Satellite Internet ?

[skifreak]

Hello,
Any of you use or had prior experiences with satellite internet such as Earthlink or Direcway ? I live way out in the boonies, 17 miles from a major town, 6 miles from a town of 400 people in Oregon ,dont think I ever will see a DSL function out here, no cable available either. I know the upload speeds are slow, but the biggest concern is how weather affects the signal especially in the NW. I can only get 19.2K on my dial up, LOL. Got the need for SPEED ! Thanks for your comments !

[bailey]

satellite internet is good under your conditions, good speed and as long as the weather is clear, the signal is good.
not usally good for networking, or on line gamming, other than that it is better than nothing at all or dial-up

[damontgo]

i agree... satellite is probably the best option for you. in the middle of nowhere where this is little "tele-traffic" i've heard the connections are better anyways. i've also heard that weather might affect you less, depedning on your dish... maybe false info., but worth looking into if its true

[Redfallon]

I don't know about earthlink, but direcway is 2-way satellite, where the uploads no longer go through your phone line. Thus the u/l speed should at least be decent, and I think last I heard they had 2mbps down. It's a little pricey, but beats dial-up if you're out that far.

[glc]

The last 2-way Direcway I worked with was pretty bad, but it beat dialup for downloads. It used a proxy server to get decent download speeds, but the lag was nasty and the upload speed was as bad as dialup. Hopefully they have improved things.

[drb46]

We had direcpc for about 8 years and have recently switched to a "wireless ISP"
I would suggest that you check around for one of these ISPs before you invest in the satellite. I believe they are based on microwave radio signals, and you do need a direct line of site to one of their towers. I think the signals travel for about 10 miles from the towers. You can check here for them: http://www.broadbandreports.com/psearch

If you can find one, it's way better than satellite and cheaper too!

[Guyfin]

I have the direcway 2 way system in Ohio. Personally, I wish I just used a 56k phoneline instead. Yes, this is much better than 56k for downloading, but surfing the web, I do not notice much of a difference than a 56k in the time it takes to open a page. It also is a pain to have to wait for good weather to be on the internet. Sometimes even the slightest storm such as a little rain will make me lose connection.

Direcway also charges a whole lot on installation. I believe it was ~ $500 for the satellite alone. I also remember that the cable from the satellite to the house cost $2.50 per feet, while the same cable at Lowe's Hardware store was under $.30 per feet.

If I were you, stick with 56k, unless you really think it is worth $59 months for slightly faster downloading.

I have also heard talk of a new technology with an internet connection through your electric company, and it may be better to wait for this from the way it sounds. I can't confirm this, I only heard of it from a friend.

[Redfallon]

Originally Posted by Guyfin I have also heard talk of a new technology with an internet connection through your electric company, and it may be better to wait for this from the way it sounds. I can't confirm this, I only heard of it from a friend.

I've heard of this around our area also (Cincinnati), don't know what all utility companies will offer it, but yes it will be via your power lines.

[skifreak]

Thanks for all the replies, satellite appears to be too weather sensitive especially in the NW, probably work well in the SW with abundant sunshine. Cant justify its high cost for possible interuptions.

Wireless broadband isnt available to my location however I did notice that Sprint suspended its wireless broadband to new accounts, I read somewhere else that security is a problem.

Did a search on the powerline technology, one article says digital signal cant travel thru a transformer. In the USA ,theres a transformer for every 5 to 10 houses where in Europe its one trans. to 150 homes so its more cost effective there.

I think wireless is the way to go if the technology issues can resolved, seems like there are towers everywhere, guess if I need speed I will have to rely on skis or my dirt bike