Rayfield Communications

05/31/2026

04/09/2026

We had a major internet service outage this morning at about 8:00 am that lasted for approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Show Me Technologies, which gives us our internet feed over fiber, had something go wrong. But they had it back up quickly and everything looks great now. If you're still having any problems, be sure and call us to let us know. You can call us at 859-1990.

03/18/2026

Buffering...What is it and what causes it?

You know it as that rotating circle on your TV while you're trying to watch that really good movie. This indicates that your TV isn't getting a 'signal' or enough data to display the TV programming properly.

The cause for this can be for several reasons. If you're experiencing buffering while watching streaming TV, your first thought may be "I don't have enough internet service speed/bandwidth". That could be true, but there are other reasons that can cause this, too, such as a problem with the source of the programming (the 'channel' that you're trying to watch), a problem with your TV or media device (such as a Firestick or Roku), an actual problem with your internet service connection or with the wifi in your home.

With our internet service, you should never experience buffering due to something in our system. If you do experience buffering while using our internet service, we want to know immediately so that we can find the reason and get it fixed as quickly as possible. We can check many things remotely and if necessary, we'll send someone to your home to look into it.

Again, if you have ANY problem with your internet service and/or wifi from us, please let us know immediately. Our goal is to have 100% satisfaction with the services that we offer.

12/18/2025

I haven't posted anything a long time, so I thought it was time to post something.

Over the last couple of years, we've been busy upgrading our systems.

We've been gradually replacing the 1st generation of wireless equipment that we started with, with a new line of 2nd generation equipment that operates on all new frequencies. The result for you is that we can offer faster speeds (download AND upload) if someone needs faster internet service.

We've also been upgrading the routers/access points that we use in your home or business. These routers give excellent performance and up to 7 can be used to cover the largest areas. These are called Mesh Routers. Over the next couple of months we'll be replacing everyone's router (if you have an older one) with one of these new routers.

We also now have fiber connections into all of our primary tower locations. This gives us plenty of bandwidth to get on out to your location with the fixed wireless connections.

Between the new equipment and the fiber connections, the latency (the delay that it takes for the data to get from point A to point B) is around 9 ms to 20 ms. A fiber-to-the-home connection will typically run in the 10 ms to 15 ms range, so the latency on our systems is now comparable to fiber and if not the same, not much more at all. (1 ms is equal to 1/1000th of a second - pretty tiny). Latency usually doesn't affect streaming video or telephone (unless it's really bad, like 200-300 ms or higher) but it may be noticed with online gaming if it runs 50 ms or more.

I plan on posting some information on what kind of internet speeds are needed for different types of uses - such streaming HD, streaming 4K, telephone, VPNs, etc. This should be in my next post.

And, please, if you’re having any kind of problems with your Rayfield internet connection or in-home wifi, be sure and let us know.

John Rayfield, Jr.

04/01/2024

ShoMe Technologies had an equipment problem that took our internet feed from them down. That's extremely rare and we're sorry for the drop in service. We know how much everyone depends upon it.

09/15/2023

We had trouble with a network switch in our internet service network, for the past 2 hours or so. It didn't affect everyone, so some of you may not have noticed any problems. For those that did, I'm very sorry. Everyone should be back up and running well now. If you are still having trouble, please don't hesitate to give us a call - 417-887-4663.

08/12/2023

We had an outage this morning that affected quite a few people on our service and I want to apologize for that. There was a pretty big lightning strike somewhere around downtown that took out the power to the old water tank where some of our equipment is located. The strike was so strong that it was heard clear up at Hampton Ace Hardware on the north side of I-44 near Spur Drive. Fortunately it didn't damage any equipment other than a surge protector (it did it's job well) and a couple of fuses feeding power to the water tank. Next week we'll be putting on a backup power system at this site so that even if we lose AC power again, the internet equipment will keep running (assuming no lightning damage). Whenever anything like this happens, we always look for ways to improve our network to keep things working better.

John Rayfield, Jr.

08/11/2021

I want to apologize to all of our internet service customers for the outage this morning (Aug 11). A piece of equipment failed, which was actually very odd, since this particular brand of equipment is very dependable. I suspect that it may have been damaged by some power problems on Sunday (caused by the lightning that moved through the area). We're going to install some additional power system equipment that should prevent this type of failure from occurring in the future.

John Rayfield, Jr.