Beaver Island Michigan

Our new house in Georgia has terrible AT&T coverage and we got one of these microcells a few weeks ago. So far I have mixed feelings -- we get several bars of signal within the house, but data connections still seem to be very slow and voice sometimes gets choppy. I'm going to bring it along on ...

If at one time there was a charge to fly over the service tech, we have discovered on our last two service calls this is no longer the case, at least for our particular service calls. If you elect to use Direct TV, locate their service number (hopefully, 1-800 toll free) and request a service appoin...

You spurred me to do more research. Apparently, whether cell repeaters are legal is an open -- and controversial -- question. One interpretation of the rules is that even if the unit is FCC approved, you need the carrier's permission to use the unit. However, the FCC hasn't specifically said that is...

I looked into this a couple of months ago, as our place is about 3/4 mile south of where the cell coverage seems to end. There are two kinds of repeaters: one is a "passive" device that's simply a directional antenna on one end of a piece of cable, that you mount outside as high and in the...

Thanks, Jim. I thought that Eager Beaver had only large spaces available. I'm looking for just a small unit. But I'll be on the Island Friday and will check to see what they have.

Is there any sort of small storage unit available on the Island (or any equivalent storage facility)? We need a small space -- 6 x 10 feet would be more than enough -- for overflow from our house.

Thanks,

John

Can I just say the "Cormorant Harrassment" is a wonderful name.

With a tip of the hat to Dave Barry, it would also be a great name for a rock band.

Our house is just south of the "~31080" cutoff for DSL availability on East Side Drive -- we're at 30910. The person on the phone at TDS sees from their records that we're beyond the limit, and says "not available." Since we're not far from the dividing line, I'd love to give it ...

I'm sitting in the new Community Center as I type this, using their Wi-Fi hot spot (which, frankly, has been the most reliable Internet access I've ever had on the Island!). All I can say is what a great job the Beaver Island community did to create this place. It's truly first-rate, and everyone sh...

We're looking to hire a couple of strong backs (I'll skip the other half of the saying!) to help move some furniture at our house on East Side Drive over Memorial Day weekend. We will have a 5x8 trailer of mainly small pieces and one heavy TV to move into the house, as well as a living room set to m...

Hi Jeff -- Thanks for the info about the Wild Blue latency. Don't want to turn this into too much of a geek-fest, but here's a link I found that explains at least one problem with VPN over satellite: http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/127542.html They point out that the way VPN encrypts T...

Dwight, for what it's worth, I've used Nortel VPN while using Central Solutions wireless in town both using the pay-by-the day option and as a guest at a house. It worked just fine. I think the issue with satellite connections and VPN is the latency -- the trip up to the bird and back down is long e...

That's a great picture, Frank!

I just posted some shots that I took at
http://www.febo.com/beaver_island/icebreaker/index.html

John

The house we recently bought came with some excess furniture, so we have a couple of items we'd like to find a good home for. There are two apparently new (still in plastic wrapping) twin mattresses and a twin "bunk board." We also have a very nice wooden crib with a drop side. Price is ve...

Now that we have a place to stay,* and a beater car to leave on the Island so we can take advantage of the plane as well as the ferry, our small family is coming up to spend Christmas week plus a few days. Are there any activities going on, or is it a quiet time? John * After weekly rentals for five...