Hey People with Satellite Internet Service

[SkydiveJack 1]

Do any of you have any recommendations for the service provider you use? Is it better to pay more for the faster packages? Any advice would be appreciated.

I’m in a situation where my local broadband provider (radio receiver/transmitter on the roof type) is stopping service in my area. I live in the country and we have no cable and no DSL out here. So basically Satellite is my only option now.

Thanks in advance!

• Quote

[Gawain 0]

I don't "own" but have used HughesNet. The speeds were okay, somewhere under 1Mbps. The upstream sucked though and the latency was just... It was expensive too.

So, your cable TV provider does not offer internet? Who is your telephone carrier? You might check with your local power company. A lot of smaller local utilities have been laying out fiber utilities through their rights-of-way and you may have an option there. It's not cheap either, but fiber ISP speeds are stupid-fast.

Hell, I'd even consider calling the phone company about setting up an ISDN line...it would be more reliable than satellite and almost as fast.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[JSBIRD 1]

Jack,

If you can get a cell signal at home, try http://www.millenicom.com/mobilebroadband/index.html
No contract, and you can take it on the road with you.
Best deal I've found so far for that type of service, even if you have to USB to an external antenna.

HTH,

BASE359

"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"

[SkydiveJack 1]

Thanks for the tips guys!

I love living out in the boonies, except for no cable or phone company DSL service.

[Muenkel 0]

I have HughesNet as I too live in an area with no cable or cell phone service. My only choices for internet are dial up and satellite.

Satellite is not as fast by any means as dsl, but it is tremendously faster than dial up. Weather can sometimes be an issue, but not too much. If you live in a winter climate, I would suggest having the dish accesable so you can clean any ice or snow that may accumulate.

I pay about $96.00/month which includes the service contract and technical support.

I do not regret switching to satellite at all.

_________________________________________
Chris

[JohnnyD 0]

Posting live on satellite. I live in a winter climate and I've never had a problem with snow. The only time I've noticed a problem was a lightning strike 15 yards away, but I had to take a minute to change my shorts anyway. If you're a gamer, which I'm not, you may wish you had something else, but for remotely working and general post whoring, it works great. I won't switch to dsl when it finally gets to me.

[JSBIRD 1]

Hey Jack,

I hope you'll let us know the final details of your decision between cell and satellite.
Costs.
Speeds.
Customer service
etc.

Good luck.

BASE359

"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"

[popsjumper 2]

We have DirecWave. For the most part it works well..
- sunny days
- off-peak times
- usually when you don't really need it.

Other times it sucks
- rainy days
- peak hours
- afternoon hours.

The glitch is:
There is a limit on downloads. Exceed the download limit and it reverts to dial-up speeds until 3am and then resets the clock for normal speeds. Do a lot of downloading and you're screwed.

Maybe it's the package the DZ purchased, I dunno. But it is really aggravating when somebody comes in and downloads a bunch of stuff and kills the speed.

If you sign up for DirectWave, be sure to ask about this...it's not something they tell you beforehand.

Gamers? Forget it. I can't imagine gamers being happy with it.

VoIP? Probably not good for that either.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[SkydiveJack 1]

Quote

Hey Jack,

I hope you'll let us know the final details of your decision between cell and satellite.
Costs.
Speeds.
Customer service
etc.

Good luck.

BASE359

Well, I ordered the system from Millenicon and I should have it next week. I'll let you know how it works once I've had it a few days. The thing I like about it is that I can take it anywhere I go.

[SkydiveJack 1]

Quote

Hey Jack,

I hope you'll let us know the final details of your decision between cell and satellite.
Costs.
Speeds.
Customer service
etc.

Good luck.

BASE359

Well, I have the unit and am using it now.

Cost is $59 per month and I had to pay a one time fee of about $50 to get set up with them. There is no contract so I can cancel at any time.

It is sure faster than dial up but slower than the broadband (radio antenna on the roof) system I did have. I have had some problems getting a good signal inside my house but it seems to work fine outside on my deck. My wife and I had been talking about getting a cell phone repeater/amp for a while due to weak signal out where we live so we went ahead and ordered one. It should be here in a few days. Hopefully this will clear up the signal problem we have in the house.

On the down side, we have to take turns using it on our laptops since it is only one unit. Performance is affected by bad cell phone coverage.

On the upside it seems to be a good interem step while we pump our local phone company for DSL service out here or get a satellite system. Also, we can take it with us on trips this summer and have internet service if there is a good phone signal. We could also use it in the car and maybe get traffic reports before we go through a big city.

So all in all, I'm happy with it for now but it is not what I want for the long term.

Thanks for the tip Jay!

[Glipazide 0]

I had HughesNet back when it was first popular and had only downloads via sat. and uploads via 56k modem. It totally sucked.

Are you going to game with this connection? I believe your ping will be horrible if so.

http://sexygirlabs.com/url]

[mdrejhon 8]

Quote

Do any of you have any recommendations for the service provider you use? Is it better to pay more for the faster packages? Any advice would be appreciated.

I’m in a situation where my local broadband provider (radio receiver/transmitter on the roof type) is stopping service in my area. I live in the country and we have no cable and no DSL out here. So basically Satellite is my only option now.

Thanks in advance!

Cellphone is better than satellite. Faster (usually) and better prices even.

When I travel, I prefer a Cellphone with Bluetooth, and a laptop with Bluetooth. One could use a laptop card, but I prefer a separate cellphone when I travel to cottages because that way, you can park the cellphone on a high shelf or where there's better cellphone reception. And it uses Bluetooth to link to the nearby laptop. Works wonderfully in weak-reception areas.

To speed up web surfing about 3 or 4 times, you can also use use www.propel.com ($4.95 per month) to accelerate your web surfing -- it is good for satellite and surfing with a cellphoen modem.

If this is a more permanent home Internet connection, you can also share a cellphone connection by enabling "Internet Connection Sharing" (Windows XP) on one of your laptops, and then connecting a second laptop through the first laptop (using a direct Ethernet-to-Ethernet cable as crossover, or even using WiFi. If you use an external WiFi router, you'll have to do some complicated configuration; it may be easier to use a Ethernet crossover cable between your two laptops). If you are more technically inclined, there's an even better alternative: You can also install a quick Linux distro to turn another old computer or laptop into a router (i.e. equivalent of your "make-your-own-Linksys-router"), and you'd be able to share your single cellphone connection with all the computers in your household. Works best if you've managed to get 3G cellphone reception though. Make sure you are aware that most cellphone Internet plans are limited in data (i.e. 5 gigabytes per month). If you don't do too much streaming video and/or torrents, then it's typically enough for the average Net household - but might not be in the future...

[JSBIRD 1]

Hey Jack,

Glad it's workiing for you, albeit not as fast as you might like.

The better signal you have, the faster your connection should be.

As far as sharing your MC connection in the house, you can use one of these... http://www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/2297/63/
It is compatible with your 680USB.
Place it in the best receiving location in your house, then wireless everything to it.

HTH.

BASE359

"Now I've settled down,
in a quiet little town,
and forgot about everything"