Satellite Internet Options

[Ed Allandar]

I’d like to hear anyone’s experience or advice on satellite internet. I can’t stand the 28.8 dial up any longer. I’m too far out for DSL, cellular or cable. I was reading some of the post from last year this time on Wild Blue and Hughes. Has anyone found any better solutions or has service improved from either of these providers? Thanks to all in advance.

[Bill Geyer]

I have had Hughes for one year. It works fine except a heavy rain blocks the signal, and one time there was an outage, I called support, they said "as far as we know the system is up". So I figured the problem was on my end, so started tearing into things and getting ready to call a service tech. The next day the system trouble shooting menu mentioned the outage and said the system is OK now. I was pretty hot about that. But nowadays none of the businesses will admit a mistake.

[George & Helen Myers]

Ed,

Did you pursue all options for DSL in the Liverpool area.

Try Googling "DSL Liverpool PA". It sure looks like there are several services for that area. I don't know where you live, it is quite possible that the lines have not been upgraded where you live. I do know Western Perry has areas that can not be serviced by Pa.Net nor Embarq, although they have been promised service by springtime.....Helen

[John Hanson]

I've got Starband and my wife and sister both have Wild Blue. They are ok... but like said before, they sure wont admit that they ever have a problem. I hate to talk to "tech support" as the little gal in Bombay has really no more idea what's wrong than I do, and I get tired (very quickly) of trying to figure out what she's trying to say...
All in all, satellite service is pretty good, as long as you know it's going to get blocked by a heavy rain or snow... it's still better than the $20,000+ they wanted to run a phone line into my place here!
John

[Ken Majeski]

Well I Still have Wildblue... Yup Rain, Snow, heavy Fog, Ice on Feedhorn will mess it up.... Good thing I have a pole mount as I can reach it to clean it off... Also once in a while it will slow down for no real reason... But all in all most of the time it sure beats Dialup here...

[Ed Allandar]

Originally Posted by George & Helen Myers

Ed,

Did you pursue all options for DSL in the Liverpool area.

Try Googling "DSL Liverpool PA". It sure looks like there are several services for that area. I don't know where you live, it is quite possible that the lines have not been upgraded where you live. I do know Western Perry has areas that can not be serviced by Pa.Net nor Embarq, although they have been promised service by springtime.....Helen

Thanks Helen -

I’ve tried the obvious. We’re about ½ way up the mountain 4 miles behind town, about 6 miles from the CO in Liverpool. Our utilities (Electric and Telephone - No cable with in 3 miles of us and no poles) are all buried right down the center of the township road, that was just paved within the last 3 years, the lines were buried in the early 1970’s, when the road was still dirt. We have a lot of quality issues with the phone line, static on the line etc, which Embarq doesn’t respond very well to. That alone is a constant fight, with the static we get bounced off the net on a regular basis. Thanks for your suggestions. I have a neighbor that used to work for Embarq, and knew who to talk to, that spent 2 years trying to get a high speed connection. He finally gave up and put in a Hughes dish, but really hasn’t had it long enough to know how reliable it is. So I was looking for comments from other users to see what real world experience is.
Thanks again, Ed

[George & Helen Myers]

Ed, for some reason or other I thought you would be telling me something like that. Even though we are at the foot of the mountain on a dirt road we were able to get DSL with PA.Net. I remember how we got kicked off when on Dial-up. Embarq would always have some excuse! Hope you have good luck with the Hughes Dish!....Helen

[Orrin]

For those of you who have satellite Internet, how fast is your service during peak hours use hours? Off peak?

I had looked into satellite and eavesdropped on some satellite bulletin boards; but, there were so many complaints from people who said that their service was no faster than dial-up during peak hours, I gave up on the idea.

The next biggest complaint was equipment breakdowns. There were people who had to continue making monthly payments as per contract when the ISP stopped replacing failed equipment.

Some people had to obtain service via a second satellite service. Then, they had to make two payments for service each month: One for the functional outfit and one for the failed service.

Regards,

Orrin

[M Zeigler]

Ed, Greetings from a Perry Countyboy now residing in Montana, we had dail up issues here as well, We went to a broadband card from Verizon wireless last fall, it has proven good so far with only one small glitch , they took care of it with in 2 days and sent a new card. The speed is not as fast DSL but is lightning fast compared to dail up.

,Mike

[Ken Majeski]

Just Checked mine was 329 down and 67 up... It used to be around 512 down and 90 to 100 up but these dishes have been springing up all over...

Best I can get on dialup is 26.4... And on a Wet foggy day when all the phone peds are wet about 21.6 to 16.9... No DSL available here and out of range for the cellfone providers... True I could get it from a cell company but after they paid the roaming charges probably would get Cancelled.. I know they cancelled some here when all the calls they made were out of their home service area...

[Bill Geyer]

Good point Orrin, my equipment is one year old and now out of warranty. My speed is good 784mbs last time I checked. I wondered about an equipment failure after hearing some of the folks Church fussing about their satellite tv equipment having to be replaced over and over. I think they were talking about maybe $125.00. And I wondered HOW MUCH MORE the computer equipment would be. But I have no other choice, the cable company won't come out, I don't have a land line, tried a phone wireless card, and can only stay connected about 2 or 3 minutes

[Ed Allandar]

Originally Posted by M Zeigler

Ed, Greetings from a Perry Countyboy now residing in Montana, we had dail up issues here as well, We went to a broadband card from Verizon wireless last fall, it has proven good so far with only one small glitch , they took care of it with in 2 days and sent a new card. The speed is not as fast DSL but is lightning fast compared to dail up.

,Mike

Hi Mike - Thanks for the reply. Though maybe I'd catch you back home with the Peerless last fall. Perry County is great but it's hard to beat that Big Sky country. We passed through out there in the fall of 2006, the wife and I are ready to head back out again!
BAck to the internet problem...I have a 28.8 dial up here on the mountain, if you run a speed check such as Speakeasy it does about 4k up and 30k down. I also run a Verizon aircard and it's actually runs 17.4k up and 11.5 down. To push something out I usually run the air card on my work laptop, overal much better performance, and more stable than dial up. Have a full T-1 at work in Duncannon which really spoils me guess I just have to bite the bullet and speand some dollars if I want the speed.

[Farquhar]

I see that I'm not the only one thats pretty much fed up with embarq. We live way down in the holler, and the 8-10 mile of phone line out from us, to the main trunk has about 10-12 trees laying on it, and they say when the line breaks they will fix it.
I rarely get 28.8, and usually about 19.6. And in a rainy time, I can just forget it.
I can't justify the cost of the sat hookup.

[Orrin]

We went to a broadband card from Verizon wireless last fall, it has proven good so far with only one small glitch , they took care of it with in 2 days and sent a new card. The speed is not as fast DSL but is lightning fast compared to dail up.

Mike, how far are you from the central office? We are at the end of an 18 mile long rural line. Do you know whether line length is something that would keep us from being able to use a broadband card?

What is this "aircard"? Is it a wireless service? Wireless is not an option down in the quarter-mile deep canyon where we live.

Orrin

[Bill Geyer]

Yes, if it is what I had, mine was Cingular, it is a wireless card plugs in your puter has a little antenna, uses a cell phone number. If I was in a big city, it would sing with lightning speed, out here in the boonies it won't even stay connected., if I persisted long enough it would work, but wait..............and wait worse than dial up

[M Zeigler]

Orrin,
I have no idea how far we are from the central office, Qwest gave our neighbors (at the end of the line DSL but refused us)and they said it works great , Qwest says otherwise, we are 3 miles from their box. I canceled the land line after that crap.
We are about 12 miles north of Helena.
Back to the Verizon air card, it inserts in a usb port and does have a small antenna , Verizon gave us a 30 day free trail and that enabled us to test signal strenth and so on,no obligation if it doesn't work for you. we had a minor issue and they had a new card here in 2 days, no problems since, the nice thing is we can use it on the laptop or the desk top unit and it is portable with the laptop. If you have cell phone service the wireless card should work.

,Mike

[Barry Peck]

Hi Ed, Hi Mike , Hi Helen,

I went with Earthlink High speed dial -up . It is a little better than what I had , but not much . I would try the Broad Band card , but I can't get a signal with the cell phone . I Can't imagine that the card would work at all.

[George & Helen Myers]

I guess I should consider myself lucky that we could get DSL here at our house. I will have to try my cell phone the next time I drive by your house. You have a verizon phone from your company, don't you? Helen

[M Zeigler]

Ed,
I'll be back in mid -Aug, need to visit Mom and a few shows, mainly the 50th at Williams Grove, stop over and help keep an eye on Barry, it tough to tend a live boiler and keep him straight at the same time.
If the pictures post, they are of the sunrise here on Nov. 14th,07.
,Mike

[greysteam24hp]

I have a wireless internet. It has a antenna type unlike a satellite. If the bad weather it didn't bother it. satellite may interfere when you bid last minute eBay auction Verizon wireless internet provider or others might have a coverage. Mine is a local wireless not a major company.
Good luck finding
Craig