Satellite Internet

[RWIndiana]

Hi all. We're looking at Hughesnet satellite Internet service. The 1mb download and 200k upload sounds pretty good, but I've been reading some horror stories about how satellite latency causes web page loads to be as slow or slower with satellite than dialup, and about unreliable and/or dropped connections for hours or days, et cetera.

I'm guessing it isn't as bad as all that, but I don't know that I've ever used a computer with a satellite connection, so I'm a little scared of it. Any real experiences? Or maybe some actual, up-to-date information on it?

 

[Tannin]

I've used sat briefly, and it was just fine - faster, in fact, than my cable internet at the office. There was a bit of latency, so I wouldn't want to use it for playing on-line games in real time, but perfectly acceptable for all other uses and barely noticable.

This was in the outback at a place I stayed. I wound up volunteering to fix their computer, which was virus-infected. Stupid, I know, as I was supposed to be on holiday, but I couldn't help overhearing a conversation between some staff members (dining alone you can't help listening to what's going on around you) and after a while put my hand up nbecause they seemed like nice people and the nearest computer shop was a hell of a long way away. I got rid of the virus OK, but the system badly needed a general tidy-up, so I wound up downloading XP SP2 on the sat system. It as great - quicker than my cable setup at home. Took me maybe a couple of hours all up.

Oh, and when I went to check out a couple of days later, they refused to give me a bill. That was nice.

 

[Mercutio]

I have a client who used Hughes service for about three months in 2005. He lives in BFE Northern Indiana and his connection sucked kinds of ass that have not even been invented yet. Could've been an installation problem, but he'd lose his signal pretty regularly in poor weather (rain, mind you, not snow). For some reason he'd call and bitch at me about it (then again, he also once paid me to come out and install a USB hub even after I gave him detailed directions and faxed him a picture of the back of his computer...), but when I was hearing from him three times a week, I got kind of sick of it.

Speeds were faster than dialup for long-ish downloads (guessing 256k or maybe 384k, actual speed) but web pages didn't load any faster than over a decent modem connection.

Eventually I suggested a move to ISDN, which was available even in BFE. With a demand-dial connection I believe his bill for that service is around half of what the Sat service would be.

I've worked with a couple of the precursors of the current Hughes service as well. I don't know if they still enforce bandwidth limits, but at least with EchoStar there was a hard transfer/month limit, beyond which they would throttle you back to modem speeds. That kind of sucked for someone paying $100/month for service.

Anyway, you might check to see if ISDN (128k) is available, or iDSL (192 - 256k). Both are cheaper and more flexible options. These days, at least where I live, packet radio (Airbaud and CSInet in northwest Indiana) and 802.11-based ISPs do exist, and can provide service in places where cable is but a dream.

 

[Tannin]

I don't think my place in central Australia had any problems with dropouts - but then that's the kind of place where when it rains (if it rains) you throw a party and invite absolutely everyone that lives within a 100km circle of you. (Yes, both of them.)

As for snow .... hmmm .... certainly no snow there in the last 10,000 years, but maybe if they had a cold snap back around the time of the last ice-age.....

Oh, and it was a 2 metre dish. Cost them the grand sum of $200 to have it installed. Yup: two hundred dollars: dish, delivery, installation, the whole thing. And they paid less per month than I pay at home for cable.

Ain't government remote area subsidies wonderful?

 

[RWIndiana]

Arg! Now I'm still worried. We actually had already ordered the service. I hope the one you describe Merc was due to a faulty setup.

According to buytelco.net, Comcast cable broadband is available to us. This seems highly unlikely in our rural area. Could it be true?

 

[Mercutio]

It's possible.
One of my uncles lives in a place where the only thing for five miles in any direction is cornfield or pastureland, and he's got a 768k DSL connection.

Another of my customers is in Manhattan, Illinois. The only reason the whole town (population of about 4000) has cable internet service is that my customer wanted fast service enough to pay for the lines to be put in. Something like that could be the case where you are, too.

 

[Pradeep]

Arg! Now I'm still worried. We actually had already ordered the service. I hope the one you describe Merc was due to a faulty setup.

According to buytelco.net, Comcast cable broadband is available to us. This seems highly unlikely in our rural area. Could it be true?

I would call Comcast direct and check if they actually do have service. If so, then cancel the sat install, as cable would be an infinitely better choice for price/performance.