Satellite Internet [RE-wrenches]

Wed Feb 19 21:13:55 PST 2003

Allen,

We've been living with the Starband system for about 9 months now. It's been
working well for about 6 months. Items to know, not all of which apply to
your particular situation:

 - Forget their software "WinProxy" for networking. It's trash. Use Win 2K
Internet connection sharing.
 - If you're networking, have your network in good order first. We spent
$1000 on a network consultant who came in and did it all pretty fast after I
tore out a lot of hair.
 - We use Small Office. I've never used a lower grade version. Biggest
reasons I went this way is it legally lets me have 3 computers accessing the
net at once, and the daytime (peak period) speeds are still ok. My
understanding with the standard version is that the daytime speeds are
horrible, as they reserve bandwidth for business customers (like me :)  )
 - The system is affected by snow (sometimes heavy snow, sometimes light
snow, sometimes snow if it's only half slid out of the dish), heavy rain,
and, I think, random flies buzzing by. IT can be pretty flaky some days.
 - According to the literature (have not tried this yet) VPN's only operate
at dial up speeds. I'm pretty sure this is true for all satellite systems.
 - Starband tech support is worse than all the solar equipment
manufacturer's put together.   :)
 - The quality of your dealer can make a big difference in how good your
signal is. Make them get it good.

Compared to our dialup, which not only ate a phone line, but was also REALLY
slow, this is wonderful. But there are times when, since we're now so used
to good performance, that it falters for half a day and drives me crazy.

A bit pricey at $129/mo. Also, we've kept our dialup, both for emergencies,
and because starband does not provide a way to dial in when you're away from
home. BUT, we really have no other choice. DSL might reach us in a couple of
years, or in 10 years.

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: Allan Sindelar [mailto:allan at positiveenergysolar.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 4:14 PM
To: New wrenches posting
Subject: Satellite Internet [RE-wrenches]

Wrenches,
    I am ready to install a satellite internet system on my own offgrid
home. This is primarily to allow me to access +E work from home a day or two
a week, and general business web access. I am requesting recommendations and
experiences of others comparing Starband (Dish Network, better known) and
DirecWay (DirecTV, associated with Hughes Electronics).

    I understand that Starband home version uploads/downloads by "bursts",
and as such doesn't work well for a Virtual Private Network unless I buy the
"small office" version. This means that I can't easily log into our
Quickbooks file and enter bills in real time. I can probably live with that.
But is DirecWay the same? And what are the other issues I should know,
especially those that the Sales Associates don't tell?

Thanks in advance,
Allan at Positive Energy

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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