My local just recently got fiber out to us (ironically just before I went back to the nursing home, where I'm currently posting from). Before that, we had really shitty DSL running on copper that had been in the ground since before my parents got married. ...I should mention that my 'local' has its office about 50 miles away from my home. Rural phone service sucks.

And with the unemployment thing coming to an end soon, a more expensive plan really isn't viable in the first place. Dammit. I hate logic sometimes.

Short of us all chipping in to get you a dedicated hotspot and a heap of data for use with same (which would pose the same problems, I'm thinking, as the current arrangement), there's not much else I can think of...