Satellite Internet - opinions on this?
 

Ok, my ISP is REALLY pissing me off, I swear these rednecks around here couldn't keep shit running for 10 minutes if their lives depended on it, so I need to look for an alternative. The only thing is, my only other option is Satellite, so I need to know the pros and cons of this please?

Directwave is what I am looking at so far, but would do about anything to get off this crackerjack ISP I am on now.

are you on dialup? or dsl
if you have dsl keep it, if not the sat is better than dialup. Especially for downloading large files.

BTW i think you mean DirectWay, i was one of the first to get one back in 2001.

There is a bit of a lag when you click on a link because of the time it takes for the signal to travel to space and back. Other than that it's ok. Upload speeds are still very slow. I use to get like 10KB/s up and 300-400 KB/s down.

I'm so glad I moved away from the boon docks. I have RoadRunners new super fast 1MB/s up and 10MB/s down now.

Directway, that's right, sorry, my bad.

I am actually on a cable isp, Mediacom, and when it is good, it is extremely good. But man, when it goes down, it is insane trying to get support, they lie to me about WHY it went down, tell me it is going to take 2-3 DAYS to get out here to fix it and so on, and it is really getting annoying. The techs here are ... well, uneducated fools, I know more about the net and computers than they do. I have to literally tell them off to get anything done, or tell them to put me on with a Head Manager.

If it rains, it goes down, if the wind gets too high, it goes down, if they upgrade or update software or hardware, then it really gets ugly around here. lol

goodgirl had sat for several years . . . was worse than dialup in that it was slower, and was down as much as it was up

My aunt and uncle have directway and I think they still use AOL because it is so horrible. I tried connecting to it once and I had all sorts of issues, it went out once when the weather went bad. There is a lag as well. I did not like it at all. I thought dial up was less hassle. You should not have that many problems with cable.

buy no means, DO NOT SWITCH TO SAT from cable! you will regret it

Sat will have it's own share of outages as well as bad support people.

satellite internet will cost a FUCKLOAD!!

Directway is no more it is now called HugesNet.

http://www.hughesnet.com

I'd say try it if you have no other options.

I have Mediacom as well ... most of the time its good. But like you said, when its down .. you're fucked.

DirectWay is cool especially when I go to the sand dunes for a weekend of fun but still need to work.

Don't. Unlike sat tv where you aim the dish in the general direction and you get great reception, you have to get sat internet exactly set, all the time .... as far as uploading, use the postoffice.

We currently have DirecWay satellite internet because we live in an area that doesn't have DSL or cable available and let me tell you, I miss dial up.

It goes down when the weather is bad. Raining, snowing, cloudy etc. The lag just loading pages is unbearable, especially if there's a lot of images on a page.

That's not even the worst of it. The home plan for Direcway only allots you 169MB of downloads and no more than 22 TCP connections in a 4 hour period. If you exceed 169MB in 4 hours or have more than 22 TCP connections open for more than 4 hours, they will cap your bandwidth down to NOTHING so that you are barely online at all. I'm talking 0.02kb/sec. They claim it's because of their FAP (Fair Access Policy) and government restrictions. Their business plan isn't much better. When they cap your bandwidth, they give it back to you slowly... like over a 2 or 3 day period. It's painful, trust me.

On top of the worst internet service in existence, the actual satellite is $600 to install and $60/month. :disgust

It's awful :Oh crap We are moving soon to an area where we can get real broadband and I cannot wait!! I'm going to burn that dish down before we leave too! :1orglaugh

Oh and upload speeds are around 2kb/sec at the most. Sometimes 4kb/sec.

By the way, look into Verizon wireless... maybe you have access in your area.

It's so much better.

Check out a great price for it here:

http://buytelco.directtrack.com/z/163/CD918/

You won't ever go back :thumbsup

wow, sounds like fun :)

Oh boy, I think I'll stay where I am for now then. The last thing I need are MORE problems and dialup makes me so crazy that I'd be better off checking into a mental institution..... anything worse than that they may as well shoot me. YIKES!!

Thanks guys and gals, I appreciate the feedback. :)

great post, lotsa things I never knew.

You should try DSL. I've heard that satellite is *very* fast but *very* expensive. I think you need a radio license before the installation.

If you live in a rural area....
And you can't get DSL or Cable...
Other than satalite, what are someone's options?

I've yet to hear a single good review of satalite from anyone, in any country.

Although I live in the city, so it's a nonissue. I have a 5M/512 cable, and a T1 circuit both running into home office so I am never down.

:thumbsup

ISDN, or data circuit.

:2 cents:

Forgive a non-technical person.
What is ISDN or data circuit?

I have direcway. Its a little quirky and slower than cable. I kinda regret making the switch. If your ISP is that bad, might be worth it though.

[img]http://www.********************/ioncannon.jpg[/img]

Lol wrong on all counts. It's NOT that fast, I got it installed for a couple hundred bucks (they spread the cost of the dish itself over a few bills), lol and no license.

think of it as a last resort option. my sat phone has a data link - good in emergencies, but generally too much of a pain in the ass for any extended period of time.

Real satellite internet from a good company is fast like hell, but the ping is slow, so its not so good for www surfing, but its great for downloads and uploads.

Maybe give http://www.wildblue.com a try. They're supposed to be faster then direcway.

You can read the pros and cons here

An ISDN line is essentially in English a 128k connection u/d. You are basically taking two 56k phone lines, and with help a router, getting 128k. They typically run around $50-100 and you need to buy a router. It's old technology, but available in rural areas, and almost every C.O.. It's just slow as shit.

A data circuit would be a T1, frac T, or high end would be like OC8 (nothing you'd need, only using as example). A data circuit will vary in price. But you will have a remotely decent speed. A T1 for example is 1500/1500. Price varies by company, and area.

Some companies offer a frac-T, and those can be 256/512, etc. Again, price varies, and speeds are same up and down.

One good thing about a data circuit. The speed does not fluxuate like cable. So you will always get the same speeds pretty much. They are also same up and down. So you can do video conferencing, phone calls, and so on without delay.

:thumbsup

Check out ka-band satellite.

www.wildblue.com in the USA
www.anikast.ca in Canada

I'm on it. I've lost my signal 3 times since it was installed last September and I'm in the snowbelt of Ontario. Way better than direcway. speeds are good.

Thank god for cable lol.

If a cell phone works where you're at, chances are you can get wireless Internet (Sprint, Verizon...).

http://www.sprint.com/business/produ...elessData.html

Look in the phone book for internet service providers. There may be some ISP's in your area that offer a Microwave solution. (i think it's microwave)

Anyways what it entails: The isp installs one or a few towers around their user base area. These towers have the internet piped to them hard cable or piggybacked via the next closest microwave tower. Then they install a small microwave receiver/transciever at your house that is in direct line of site with the tower.

I know of several people & businesses in my old home's area using this system. I have also seen this technology on one of those tv tec shows. Here is an example: http://www.startouch.com/Community.htm

I have HughesNet and I hate it. I have no choice though since I'm in the country. I envy those who have cable. If it wasn't for just building this house 2 years ago, I would move. It's extremely slow with uploads - downloads aren't too bad if you have smaller files.

For those who have a dish/es and snow builds up on them, I sprayed waterproof spray for shoes on both dishes and it works fantastic.

I have Spring EVDO service at my new house, it functions in 1xRTT mode there which is around 128k-150k down/10k upload

When I'm in a city area the same card pulls between 400k-1mbs down, I run this into a Kyocera KR-1 Router and share it with as many pc's as need be, check Sprint or Verizon for the service and see which speed you'll get in your area.

Actually, that is a very good idea. I recently purchased it for my laptop for when I am out of town and it is the best business investment I have probably ever made.

Verizon Wireless

Download speed is okay, but upload speed is slow as hell like dial up

Well I did some serious looking into this late last night, and I have to say, the ONLY thing I seem to be able to get in my area is either Mediacom, which is what I have, or Directway, and from everything I have read, even on the WORST possible day, my Mediacom is way better than Directway.

Mediacom is extremely good when it is good, and if we had better techs here, I think we wouldn't have as many issues. But one of the techs that actually knows his shit, he and I talked for a long time one afternoon and he says they pretty much hire anyone that walks in and needs a job, they aren't formally trained and know precious little about a computer, much less anything else. THAT is the only REAL problem we have, but it can be extremely frustrating when the idiots have to upgrade equipment or something, because it never ever fails they break shit hand over fist.

BUT I guess I will be staying on this, it beats things I have read about Hughes....... god knows I don't need anything WORSE than what I have. :Oh crap