I am thinking of getting the Dish Satellite system to replace the current cable system we have now. We also use the cable system to access the internet and would like to change to the satellite system for internet access as well. Does anyone use the satellite for internet access and if so what is your experiences?
a buddy of mine had satellite internet access and found it wasn’t near as fast as DSL or cable. Also for whatever reason the weather had more of an effect on his internet service then tv service. Eventually he got a cable modem instead and tells everyone with great passion not to get satellite internet service. I guess your mileage could vary, but with as much passion as my buddy hated his satellite internet service I would be wary. For what it’s worth he loves satellite tv though.
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that satellite internet is not suitable for gaming; you have a built in lag of at least 750 milliseconds, which makes almost every FPS or RTS totally unplayable. Plus problems with the weather, and its slower than cable or ASDL.
It’s also asymmetric - your upload is by dial-up and the download is by satellite. Latency is off the charts, and depending on how many customers are online, you may have a bit of a wait while your data is queued up for broadcast.
It’s a perfectly fine option if you live in the absolute boonies and can’t get cable TV. And, being in the boonies, you won’t get DSL either. Anywhere else, stick to cable modem or DSL.
I have a friend with DirecWay (2-way satellite, no phone needed). There is a huge lag. Games that depend on fast communication just aren’t playable. There are also large variations in transfer speed. Some days it blazes along just find, then other days it’s slower than dial up. He also has a transfer limit, where his bandwidth is severly reduced if he transfers more than (I think) 300 megs in a 24 hour period.