Wildfire

We are moving out to our farm this week and have to give up the cable modem. I know, it's going to be tough. Probably as bad as when I quit smoking.

Question is, does anyone have any experience with the satellite modems? I did a search and there was some discussion about a year ago, but it seems that they were pretty new then and no one had a lot to say.

We've been looking at DirectPC and need some opinions. This is kind of like Homer Simpson giving up beer, doh!

Turbojack

Have a number of friends & love it. Of course it is the only choice they have. They say downloading is fast but uploading is almost as slow as dial up is.

Iggy

Most of the satellite modems still use a telephone line for outgoing signals, that's why it's seems slow.
There are a few true two-way satellite systems but they're real expensive. I understand they're faster than a cable system.

jafo

I live in the country and have been putting up with dial-up for too long (24Kat best ). The new satellite connections are the way to go, and offer two-way communications that just plain SMOKE! I ordered up mine last week mainly because I just bought a new Dell computer for home, and with the better computer must come better communication!
The dish will replace my existing one handling the DirectTV, and will handle both the TV and internet connection.
Expensive, yes, but well worth it! No more aggravation. Can't wait for the install (2 weeks)
Jim

http://directv.direcway.com/main/index.html

Turbojack

Iggy- Both of the people I know have the 2way. Prices are comming down on 2 way. I saw ad for earthlink & price was $99.00 install $109.00 per month for first year & after that $69.00 per month.

Audiofn

The Directway system seems to be the best so far. What you have to realize is that they do not lend themselves to networking easily. If you do not care about that OR know how to set up internet shareing (not to bad if you have Windows XP), just thought you would want to know that. I have set many of them up with Networks. Another thing that makes them seem a little slow is that you have a 2 second delay from your mouse click for a search or download tell it actually starts. Once it starts however I have seen speeds as high as 4 megs!!!!! They also have a max amount of info you can upload/download in a day. Once you hit that they do ckoke you down a bit. If you have any other quesions then let me know.

Jon

Scott

I agree with srobak on this one although I have not used a Sat connection I have heard of all of the above.
If you don't have a need for internet gaming or interactive internet use then it may be just fine.
This example may help a tad. I have cable at home with no problems at all including my networking through out the house. I will use OSO as a example when I check it out at home I can zip through posts and pictures with no delay it's not a problem. When I travel my phone connection is usually around 28K I hate it and get frustrated fast but have to deal with it since I like reading the posts(I can't imagine dealing with the dial up and OSO). I do stay away from posts with a lot of photos till I make it home. Tonight I am on a high speed connection in my hotel probably DSL and it's connected at 10.0mps It is slower than Cable but I was able to enjoy the uncensored section (photos) and the posts about your best boat shot. I should also add that if I am lucky enough to get a 50k phone connection it's almost bearable
I know this may not help too much but it gives a real use comparison that some of us don't get the chance to see.

Wildfire

Our only option besides dial up is sat at this time. The phone company says no DSL this year and the cable company says maybe next century.

We have heard horror stories about dial up in that area (like 14kbps). We don't do any gaming, mostly email, OSO, Donzi and updating web pages. Looks like the Hughes system is the winner and we bite the bullet$.