Satellite internet... ?

[Valhalla1]

Moving to the outskirts of town, going to be losing my cable modem that I've worshipped the last two years, there is a different cable company for the neighborhood I'll be living in. too far for DSL as well, and ISDN is about $140/month for 128k dialup, which is rediculous.

Now I'm considering satellite internet service. Is DirectPC the only company that I can get this from? Is it nation wide or only in certain parts of the coutry?

Is there any satellite internet that is two-way and not dialup-upload? Do you have to have a seperate ISP for the upload dialup, or is it included? will it have local access numbers?

Is it time-limited per month, or unlimited? How much per month are the packages? I tried looking on directpc.com, and there wasn't sh!t for info on the site.

Would this be a better alternative to ISDN for me?

 

[pm]

Two suggestions: check IDSL and Sprint broadband.

IDSL is the DSL version of ISDN and is AFAIK always available on CO's that support ADSL. IDSL goes out as far as ISDN, but usually costs a lot less. PhoenixDSL offers an IDSL 144/144 IDSL package (inc. ISP) for $40/month in some parts of the country (the western half from my experience). Check out DSLReports.Com.

Sprint wireless broadband is starting to show up. Latency is high, but if you are considering satellite then latency can't be a big concern for you. $60/month.

Edit:

A couple of links:

Sprint
PhoenixDSL
DSLReports

 

[mikable]

There are alternitives. Starband will be available either at radio shack, or through Dishnetwork. Bluesky will be avaiable sometime late next year or spring of 2002. both are true 2 way systems. Also DirectPC will be converting to true 2 way some time next year.

Duno about DirectPC but Starband will be between 49.95 to 69.95 a month depending on who you talk to right now. They will anounce offical pricing oct 26, tomorrow! This is a always on unlimited connection with download rates averaging 350-600 Kbps (kilobits) with a guarinteed minimum download during peak usage of 150 Kbps. Upload is curently averaging 30-60 Kbps with 75kbps max, a future upgrade will double upload rate. LAG! this is a big issue with sattilites, average ping is 600!!!! Gaming is totaly out! Voice is poor and chat rooms are sometimes difficult. Can't be helped either cause of the distances involved transmiting the signal from the uplink location to the sat. and then from the sat. to you. However, for downloading it's a good system if you can't get DSL or Cable, and ISDN is way to expencive!


Bluesky is gona use a diferent technology, they're looking to get going fall of 2001 or spring 2002 with a 3Mbit allways on connection!!!!! however the lag issues will remain....



Good luck

M

 

[Gunbuster]

What happend to the LEOS (low orbit sats.) did they just abandon them or are these the new gen of LEOS?

 

[TSDible]

Here is a link to the company behind the bi-directional satellite access. Right now, you have to buy a preconfigured PC. But they are going to offer it in an external USB package in the near future. You may be able to see a demo at your local Radio Shack. Dish Network should support it later in the yeat.

Gilat 2 Home

Hope this helps.

 

[LordTrouble]

Look at teledisc.Teledisc

Most users will have two-way connections that provide up to 64 Mbps on the downlink and up to 2 Mbps on the uplink. Broadband terminals will offer 64 Mbps of two-way capacity. This represents access speeds up to 2,000 times faster than today's standard analog modems.

worth keeping an open mind.


But FORGET the current DirectPC. At one time I looked into getting a hookup from them. I found out that hidden in the fine print they reserve the right to limit your download speed (some have reported worse than a 28.8 modem) if they feel you are hogging the bandwidth. There was even a class action lawsuit filed against DirectPC.

 

[Valhalla1]

I went down to Radioshack today, they had a system set up with the Starband. I played with it, it was kinda laggy for internet surfing but when I downloaded a file, it was going at nearly 200k/sec, way faster than my cable modem (maxes out around 120 usually). and its a cloudy overcast day, he said it runs quicker when its clear outside.

they manager didn't know much about it at all. My main questions are :
1)when will the usb adapter thing be available, I'm not really willing to buy a $1200 pc just to get the satellite
2)will I HAVE to use their "pre-configured" pc for it, or can I just mimic the network settings on another pc and sell the pc they made you buy?
3)can I share the connection over my network, by running NAT software (Sygate or ICS) on the pc with the machine
4)when will 2-way directPC be avialable, and how much will it be, is it better than starband?

I'll be able to get over the online gaming thing, even tho I play online a lot, I'll get over it. I think $60 a month will be worth it, but I'm just not sure about the Compaq crap they make you buy. Also, I was upset that you have to buy the satellite and modem it comes with. I'd prefer it was like cable or dsl where you have the option of just renting the modem for $5/month or whatever, because if I cancel the service or move, what the heck am I gonna do with the satellite and modem??

 

[mikable]

Well, the USB box will be available to in a bundled deal with Dishnetwork about the same time it goes public in early november. It's rumored to be around $399. As far as moving the 2 pci cards, it's not "supported"...... however, it does work.

Looks like there will be a 1 year commitment also.


Networking is a pain but can be done. You need to proxy through Starbands program to get full bandwidth. It spoofs FTP and such to download without all the confermation packets.

For LOTS of info go to EchoStar Knowledge base

M

 

[bigbootydaddy]

yeah dont plan on playing q3 or having a great ping on satellite

 

[Dwight]

See if there is a wireless internet service available. It is microwave (2.4Ghz) using the 80211b or c standard. I have this service for $50/ and average about 950 up and down with pings in the 10 - 30 range. My pings on most CS servers is around 50. No latency issues on wireless. All you need is an antenna, cable, and card. Static IP as well. Very popular in my area as we can't get cable yet and DSL is only near downtown. Couldn't be happier.

 

[Valhalla1]

I heard that was only available in arizona?

and I live in a hick west texas town, I dont even know where to begin to look for that being available around here. there isnt a town larger than 50,000 people within 1 thousand miles

 

[TSDible]

Valhalla1

FYI...

Starband is Gilat. I think they are changing their name so that it is more recognizable. The link that I gave earlier is to them.

good luck. Keep us posted.

 

[NaughtyusMaximus]

Here's another link, but it doesn't look like teledesic will be out till 2003 or so.

 

[Bappo]

Well wireless is available in Idaho A few local ISP's offer it in this huge town of 40k. The one I have uses Lucent Wavelan stuff and another I know uses Cisco Aironet stuff. Both are very quick.

Possible your hicksville has one as well?

 

[XMan]

My friend has this service; they're supposed to move to two-way before the end of the year. They don't require you to buy a PC, also.

Satellite

 

[Valhalla1]

hrm..

well I talked to my old man, see if he could write off the pc as a business expense (he needs another pc at his office as it is, he could buy this overpriced one and use it an home, and take his pc to work).

anyway, he said he'd like to wait until late december to have it as a tax write off, so we'll leave the options open until then, see what pops up and what we can get, and then make the call then. have to put up with 56k for a couple months tho.