Satellite internet connection
- Thread starter rum4by5
- Start date
powerboatr
living well in Texas
from the research i did on whether or not to buy the gear for the RV.
OUCH its $$$$$$$, anywheres from 3 -5 k for a mobile system on the roof and 700-1500 for a pole tripod portable system, this was of course not inlcuding a monthly connect fee of 49-69 buckaroos per month, but if i made my living that required an online connection 24/7 if would be nice, but...
the tripods may be an exstinct animal soon as the fcc is looking to enforce some restrictions on mobile set ups, like it has to be XX feet off the ground, and cant be pointed at certain angles so your not zapping people with a low energy beam
etc.
you start putting an antenna thats almost a meter across and weighs close to 40 lbs 6-8 feet off the ground on a tripod and you need some serious tie downs....
the one that mounts to the roof of the rv is
but its very $$$
a home station is less expensive 700-1500 for gear and such,
best thing is you need no land line to establish a connection
but the speeds available are fantastic
click here
OUCH its $$$$$$$, anywheres from 3 -5 k for a mobile system on the roof and 700-1500 for a pole tripod portable system, this was of course not inlcuding a monthly connect fee of 49-69 buckaroos per month, but if i made my living that required an online connection 24/7 if would be nice, but...
the tripods may be an exstinct animal soon as the fcc is looking to enforce some restrictions on mobile set ups, like it has to be XX feet off the ground, and cant be pointed at certain angles so your not zapping people with a low energy beam
etc.you start putting an antenna thats almost a meter across and weighs close to 40 lbs 6-8 feet off the ground on a tripod and you need some serious tie downs....
the one that mounts to the roof of the rv is
but its very $$$a home station is less expensive 700-1500 for gear and such,
best thing is you need no land line to establish a connection
but the speeds available are fantastic
click here
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BJS
Full Access Member
There is a guy on one of the other boards I'm on that used to have satellite internet because of where his house is that was his only choice of high speed internet and his dialup option put him with a >30kbps connection. He used it for a while and was getting a discount due to being a reseller however that discount dissapeared as did he for a while. He's back on the site with dialup since they did some improvements to the telephone infastrucutre he can get an acceptable dialup speed now.
The simple answer is that if you have Access to DSL or Cable internet access then it's definately not worth it. If you spend hours on the net and have the choice of Satellite or dialup then it might be worth it.
When I worked at a computer store in '97-98 we had one that we tried to setup for a demo but never could get the satellite to aim correctly and neither could their field service rep even with a perfectly clear southern view. And that one was one of the very early ones which was satellite download and land line upload.
The simple answer is that if you have Access to DSL or Cable internet access then it's definately not worth it. If you spend hours on the net and have the choice of Satellite or dialup then it might be worth it.
When I worked at a computer store in '97-98 we had one that we tried to setup for a demo but never could get the satellite to aim correctly and neither could their field service rep even with a perfectly clear southern view. And that one was one of the very early ones which was satellite download and land line upload.
CBSuperDuty
Got Looney???
I don't have it but the wife and I are looking to move toward the country so I have been looking into it. I know of people that have had the version from DirecTV and they thought it was OK. I recently (although I haven't personally seen it or talked to the guy yet but I do intend to) heard of a local campground getting service from a company called Wild Blue and they love it. I have not used this system so take this opinion with as much as it cost you.... $0.00.....
02SilverStroke
Full Access Member
I used DirecTV's service (Direcway) for several years without any major problems, but now have a local wireless service. The main problem we had (as with any satellite system) is the weather. When it's raining buckets, your service is down until the storms pass over. Equipment was around $500, service $49.95/month. I still have the equipment, might let it go at a good price. They've changed the name to HughesNet at www.hughesnet.com. One of the main reasons we changed from satellite to wireless was cost ($43.95/month vs. $49.95/month), and we can use a remote access (like PCAnywhere) that we couldn't use with the satellite. In addition, we now have our phone service through Vonage which works great with the wireless. If you really want to go satellite, I'd say it's okay, if you don't mind paying the price.
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Roland_Jenkins
Full Access Member
We looked into Directway. We're to far North and or have to many trees. Their satellite sits to low on the horizon here. Neighbor had it and he said his connection speed wasn't much faster than dialup and less reliable.
But our first hand experience dealing with Directway was all good. They came out promptly and the tech was forthright in his opinion. We got a firm quote on in stallion before he left.
We also looked into www.wildblue.com They use a much smaller dish than directway and the satellite is higher off of the horizon but . . .
I'll spare you the details, Wildblue just doesn't have their stuff together yet and its a lot more $$$
But our first hand experience dealing with Directway was all good. They came out promptly and the tech was forthright in his opinion. We got a firm quote on in stallion before he left.
We also looked into www.wildblue.com They use a much smaller dish than directway and the satellite is higher off of the horizon but . . .
I'll spare you the details, Wildblue just doesn't have their stuff together yet and its a lot more $$$
02SilverStroke
Full Access Member
It works really good. There's a water tower about a mile from our house, and the antenna is pointed toward it (we're northeast of Dallas, TX where there's not too many trees). If something breaks the signal (such as a tree limb blocking the signal), it will go out. Other than that, it works fine, even during bad weather (which can cause the satellite system to quit). The company we use is a local company: www.bluewirelessdata.com which only services the North Texas area from Dallas to Wichita Falls. The speed is about 11 million bps, which sure beat the heck out of the 27k bps we once had with dialup. If you can get a wireless system, I'd definitely recommend it. In addition, our system is supposed to have security patches that keep out all the viruses and other bugs. We have occasionally run four or five computers at once on the system (with an in-house network) without any problems. My wife had her laptop in the living room last night without any cords (electrical or phone hookups) and was surfing the net and checking e-mail. Occasionally, I was also on our desktop checking radar, etc. at the same time. In addition the computer we're using for our server is a small Compaq laptop that we got for our youngest son when he graduated from high school in 1998. That little computer is being the server for the internet and our telephones (the previously mentioned Vonage system).rum4by5 said:
