Before you spend any money's - If you have a usb cord that you can borrow that will allow you to move that usb network adapter around a little, you might find it works fine when moved even just a foot or two away from where its at. Also you might install something like inSSIDer and check/watch your signal strength to make sure youre not on a same channel a neighbor is using which will be degrading yours. Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/

I am lucky and I'm also very thankful to have the opportunity to visit this amazing country. Meeting up with Meredith was planned a while back. She and her friend were planning a trip to Europe and they picked their time to have few days overlap with ours. No fool that girl.....no accommodation expenses and of course Daddy was picking up the dinner tabs! Unfortunately we won't get to Normandy this time but there will be a next time ! Tomorrow we explore the vineyards of Medoc .....Annie tell Elery I'm making sure I get his share of the reds!

Another thing to consider is a wireless internet provider (WISP). After suffering with dial up for years waiting on cable or DSL to reach me, a WISP finally started service in my area. Although I've only had my wireless service for a few days, so far I am very impressed. I appear to get faster service than the LAN at my employer. WISPs use a radio signal to send the data to a small antenna at your house. The WISP will provide a modem and from there is very similar to cable or DSL. WISPs are generally cheaper and more reliable than satellite internet (no rain fade)and can be much faster. For TV, satellite might be your only option, but both DirecTV and DishNetwork offer competitive plans that should work as long as you have an unobstructed view to the satellite. There are usually plenty of good first time subscriber offers available from both companies in which you can get receivers for up to 4 rooms for free or with one DVR for around $50. The link below has a lot of good info on WISPs and a link to a list of WISPs. Here is a link that might be useful: Wireless ISP Users Chat

A lot depends on how much you want to spend. To me, dealing with an outage means we maintain essentials, and not luxuries. That means we keep the gas furnace, water pump, freezer, and refrigerator running, and provide a little CF light in each main room. That's it. OK, it doesn't take that much to keep the computer modem and network up, and a laptop doesn't use much energy, so that too. Maybe a small television set. But that's it. I mean it. :) I don't expect to have all the comforts of home when the power is off. If we can comfortably read our books, take showers, and so on - that's enough for us. We can cook regardless, thanks to the gas stove (just light with a match), and the water heater is gas too. Enough power to run an electric space heater - no way would I pay for that kind of extra genset capacity. We have a gas furnace and a woodstove with backup-powered fan, what else do we really need? I say let the whiny family members whine. Running an electric heater is redundant anyway, if your backup power is a genset. You have an engine making waste heat. Why not just duct in the heat from its radiator if you want some extra? As for fuel, I've seen natural gas fueled gensets that sat for years nearly unmaintained, and started right up when they were needed. The downside is that in a really dire situation nat gas service may be interrupted. But if it's that bad, you're also going to have trouble getting more gasoline or Diesel fuel when you run low. And large capacity onsite liquid fuel storage is a hassle, for where to put it, and keeping it fresh and safe. If you absolutely have to store fuel onsite, at least LPG won't go stale or evaporate. You could also go all out and install a grid-intertie PV system with backup battery and (optionally) genset. Then you can (eventually) pay for your backup system through the reduction in your electric bill from the energy your PV generates year-round.