A reprint from an earlier post, with some updates and an updated update at the bottom.
 
As you all should know by now there is a broadband initiative in progress to bring fiber optic to our homes and businesses.  This is based on grant applications from the government to pay for the infrastructure and will likely require several years to actually complete. We are very hopeful that this will happen sooner rather than later, but a couple of years is the best-case scenario.

In the meantime, what are the choices? Many of us have Windstream DSL. This is ranging from great for a few folks to awful for more folks. The majority seem to have truly mediocre service. There are many homes that do not have Windstream DSL at all. They vary from cellular hotspots to HughesNet, to nothing at all. HughesNet, by many accounts, sucks. Dish also offers a satellite service. Those satellite services appear to be costly up front, expensive per month, and limited in the amount of usable data before surcharges kick in.
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Cellular connections, ATT by the lake and T-Mobile near the Rural Events Center, seem a workable solution. I don’t know if anyone is using a Verizon hotspot but I imagine that would be fine also. Cellular hotspots can be a great option if you have a good signal. The devices have a fairly low onetime cost upfront, and the monthly charges are not outlandish. The speeds vary, but seem to be in the 20 to 30mbps range, which is OK. Generally you will need a data plan so that’s a factor to consider.

I now have 2 people using Starlink as an internet solution. I worked with one person in setting it up and testing it. I’m going to briefly describe that and then below I will include the other person’s review.

My friend received and unboxed the Starlink device which consists of an antenna and a wifi router connected by a very long (75’) cable. The antenna is meant to be outside, on the roof for example, and the router is in the house, plugged into a power outlet. The setup of Starlink is done through an app which I downloaded to my phone.

The instructions are extremely simplistic. Basically, plug it in, connect to its broadcast through your phone, then use the app to configure it. Configuring asked 2 questions, what to name the broadcast and what password do you want to use. We left the password blank for now.
That was it. It went through some gyrations where the antenna looked for a satellite, and after a few minutes, it was ONLINE. I ran the speedtest option provided in the app and it showed 190mbps download. Upload was quite a bit slower, around 9mbps. Still, the download speed was astonishing, almost hard to believe, so I went into Chrome to test it and started to pull up some news articles. Sure enough, they were very fast to load.

The antenna for this setup is just sitting on the ground for now, so not an ideal location. The router was sitting on some buckets, and we were close by. It should be even better when everything is placed in more proper locations. We went in the house to see what the speed was like and the speed test still showed 50mbps down and 5 up. These numbers should improve with better device placement.

At one point the connection went down and I looked at the antenna and it was moving. Apparently, it decided to find a better satellite. That was cool. The disconnect was only for a few seconds. Presumably, as more satellites are launched, this service will improve. As of now though, I think it’s quite impressive.
 
The upfront cost of the Starlink is similar to other satellite services at about $600 with shipping, so it’s not cheap. (link: )  The monthly cost is about $110, and there is no contract for that, nor is there currently any data cap. For a stopgap measure though, my guess is that the Starlink resale value will be high. So, investing in Starlink now, until we get fiber, may make a whole lot of sense for some people.
 
UPDATE, 09/16/2022:
The Bondy's have been on Starlink for about 4 months now and are very happy with it. There are several people in the Abiquiu area using Starlink and it's pretty unanimously liked. 

I have a Verizon phone. It’s an iPhone. I don’t think it much matters about the brand though. A few years ago the phone app started a transcription where it offers to play the voicemail and it transcribes it to text. I do like that feature. It does not change the status of the voicemail being on Verizon’s server, however. My voicemail box resides on Verizon’s servers. I can play messages that have downloaded to my phone, but they still remain with Verizon, even if I delete it from my phone.
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In order to listen to my voicemail on Verizon, I have to call my voicemail box, either using *86, or calling my phone# and interrupting the greeting. I use *86 because I have for a decade, I then go through and listen to the messages. I can save a message, by pressing 9, or delete the message, by pressing 7. I have a lot of saved messages from family, because they are especially cute. Yes, I am a dork.
 
You don’t have to listen to the whole message to save or delete it, just press the 7 or 9 once it comes on.
 
AT&T also uses the 7 & 9 for save-delete, as does T-Mobile. Below I have the 3 major companies listed with a link to read about how to setup, listen, save/delete your voicemail. That way when I call you, I won’t get a 'mailbox is full' message.
 
Verizon - https://www.verizon.com/support/voice-mail-faqs/
 
AT&T - Access Voicemail - AT&T Wireless Customer Support (att.com)
 
T-Mobile – https://www.t-mobile.com/support/plans-features/voicemail
The T-Mobile page is good except it fails to mention that a 7 will delete a message.
 
Here’s a link that explains how to setup your voicemail on the 3 major carriers, if you haven’t already. https://www.androidpolice.com/how-to-set-up-your-voicemail-on-every-major-us-carrier/

I got an email suggestion for a tech tip which I appreciate. It was a WP article about setting up texting on your PC, or Mac, Android, etc.
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There are some ways you can use texting on a computer and that can be useful. I don’t have a tablet, for instance, and use my phone and computer for everything. Back in the olden days when I was a programmer, I was able to send out text messages to support person via the mainframe computer, using their phone# and the phone company’s special link.  That’s an option still.
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Windows has a link for connecting text messaging acroass devices, and there are, of course, third party apps that you can get. The article my friend sent me is HERE. 

Another way to do this is via GOOGLE. As they are attempting to control the world, they have conveniently set up a way to use your computer as a mobile phone. If you go to voice.google.com you can set it all up. I have a google phone number associated with my gmail account. I don’t know what it is or how to use it really, but I set it up to test all this and it does work. I have another friend that doesn’t have a mobile phone. I have a few friends that still have flip phones. It’s not out of the question why someone might want this. My friend, let’s call him Grizz, wanted a security camera for funzies. A trail cam would work, but I wanted him to have a wifi camera that swivels and has night vision, and sends text message alerts. That requires a smart phone with the camera’s smartphone app, or does it?

I setup the Google account on my PC so it could receive text messages. There was a remedial PC app that works with the camera. So, it all works without a smartphone, though the initial setup did require me and my phone.

And another thing. I got my iPhone so I could do facetime. Literally, that’s the only reason I switched from Android. Eventually, Whatsapp came out with video calling, and it’s cross-platform. I can Whatsapp on my PC, my iPhone, and Android devices. I Whatsapp with my friends in Portugal. As a way to send messages and make video calls, I love it.

From Rick's Daily Tips

Several people have brought Brian computer components that were friend by recent lightening storms.  Protect  your electronics.  This excellent article from Rick's Daily Tips explains why.  One of the best protections is to unplug your electronics during an electrical storm or when going away on a vacation.

​Question from Shelby:  I bought a new computer the other day.
The salesman told me I won’t need to plug it into a surge protector because the power supply automatically protects it from over-voltage.

Is he right? 

I don’t want my computer to get damaged by lightning but I also don’t want to buy something I don’t need.

I’ve always heard that we do need to use surge protectors, but now I’m not sure.

Rick’s answer: Shelby, I could give you a short answer to your question (it would be NO!!!), but I’ll explain why you do need to plug your computer into some sort of surge suppression device.
The electronic components inside all computers are very easily damaged by power surges and lighting strikes, and that includes the power supply itself.

While it’s true that most computer power supplies do provide some protection against small, short duration power fluctuations, they are NOT designed to withstand a strong power surge or lightning strike.

What’s more, even surge suppressors themselves aren’t immune from power surges and lightning strikes.

They are often either destroyed outright if the surge is strong enough or weakened to the point where they no longer provide any useful protection against future surges, leaving you with a false sense of security that your equipment is being protected.

That’s why if you want the most protection possible from your surge suppressors, you should consider replacing them every time your local power line takes a direct hit from a lightning strike, even if they “appear” to be working just fine.

Bottom line: You really do need to keep all of your computer gear plugged into a quality surge protector at all times.

You also need to replace your surge protectors after your local power grid takes a a direct lightning strike (i.e. when your home’s power goes off during a thunder storm).

If you know how to choose a good one you can buy a surge protector at a local retail store.

However, if you might find it helpful to read the user reviews for the surge protectors sold on Amazon. They have an excellent selection for you to choose from.
I hope this helps, Shelby. Good luck!

There are several reasons you might want to clone your hard drive, one is for a backup. While not an ideal solution in some ways, a clone will allow the substitution of the cloned drive for the live drive, if the live drive fails, by simply swapping the drives.
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That sounds great except the clone is date specific, so it you made the clone 6 months ago, then you computer will be back up and running…as it was 6 months ago.
 
Another reason to clone a drive would be if you are going to swap out your old, mechanical hard drive for a faster SSD-Solid State Drive. I make clones for that reason mostly.
 
The software I typically use is Macrium Reflect, the free version. It’s fairly simple to use and works almost every single time. You can download it HERE. 
 
Another option is to use Clonezilla. It’s also free, and might be a better option as it works on both Macs and PCs, using a thumb drive to run. Instructions for that are HERE. How to Ghost a Hard Drive (with Pictures) - wikiHow