Is Satellite Internet The Answer?

[Uncle Sausage]

Is anyone using Pegasus/Direcway two-way satellite internet access? I'd like to know more about it but can't find a dealer with a demo set up.

[Uncle Sausage]

My 24K dial-up is driving me nuts and there's no hope of ever getting a DSL, cable or fiber optic phone lines in this area. I've heard the hardware price is coming down but the monthly fee is still around $70.00.

[Cool Guy]

Check if Sprint Wireless BroadBand access is available in your area, before you go with the satellite internet access.

[Texaggie79]

My dad uses Starband satellite they are in the boon docks. It is nationwide. Great speed, but $70 a month.

[jimtorr]

From a security standpoint, wireless data makes me cringe............but then, my boss insists that I'm a security "professional", so I'm supposed to be paranoid, I guess.

One consultant did something interesting. He took a drive through San Francisco with off the shelf wireless modems, and he pulled in all sorts of company networks. Banks, a certain credit card company headquarters, all sorts of major corporations. None of them had any safeguards at all to keep out unfriendly wireless connections.

I guess that really isn't much of a worry for us "common" citizens, though.

[VinnyTex]

Direct TV

and

<Dish Network are both good. I'm thinking of making the switch.

[Uncle Sausage]

Just checked Sprint's web site, they say they are suspending their efforts to acquire new customers.

[general_re]

If DirecTV and Dish Network have their way, they'll be merging very soon, and you won't have to choose anymore. Anyway, I've had DTV for a few years now, and I'm very happy with it ;)

[general_re]

...for satellite TV service, I should add - not internet. I'm rather suspicious of the serious latency issues involved in satellite internet....

[DeSoto]

I have had Starband internet service for over 14 months and I like it. I live too far away for any other system and my dial up modem topped out at 26.4kbps due to poor quality phone lines.

Dish Network and Starband has a package deal that gave us hundreds of TV and Audio channels for 40 $/mo. with internet capabilities for another 60 $/mo. That seems like a lot until you count what we cancelled to balance it out. The second phone line was 25 $/mo.: The ISP was 20 $/mo. We cancelled two cable TV connections at 28 $/mo. (one for me and one for my mom next door). Therefore we cancelled $25 + $20 + $28 + $28 for a total of $106.00 of cancellations and replaced it with $100 of new monthly charges. After we added another 5 $/mo. for the local channels we are still breaking even.

We have at several times as many TV channels and my internet speed averages around 600 to 700 kbps. I don't have a downside unless you count the couple of times that snow settled on the dish and goofed up the reception until I cleared it off.

Check out Starband.net, I don't think that you will be sorry.

(No, I am not connected with them in any fashion outside of being a happy customer)

[XBob]

sounds good - I have a motor home - does it have telephone too? that would make it perfect.

[DeSoto]

I should have sent people to Starband.com; .net is different. Sorry

I honestly don't know about a portable system. It took the installers a quite a bit of time to aim the dish since it had to align with 3 satellites instead of the usual two. Also the dish is a parabolic shape that needs to have all 3 axis adjusted properly. My system was a first for the crew and took a couple of days to figure out. I have reservations that it would work with a motorhome but I don't know. Check with a motorhome dealer/manufacturer, I am sure that others have tried it. Motorhomers are pretty ingenious people, if there is a way, somebody has found it 8^)

[Uncle Sausage]

Satellite internet won't work from a moving vehicle, but I think wireless would. Aren't a lot of semi's tracked that way? Check with some truckers to see how it works.

[Uncle Sausage]

The financials don't work well for me since I would still need my second phone line and don't have satelliite or cable TV (and don't want it).

How serious is the snow problem? We tend to get a bit from time to time here in Minnesota. 17" in some areas yesterday.

[DeSoto]

We rarely have snow here in Western Oregon. In the last 5 years we have had snow twice. The last time was about a month ago and we had 10 inches. That really stopped both internet and TV. I took a garden hose and sprayed water on it for a couple minutes and everything was OK. I had to do that twice. The second time there was less than an inch of snow before reception was gone. In Minnesota, I would figure out some kind of roof covering or place the dish under a roof overhang or something.

I agree with you about the TV connection. I don't watch more than an hour or two a week of TV. But I have an 8 year old that does like TV (so did I at that age). With Dishnetwork, there are several all cartoon channels, his favorite being the Cartoon Network that shows the same 30 to 50 year old cartoons that I grew up with. There is a Hallmark channel, Discovery channels, and, of course, Fox News. If an 8 year old kid has to watch TV (and he does have limits) then I am glad that we have the choices that we do.

[eddie willers]

I have reservations that it would work with a motorhome but I don't know.

Not a chance for current internet technology (StarBand etc.). FCC is VERY strict about uplink parameters (must hit a transponder 22,300 miles away) and the polorizing filter inside the feedhorn has to adjusted while getting feedback numbers from the ISP.

FYI...if the Echostar/DirecTV merger goes through, they will move the platform to Spaceway

[John O]

There is a web site called DBSFORUMS.COM that specializes in satelite TV and related issues. Someone there will have any system you are looking at and can give you the high and low points as well as technical aspects of the systems. These guys are hardcore satelite junkies.

God Save America (Please)

[DeSoto]

Eddie, thanks for the link to SpaceWay, I saved it to my favorites and will be checking back occassionally to see what is happening. I know that new technologies are coming that will continually change our world. As the growth in connection speeds expands, all kinds of information, entertainment, and communications will be available instantly at any location. This will facilitate great opportunities for providing people with services that will become 'necessities' in a few years. Perhaps SpaceWay will be a big part of that. We will just have to wait and see.

[DeSoto]

Hey! That is a great forum, I intend to check out several of the threads that I found there. I didn't know other forums besides FreeRepublic existed. 8^)

Thanks for the link, I appreciate it.

[fnord]

bump

[eddie willers]

Hey! That is a great forum, I intend to check out several of the threads that I found there. I didn't know other forums besides FreeRepublic existed. 8^)

And if you see a poster over there named eddie_willers...act like we never met.
We'll sneek up on the liberals. : )