[geeks] RE: [rescue] satellite internet service

[Corda Albert J DLVA]

I'm in basically the same situation.  When I looked into this
in the recent past, it seemed that the satellite providers were
not a viable solution. Starband seems to have had quite a few
problems since they switched to their model 360 modem from
the model 180 (BTW, the 180 was a self-contained hardware solution,
whereas the 360 was a satellite implementation of the "winmodem"
concept, i.e. software driven, minimal hardware. ecch!)

DirecPC seemed to have a better rep., but had problems with
their "fair use" policy.  I finally came to the conclusion
that both systems were over priced (~$400 for hardware + $200
for installation, and ~$70/mo.) and their performance seemed
to be unacceptable to a significant portion of their clientel.

If anyone has had a _good_ experience from owning one of these
two systems, please share it.  I could still be convinced...

BTW, for reference, I'm located in the Fredericksburg, VA.
area. I'd like to find a provider/system that
would allow me to have an always-on connection, and be able to
support a small (i.e. _very_ low traffic) private web-server.

I've checked the other alternatives... DSL (not available),
Wireless (not available), Cable (available, but with my 1,200 foot
driveway and an absurd $4.00/ft installation charge, it is
unaffordable... and yes, I've complained about exorbitant installation
costs to the district manager of Adelphia, and even brought the issue
up at the local cable commission meeting to no avail... their general
attitude was "Adelphia says thats what it costs...sorry")


As a result, I'm still waiting for broadband :-(

-al-
-acorda at 1bigred.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: bill pointon [mailto:wpointon at earthlink.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 10:47 PM
> To: rescue at sunhelp.org
> Cc: geeks at sunhelp.org
> Subject: [rescue] satellite internet service
> 
> 
> hello fellow listerines ( or is that a trademark violation ? 
> ) -- i am 
> afflicted with dial up internet service and old slow phone 
> lines -- if 
> anyone who has a satellite service would care to comment on 
> the current 
> state of their service and costs i would greatly appreciate 
> it as i am 
> shopping but have heard bad things about fair use policies 
> and bandwidth 
> restrictions -- unfortunately i am too rural for dsl or cable 
> yet ---- 
> my thanks in advance -- billp
> _______________________________________________
> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue