eribrav

Hi. Would like to hear your opinions on high speed, 2-way satellite Internet access.

Background: Live in a rural area with no cable TV and no DSL. No chance that either one will be available in the foreseeable future. Currently suffer with slow dial-up.


Any one have satellite access? Like it? Did you install it yourself?


Thanks

AxByC

I hear it's decent. Just dont play games on it. But anything is better then dial up.

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steveincolumbus

I have used Directway's service before. A store i am working with on a project is useing it as their connection. It is a relitively fast connection, useing dslreports test i got 1045 kbps down but only 153k up, like I said not bad but got to love my old RR at 3Mbps down, 768 up. I have an ADSL connectino now at 256-128 but it is faster for surfing than the satalite due to HIGH latency times.....
the SAT is seding the info about 8 miles up and then back down just to get a packet to them and there is alot of packets makeing that trip to do one task online, and the bad thing is microwave singnals are much slower than electricity.

Don't get me wrong the SAT is great for file transfers but if you are just surfing a simple webpage dialup will be about the same speed, and forget gameing on SAT connections. and they are not good for running any kind of server service, one of my freinds keeps getting ports blocked, he was not even running a server just doing uploads to the company he works for, he said that they use a NAT service too......... I know the pc i have the SAT connecting to has some very odd software on it that has a proxy built into it that you have to configure everything to use......

thats just what i know about the Satillite connections thught you might find some of it usefull.....................

brandon11983

I use and sell StarBand here at work. Yes it is very fast. But the upstream speeds are shit. Professional installation is highly recommended and virtually mandatory. A well trained kitten can install a one way TV satellite system. Two way systems are far more tricky, as they have to be absolutely, positively, 100% dialed in. I did learn one thing though.... a slightly mis-aligned StarBand dish wreaks havoc with Wal-Mart's satellite linked register system. ha ha... that was an amusing day.

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Brewmaniac

I've been contemplating satellite internet for a couple of years now and after lots of research I'm still not sold on 2-way.
Below is an explaination given by a local access company.

Wmis

One-way means that you still use your modem and phone line to send information out to the Internet, but use the high speed satellite to receive data (e-mail, webpages, etc). Over 90% of the time you spend on the Internet is waiting for items to download... you never have to wait to submit web requests ._

There is no bandwidth limit, but there are bandwidth restrictions for heavy users* (If you play games online this system is not for you). This is a low cost broadband solution for rural and urban Internet users._

Less latency and faster than 2-way satellite systems

A common misconception about two-way is that it’s better than one-way because it’s faster. However when you actually use the service, you’ll see that the surfing speed of two-way moves more slowly than one-way.

Satellites were not originally designed for a two-way communication. The original intent for a satellite is one-way broadcasting, not uploading or accepting a transmitted signal. Two-way communication forces the satellite to do something against its fundamental design. Because of this, there are delays in the accepting and forwarding of information (such as web page requests), resulting in a slower two-way surfing experience.

Using satellite to transmit both ways (the process of sending and receiving a signal) can take from to 700 to 1300 milliseconds (as reported by Hughes). After 700 milliseconds standard IP web protocol considers information packets (i.e. page requests) lost, resulting in a "behind-the-scenes" timeout. The request is automatically resubmitted, sometimes several times. While this process is invisible to you, you’ll experience it as waiting time. Not unlike the waiting that you experience with a 56Kbps dial-up. The transmission time for one-way satellite (telephone line plus satellite) is approximately 400 milliseconds. Well below the 700 milliseconds required by web protocol. So page requests make it to their destination immediately, and then the satellite broadcasts them immediately to you. The result is a FASTER surfing experience on one-way.

Starband says (this is a direct quote from their website), "When sending e-mails with large attachments or uploading large files to the Internet, you may experience speeds closer to that of dial-up service." (Starband Website 10/29/02 http://www.starband.com/faq/benefits.htm)

Earthlink says (also applies to DirecWay) that their data uploads via satellite are "similar to a dial-up modem" (Earthlink website 10/29/02 https://register.earthlink.net/cgi-b...llite/faq.html select FAQ link)

This is another great resource.

Copperhead


I did switch browsers from IE6 to Opera and page loads while surfing seem faster. Any other higher speed alternative options or suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks

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hyperrust

i did a search on this forum for satellite internet, but only found one helpful page. i still have questions...

i might be renting a house with some classmates next year (out in the sticks, no cable available)--could we still use a router to provide access to multiple computers?

what's the going rate for setup/service? i saw a couple websites advertising $99/month. this wouldn't be too bad when costs were split among the 2 or 3 other people i might live with next year. however, i'm wondering if it's worth the $$ over dial-up.

we wouldn't be sending up many large files, but we would be downloading large (well, 500kb up to ~20megs) on a near-daily basis. we could get by using the internet at the library since we all have laptops, but fast service at home would be nice. is satellite worth it?

thanks for your thoughts...

Zello

I can't really help you personally as I've never used one. I did however read that there is a slight delay that makes first person shooters impossible.

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brandon11983

I can't speak for Direcway, but with Starband, its a bitch to network. Unless you get their new 480 modem which has a built in switch, you need to use their Winproxy shit software which majorly kills your bandwidth. With Starband, you can get the system for $499 installed, service is $99/mo for the first year, and $59 for the second year and everything after. If you're gonna be dl'ing files over like a meg or so, its definitely worth it.

Fearless_Hyena can probably give some info on Direcway.

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shakran

yeah, depending on your area you're looking at anywhere from $500 to $700 for startup costs, then around $100 per month. Your pings will be sky high (the signal has to bounce 24,000 miles up, then several thousand over, then 24,000 miles down, and THEN gets out to the internet) so forget online gaming, VOIP, webcams, and chat apps (AIM, ICQ, etc) will be very slow.

Basically the only thing starband, etc, is useful for is downloading big files and web surfing.

You sure there's no DSL in your area?

steveincolumbus

stay away from all satilite internet, it sucks unless it is jsut for downloading files...

dailup like speeds uploading with very high pings.... most things are fster on dail up to load do to thhe high ping times....

and like brandon was saying its a bitch to ntwork becaus it is controled by pc...and they use a proxy on the local pc, and I never figured out how to get anything but port 80 to be shared out using it.....

I have only worked with direcway but I don't like it, glad they got cable in the area where that business was located makes it much easier and faster, since i am thier network tech....

kapoho

I've got an older Direcway 4000 system and have no problems sharing the connection between multiple computers. You have to use Windows Internet Connection Sharing because of the USB connection.

If you purchace a new Direcway 6000 system, it is ready to be hooked into a router and shared between as many computers as you like.

If you want a lot of info on satellite internet, go to this web site: http://www.broadbandreports.com/faq/satellite

I have no chioce for broadband except for the satellite internet. I will never go back to dialup, although if cable is ever available in my area, I would drop the satellite immediately. It has many shortcomings that are listed by everyone else on this topic. The major drag is that they have this FAP that shuts you down to dial up speeds if you download over 200 MB of data in a short amount of time. As for speed, my connection is around 1-2 Meg download on average, so it is easy to break the FAP. Hope this helps.

feelgood

hyperrust I was once in the same situation as you are in now. Have you considered wireless internet? Since there's no DSL or ADSL services available, however it is possible to find a small wireless internet service for half of the cost per month. At least that's what I got out here

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oberon

As feelgood says, you should try and find out if there are any fixed-wireless broadband providers in your area. They're getting more common these days.

Also... there was a recent discussion on Slashdot about this.

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...tid=126&tid=95

That plus the BBR satellite faq should help you.

I considered this in the past extensively but concluded that satellite "broadband" was a waste of money.

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Pragma

As shakran says - Do not get Satellite Internet if you're interested in spending considerable amounts of time chatting, playing video games, doing VoiP, etc. It's good for downloading and uploading large files - because it's designed for sending large amounts of data up to the satellite, then down to the ground station, then across the internet, and then waiting on a reply to return through the same path.

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hyperrust

these posts are very helpful, thanks... i didn't know that local wireless internet existed; i'll have to check into that.

thanks!

ARTelevision

Thanks for this info.
My choices are either satellite or pay $2.4K for a cable run.

After reading this, I think I'll pay the piper.

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ARTelevision

I gotta pay $2.4K to get cable Internet service.

I've checked satellite availability and basically - you're responses above are right on.

So that's what I'm looking at....

I pretty much figure, in the end, I'll pay the money to get the cable line run out to the place.

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Lasereth

If I didn't have a choice, I'd willingly pay $2.4k for cable installation. Definitely worth it over satellite. If it was dial-up or a $2.4k cable installation fee, I'd pay it without bitching.

-Lasereth

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nanofever

For that price you might as well pay the phone company to run fiber to your house, something like a T1 line.

Also, for really good internet service info check the forums at dslreports.com

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ARTelevision

Thanks. It now looks like the cable option is out at any price - they did a survey.

Still considering Direcway. At least their new box allows ethernet networking...

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ARTelevision

Looks like the cable is right out at any price.
So I'm really interested in hearing your comments. I know there's two threads about this. I guess I should merge them.

Anyway. The more I hear from you guys, the more I'll know.
Thanks.

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oberon

Art, I thought you had DSL...

I honestly can't see the appeal to satellite to anyone.

If you can, consider setting up a wireless link to someplace where you can arrange a high speed connection.

It beats paying $80/mo for satellite or $BAZILLIONS for a fiber run.

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ARTelevision

Yes I do have DSL now - but not for long.
We just bought a farm out in rural America - and the only available service far as I can tell is satellite...

ouch.

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oberon

Art, such is the life of a farmer -- I know your pain, as my family lives on a farm and that is where I spent the first 18 years of my life.

Believe me when I tell you I tried to think of many schemes in which I could set up a long-distance 802.11b link. Even if it cost ~$2K to set up, it would pay itself back within 3 years just on the cost difference between DSL/cable (or direct fixed wireless) and satellite. Not to mention latency and bandwidth considerations...

Unfortunately, sometimes it's not really possible to do this if the terrain is too hilly or if there is nothing within 30 miles to connect to.

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eribrav

AR and others,

I started this thread months ago and am only now getting around to ordering broadband service. I am way out in rural America; I am actually the last house on Verizon's line out this way, so DSL ain't going to be happening. Nearest cable service is miles and miles away. I'm pretty much sold on the satellite service at this point. The DSL reports website is quite helpful.

One thing I heard is that soon Verizon will be offering service with Direcway. I generally get good customer service from Verizon, so I'm going to wait for the co-marketed product. I can then also cut down on the number of monthly bills that come.

I generally use my internet access to trade stocks. I'm not a day trader, but rather a position trader, so a long ping won't kill me. I am curious though if anyone here has experience trading stocks on one of these systems.