Satellite Internet Recommendation

[MJ4H]

My dad lives way out in the sticks but really needs to have reliable, fast internet access for his business. He has dial-up now and it is so unacceptable for what he needs as to be completely useless. I recommended satellite internet to him, and he is on-board with the idea, but the only company I know about is hughesnet because it's advertised on tv all the time.

My question is, does anyone here have any experience with another provider? I'd like to shop around a bit since I wasn't a real big fan of some of the things (particularly pricing packages) I saw for hughesnet. If I have to go with hughesnet or it is generally agreed to be the best, fine, but I am fairly ignorant about it.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Rates and fees for some providers are at the bottom of this post. It also gives some good recommendations as far as what to watch for in disconnect fees and capping when it comes to satellite services.

Stop the Cap! » Blog Archive » Californians Launch Class Action Lawsuit Against HughesNet for Slow, Capped Service

[Mustang]

When we were looking at buying a house out in the country where there was no DSL/Cable, we found that there were some local companies setup to provide Wireless internet connectivity.

Might be worth a look to see if you have anything like that.

If not, maybe your Dad could potentially use wireless through Sprint, Verizon or AT&T if they have it in your area.

Satellite should be a last option.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Mustang

When we were looking at buying a house out in the country where there was no DSL/Cable, we found that there were some local companies setup to provide Wireless internet connectivity.

Might be worth a look to see if you have anything like that.

If not, maybe your Dad could potentially use wireless through Sprint, Verizon or AT&T if they have it in your area.

Satellite should be a last option.

I'd seriously have him investigate wireless before satellite.

[DaddyTorgo]

yah - i bet one of those lil "wireless anywhere" cards from Sprint (idk what the technical name is), plus a monthly bill would be roughly the same as satellite and would also give you a lot more flexibility and probably reliability as well?

[Ksyrup]

Satellite internet is horrible, and I doubt it varies that much by provider for it to be a good idea, unless it is a true last resort.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Satellite internet is horrible, and I doubt it varies that much by provider for it to be a good idea, unless it is a true last resort.

Something as little as thick cloud cover can put your connection down to the point where it's as slow or slower than dial-up. It's brutally frustrating.

[MJ4H]

OK I know absolutely nothing about wireless. Can someone give me a quick summary?

[Alan T]

If he lives way out in the sticks, there might not be wireless coverage either for him. Even if that is the case, I still would not go with Satellite internet for anything other than casual web surfing. The latency involved with satellite is just deadly for many sensitive internet applications. (ie: many companies refuses to support vpn over a satellite connection for that reason).

Once when I lived out in the middle of nowhere and cable was not available (this was before 3G wireless or fiber to houses and such), what I ended up doing was getting two seperate phone lines for an internet connection that I would then mux together with a router. Between the two giving roughly 33-40k connection quality, it would provide me about 80k throughput which is not the best in the world but better than nothing.

[MJ4H]

Dial-up is out, I'll just put it that way.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

OK I know absolutely nothing about wireless. Can someone give me a quick summary?

It's basically internet access through cell phone towers. If he can get a good connection on his cell phone at his home, then he probably can get a pretty good internet connection. It's done by putting a wireless card into the computer that connects through the cell tower.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Dial-up is out, I'll just put it that way.

Fair enough, just trying to help

Many people have the idea that more bandwidth = better, which depending on the application involved is not necessarily always the primary importance. Without knowing his situation, I was just making guesses anyways. If dialup is for sure out, without knowing why, it is tough to say what type of wireless scenarios would work for him.

[MJ4H]

His phone lines are beyond awful and have all kinds of interference on them. We've tried for years without success to make this better. It just isn't going to happen.

[Logan]

I use the Verizon National Broadband card on my work laptop fairly regularly and only have issues when I'm on very high floors in buildings in the city. No problems with what would be considered the more rural areas either (of course, not quite the sticks).

[lungs]

I have WildBlue, which is a satellite internet provider. My parents have HughesNet. Judging by our experiences, Hughesnet fucking sucks.

Their Hughesnet satellite goes out when it barely spits rain. My WildBlue will go out in rain for a short time but usually comes back even if it is still raining. Uploading sucks for any kind of satellite internet.

My local satellite guy says he will not allow his name to be associated with HughesNet. He worked in the military as a satellite tech, so he knows what he's talking about.

The only major problem in the three years I've had WildBlue is something needed to be replaced on the dish. As long as you know what you AREN'T getting when you get satellite internet, it may do just fine. I'm one of those that I can't get wireless internet although I should really check to see if I'm covered. Doubtful as I live in the sticks.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by lungs

I'm one of those that I can't get wireless internet although I should really check to see if I'm covered. Doubtful as I live in the sticks.

Doesn't that depend on where you park?

[lungs]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Doesn't that depend on where you park?

Car doesn't run!

[MJ4H]

So, can anyone explain wireless internet options for me? A quick look around the internet returns lots of crap I don't really get.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

So, can anyone explain wireless internet options for me? A quick look around the internet returns lots of crap I don't really get.

Imagine connecting your computer up to your cell phone and using your cell phone as an internet provider. That is the basic idea. The main difference is you get a card that goes into your computer that acts as the computer's network card and connects to a wireless network. Your coverage is typically worse than cell phone coverage as all cell phone covered areas may not support the proper coverage for internet service. For roughly $40-$60 a month you can usually get some kind of wireless package with various limits placed on it, and the bandwidth is usually somewhere between 100k and 300kbps depending on what you get and with whom. In the sticks however I am not entirely convinced that you will have luck with this.

Another type of "wireless" coverage in some areas there are providers which actually have larger ranged wireless signal like a home user might set up for their home wireless network. Their signals are a bit different but would usually be set up to coverage a community or neighborhood or such. You would connect to it like you would connect to a home wireless router, but it usually will authenticate you using some method (depending on what that provider decided to deploy). This also is not as likely to be found out in the sticks so to speak although I have heard of cases where out in the middle of nowhere Vermont, people have set these up to cover a decent amount of range using repeaters (maybe 1-2 miles) but that usually was done to provide their own family or friends or business with that access.

[MJ4H]

Thanks, I appreciate this. So, would you say my next step would be to have my dad look into his options with his current cell phone provider (have no idea who that is, but I would guess AT&T).

[stevew]

depending on how much data he's transferring, he may be fine with just getting a cell phone with data package that he could tether to his computer or lap top. Or yeah, one of those broadband cards from ATT.

[terpkristin]

As one who builds and designs communications satellites, I will never get satellite tv or cable but I really hope that others buy them to keep me in business. (most of my coworkers are the same)

Satellite TV does have SOME advantages SOMETIMES (and mostly it's programming related). Satellite internet is the pits and then some. Skip it at all costs.

/tk

[MJ4H]

I really appreciate this, I had no idea it was that bad. Obviously not optimal, but, in the end, I'm sure it would be better than nothing (which is basically what he has now). I'm going to explore the wireless AT&T or Verizon or whatever he has solution first, though.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

Obviously not optimal, but, in the end, I'm sure it would be better than nothing (which is basically what he has now).

Definitely. I would scream if I was stuck with dialup. This is better than nothing.

I'll just repeat... Wildblue over Hughes if you end up looking at this route.

[MJ4H]

Excellent, thanks.

[Galaxy]

I've heard that you can link up, if you have, your cell phone internet access to your computer. Is this true?

[stevew]

Depends on your phone and carrier. Tether is the term.

One guy I know has a Verizon BlackBerry curve and does this. He has a 5 gig transfer limit.