Carla M | Albemarle Sound
The Albemarle Sound region of North Carolina is a varied quilt of farms, elegant old plantation homes, and small towns formed by crossroads. It attracts fisherman, history buffs, and anyone else who's susceptible to the charms of country living, yet it's close enough to the Norfolk-Virginia Beach metro area in neighboring Virginia for many residents to commute there for work.
Carla and her husband Tony have been Albemarle Sound residents for 20 years. They live in Belvidere, home to just over 1,200 people. Belvidere is largely a farming community, though many residents also commute to the Norfolk-Virginia Beach metro area. Local attractions include a dinner theater at The Onley Place, a local barn converted into a performance venue; a well-known country store called Layden's that sells its own sausages and smoked hams; and the Nicholson House, a restaurant located in a historic Victorian mansion.
"The customer service is always excellent. We very seldom lose a signal due to a storm, and if we do, it's only for a couple of minutes."
Carla and Tony enjoy the laid-back pace of life in the Albemarle region, and their property offers them the space they need for two of their passions: gardening and caring for five farm cats and a dog. HughesNet Gen4 helps them avoid one of the few downsides to living in the Albemarle Sound region – spotty Internet service. Although their land is fairly secluded, HughesNet Gen4 satellite Internet service enables Carla and Tony to shop, Web surf, and attend online auctions.
"I love HughesNet. The customer service is always excellent. We very seldom lose a signal due to a storm, and if we do, it's only for a couple of minutes. Since we got Gen4 I like HughesNet even more," Carla said.
When Carla had her own graphic design business, she used HughesNet Internet access for web design and to Skype with clients who lived overseas. Animal care is Carla's current passion, and her HughesNet service has enabled her to take online veterinary assistant courses.
"When you love animals as much as we do, it helps to have some basic animal care knowledge," she said. "Without HughesNet I wouldn't have been able to do any online training. It's great knowing I can attend any classes I'm interested in if they are offered online."
"Without HughesNet I wouldn't have been able to do any online training. It's great knowing I can attend any classes I'm interested in if they are offered online."
News can also be hard to come by through conventional channels in the Albemarle Region, so Carla and Tony also use the HughesNet service to stay in touch with events and people all over the world.
"Until you have talked to someone on the other side of the world using the Internet, you don't realize the power of the technology," she said. "We depend on the Internet tremendously to stay in touch. We are seldom able to catch the news on television and the newspaper doesn't cover everything. We depend on HughesNet for information and research."