Satillite internet for country folk

[[H2O]Tman]

planning on moving to a rural area this spring and a availible option will be 2-way satillite internet. Im not so sure on how the speed willbe but it looks pretty sweet. Prices are compairable to cable or dsl. DirectPC/Hughes tech guy said they would be offereing the service soon and there is another company that will have this. Here is there page www.starband.com (http://www.starband.com) .Looks cool. I wonder if you will be able to share the connection with more than one pc.

[randy48]

It looks pretty good! There was a reference to networking...it has been done, but not supported by them. I imagine it would be the same as networking a cable/dsl/etc type connection. And the price isn't that bad either! The only thing that bugs me is the term "Radio Shack", when I was younger, that was the place "full of neat stuff", now it's more of a toy store http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/frown.gif

[desmocat]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but to get starband, you have to buy a compaaccckk! computer thru the shack,and wait for it to be delivered to the store,then they bring it to your place and set it up. Forgive me if I am not correct in saying that you must use MSN also. It's a conspiricy,I tell ya..
The direcPC is a download only system in that your requests still have to go to direcPC from a landline, but that really isn't bad because most all the bandwidth is involved in the download side and that is where the high speed (relatively) of the satellite is beneficial.
I don't know if you will be able to share with starband, you would have to have a NIC card in the machine also and have your boxes on a network using the one with the starband on it as a gateway. I really didn't ask alot after the radio shack manager told me I would have to buy a compaq to get the service..
One thing he did say is there is a possibility of getting the system as a stand-alone unit(no computer) later on down the road. Hope this helps Mp

[thekingofpain]

Yeah we talked about Starband awhile back, I couldnt believe the Compaq purchase to go with it, bet that wont last long...

[[H2O]Tman]

Well forget staband..compaq and MSN..bleh. BUT directPC/Hughes wil beUPGRADING their ONE-way satillite system to provide TWO(2)-way satillite. They guy said it will be limited release in december and full release in feb or somewhere around there. That should be cool for people ho don't really live close to a town.

[KRAMER]

I excitedly checked out Starband at Radio Shack a while back, since I can't get cable or dsl, and was a little disappointed. I do a lot of gaming online and so ping times are king for me. I checked out a site (PC Pitstop I think) that pings different servers and gives you the results. They were all bad, like 800ms+ bad. I did the same thing as soon as I got home on my 56k and I was between 200-300 on most. So for me the satellite stuff probably won't work. Now that's not to say that the download speeds weren't fast, they were, but the access times were slow. It might be a good alternative for someone who is not a gamer. Not to mention the fact you have to buy a computer from them to get it, THAT I dont get.

[desmocat]

The manager of my local shack told me the reason for having to buy the doorstop to get starband was that in order for the sat system to have a warranty,it had to be installed/configured/supported by an "authorized" source or something to that effect.
He explained to me that the way it is now, if you have problems, you call up and they help you through it,and/or you they might do on site service to help track problems with the overall system.
The reasoning behind it from what I gather was they could isolate problems to the boat anchor(compaq),the card/software,or the dish itself.
( Then the problem could be tracked thru resolution to see where to point the finger when your stuff quits working.. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif )

After a period of time,it would seem they would have a good knowledge base as to how to fix various kinds of problems with the system and after that time, might begin to offer the system as a stand alone unit.
This way sounds like they didn't do alot of pre-release testing and need the extra time with a known system(compaq) to eliminate one of the potential varibles in diagnosing system problems.

[Richard_Cranium72]

The system I looked at in 98 was by Hughes.

Direc Duo, this did your TV and ISP on one
dish.
"
DirecDuo combines the technology of DirecPC and The DIRECTV System."

This is NOT cheap by any means, and you still have to pay monthly charges.

Whatever happened to the US Radio Act of 1939?? grrr
http://www.digitaltoday.com/page14.html

http://www.direcpc.com/consumer/index.html

[Ollie46]

Ok from a research paper i wrote a few years back, sattelite wasn't all that fast and it came with a fairly hefty price. Now, I hear alot of battling between the direcpc companies and cable companies about who is better. From what I know, if it is raining or snowing out and if the weather is inclement, then you would run in to to problems receiving TV data, which I assume would mean that you would have problems receiving Internet data also. Also, it is probally a shared medium so if a lot of people are online then your connection slows down. Dsl is the only affordable thing that alleviates that problem. I live in the country and I can feel your pain. I moved from a city to a country environment and I **** near died from bandwidth withdrawel. Heh heh

Ollie

[DougR]

Dishnetwork is offering this service and you don't need to buy a seperate computer.
Check out their site:
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/promotions/starband/index.shtml

[DougR]

Just to add to my above post;

It is not a "Do-it Yourself" Install.

The Total cost of the "TV + Internet" package does seem sort of Pricey ?

[This message has been edited by DougR (edited 12-10-2000).]

[dreemweaver]

checked into 2 way through raido shack a couple of months back. You must buy a putter from the shack ($1,000), upload somewhere in the 140 range and download in the 300s. At least thats what the msn custmer service rep told me. Not a cheap change, but for me maby a thought. Will be about 1/2 mile too far from the dsl switch going up.

[TechGuyInVA]

I had checked out that Dishnetwork promotion and $99/month seems a bit stiff isn't it? But I guess that includes TV programming as well.

Something that might interest you guys is that Hughes and Earthlink entered into a service agreement to offer 2-way satellite internet service. Personally, I've been using Earthlink (used to be Mindspring) for more than 2 years now and I think they're a great ISP! So with that in mind, I can only think of great things to come out of this partnership.
http://www.hns.com/news/pressrel/csp_pres/p111500.htm