxCabin
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# Posted: 3 Apr 2011 08:51pm
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I'm also not off grid though : (
If i was I would not have television I would imagine.
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hattie
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# Posted: 3 Apr 2011 09:22pm
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When we used our place just as a part-time cabin, we didn't have internet or television and we really enjoyed that. Now that we are here full time, we have to have tv and internet. It gets pretty quiet in the winter. Without them, we would be cut off from the world. *S*
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dk1393
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2011 09:44am
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Our cabin is off grid, we don't have internet access. The wife spends the majority of the summer at the cabin and we may get dial up connection for her computer. We have a land line run for the phone. We also have a TV with satilite setup. We very seldom watch it. The solar setup runs it fine in the summer but in the winter it is iffy depending on our power usage. We do enjoy watching a movie once in a while. Most of the time its nice just to listen to the radio.
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spelk1
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2011 12:21pm
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We'll have a C-band (the big old dish) setup at ours this summer. There is a lot of free unscrambled tv on the big dish including networks, etc and the system is rather cheap to set up.
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nathanprincipe
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2011 03:20pm
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When its time we will have a tv for dvds to watch at night if we feel like it (no cable or dish) and no internet or computers of any kind. A radio is a must for me tho!
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2011 03:53pm
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I'm going to upgrade us to satellite radio this summer. The only way we could get TV or internet is with a satellite setup. I don't think we would do that unless I could get a telecommuting job and work from the cabin.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2011 04:50pm
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Currently no but we are still under construction. We do get cell coverage so are able to use the internet some.
I think both of us would like the internet. Would allow us to communicate more with friends and family plus get news etc.
A TV at times would be ok but not a deal breaker for us. We like to escape but for us escaping does not mean no entertainment, just no traffic and we like fresh air.
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nathanprincipe
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# Posted: 4 Apr 2011 07:04pm
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Quoting: Anonymous A TV at times would be ok but not a deal breaker for us. We like to escape but for us escaping does not mean no entertainment, just no traffic and we like fresh air.
kinda how i feel
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 5 Apr 2011 09:50pm
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Not in the forseeable future. We get away to get away... There is no cell service, no radio reception, no nuthin' There is the ability to have it, so maybe one day we will, but not now.
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smitty
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# Posted: 6 Apr 2011 02:27am
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We will have internet through ATT for our laptops. But that's it.
We haven't had a TV in years. No use for one..
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Barrys Bay
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# Posted: 7 Apr 2011 12:09pm
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We have cell service, full bars. We watch dvd's at night. 30w solar panel recharges cell phones and laptop beautifully. We want to hook up the free HD antenna this year and see if it works at all. One future dream is to do an outdoor movie night with "borrowed" projector and a flat sheet hung between two trees. Awesome.
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PlicketyCat
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# Posted: 7 Apr 2011 04:39pm
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We're at our place full time and we have satellite internet access (had it installed at the tent a couple months into the adventure). We use the internet for everything - communication, research, emergency advisories, banking, shopping, books/periodicals, radio, TV and movies.
There is no cell reception or land line phones out here. There are a few hills within 30-minutes that if we climb all the way to the top and stand just so when the weather is right, we can maybe get a bar or two on our GoPhone. We could get a sat-phone, but we don't really like to talk on the phone and they are horribly expensive. We can use the payphone down in the village if we have to. Email is just better/easier for us. We have handheld 2-ways and will be getting a CB for local emergency communications.
There's only a couple of radio stations that make it out here and the reception is dicey at best (on a cloudy day we get Russian and Japanese radio stations!). The nearest library/bank/shopping center is 4 hours away. Even the mail is hit-or-miss out here at times, and we have to drive 30 minutes into the village to the post office.
Absolutely no TV air reception at all, and no cable either... we could get satellite, but we only watch certain shows & movies, so Hulu or Netflix online is better (and cheaper) than hundreds of worthless channels of crap we don't even have an interest in watching. If hubby wants to watch a race or a game, he goes into the village and watches with friends.
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larry
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# Posted: 7 Apr 2011 10:51pm
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the family and i dont go to the cabin to watch tv although we have a dvd/tv, the kids only get to watch it late at night, usualy before bed. if the wife and i watch it it is because it is raining. we just love to play outside. that is the reason we go.
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Kithera
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# Posted: 11 Apr 2011 01:00pm
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For me, it's about balancing out a need for some level of communication vs wanting to get away from distractions. Some level of communication is a must for safety and sanity sake. When I build my cabin, I want to find a place where any form of wire (including dialup) or cell based would not be available.
For me, using ham radio, in conjunction with one of the various free radio email services such as PskMail or WinLink 2000 should be the perfect balance. They only provide text based email, but there are a lot of news to email or even email to twitter/facebook/blog services that I don't think I'll be hurting.
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Kithera
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# Posted: 11 Apr 2011 01:02pm
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As for the other half, the same goes for television and radio. I want to be far enough away that any wire or short ranged terrestrial radio (antenna tv) would not be effective. But a select group of DVDs (or more likely, movie rips on my laptop) would be welcomed. Especially on the colder and darker days.
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Rifraf
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# Posted: 22 Oct 2011 11:59pm - Edited by: Rifraf
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Hi,
I'm still looking for a good piece of land for my cabin, but my plan is to get an internet satellite service such as
www.wildblue.com about 49.00 a month for this
and match it up with vonage.com for land line phone ( about 11.00 month)
I already have netflix that will work on the internet which has streaming shows and movies I pay 8.00 a month for that.
So the total remote/rural setup for internet phone and movies here is about 60.00 a month USD
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 23 Oct 2011 08:51pm
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We go to our cabin to get away from everyday life. We are still building the thing so what happens in the future is up for grabs, but if and when we move out there full time we'll have all the amenities of home.
Currently we have just enough cell phone service to send and receive text messages and emails and get on the internet, but I can't make a phone call to save my life. Gotta drive a mile down to the paved road to get enough service to make phone calls.
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smitty
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# Posted: 24 Oct 2011 07:00am
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We don't even have a cabin at our cabin yet lol..
But when we do this spring, I doubt I'll have a TV. I don't have one now, and haven't watched one in years.
The local library has free wifi, so imagine I will take a trip into town to check my emails, and facebook, or research how to videos.
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 24 Oct 2011 10:19am
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We have neither tv or internet at our cabin. We do have internet on a cell phone so that we can get weather updates if we need to.We bring or rent DVD's to watch in the evenings sometimes.
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bobrok
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# Posted: 24 Oct 2011 11:32am
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Quoting: TomChum the philosophical discussion of electronic intrusions to your simple OFF-GRID retreat
Back on track with this thread:
We have minimal OTA television (2 channels) and have chosen to not activate the dish that came with the place, although it still sits up on the roof tempting us :)
We are also in a fairly poor radio reception area and have only a handful of decent signals that fade in and out as they wish.
I have been a news junky for all of my adult life and I find that when I am away from information sources at first I tend to just ignore and let the world go by. After a few days, or a week, I start craving news from the rest of the world and cave in and turn on the evening network news just to see if we missed anything major, like Steve Jobs passing, Khadafi, earthquakes in Turkey.
When I get into real withdrawal symptoms I grab the smartphone and hope for a decent enough signal to read up on our local news back home.
I've said here before that part of being "away" for me has always been being far enough away so that you cant get any of your local radio and TV. I figure if your away place is still within shot of local signals then you not really far away enough, but that is what I enjoy.
The bottom line is I don't think I could really survive without at least a rudimentary knowledge of what is going on in the world.
But it will be a long while before that dish gets activated, if ever.
P.S. Thank God the World Series is on Fox, one of the networks we do get :P
PPS: Oh yeah, and CBS is the other network........just in case I need to watch a footall game once in a while!
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dstraate
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2011 02:47pm
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I'd tend to agree with the masses. I have all of the world's creature comforts at home, and enjoy the opportunity to live simply. That said, I still watch laptop movies, my wife still drives into town so she can post on the discussion board for her Master's class, and I sneak out to the truck to get the NFL scores, so I guess I am not a devout tech-free-dude.
Still, I tend to spend more time looking at leaves, watching the changing colors in the sky, listening to birds, and poking around the woods. On a philosophical level, this is exactly the connection that makes the cabin such a special place.
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Montanan
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2011 05:09pm
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No cell service at all at the cabin. No TV and no Internet. Like some of the others, we watch the occasional movie on the laptop and we listen to the radio. I am a huge football fan, so I'd like the option to watch games. We're toying with the idea of internet. It would have to be satellite...but we could stream the games and I could actually do some work from the cabin that way. For now, the one bar/motel in town (just down the road) has wifi so I figure I can stop in and have a beer and get some work done (and check scores!)
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Malamute
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2011 11:07pm
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I live in mine full time, and have for many years.
I'm not interested in TV much, I watch it for about 2 weeks a year when visiting family, and that's PLENTY. I'd have to say TV is a break from real life, as not much on TV seems real. I have a land line with DSL, and grid power. Cell's work so-so here, I wouldn't want to rely on one for my only communication capability. I listen to NPR radio mostly, for news, weather and music. Computer is for fun, communication, watching movies once or twice a month, and current weather.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 9 Nov 2012 06:56am
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Sorry to bump a topic thats nearly a year old, but I found it very interesting.
I'm in my 30s, grown up on tv, internet, and nintendo. Silly as it all sounds I don't think I would really want to leave these things behind. I enjoy going to the lake and the variety of projects that keep my busy. Currently have a tenant in a mobile home (this is a grid tied cabin) so we have satellite.
When the time comes to move off grid (and to a different more remote property) I plan on having a satellite for internet. Truth be told when being snowed in and unable to reach any kind of civilization for a few months having internet will be wonderful. I would like to add that in todays world TV itself is almost pointless.
For example, netflix (and other similar services) offer an immense amount of shows, and movies for virtually no cost. Both playstation network and microsofts xbox allow for virtual download of new release movies (just like pay per view) and games (if you want to play some madden with the rug rats). Everyone knows about itunes, and there are thousands of books online for reading and listening to. Many radio stations offer streaming direct. Many tv networks have have webpages with show updates. There are alos lots of tools for talking, vent, teamspeak, skype. And without getting into the ethics of pirating, if you wish, there are literally 100s of 1000s of movies/tv shows for download including "cam" copies of movies in theatre.
To be clear I am by no means condoning or implying that anyone should use these sites that infringe on copyright laws. I'm merely stating that they are available.
With a simple wifi router and satellite internet I would imagine that a person could be very plugged in.
I'm not particularly advocating for or against being plugged in. There are many many things that I enjoy about being out doors and there is ALWAYS so much to do. All that being said I do very much enjoy being plugged in. For me I think I would rather have it and not use it, than want to do/use something and not have it available.
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morganplus8
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# Posted: 9 Nov 2012 08:51am
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We had excellent phone service and use my data plan for internet, that way I can tell my wife I'm still alive while working there and she's away! We also have 30 HD TV channels and can take movies down with us like many others. I like to have the technology available at all times, while out on the lake it is nice to be able to call out for help of take calls from those who want to join up with us at the top of the lake.
But when my wife shows up, none of that stuff is allowed to run, no phones, radio and certainly no TV! She is there for the silence. I also like to have something for the kids to do, hard to get teenagers to visit or stay over night without a ton of things for them to do.
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