Satellite Internet?

BusterBuster New York
edited November 2003 in Science & Tech
Does any one have or know anything about satellite internet? Im looking into DirecWay and i'm not sure if its what I want. I have dial up and can't get cable or dsl and my dial up connection maxes out at 21 kbs if i'm lucky and i lose my connection ever 5 minutes do to static in my telephone lines. So my question is, is Satellite Internet worth getting? I know it sux for gaming because of the lag time but I can't play with dial up either so it really doesnt matter I just need a good web surfing and downloading service.

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Satellite internet clasically features ample download bandwidth when compared to a regular POTS line. The download stream is fairly consistent, and once the beam is saturated and solid, you'll find you have a consistent download rate.

    Upload on the other hand is very very laggy, as beaming back up through the atmosphere is significantly more difficult than beaming it down through. Additionally, the raw power of a home dish is very weak compared to the carrier wave on a full-scale satellite.

    So yes, if you don't have access to DSL or Cable, and you've made <b>sure</b> of that, satellite internet will be a significant upgrade for you.
  • BusterBuster New York
    edited November 2003
    ive made sure I dont get it ive tried everything. Cable comes halfway down my street and the Time Warner says that the other half of the street is serviced by Adelphia but if I pay $6000 I can get it run down the other half of the street. Thanks thrax
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited November 2003
    Maybe you can talk your neighbors into splitting the cost with you?
  • celchocelcho Tallahassee, FL Member
    edited November 2003
    there is a huge latency with space based internet. just the sheer distance involved takes a while to travel even at the speed of light. it's an automatic 500 ms or so just for a round trip just to the satellite in back. tcp/ip is also not designed for this type of a network situation, so the transceivers for satellite internet (2-way and dial-up upload) use packet bundling technologies to try and keep your computer from waiting on tcp packets before sending more requests.

    i'd get someone to buy cable on your street and then use a wireless network bridge to beam it down to your house. you could get two directional (yagi) antennas and two network bridges that are nice enough to cover the distance for much less than the hardware cost of getting satellite internet.

    check out engenius's line of 200mw wireless networking gear. it's 802.11b, but that's plenty of bandwidth for beaming a cable connection down the road. the range with a directional antena of the engenius hardware is pretty rediculous, so it's a decently viable option if you have a neighbor that can get cable. you certainly don't HAVE to use engenius network gear, although i'd want something reliable, and for the price and performance, engenius is hard to beat. cisco and lucent are excellent as well, but they cost a lot more and are actually just a little more reliable but but have slightly shorter range.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I'd suggest Senao and Orinoco before Cisco and Lucent.
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited November 2003
    I'd suggest moving. :D
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