A rural satellite solution?

[CA3LE]

Below is a message sent to me from a new member 'try2blucid' -- Could you guys who are more familiar with satellite connections please point him in the right direction.

sorry i am not very good at this..i am in isolated section of baja i use starband gilat/nova). my friend told me of your site. to check my up/download speed ..it sucks..today your system asked me if i was on dial up.  i use a sony with vista. the first verison. 1 gb..i know i want to upgrade with i go stateside, but i have 2 month months here..can you give me some direction? i

Have you looked into HughesNet?  (http://www.hughes.com/)

It's gotta be pretty awesome living in such a remote area.  At least I think so, especially Baja... but then again I'm an ATV, 4X4 and dirt bike freak.  The downside is your choices in broadband.  I'm posting this as a thread in our forum for you, this way not only will you be helped to make a more informed decision but future visitors to the site will be as well.

Also, within a month or so I'll be announcing a new section to the site which will cover customer testimonials on ISPs.  People will be able to search for ISPs in various ways and get feedback on service providers from our members.  I'm still putting this together but I'm sure as soon as I get the system in place to start taking reviews from our members it will fill up with testimonials very fast.

Good luck and WELCOME!

-D

[Shug7272]

Yea Satelite sucks no matter how you slice it. Good luck man.

Glad to hear about updates to the site Boss. About time you got off your lazy fat ass and quit chasing women to come back to work. 

http://www.wildblue.com/ Lord I feel bad recommending satellite. Better than dial up though.

[zalternate]

I would point someone towards Hughesnet 'KA band'. Due to being able to have at least two years(or more) before any high capacity of people get on the satellite. Other than the daily FAP limit of beginning at 200MB per 24 hours. But no FAP in the 2am to 5am eastern time, for larger updates.

Some beams of WildBlue are full or really slow. And WildBlue has a monthly FAP that people can burn through in two weeks at first and then upgrade to be able to surf properly again.

But at least check to see if any other providers are in whatever the users location may be. Like wireless or such.

Attached beam maps. I don't have a beam map for WildBlue1 satellite(WildBlues own satellite). Other wise they also use the Anik F2.

Hughesnet is the Spaceway3 satellite. Stay away from the 'KU band' satellite packages.

[ghostmaster]

Hughes has footprints in Baja, but if you only have 2 months left there, I wouldn't sign up for Hughes, as they require a 2 year contract regardless of if you buy the equipment.  I don't think Wildblue services Baja, but I could be wrong.

[banjoboy]

:smiley:I am on Hughes net spaceway and after some initial hicups---things are working fine. I am getting constant speeds any time of day and night. Not cheap by any means but ---you get what you pay for. I am on the Elite package--steady 2mb down and around 285--330 upload. We have had some nasty weather here in central Ontario and it hasnt really caused a problem with the KA band so far.

Good Luck!!

[try2blucid]

wow this is so wonderful, thank you all so much for your information. i have some pretty good telephone signal this am, so i am going to try to contact starband, bummer, i have to call the internet service provider...duh... in order for them to respond to me..i have sent them emails at their support site since the beginning of February, with no response....hopefull they have any good news about correcting their signal, otherwise i will look into ending the starband service and next season installing  hughes. 

[Shug7272]

goodluck! Let us know what you think.