Info on Computer Direct Satellite

[FuzzyKen]

I am looking to hear from group members who currently have either Hughes Net or Wild Blue direct Satellite for their computer. As I have stated in other postings I live in the middle of the New Mexico desert on a horse ranch. The only service that is reliable at the ranch is dial-up, but it is so slow as to be mind-numbing. I recently and almost without choice replaced a very trouble prone PC with a new Mac. The Mac is a 1TB hard drive and an incredibly fast processor speed.

In addition the only reason we maintain a land line at all is for the computer. That cost which was quite reasonable two years ago has now escalated to where it is now less than a good deal. The cost of my ISP and my land line together are just about the same as the cost of direct satellite from Hughesnet.

If you have Hughesnet or Wild Blue I would really like to hear from you.

Before I go with a contract from either of these guys I want to know if the service is as fast and as good as is claimed. In this area a few people I know have Hughesnet, but, there seems to be such fierce loyalty to either this or Wild Blue that I have no idea what the truth really is.

Sincerest Thanks,
Fuzzy Ken

 

[Rikter8]

I share your pain.
In northern Michigan (and many other parts) Internet service is either not available at all or very poor due to crappy phone lines.

I looked at their website - theyve come a long way.
When we looked at it before, the locals said it was expensive and not too great.
But, that was when you could only go 512mb down and the install and equip was $400-500 plus $70/month. Theyre still high - but if that's all you've got, its not much choice.
Local users up here (Woodsy environments in some cases) said that it was in and out. If it rains...Poof. If its foggy...Poof...
Same issues that people have with statellite with the crappy Hughes dishes.

We chose Cellular service. It's basically a wireless USB dongle that you hang up high in the room or by the window. I know that Sprint PCS has it, but other cellular companies are coming on line as well. Its around $50 a month, and there's no outdoor dishes to deal with. Move it where you want it.

It all depends on what you plan on doing with it. If your just an average user, 1.5mb is really more than enough.
I run both of my small businesses off of 1.5 and I don't have issues. Yea, more would be great, but I don't NEED it.

Hope this helps.

 

[Pendlum]

I'm not sure why you mentioned the possible computer replacement. But just incase, I'm going to stress that hard disk space and processor power have virtually nil affect (in standard setups) on how your internet is working short of if they aren't working, which then of course wouldn't really be able to use the internet (actually you could still without a hard drive, you'd just need a live CD. It would be slow and you wouldn't be able to save anything though). So if that was the thought process behind the Mac with the 1 TB HD and fast proc, don't bother.

I can't comment on those ISPs, but you should look at speed test websites for reviews, and ISP judging websites.

I've never heard of a USB dongle that you can hang up high in a window, so I'm not sure what Rikter is talking about. But there are USB dongles provided by cellular companies. Fairly decent for what they are, but if you don't get good cell service at your ranch then it may not be good. There are also PCMIA cards for laptops. I'd like to note here that if you do go the dongle/PCMIA route, your processor will have an impact on your service, since the data will be handled by your processor. Your average high speed home setup is simple. Modem is hooked up to 'the internet'. There is more too it, but you don't need to know any of it really, since it deals with ISPs. Your modem will be your satellite dish essentially, or rather it will be connected to it. That is connected to your router, which your computer is connected to, either by ethernet (cat-5) cables, or wireless. What connects to the router on your computer is a NIC, network interface card. It has it's own processor to handle data.

A disadvantage to the dongle/PCMIA approach is it only services as many computers as you have those devices at the same time. Unless you setup a shared connection, which would involve either a switch or straight through cables and such. I'm sure you don't want to do that (I'm not sure how many computers you have though).