from what i understand, the line to the house from the street is old fashion cable line.
i had direct tv a few yrs ago.downloading and cable tv wasn.'t too bad, except during thunderstorms from the south. but we had to use the telephone line to upload everything. the option to upload by satellite was there but the cost was outlandish.

Jeff, the problem is that there is no line in the street - the line from town ends about 1000 feet from our property. Our neighbor to the north, another 1000 feet from the end of line, is the person who had the $10,000 quote and that is a few years old. I really should revisit this and see if there are other customers who could share in that cost. It's not Comcast, but a small (I think) company called Charter.

it can't hurt to ask the cable co., things change after a few yrs.
direct tv wouldn't be my first choice but it's not bad, it just has limitations. all you need is a clear line of sight to the south.

I see this all the time..... The satellite option works (Hughsnet or Exceed). However, if you can get a few people together, the Cable CO might just realize it's in there best interest to get a hard line to your house. This happened to some friends of mine on the east coast. Ultimately they paid $1100 to get the line down their driveway but got credits toward the service

You might check with that cable company again. My Mom and Dad bought a home that was only half finished in a neighborhood that wasn't completed yet. This was back in 1954, but the charges for running utility lines was expensive. The utility company told her, every time someone else connected to the line she would get some of her money back.

If you have a rural broadband provider in the area, that's the best option. DSL is inferior to any Broadband (basic cable supplier), and Satellite i.e. Direct or Hughes is the worst. With today's streaming options, a single movie will eat up a whole month's worth of data. Do a SEO search, see if you have some rural providers and check their coverage maps.

Thanks for keeping me informed. I considered satellite, but after more consultation with Charter (the cable company), it turns out that they could supply me with service with no installation charge, so that's what I now have. Problem solved.

1 movie download could have cost you an entire month of data via Satellite or Cellular. Your cable company (Broadband) is your best & fastest option, normally unlimited data is provided. That, and if you have any children or guests, normally I recommend 20MB download 1 or 2 MB upload speeds if there are a couple users in household.

Glad you worked something out with cable company!