Wildblue satellite internet?

ejb · Sep 15, 2005

Anyone using Wildblue satellite internet service? I can't get dsl/cable where I am, and have resisted direc-pc as the reviews always seem lukewarm to me at best...but now this new service is out...anyone using it yet?

Spiffy · Sep 15, 2005

The in-laws are litterally surrounded by DSL, but miss each direction by about a half mile. I signed them up for Wildblue a month or two ago [the phone company here pays the installation for locations their DSL doesn't serve] on a 3 or 4 month waiting list.

I guess they're getting something like 20 requests per month but only 5 hardware kits (not sure if that is Wildblue, or some other source). Anyway, I'm not sure if it's that good; or that many people just got frustrated with dial-up.

A slight irony is that if everyone goes high-speed, the few remaining dial-up users might find it quite tolerable. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

riptides · Sep 15, 2005

How about wireless services? Check with Verizon? Check with Sprint?

Verizon Coverage

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

GaryM · Sep 15, 2005

I've not heard of WildBlue, but do use StarBand. Works fine. Not as fast as DSL, but a lot better than dialup.

Jagmandave · Sep 15, 2005

We had Starband for about a year, till we got a T1. Results were mixed, service could be pretty good, or pretty dismal, or not work at all. Seems like we had to restart the server frequently as the program would crash. Download is much better than upload too. If you're just surfing the net, it's definitely better than dial-up, when it works........

Wildblue was just starting at that time, so I don't have any input outside of the things that are general to all internet satellite services. Namely, service will vary greatly, based on weather (they tell you it won't matter, but it does), time of day (heavy internet traffic in the am business hours, and at prime time) and that your upload time will be sllloooowwwww.
It'll also have substantial latency, so voice or video communication probably won't work. But like I said, it's usually better than dialup, and I'm sure they've improved it since we had it........

fishman · Sep 29, 2005

Just bringing this back to the top. What little I know of Wildblue is that it does not use the same technology as DirecPC and the others. They claim it is superior (no surprise here /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif). With a $299 install and as little as $49 a month, it's definitely the cheapest satellite internet out there. I hope there's somebody here that's using it because I'm thinking seriously about trying it if the closest wireless broadband tower can't hit my home. It will be a good day when dial up is gone from my home.

jeffinsgf · Sep 29, 2005

I'm on the waiting list, but its long and hardware is scarce.

mathey · Sep 30, 2005

to those "in the know"...my house is actually in an area that Verizon wireless broadband covers...but after speaking to the customer service rep, he said that it can only be used by laptops and cell phones, that you really could not use it on a desktop pc...is this true?

FL_Cracker · Sep 30, 2005

That's true. The Wireless card plugs into a PCMCIA slot and they are normally only found on laptops.

Charles

riptides · Sep 30, 2005

Well, those cards usually go into those laptops, but this is America. We put square pegs in round holes all the time.

There is movement on getting EVDO wireless routers. The technology Sprint and Verizon use is called "EVDO".

One has may options - the yet to be released any day now router -
Router on this info page

Good luck!
-Mike Z.