Broad Band options, Help!

[MarkV]

Many of you are very computer knowledgeable and I am just the opposite so I am hoping you can give me some advice. We are on old phone lines with dial up internet service and little hope of the phone company up grading in the near future. My wife’s company has changed their system and it is very unfriendly to dial up connections now. She needs to be able to access the system so we need some form of broad band connection.

It looks as if our options are satellite with Hughs (Direct TV) or wireless with Version. We do have good line of site with the Version tower. The two seem to cost about the same per month. I get lost pretty fast with the computer lingo but sure would like to hear the plus’s and minus of the two systems from those of you that understand this stuff.

Thanks,
MarkV

 

[EddieWalker]

Mark,

There are allot of threads here on satellite internet, direcway, hughes net and wild blue. Plus some really good ones on the wireless systems that the cell phone companies are providing. If you do a search on those key words, you should have hours and hours of reading.

I have DirecWay, which is now called Hughes Net. It was around $500 for the system and install, then $60 a month for service. Speeds are pretty good, but not great. DSL and Cable are both better, but since it's not an option for me, this was the next best thing.

I lose service during heavy rains and sometimes when certain clouds go by. I don't now for sure, but I think some clouds are thicker then other clouds. It can be frustrating to send a large email or something, and have it not go through because I've lost service. This was pretty bad awhile ago, but now it's gotten better.

I've had my modem, dish and all my cables replaced. The original install couldn't make it work. A few weeks later another guy came out and got it working, but he used the original stuff the first guy had left here, but did some adjusting. It was never very good and I spent allot of time with customer support. They are in India and helpful enough when you get past the firt level of support. I've been to level three several times.

It got so bad that after about nine months, they sent out another guy to fix it. This guy said the last company was out of business. He started with the modem, then the dish, and then the connections that were used on the cable. He said the first company use the cheap connections on the cable and were all junk. So he pulled allot of the cable and put all new stuff in.

Every time he changed something, it got better.

Its been over a year now and we just live with the issues that are normal with satelitte internet. Mostly the way weather will shut it down.

If and when something else becomes available, we're changing over.

Eddie

 

[MikePA]

I have cable at home and it's down right now, Internet as well as TV. So, I am using my Cingular wireless card. It's about $60/month for unlimited bytes transferred. Between satellite and Verizon wireless, I'd choose wireless, assuming they have unlimited access and your signal is good.

 

[MarkV]

Eddie and Mike, thanks for the replies. I’ve read and reread many of the post here on the forum about the options and understand they both have their draw backs. For me it is like buying the first tractor, acronyms start flying around and I get lost by the computer talk. This old dog isn’t learning the new tricks very well.

I’ve been told that some sort of board can be put into a desk top computer to use wireless broad band. Can anyone confirm that for me?

Thanks,
MarkV

 

[dmccarty]

MarkV,

Have the wife ask her support people if she can use a satellite service. I have heard that VPN connections over a stellite can be a problem due to latency.

Later,
Dan

 

[MikePA]

I’ve been told that some sort of board can be put into a desk top computer to use wireless broad band. Can anyone confirm that for me?

Yes, a board can be put into a desktop, it's the desktop counterpart to a PCMCIA card that a laptop uses.

However, keep in mind you pay $60/month (in the case of Cingular/ATT) for each wireless card. Also, with some wireless carriers, Cingular/ATT being one, there are 2 wireless data networks. Cingular has their Edge network which is substantially slower than their 3G network.

An alternative to buying 2 wireless cards, one for a laptop and one for a desktop would be to set the desktop up to share its Internet connection with the laptop. If your wife's employer will pay for her wireless card, so much the better.

 

[anojones]

There are advantages and disadvantages to both, the main advantage of the sattelite system is that it's set up to work with your desktop and you can purchase a plan (i.e. broadband speed) that fits your needs and budget. The downside is they tend to not be as reliable as other broadband, cost a bit to get installed up front and have latency issues (there is a delay when you click on a link). I'm assuminig your talking about using a Verizon wireless cellphone type internet as an alternative, which does have limited speeds but should be fast enough. The problem is it's generally not designed to use for everyday internet at home- make sure it's an unlimited plan (and really is unlimited) and then you need some extra hardware including a PCMIA card and to use the desktop a PCMICA adaptor. I would do some online reading before going the verizon route, as it would probably work well, but you'll have to do your own troubleshooting and research to set it up the way you want. If you are rural- check around for a wireless ISP provider- there are more and more of these popping up and they install a dish that aims at a tower to provide internet- it's what I use and works well.

 

[jdbower]

If you have access to Verizon's EV-DO network (Broadband Access, I think they call it) I'd certainly go that route. The speed is reasonable, you can bring it with you if you travel (in the US), and the latency is much better than satellite. I'd recommend one of these or a similar product to share the connection between multiple computers (I actually created a prototype unit before they were commercially available, I'm still kicking myself for not pushing harder to get a patent...). I've got one with my laptop and it's very nice for when WiFi isn't available, I traveled from NJ to Cleveland and only in a bit of Western PA did it drop the connection - and that was years ago.

 

[Soundguy]

I had been on dialup at home and faced the saem question sup untill 2 months ago... My choices had come down to wireless from at&t.. or satalite. I wasn't happy with the upstream latency with the satalite.. so was going to go with wireless. luckilly embarq finally offered DSL 1.5 m service in my area.. in fact.. I just got it installed about 2 weeks ago. I love it.

A couple of my friends have a cable package.. phone, cable and high speed internet ( up to 5m ).. and love it... unfortunately.. my cable provider did not offer it.. etc.

If your only choice is satalite or wireless.. and they cost similar.. I'd go wireless.. at least then you can lug your laptop around and get service at most places..

soundguy

Many of you are very computer knowledgeable and I am just the opposite so I am hoping you can give me some advice. We are on old phone lines with dial up internet service and little hope of the phone company up grading in the near future. My wife’s company has changed their system and it is very unfriendly to dial up connections now. She needs to be able to access the system so we need some form of broad band connection.

It looks as if our options are satellite with Hughs (Direct TV) or wireless with Version. We do have good line of site with the Version tower. The two seem to cost about the same per month. I get lost pretty fast with the computer lingo but sure would like to hear the plus’s and minus of the two systems from those of you that understand this stuff.

Thanks,
MarkV

 

[Podunkadunk]

MarkV,

Have the wife ask her support people if she can use a satellite service. I have heard that VPN connections over a stellite can be a problem due to latency.

Later,
Dan

MarkV,
Hughes.Net (Directway) will NOT accept VPN. If your wife needs to be able VPN into her work network, HughesNet isn't an option for you. I know this because I used HughesNet Satellite service for several months before the local phone company upgraded my line to DSL capable. I needed VPN to access certain servers and couldn't because HughesNet won't allow it.

They also talk about the NO VPN option directly and openly on their website, under the FAQ section.

Go with the wireless card from Verizon. As long as you are close to the repeater tower, you're GOLDEN!

Podunk

 

[EddieWalker]

From 6am to just before 8am, I wasn't able to get online. It's raining out and my satelitte service was out. I'm expecting more storms today and for the next three days, so it's anybodies guess if and when I lose my connection again. This is normal for satelitte.

Eddie

 

[jdbower]

Besides, with the Verizon card you can take your laptop with you so you can Google on your Gator, download from your Deere, email Amsterdam from your New Holland, add kilobytes to your Kubota, run Microsoft on your Massy, someone stop me!

 

[Jimbrown]

If you can get Verison EVDO that is the best way to go.

 

[texbaylea]

Since we live rurally and am marginal for cell phone coverage I went to direct wireless. Because of my trees I had to go to a 70' tower to get line of sight to the service antenna (on top of a tower for the local water district).

I am very happy with the service, they are here within 24 hours if it cannot be fixed by consultation. The only thing that knocks me down so far is a lightning strike. The first took out the antenna/radio and part of the cable. The second wasn't as close but the pulse knocked out the POE and my router. I turned every thing off overnight and the electronics "healed". The system went to working the day but the provider sent out a technician any way to check the system out.

I get ~540kbps down and ~160kbps up which is enough for me. I can buy two higher levels of service on a 30 day basis. At my level I pay $50 a month.

Vernon

 

[riptides]

If you can get Verison EVDO that is the best way to go.

EVDO rev A

This is a build out of both Verizon and Sprints networks, no rev A phones are on the market yet. Too bad. Because I use my cell phone as an external modem and - here I am.

So get a rev A access card, be carefull if and when you decide to stick it in an EVDO router. Some EVDO routers don't do VPN either......

Other than that, you cannot beat the mobility with this technology!

-Mike Z.

 

[Soundguy]

Speaking of latency and downlink levels.. anyone got a good site to go to to find your ping or latency or throughput level?

I used to have one book marked so i could check my dl/ul speeds.. but have lost it in the last 2 weeks somehow...


Soundguy

 

[dmccarty]

Soundguy,

This is what I have bookmarked. Don't know if it is "good" or not but its what I have.

Speakeasy - Speed Test

Later,
Dan

 

[texbaylea]

Here is another site for speed measurement.

MySpeed Bandwidth Test, Internet Speed Test, Broadband Speed Test

Vernon

 

[Soundguy]

Thanks Tex and Dm.. Both tests produced almost identical results.. so that's a good sign.

thanks again.

soundguy

 

[MarkV]

Thanks everyone, you have offered a bunch of information I didn’t know about. Let me see if I can answer a couple of questions and ask a couple.

Dan, I would not have known about the VPN problems with satellite. As it turns out her company has switched from a VPN, which was a constant problem, to an internet based system. Now they have so much security with it that it isn’t working very well anyone. Hopefully they will solve some of the start up problems soon.

Mike, I don’t know what PCMCIA stands for but at least now know what to ask for. We only us a desk top so linking two computers is not an issue for us.

Anojones, well done, you explained that in a way I could understand. Any idea how hard it is to set up a desk top with the PCMIA stuff?

Jdbower, No need for multiple computers, we have enough trouble with one. My wife works for an airline so she does travel weekly but is too busy bringing back wine from Europe to bother carrying the extra weight of a lap top. It is good to know we could link two if needed in the future.

Jimbrown, texbaylea, MikeZ, Help me here, EVDO I don’t know what that is? Is there more than one type of wireless service from Verizon?

Thanks all, keep the information coming.

MarkV