Does anyone have information about satellite?

Jennie@ifish · 05-12-2003, 03:55 PM

I am so sick of dialup. Sometimes I have to wait a full 2 minutes for one page to load. My work would be so much more efficient if I had a faster connection, yet neither Charter cable, nor DSL is available. ISDN is available, but seems nearly as expensive as satellite, and not nearly as fast.
I sure would like to talk with someone in the know about it.

Can you network easily? How much does it cost? I looked at Starband and it seems very pricey, especially if I want to network with Andrew, so I don't have to fight him for time.

Jen

24 on/ 48 off · 05-12-2003, 04:24 PM

If I was in a location without cable or DSL, then I would be eagerly awaiting this

--spud-- :smile:

Gus Orviston · 05-12-2003, 04:50 PM

I looked into starband when I couldn't get either DSL or Cable...right dead center in Hillsboro no less. Had to ISDN for a while and it was 100$/month, the Cable bill was nice to see when it finally reached our neighborhood. The issue I ran into was you can't use VPN with a sat connection. For most this wouldn't be an issue, but for my job it is so Sat was out. Peformance was about 500Kbps down, and 64kbps upload, whichis adequate since most users aren't uploading all that often. ISDN was 64 1 channel or 128Kbps combined, plus a phone line. 64Kbps ISDN performs way better than dial up as the latency is basically zero and your connection is always solid.

As for the number of connections, just get an IP router and there shouldn't be a problem. Anything inside your house would be Peer to Peer and wouldn't be seen behind the router.

gus

Conspiracy Theory · 05-12-2003, 06:04 PM

Another thing you might check into is wireless. The property I bought (will move there when my house sells) does not have cable and is too far away for DSL. But there is wireless available. A nice broadband connection at 256K (the same speed as the cable modem I have now) is actually cheaper per month than the cable modem I have now. Only thing keeping me from doing that now is $450.00 initial outlay for equip. I live in Longview so I don't know what would be available in your area.
Good luck

Conspiracy Theory · 05-12-2003, 06:05 PM

Another thing you might check into is wireless. The property I bought (will move there when my house sells) does not have cable and is too far away for DSL. But there is wireless available. A nice broadband connection at 256K (the same speed as the cable modem I have now) is actually cheaper per month than the cable modem I have now. Only thing keeping me from doing that now is $450.00 initial outlay for equip. I live in Longview so I don't know what would be available in your area.
Good luck

[ 05-12-2003, 07:08 PM: Message edited by: Conspiracy Theory ]

24 on/ 48 off · 05-12-2003, 06:30 PM

I doubt she'd be able to get wireless. Juno Hill sits between her and Tillamook.

--spud-- :smile:

Fast Water · 05-12-2003, 07:38 PM

Jennie,

Do you have a shot at the Southern sky at all?

If so you could try Direct TV internet service.

Kind of spendy at $580 for hardware and $60 a month. Any extra funds from the drive to apply to this?

:smile:

RvW · 05-12-2003, 09:17 PM

I'll echo what Mark said, have an installer come out to see if your within sight of the satelite which is in the southeastern sky at about 33 degrees elevation. Call Direcway and they will send someone out at no cost to see if your within view of the sat.

There are many options when it comes to satelite internet. You can either lease the equipment (modem, dish, LNB) or purchase it up front. Price varies depending on who you buy it from but is in the $500 ballpark. There is also an option of one way or two way service. The one way still uses a phone line for outgoing requests, uploads etc while incoming information is delivered via sat. Two way utilizes sat in both directions for those who need both upstream and downstream speed but costs more. Hope you get it, you'll love it...VERY fast!

AuntyM · 05-13-2003, 06:50 AM

I am in the middle of the woods surrounded by trees but we can still hit the (DishTV)satellites. Just put the dishes on the north end of the roof and taa-daa!

We will probably switch to starband from dial-up in a month or two. I am also interested in info!

snowball · 05-13-2003, 06:56 AM

most sat. companies now offer some type of Sat dsl. The thing to keep in mind is fast downloads, slow uploads. It is an improvment over dial up, but not so much that i can justify cost. I have isdn due to being on call for work. I use verizon and have not had any issues- I looked at sat and wireless, but again, cost didn't justify the means

Jennie@ifish · 05-13-2003, 07:20 AM

Snowball, I think you are wrong.
I think satellite is much faster than ISDN.
Not sure, but that is what I was told.

Jen

sinker · 05-13-2003, 08:59 AM

snowball,
The old sats were slow because you have to use a phoneline. The new ones are 2-way dishes and are very fast!!
My brother has directway. His top speed is about twice as fast as my cable.
He had the option of paying $500 up front for eqpt. and then $50 month or free eqpt and $100 month. He went with the $100 month. After a year long contract it's pretty much a wash and he didn't want to fork out $500 fo eqpt only to watch another dot com company go under.
I'd recommend the sattelite. The only thing he doesn't like about it is that the ping times are to slow for gaming, but his dial-up was so slow he couldn't before anyways.

[ 05-13-2003, 10:00 AM: Message edited by: sinker ]

RogueFishr · 05-13-2003, 09:31 AM

I use Direct TV's 2 way system (called DirecWay) an home, and I have the Starband 2 way set up at work. I am very happy with both of them. I came from reeeeeeeally bad dial up speeds for years (26400 bps on a good day). The satellite has been great. Download speeds are better than ISDN, and upload speeds are a little worse. Upload speeds are a little better on the DirecWay system. Also, on the connection (or staying connected), the DirecWay wins again. The Starband seems more affected by fog and rain than the DirecWay system. The Direcway system seems less affected by adverse weather. Snow on the dish will take them both down though (easy fix: go out and hose the dish off). The prices were comparable for the 2, so I would shop around and see who has the best deal. If you have sattelite tv, you can combine the TV receiver dish with the internet dish.

RF

seastripes · 05-13-2003, 10:31 AM

I wanted speed and mobility. I use Verizon Wireless' Mobile office setup. I'm currently connected 230.4 kps and that's plenty fast. With my cell and laptop, I can go anywhere. It's $80 for unlimited dialup. The less expensive plans are a joke. You can do 10 megs in 1 hour easily. There's some good verizon calling plan offers out there right now too. You also have to get the software from Verizon at a 1 time charge @ aprox $70. I'm happy with the reliability but haven't traveled with it much. yet. I've used both ISDN and DSL and this setup is just fine.

[ 05-13-2003, 11:35 AM: Message edited by: seastripes ]

Jennie@ifish · 05-13-2003, 12:35 PM

Verizon wireless mobile wouldn't work out here, cuz we have such a poor signal. Bummage.

..and no, paying for satellite is my own personal luxury... Not out of the donation funds.

That'll be eaten up plenty fast by the monthly access fees for the host, anyhow.

Jen

[ 05-13-2003, 01:37 PM: Message edited by: Jennie@ifish ]

sinker · 05-13-2003, 03:51 PM

I forgot about the Verizon wireless. A friend of mine drives long haul and has that now. It's unlimited if you're within their home calling area but if you're out of it the cost is something like $1/min.
But it's twice as fast as dial-up and goes with him everywhere.

RvW · 05-13-2003, 09:06 PM

wireless is out of the question if your not in a heavily populated area such as Portland and parts of Salem and Eugene..forget about it. Theres a common misconception that if you can "talk on a cell phone" you can access the web, and send pictures and yadda yadda...not so..you need to be in a "data enabled" location to send and recieve data plain and simple. nothing to do with digital or analog signal. Tillamilk farm and fish people are not so fortunate to have this state of the art communications medium enabled in thier area.

Direcway (Hughs) is the only option in your neck of the woods (assuming you can "see" the sat. unless you want ISDN)...gotta get a second phone line and commit TWO lines to ISDN which still doesnt compare to sat speeds, but would be your only option to dial-up if you cant see the sat.

(Charter, which I am sure doesnt go out there because I built thier plant!...might be planning to expand...but Id bet on a mule in the preakness before Id bet on them bringing broadband to you)

Just call Radio shack in LC...they know a contractor in Till county.

Jennie@ifish · 05-14-2003, 04:39 AM

Soooooo.... Oregon Fishing Club just got satellite and I've been talking to him.

Here are some comments from him:

Quote:

Here is a phone number to order Satellite DSL from Earthlink 1-800-635-0373.
The dish is about 3 feet across, a little larger than a tv sat.
Up front cost was $800 and its $70 / month for service.
We have it on on computer but I think networking is available.
You need a clear line of sight to the south and a place to mount the dish.
The last tech to visit was the best, and he said mounting the dish on it's own pole is best.
He also ran a ground wire for us and spent some extra time dialing the dish into the best signal possible.
It's a narrow little beam and aim is crucial.
Dial up sucks.
I do like it.
Very nice.
Was kind of a hassle to get running, but worth it for where we are located.
Couldn't use phone or tv lines and wanted the igh speed connection.
On our own beam too, and don't have the network hassles.
More secure ? Maybe.
The technician who installs it needs to get it right, we had three different guys out and it took roughly 20 hours of their time to get it working.
Always the hard case.
Also Earthlink needs to talk to Direcway needs to talk to Hughs to get things done, and it can lead to some frustrating phone conversations.
All better now though.
Brian

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">So, now, the question.... Do I want to save up and go to Disneyland, or save up and stay home and go to www.disneyland.com?

:smile: That's a ton of money!

It's the start up that bothers me. I already am paying for two internet dial up accounts, and an extra phone line, so the monthly costs, would be about the same.

Maybe I should show them this thread and ask if they want further advertising in exchange? :smile: I wish!

Jen

RogueFishr · 05-14-2003, 07:19 AM

shop around. You can get the same system with lower start up costs. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I have DirecWay and Starband both and I like the DirecWay better. DirecWay customer service seems better to deal with than Starband. I had a great tech guy install my DirecWay system. he was at the house about 90 minutes. I thought the Starband guy was going to have to spend the night. You should be able to get either system for lower startup costs ($500 instead of $800). DirecWay also had a program where you could pay $100 a month for a while instead of the $500 up front to get started.

RF

snowball · 05-14-2003, 12:38 PM

ahh did i say something about isdn being faster or slower than sat dsl?
I must have been asleep during that post

Jennie@ifish · 05-14-2003, 04:18 PM

Where do I shop around?

How do you find that kind of deal?

Jen

RogueFishr · 05-14-2003, 07:40 PM

I got my DirecWay here: http://www.nationwidesatellite.com/direcwayspec.asp

They mailed me the equipment and lined up the tech guy to install it. They have 2 packages for purchase: low down and more per month for 12 months, or the equipment fee up front and then the $59.99 a month.

RF

sinker · 05-14-2003, 08:50 PM

Jen, my brother has Direcway and had no upfront fees. I'll talk to him and see who he went through.

sinker · 05-17-2003, 11:13 PM

My brother is here right now and he went directly through DirecTV. Gets you out of having to pay earthlink for doing nothing.