I work out in the sticks, where DSL and Cable Modems are not an option.
I know there are satellite options (and perhaps some Antenna Frequency options), but I was wondering whether any Dopers had the scoop on such products.
I have heard bad things and good things.
Cost is very much an issue (I imagine corporate rates are higher than residential).
Any info?
This ISDN (which really seems like a decent to good dialup rate) is too slow. Too much internet content is now relying on Broadband connections.
ISDN (here in the UK, at least) seems to keep getting rebreanded and repackaged all the time and it used to be a good option, but it really isn’t enough now that webmasters are starting to assume that people are visiting their sites via broadband.
Satellite broadband is apparently OK, although in some cases, the uplink is still done with a dialup line or similar; I’ve heard that there are certain things (such as Virtual Private Networking and online gaming) that don’t work well across satellite broadband connections because of latency issues. The telecom companies here are discounting satellite quite aggressively in order to roll out broadband to as many customers as possible.
One option which is not currently available, except in a few trial areas, and has some controversy surrounding it is broadband over powerline (BPL), which we’ve discussed before:
You might want to watch developments in this area. The FCC seems to be interested in fasttracking this technology, which was thought dead a couple years ago. The ARRL and other ham radio groups continue to scream bloody murder. The proponents continue to counter that there’s no problem.
If it’s available where you want it, I would consider wireless. I’m dubious about satellite. But I have no first hand experience with either.
I’m using satellite right now. I use DirecWay, but Starband is another. Many folks reccomend Starband over Direcway but Starband prohibits connecting to a home network and DirecWay doesn’t. I have a dish about 4’ across aimed at a satellite 22000 miles above the Galapagos Islands (which is pretty funny because I live less than an hour from their Network Operations Center in Maryland USA). My system uses satellite both for uplink and downlink, and does not rely on phone or anything else. Uplink is supposed to be, I think, 50 K/s and downlink 500 K/s.
It cost me $600 to start, and $60/month (IIRC).
The speed is usually much better than dialup. My daughter just moved back after having cable at her appartment, and she said she thought they seemed the same. But I do lose service in bad weather.
Also, there is a fraction of a second delay in back-and-forth communications with satellite, which I hear messes up some special applications like games. This has not affected me.
I think you’d have to be dumb as toast to use satellite if you could get cable or dsl. I also tried to get isdn but it’s $200/month where I live (because the phone company put ISP’s in one area code and users in another and made it a toll call, even though both area codes operate inside the same phone company building - it’s “long distance” from one side of the room to the other). However, this is way better than dialup, and I am glad I have it.