I’m out in the sticks and I’m getting sick of dial-up. The local ISPs offer DSL, but not out here in the sticks. It looks like my only option for high-speed Internet at this time is satellite Internet, specifically WildBlue.
It appears to be a bit of an investment: $300 for the equipment, 1-year contract, and $179 installation fee (although they’re offering free installation through May 15). The cheapest plan (which would be plenty for me) is $50/month. I’m currently paying $10/month, but I could certainly justify the $50 as a business expense now that more and more of my clients are sending files instead of hard copy. Mt current e-mail account chokes on anything larger than about 2MB. Also, from a presonal standpoint, it seems like more and more of the interesting online content is downloadable or streaming media, and dial-up just can’t handle streaming or the huge file sizes. Downloading software updates would also be a lot easier.
We do currently have satellite TV (Dish Network) and that has been mostly fine. We lose signal occasionally during storms, but I tend to shut down the computer and pull it off the grid during T-storms anyway.
But I’m a little leery. Suppose the equipment turns out to be junk, or the service sucks? That initial outlay, plus the contract, is a bit daunting.
I’d love to hear about anyone’s experiences with satellite Internet in general, or Wild Blue in particular. Have you been happy with it? Any drawbacks or technical problems?
I’ve got nothing to contribute to the question you actually asked - sorry - but I do want to bring Gmail to your attention. It’s free, you can receive up-to-10-mb files in one gulp, and you have around 2.7GB of storage space in your account. I can’t recall if they’re still doing the Invite thing, but if you need one, just mail me at the e-mail listed in my profile.
I had it for several years with Direcway, DirecTV’s version of satellite internet. It was better than dial up but, as you note, vulnerable to atmospheric conditions. Very heavy cloud cover could reduced throughput (or knock it out) and lightning storms were bad bad bad for both TV and Internet. Though I can’t really blame them for that.
I generally got between 200-600K and occasionally higher. Not bad for online role-playing games (I played a lot of UO at this time) and perfectly fine for email and general surfing.
Don’t get me wrong, Cable, which I have now, is vastly superior. But when your options are dial up or satellite broadband take the satellite. It’s worth the leap.
I do have a Gmail account but I never use it. Wouldn’t help with media downloads, and I’d rather not make my clients have to remember a special address for sending files.
I have a feeling that atmospheric disruptions would still be an improvement. About a third of the time the handshake doesn’t take and I have to dial again. I’ve had my modem tested in another machine and it’s fine, and other computers here have the same problem. And our phone lines can be wonky out here as well. I had the repair number for CenturyTel programmed into my cell phone for a while, it got that bad. The last time they replaced our NIC box outside, and so far it’s been OK, but I haven’t been holding my breath.
Also not happy with my ISP’s spam filters. Too many false positives and too much spam still getting through, and they’re not particularly inclined to be helpful when I call.
What about broadband via cell phone? One of my co-workers doesn’t have access to cable, but does have access to broadband cellphone service via verizon and uses that as opposed to a dish and swears by it. He feels he gets somewhere between dial up and DSL. (he doesn’t get the 'broadband", because of access, but the next level.) Another who does have true broadband via verizon feels it’s the same as cable.
So depending on your location, this may be a good option.
Cell service isn’t any too good here. With my current cell phone I often have to stand outside and the reception still isn’t always that great. I also see that Verizon appears to want you to have a phone plan tied to the wireless Internet account, and (1) I don’t use my cell (Tracfone) enough to warrant a full-fledged plan and (2) they don’t seem to offer phone service for my zip code anyway. The other thing is that they seem to require either the phone or a PC card for connecting. This is a desktop machine and I don’t have a PC card slot. Not gonna upgrade either; my next upgrade is gonna be a new computer, and not for a while as this one works fine.
We are in a very rural area and have always been behind the times technology-wise. I’m surprised there’s DSL anywhere around here already, even if it is only in town. (Our house is 5 miles from the nearest small town, 40 miles from anywhere that could be considered a city, and a couple of hours from both Madison and Milwaukee.) The services that people in metro areas take for granted are just not here.
So please believe me when I say that satellite service from this particular company is my only option for high-speed Internet right now.
I appreciate the intentions behind alternative suggestions, but for right now I’m really looking just for opinions on satellite Internet. (And I’m kind of surprised that no one seems to be using it right now!)
Congratulations, yours was the post that finally pushed me over the edge to resubscribe. I have direcway myself and I do consider it at better choice than dialup for me. However it is not a good choice for everyone. you already know about the equipment and contract requirements, but you should look into somthing called the Fair Access policy(FAP) for whichever company you choose. Both direcway and wild blue have them but they are implimented quite differently. What they boil down to is if you download or upload too much data in a given period of time your connection speed will be dropped or you might even get cut off from connecting at all. That limits my downloading of media and occasionally even software updates(I had to download XPSP2 in 2 different passes because it was bigger than my downloading limits, and the average linux distro would have to be stopped several times to keep from shutting the connection down). That said I have had great results with downloading stuff within those limits.
Uploading, not so great. With direcway my uploading is not much faster than dialup and on occasion is even slower. so if you need to send out large files be prepared to be annoyed.
I looked at WildBlue’s FAP and I don’t think I’ll ever touch their limits: 2300 MB upload/7500 MB download per 30 days for the cheapest plan. I don’t do gaming, movie downloads, or anything like that. Short media clips once in a while, and any work-related files would be in the tens of MB max, and that rarely. I admit I have no idea what my daily surfing bandwidth is, but I don’t go to a lot of “high-octane” sites, as it were. My dialup handles most of them OK, it’s just that the image-heavy ones load mighty slow.
That being the case, chances are you will be reasonably happy with wild blue. My habits have changed since I got broad band(mostly downloading more video and audio clips) and I will, at times, find myself cursing direcway and faps, but I really have no desire to go back to dialup. That said, I have offered the nearest cable company 3000 dollars to run a line to me, unfortunantly, they won’t go for it
I had DirecWay and had to spend $1500 to install it (partly because my house had no view of the southern sky and I had to network the barn).
I got about 100k when it worked, but I also had frequent outages and other problems. Tech support would usually not have any explanation but often say they “feel I would be much happier” if I upgraded to the $100/month premium package (I had the $70 package).
I joined “Broadband Reports” discussion forum and learned way more than I wanted to in the process of trying to keep it all going.
Several months after the warranty expired, my system failed, and tech support said I just had to replace it all. Instead, I cancelled the service and put a splitting maul through their damn “modem”.
My options are either 9 k (yep, 9) dial up, or satellite. I’ve got DirecTV and DirecWAY.
I’m really quite happy with the Satellite performance. We get a lot of big snowstorms where I live and we rarely loose reception. You do have to bush the snow off the dish, so you will want it somewhat accessible.
Every once in a while I get real close to getting satellite but just can’t do it. I have to access work via a VPN and according to the Direcway (now HughesNet) FAQ VPNs and satellite broadband don’t work especially well together so it seems like it would be just a marginal improvement if any over dialup, work-wise. The added speed would be nice for recreational use, but not so nice I want to pay what they’re asking for.
That said, if you don’t use a VPN and you can pay for it through your business I don’t see a good reason not to get it.
Well, my dialup ISP pissed me off again today. Their spam filters are Teh Suck. And so, unfortunately, is their response quality. I don’t need more boilerplate on how to change settings in Microjunk OE.
Another nail in the coffin. I may have satellite service by the end of next month.
I have been on Wildblue for about 6 months now. Best way to go IMO for people in our situations…
I went to actually see peoples DirectWay systems and I was not happy and so stuck with dial-up. When I heard about Wildblue and went to observe in peoples houses actually what it did, I chose to go with them. I use the Business or highest priced service as we have two computers online at the same time a lot. And I wanted the higher upload speed.
They do regular maintenance on Tuesday and Thursday nights late on our gateway as we are night owls, that is sometimes irritating.
Talk to a dealer and ask all the question you can think of.
The tech line I call is answered 24/7 by some geeks that are very good and very helpful. One time our down gate ( Syracuse, NY ) was wonkers and that was causing us some difficulty. Weather in a squall line that lines up between my dish and the satellite will cause signal loss if it is big enough and also weather at the other end ( Syracuse, NY ) can mess me up but I would say that in 6 months, there is very little down time due to the system or weather. Less than our dish TV.
I don’t use the Wildblue email so I have no idea how it is on spam. Gmail sucks on spam in that I have to delete it myself from the spam folder. I never put out my Wildblue email addy so I get nothing on it. I usr the email I have been using since 96 just fine. I get about 5 spam’s a week on that one. They do a great job.
That latency thing that satellite has still niggles me but I have had great broadband in other places and am spoiled. I want 7000K up and down fiber optic for $10 per month and until I get that, I am going to complain…
Final answer ------- Go Wildblue.
Find a friend on Wildblue now and make sure they get the credit for you joining, gives then a cheap month and you can pass it forward.
Pfft. Except for my computer guy, I’m the most technologically tricked-out person I know – and he’s a dealer for the dialup ISP. (And he has DSL [with another company!] because he lives in town. “Our” ISP doesn’t even have DSL in this STATE yet.)
The main trouble with satellite is you have built-in lag time that’s not going to go away (fundamental radio distance and speed problem.)
You can’t play online action games or any games that require a constant fast ping. If that’s a concern you may be better off with a good dial-up connection. I used to have a steady ~150ms ping on dial-up and did very well in CounterStrike, TFC, and Day of Defeat.
There’s a perceptible delay between clicking on a link and seeing the page. You’ll probably get used to it quickly. Downloading things like MP3s isn’t so bad because once the data starts, it comes in a pretty fast consistent rate (200-300,000 bytes per second on DirecWay IIRC.)
Also, there’s only so much bandwidth available in a satellite so don’t expect to be able to download lots of data (I’m talking hundreds of megs) in a short time. They’ll cut your speed back for a while.
Otherwise it’s a hell of a lot better than dialup.
No worries there, I’m not a gamer. Mostly interested in not having to waaaiiiiit for sites to load, and being able to handle large files now and then. Monthly at most, tens of MB.
Heck, I’ve got that now. I’m sure the new “delay” will be a lot quicker.
Well, I’ve heard that you expand your usage to fit capacity (you know, like a gas ), but files in the hundreds of megs, when I run across them AND want to download them, usually give me pause. It still seems like a mighty big chunk of stuff – do I really want/need it? Usually the answer is no, or I can order a CD, or whatever.
I talked to the dealer today and they’re offering an extra $100 off the equipment, besides free installation. That pretty much seals the deal. I still have a few tech questions that the office person handed off to the tech people, but after those are cleared I’ll be signing up!
), but files in the hundreds of megs, when I run across them AND want to download them, usually give me pause. It still seems like a mighty big chunk of stuff – do I really want/need it? Usually the answer is no, or I can order a CD, or whatever.