Sparta Backyard Tech – Part 1

Whether you’re new to the Sparta, New Jersey area, or have been a long time resident… internet is important not only to staying connected with family and friends, but for many of us it is a requirement to getting work done. I’ll be the first to admit that I probably can’t live without my technology. I know I’m not alone. And when I can enjoy it in my backyard, that’s even better. Especially since I put in my waterfall. It doesn’t matter if you’re catching up on work with your laptop on your patio or Facetiming your family that can’t be there for a birthday party by the pool. Reliable and fast connectivity is as essential as indoor plumbing or electricity.

Nerd Alert: I’m going to get a bit geeky here, but I’ll make sure that I explain things in a way that even my least techie friends can understand. In this blog, I’m going to first talk about the different ways to get internet to your home. In a part two blog, I’m going to talk about how to extend that internet into your backyard.

You’ll need to consider how many people in your household are using devices and how much content they’re consuming or creating. Is it just you, simply keeping up with family and friends on Facebook and paying some online bills after buying that cat butt tissue dispenser from Amazon? Then you’re likely to be fine with a slower connection. And that will save you some greens. If you’re harboring the next Twitch star who is saving humanity in the latest MMORPG, you’ll want to go big. (I won’t hold it against you if that last sentence went 30,000 feet over your head.)

So, let’s talk about Sussex County’s offerings for internet.

• DSL

• Cable

• Cellular

• Fiber

• Satellite

Each kind of ISP (Internet Service Provider) has their own pros and cons. I’m going to outline the basics. You’ll have to do your own research to ultimately decide which is best for you. But I hope this serves you with a good understanding of what each service is capable of.

DSL
CenturyLink is the DSL and home phone provider for the Sparta, NJ area. DSL (digital subscriber line) works off of your copper home phone lines. Its advantage is that it’s usually pretty reliable since it runs off the phone lines. CenturyLink doesn’t have a data cap, which means they don’t limit how much you download. But DSL speeds are inherently lower than other services. CenturyLink’s highest speed package for Sparta tops out at 100Mbps (Megabits per second) down. If you’re not a heavy user, this shouldn’t be an issue. But keep in mind that your distance to their Central Office will affect your speed. The further away you are, the slower the speed. CenturyLink also offers bundle subscription packages for television with Dish and DirecTV as well as home phone service. You can check to see what kind of speeds and packages are available to you by using their address checker on their website.

Cable
Optimum by Altice is Sparta’s cable provider. In 2020, Altice bought out the northern New Jersey branch of Service Electric Cable (the oldest cable company in the country). Cable internet tends to provide a very fast connection with speeds of up to 500Mbps to Sparta residents. It also doesn’t matter how far away you are. Optimum doesn’t have a data cap either, so that means you can stream, upload, and binge all you want. They offer reduced rate packages if you include television and home phone along with internet.

Cellular
Just like using your cell phone as a hot-spot, a specially-designed router that can accept a cellular SIM card can get you online. The cellular provider that’s going to be the best depends on who provides the best coverage in your home. The speeds you’ll get with an LTE connection (most cell phones run on LTE) are on par with many other service providers, especially if you can get the newer 5G coverage.

Both Verizon’s LTE and T-Mobile 5G plans have no data cap, but AT&T will throttle your speeds after 350GB (Gigagbytes). That means that after you’ve uploaded or downloaded 350GB worth of data, AT&T will likely slow your download speed significantly. Unless you’re binging every episode of Friends, Frasier, and Fixer Upper you should have nothing to worry about.

Fiber
The newest offering to Sparta is Planet Networks. Similar to Verizon FIOS, Planet Networks provides internet through fiber optic cable. If speed is what you need, then look no further. Their residential service is capable of providing speeds of up to 10Gbps (Gigabits per second), a ping time of about 1 millisecond, and no bandwidth caps. They also offer what is known as symmetrical speeds. This means that your upload speed is the same as your download speed. I can download at 250Mbps and I can upload at 250Mbps.

As of this writing, according to Planet Networks, they are rolling out their fiber throughout Lake Mohawk, Andover, Hampton, Wantage, Franklin, Fredon, Blairstown, and Frankford in the coming months.

Satellite
If you’re too far for DSL, aren’t supplied to by a cable company, are nowhere near fiber, and are in an area with weak cell phone service, consider satellite. With providers like HughesNet, Viasat, and Starlink, you really only need an unobstructed view of the sky, generally towards the southwest.

“An ubstructed view” includes bad weather. Severe thunderstorms or heavy snow can leave you with no internet. On the flip side, if that severe weather has taken out trees and knocked down cable and power lines, you will still have internet. (Provided your backup generator is powering your gear.)

Like cell phone plans that limit you to a certain amount of data per month, satellite providers, aside from Starlink, do the same. If your whole family is streaming lots of YouTube, Hulu, or Netflix, there’s a good chance you’re going to hit your cap early in the month unless you pay for a larger amount of data.

Another thing you may want to consider is satellite’s high ping rate. That’s how long it takes from your mouse click to the point where you begin receiving data. Your request has to go from your computer, up to the satellite, down to the website server, back up to the satellite, and then back to your computer. This may not matter when you’re generally bouncing around the web, but it’s less than ideal for online gaming. StarLink is less prone to high ping rates with their technology.

Lastly, you often have to purchase the satellite equipment. For example, StarLink hardware is about $500 on top of the monthly cost. With HughesNet, you’ll have to cough up $350 for the gear. These companies usually have lease plans or let you pay off the equipment monthly.

The Download

In Part Two, I’ll talk about how to extend that signal into your backyard. For some of us, our home WiFi is strong enough to creep out and cover where we need it. For others, it’s struggle to get any signal at all. Maybe you DON’T want WiFi back there. I won’t hold it against you. But for those who need their Instagram fix by the pool, stay tuned.

We all feel an obligation to do the best we can at what we do when providing for our families. And we want to be able to share with those who can’t be with our families. We enjoy our outdoor spaces and sometimes that includes bringing tech out there. At Sierra Landscape Management, we’re no different. If a little work has to take place in the backyard sanctuary on a flagstone patio, under a custom pergola, or next to a relaxing water feature, we’ll usually take that trade-off and get the work done. Even better is to catch up with family while enjoying that backyard. Call us today or hit this link to discuss what we can do to make your backyard even more enjoyable.

Related: How Much Does it Cost to Build a Fire Pit?
Related: Why Natural Landscape Design?