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Satallite Internet
lowlylowlycook
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I live in an area where there is no chance of getting either cable or DSL and even modems don't get 56k. I was just looking online and it seems that satallite internet is not quite as expensive as the last time I checked.
Anyone have experience with this? It seems the biggest problem would be latency. How bad is it? Does it make all gaming impossible or could you get buy playing a MMO vs. a shooter of some sort?
Anyone have experience with this? It seems the biggest problem would be latency. How bad is it? Does it make all gaming impossible or could you get buy playing a MMO vs. a shooter of some sort?
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lowlylowlycook on
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If it's that or 56k, though -- tough call. You're kinda screwed.
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The latency.. Hm. Well one can play World of Warcraft. Although, I wouldn't suggest PVPing at all or anything. Questing is easy enough though.
I recently hooked up to Xbox live and I was able to download an update and message people. I tried to do a voice chat, but it doesn't seem to handle that too well. I haven't tried to play any games online for the sheer fact that if I can't initiate a voice conversation while sitting on the dashboard, there'd be no way I could play -any- game -online- being as though there'd be lots of people and action going on.
Computerwise, it's all good. It's a little slower than home, but better than anything else you get provided around where you are, I'm sure. You can do whatever you need to do, free of restrictions and all. Just make sure that you have a technically savvy guy by your side. You'll need someone who knows a bit about satellites (aiming it and whatnot) and you might want to obtain a Spectrum Analyzer to get locked on the provider satellite good. Hm.. Also you'll need lots of CAT5e cable to run your runs.
What companies have you been looking at so far?
edit: and up here in canada at least (it may be different in the states) its illegal for users to setup their own satellite internet dish and what not due to the spectrums used or some mumbo jumbo like that. So no worrying about spectrum analyzers and locking onto the satellite =p
If so, go with an aircard. It is far cheaper to set up and about the same price each month. (plan is about $60 a month) I have one and get about 1.6mbps with 200ish ping times. A bunch of people I work with use them for WOW (battlegrounds too) and it is more then playable. Hell, even if you don't have 3g in your area, you can still get up to 200kbps which is more than enough for WOW.
Taliosfacon, as far as I know things are the same down here as well and professional installation seems to be included in all the deals I've seen.
So a few more questions are there other providers I have missed? Since in the US each of the actual providers have so many resellers, anyone have advice on finding the best deal and or support for these?
Edit: That_Guy no way I could get 3G but I should see if any cell providers have decent coverage. I know Sprint barely works at all.
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Where do you live?
In the middle of nowhere in Southern Ill. But I repeat myself. In all seriousness, fairly far out into the country side.
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Oh, dude. I thought you were stuck out somewhere hella remote. I'm in the MiddleEast. That's why I ended up gathering a group of buddies together and brainstorming it out to get our Satellite up. Your connection should be a lot faster than what mine is, more along the lines of what Taliosfalcon was saying if not better.
I'm not entirely sure what services are provided in the states for Satellite internet, honestly. Overseas though, I could give you a whole catalog. Seriously though, Satellite internet in any shape or form is gonna cost you a shiny coin man. So be forewarned.
Heh, at one point I thought I'd be living in a boat. Having the words satalite plus marine in the product description means $Texas no doubt.
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They put a cap on your downloads so if you download over a certain amount a week, they cut you down to 10 kb/s downloads. The uploads are terrible, the downloads will sometimes cut out for no reason.
My dad has it, he lives in Indiana with a perfect view of the sky, and has the highest tier available for satellite. Is it better than dial-up? Yes and no. Its better for download speeds up until the download cap, and its nice not having to dial in. But its also many time more expensive. The dial-up has better latency in games, you will get over 1000ms ping in anything with sat, easy.
So yeah, its his only choice as well besides dial-up, and I guess its better overall. But something just a little better than terrible is still terrible. Good luck and hope they bring something else to you soon.
The download cap is pretty much going to be your worst enemy when using satellite. It is far more strict than what you'll see from other types of connections.
I don't believe you. When I called Hughes and discussed details about their service, they definitely pointed out there is a cap. Thing is, within a certain radius of coverage there is a limit to how many people can jack into the connection, and then out of all of them the cap is set. To make up numbers for an example:
Say the maximum amount of people in a certain mile radius is 1000.
There are 1000 people using the service in one place. The download cap is very strict.
In another area, there are only 200 or so out of the 1000. The download cap isn't as strict.
This was all based from what I was told by one of the Hughes.net folks though. He was either blowing sand up my ass or telling the truth. Didn't matter for me though. They wouldn't let me sign up at the time because they hit the customer cap in this area.
Also, try putting your zip code in here:
http://www.dslreports.com/search
You'd be surprised how stingy DSL providers are regarding distance from their service centers.
2 cable miles? or something ridiculously tiny.
I think the practical limit is something like a 1.5 mile radius from the local exchange office, less if you're on old wires. I know my father can't get DSL at his house because the wires are about 25 years old. This in a town of almost 60,000 people, where he lives less than a mile from the branch office. SBC/AT&T are just lazy, but that's a matter for a different thread.
This is just a tribute.
Most of the cell network wireless cards do have very low caps, they just don't tell you about them. They'll say its unlimited but "only as long as your not impacting network performance" in small printer underneath. I've used an aircard in the past and received a warning for downloading around 10 gigs in one month. That being said if your just planning on using it to play WoW you'd be fine, as it really doesn't use much bandwidth
So what is the easiest way to hook this kind of thing up to a wireless router?
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There are several ways. One is to use ICS. Another, easier, way is to get a router for the aircard. A quick Google search found a decent list. I know Fry's is selling an HSDPA/EVDO router right now for about 70 bucks. I picked one up to test out at work, and they work quite well as long as you put the correct settings in there.
Edit: found a link that shows most of the models out there.
http://www.mobilitysavings.com/3G_Routers.html
Y'know, I tried this a year ago from one cell company (their name has totally slipped my mind; I think AT&T ate them up) and it didn't work. Got the air card in the mail, I even bought an adapter to plug it into my PC. The card was showing up that I was connected to their network, but I wasn't getting any data whatsoever. I spent hours on the phone with their tech support trying to get it to work, and I even tried a format with only service pack 2 installed. Nothing.
Turned me away really quick.
Ah, nice info. Thanks!
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PSN: super_emu
Xbox360 Gamertag: Emuchop
Sorry you had a bad experience there. Currently, there is a very high level of support for Data Card customers from AT&T. I would know, I assisted in training most of the reps taking "laptop" calls.
As I said, I can personally vouch for AT&Ts current data network. I use it every day and I have had very few issues with it, save for my constant tinkering with my settings.
This is all with the basic, i.e. .5Mb/sec, plan.
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