Satellite internet services

[Bake151]

Does anyone use a satellite service for thier internet connection? Which one? I'm out in the country with no cable or DSL. Dial-up is very slow and I want a faster connection. Don't want to move so it looks like satellite might be the way to go. Thanks.

[grantgarvey]

One of my friends had it back in the day when you had to dial-up to upload. I think the Satellite can transmit now, but not sure. In president Bush's 2004 reelection issues he had targeted 2006 or 2007 to get everyone in the country affordable broadband, hopefully the prices will come down and we'll start seeing people in the country with more options, but I think satellite is your only option, hopefully they have a bundle deal so you can get TV/ Internet?

[Early Out]

There's only one thing I know about satellite Internet, and that is that, if you want to use your connection for gaming, forget it. The latency is horrendous. Remember, every packet has to go up 22,000 miles to the satellite, down 22,000 miles to the provider's base, then out to the Internet, with return packets and acks following the same path. So, the round trip is, at a minimum, 500ms. There's no way to beat that problem, what with the speed of light being something of an absolute limit!

[Bake151]

Dial-up for uploading is no longer needed. It's satellite both ways. As far as internet and tv, no one offers any deals like that at this point. It's so frustrating because the cable is only about a mile away but they won't extend it because there isn't at least 60 houses in between my house and where the cable ends. DSL is about the same, a mile or so, but I can't get anyone to tell me why they won't extend it. Probably all come down to profit vs. cost of extending. Sucks really!! Satellit cost more and it's slower, but it's faster than dial-up and about my only option at this point.

[dvessel]

You could try something similar to this (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2001/05/03/longshot.html). Get a partner in the busier part of town. :eek:

No, seriously... That's a bummer.

[Early Out]

DSL is about the same, a mile or so, but I can't get anyone to tell me why they won't extend it.DSL is distance-dependent. The further you are from the phone company's nearest switch, the weaker the signal. The effective limit is just over 3 miles, I believe. So, extending the line to your house would very likely exceed the limit, and they're not going to install some kind of repeater station just for you (not that you don't deserve it, mind you!).