Who uses satellite internet?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Dan F

Dan F

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Dec 10, 2007
3,889
24
68
53
Oregon
I am planning on getting satellite internet service next month. My dial-up has been very reliable for the five years or so that we have had it. Unfortunately websites these days demand so much that the slow speed just doesn't cut it any more. I haven't been able to upload pics since MFK reconfigured the "Manage Attachments" page and I am sick of it! :irked:

For those that have satellite internet service, what company do you use and have you been happy with it? Any problems with weather? What are you paying if you don't mind saying?

Thanks for your input!
 
A buddy of mine has Clear Wire and it's terrible, slowest internet I've ever used. The 3G coverage on my cell phone is faster. What other options do you have? I switched to Comcast cable and so far I'm loving. Speeds are always consistent and stable (15-18mbps).
 
15-18 mbps

wow I am running 54 mbps and I thought mine was slow. Shows how much I know about net speeds
 
You're obviously from a different country to me, but here is the experience my parents have dealt with until now with internet in a remote area:

Dial-up wasn't an option as the phone lines where they moved couldn't even handle that (they moved onto a property quite far out from the closest city).
They opted for Satellite because at the time, 3G in the area was a) very expensive and b) unreliable.

Satellite was honestly about the same speed as our backup dial-up was before the move out there. It also dropped out/became unreliable when there was a weather front, storm, rain, or on severely hot days.
Ping was in the realm of around 2k ms... so bad. Made voice/video chat and even instant messaging painful.

They switched to 3G (prepaid) about a year ago... maybe a little less and it was near flawless. Only downside was the cost which was about $20 more then the monthly cost of the satellite.

They switched to 3G post-paid (contract) about 3 months ago and it has been smooth sailing since.

My recommendation would be to seek an alternative such as 3G if you are unable to have a fibre or copper service and pair that possibly with a high gain antenna for even better signal and reliability.

If you can get a copper/fibre service, I would go for that no questions asked.


Hope that helps!? :nilly:
 
Satellite and dial-up are my only options. We get some cell phone reception, but it is very spotty - I can go from 5 bars to no coverage in a matter of seconds. There is no cable or DSL lines where we live and probably won't be any time soon.

My mom has Hughes Net where she lives and it seems OK. There is also a company called Blue Sky that some people use, it is considerably cheaper but sounds pretty lousy - there are times you can't get service because of the satellites being too low on the horizon, or something like that.

Hopefully in a few years they will bring cable lines out this way, but in the meantime I need something better than 37.333KB/second!
 
Dan F said:
Satellite and dial-up are my only options. We get some cell phone reception, but it is very spotty - I can go from 5 bars to no coverage in a matter of seconds. There is no cable or DSL lines where we live and probably won't be any time soon.

My mom has Hughes Net where she lives and it seems OK. There is also a company called Blue Sky that some people use, it is considerably cheaper but sounds pretty lousy - there are times you can't get service because of the satellites being too low on the horizon, or something like that.

Hopefully in a few years they will bring cable lines out this way, but in the meantime I need something better than 37.333KB/second!
Click to expand...

Yes, satellite alignment can also be a reason (like the ones above) for dropouts etc.
It's a pain in the neck.

I would research the provider of 3G that has the best reception in your area, invest in the installment of a high gain 3G antenna and do that over Satellite.
It is an infrastructure that is far more likely to receive a decent upgrade as well versus satellite (and maybe even copper if your area is like my parents [4 years now, no phone line upgrade at all]).

It was the best decision my parents made in a similar circumstance to you (remote, no copper, poor reception, etc.) as above.

EDIT:
Cost wise they were paying $70 AUD for 1 gb data and a speed ceiling of 4mb/s but rarely reached 50kb/s. This was a few years ago now.
The installation costs were several thousand AUD.
 
54 mbps! That would be nice - my modem says it is connected at 37,333 bps right now, sometimes it is as low as 24k. If my math is correct you have something like 1500x faster service than me. :nilly:

The really annoying part is that we are only seven miles out of town, but there few houses up our way that it isn't worth it for the telecom people to run new lines. #G would be nice, but like I mentioned before we just barely get service at times - I am constantly dropping calls.

From the sound of it not too many people have satellite internet for the simple reason that anything else (barring dial-up?) is better...
 
Dan F said:
54 mbps! That would be nice - my modem says it is connected at 37,333 bps right now, sometimes it is as low as 24k. If my math is correct you have something like 1500x faster service than me. :nilly:

The really annoying part is that we are only seven miles out of town, but there few houses up our way that it isn't worth it for the telecom people to run new lines. #G would be nice, but like I mentioned before we just barely get service at times - I am constantly dropping calls.

From the sound of it not too many people have satellite internet for the simple reason that anything else (barring dial-up?) is better...
Click to expand...

More or less yeah, anything beats satellite lol. It really is a horrible experience. It used to agrevate the hell out of me while I was living with them and going to Uni.

They also had reception that was that poor... when I go up there I get a bar or two if I'm lucky and no 3G service with the same provider on my mobile. But with their 3G modem and high gain antenna, they get a constant connection of 6mb/s which is just shy of the 7.2mb/s the service offers.

It really is worth looking into... we thought the same thing when my parents were fed up with the satellite connection. I would get in contact with a provider and see if they are willing to demo equipment (just the routers, they won't demo the antennas) and go from there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom