Help

[Atrocities]

I am at a cross roads.

I have the choice to keep dial up - 14.4 at best given the age of the phone lines here, or opt for the Satellite internet.

With Satellite internet I can get 500 k down, and 50 k up on a good day with no interferance.

However, the up front cost is $750 dollars and the monthy charge is $70.

The big issue is I have been told that the monthly cost only covers 20 hours of use per month and then I am billed $$$ for every hour - rounded up - for every hour I use it.

I don't know about you guys, but ISP charge of $25.00 + $40.00 for a phone is still cheaper than $70 a month and I get unlimited access.

But the download speeds are utterly atrocious. To download one PBW turn it took me nearly 45 minutes Last night and it was a SMALL game.

So what should I do? We can not get cable out here nor is thier the option of DSL. Phone lines are way to fricking old.

Should I fork over the money for Satellite or just keep my POS dial up service and hope that sometime in the next 20 years Qwest or Comcast will offer service for Hi-speed Internet out ware I live now.

[Thermodyne]

The dish is much better than ISDN. I went from ISDN to the dish and it was much faster. And ISDN is almost 10 times 14.4. The dish is down from time to time, weather there, weather in Atlanta, position of the sun, no reason at all. But the ISDN was down a lot too. And late at night the dish is much faster than spec. But during the afternoon it sucks.

Well, if you go with the dish, I have a complete uplink set that I will let go cheap.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

the listed speed won't be the same as the actual. i've never used satelite, but i have used dsl and cable.

i'd be suprised if it wasn't 10x faster though.

[ October 16, 2003, 18:53: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[geoschmo]

Have you gone beyond your local phone company and checked for DSL availability. Like on DSLreports.com. There are are some companies out there offering a wireless DSL connection that doesn't use teh phone lines and is cheaper then what you said you'd be paying for the sattelite. Of course not every area is going to have it, but it's another thing to look for if it's available.

Also, thinking big now. Do you live in a subdivision/bedroom community, or just out in the sticks? If there are a lot of houses out there in a small area with people in the same boat as you maybe you can get a T1 line and split it with a bunch of neigbors. Be your own ISP.

[Loser]

I have your solution: move!

I have rooms for rent here in sunny Colorado and we have cable in the house, networked and highly functional. I will teach you to drive, provide you with ramen, help you find a job, whatever. I need tenants.

[Atrocities]

Originally posted by Loser:
I have your solution: move!

I have rooms for rent here in sunny Colorado and we have cable in the house, networked and highly functional. I will teach you to drive, provide you with ramen, help you find a job, whatever. I need tenants.

That is the problem, I am moving. I sold my house Last week and have about 30 days now. I am moving out into the sticks as Geo put it, and unfortunetly Cable has not made it out this far yet. Odd, this is now a suburb of Vancouver, not really the sticks any more, but far enough out that Comcast won't run cable. Qwest will update the phone lines, but I will have to pay for half of the service, and that is just to God Damned expensive to even consider.

So Satellite it might be.

Say does the length of your phone line to the PC matter? Right now I am using a 100 foot phone line from the PC to the jack. I can cut the distance down to about 10 feet if I move the PC.

Thanks for the offer of sale there Therm, but I would have to finance the project and Directway will only provide service if they sell me the equipment and install it. Hence the cost.

I would love to be my own ISP. I wonder what T3 connection go for now. $300.00 a month???

I could get my own T 1 or 3 connection and become a wireless provider for the area. Oh the drugies would love that.

[Rollo]

The satellite seems very expensive. I don't know how important a fast connection is for you (whether you need it for business or just free time), but I would stick with the cheaper solution and spend the $$$ elsewhere.

[parabolize]

length past 100 ft is bad but if you have no EMI (aka magnetic fields) in the way of the 100 ft its ok.

[Fyron]

Keep in mind that it is a hell of a lot longer than 100 feet form your wall jacks to the phone company, then even longer to where you are getting data from. An extra 100 feet does not mean very much at all.

[PvK]

Vancouver, Washington? (just curious)

$750 + $70/month + ??? sounds annoyingly expensive. I think I'd choose 14.4, personally.

PvK