Which Satellite Internet Company?

[jinman]

I think you should look into a WISP (wireless internet service provider) in your area. I am now on high speed from a water tower 6-1/2 miles away. It works pretty darn well. The setup cost is about the same as satellite ($350 setup + $45 monthly). The difference is when you have a problem, you will have someone local to help you. I would definitely recommend this. Here is a link to all the local providers in PA.

WISP providers in PA

 

[Oleozz]

Thanks Jinman, I went to the site you have listed and it's hard to believe but the county that I live in does not have a wireless internet service provider. I called the nearest WISP and he said they have not come to our area yet. We live within 2 miles of a cell tower but he said that many cell towers do not provide WISP. I am going to make a few more calls but it looks like we are stuck with dial-up or all the problems that can be associated with satellite internet.

 

[texbaylea]

jinman

My wife has now decided that maybe high speed internet would suit her too since she has been shopping for fabrics via the net. Even with my 48k bit dial up is too slow for HER.

I have been slow in moving to high speed since DSL is not available to us now and maybe never. I looked at Wildblue but we would be on the same bird/antenna as TxDon and I doubt it is going to be as fast as it should.

We have two WISPs in the area and one uses the water towers of the local rural water district. There is a tower about 4 miles from us but because of the trees we will need a tower, maybe 40'. Our house is at the same base elevation as the tower but a dense stand of cedars is in the way. I am waiting for a quote on the installation. I will also have the TV antenna moved to the tower which will be bracketed to my shop building so guying will not be necessary. A good thing since sooner or later I would cut a guy with the tractor.

Vernon

 

[orezok]

I had Wildblue here in the Mojave desert. Started off pretty good, but they kept selling more and more bandwidth until it got to the point that service is basically useless. I reached the point that I couldn't download any file over about 100k as it would time out. I spent hours with customer service (that is when you can get through to them, they have frequent "customer service not available messages". They finally after many reports of problems said that they would schedule a service technician out to resolve. Finally several MONTHS later, the tech called and asked for my credit card number as they would have to charge me for the service call (even if it was there problem).

I was at the end of my 1 year contract and local WIFI became available so I cancelled. Here I am 2 months later and they are still billing me monthly (even though they sent me a confirmation of the cancellation). I call and all they can tell me is that it is "a back office problem that they are working on".

If you want to shoot yourself in the foot ...I'll loan you my Wildblue gun!

 

[txdon]

Vernon, If you put your zip code on the wildblue home page - wildblue.com - you will see that they tell you service is NOT available in your area. You might want to try back after March when their next bird is suppose to be on-line. At $69.00 a month their mid level speed is acceptable - in central Texas.

 

[orezok]

Wildblue was telling me that they will have a new bird in the air "next month" (for the last 8 months). Good luck!

 

[Jim_in_Omaha]

We had Wildblue for one year. Our experience is this. Both me and my wife use VPN for work. Does not work well with VPN's. For general surfing it was pretty good. Had its moments of poor performance. Had to call tech support several times. Never once was it our hardware but they made us go through the run around everytime. Snow did not seem to be a big problem. Heavy rain would stop it. We had the Propak. Uploads were not too great.

When we would click on a link on a web page. I could start counting seconds before it would begin loading the page, then would load very quick. To upload it would wait several seconds before uploading would start. This (I believe) was something more to do with the Wildblue system more than the fact of being satellite internet. Because there where times that it was very fast. Click on something and it seemed more like a DSL connection than a dial-up in regard to response. The fact is we had it right after Wildblue started offering the service. I attribute some of the problems we had to growing pains.

We are now on DSL.

 

[HomeBrew2]

orezok,
I really appreciate your comments, as we are fairly close in geographic proximity.
I read as much as I could about the service before I GOT it. I believe I know the probs and, took a chance, for a low initial price.
My logic is that, if the service turns to crap, I will cancel: cancel service and cancel my credit card. I'm willing to pay for my obligation of one year's service but, if service turns to crap, I have the time to go to small claims court ... if they have the time to sue me for that committment ...
Any comments regarding my logic woud be appreciated.
Cheers!

 

[texbaylea]

TxDon

Thanks for the note. I had run into that but recently had an e-mail from a Houston installer trying to get me to pre-order an installation.

I am still leaning toward wireless. With the tower that close I should have good signal strength and less weather impact.

For info see Wickson Wireless

With the TV antenna on a tower, I should be able to get some of the Houston station which would give us a little more choice than we have now. We don't watch enough TV to warrant getting satellite.

Vernon

 

[myyaz33]

Do you get good cell phone reception? If so, some of the major wireless providers like Verizon offer wireless data services using AirCards. Not sure of what a plan would cost but it may be worth looking into.