Anyone here have satellite internet?

[SkyBell]

We pay $100 a month for "line-of-sight wireless" internet that rarely gives download speeds beyond 70 kbps. (or KB/ps, I can never remember when to use which one.) And the whole family is getting pretty sick of it. We live a little outside the city limits, so there's no options for cable or DSL.

So, our options are:
1. Dial-up. (obviously not an option.)
2. The crap we already have.
3. Satellite internet

We're going for #3. It supposedly gives much higher speed's, while costing less then what we pay now.

I'd like to hear some experiences from fellow MR members, if there's anyone here in the know about this stuff. I've heard about the latency issues, which makes it no good for online gaming or VOiP. I can deal with that. But I've also heard stories of people getting not even 10% of their advertised speeds. (Which ironically, would still be faster then what we have.)

I'm just wanting to know if it's worth it to switch, because even though our current connection is slow and overpriced, it's very reliable, which I've heard is sometimes not the case with satellite internet.

Any thoughts?

(Also, we're mostly considering WildBlue if that makes a difference.) Thank you!

 

[booste]

If it costs less and the lowest possible speed is more than what you get now, what do you have to lose.

I don't think I could take 75 kbps with the GB's of stuff I download every month...

 

[G5Unit]

For basic internet browsing like here on macrumors, satellite internet will give you the same experience as my families 12mpbs connection, so I would definitely go for number 3.

For things such as movie downloads off of iTunes, satellite will still be OK.

 

[Designer Dale]

My PhotoShop and Prepress instructor cut the cable and landline at the same time. He likes his satellite internet just fine, and he is used to the T1 LAN he has access to at college. The only hassle was equipment, he needed a separate dish for the net and had to purchase it instead of lease it.
He had no problems setting it up with Airport Express. His network is several Macs and an old PC. I don't know the satellite provider name.

 

[SlasherDuff]

I have WIldBlue Internet, and their speed is considerably fast, that is if you don't go over the bandwidth cap they set for you. That is depending on the deal you get in the first place. Ours is the business package, that comes with 17.000MB of downloads and 5.000 MB of uploads. It's a great option, if you want just to surf the Internet, but if you steam video from YouTube, and buy movies and tv shows from iTUnes, it may be a deal breaker for you.

As far as online gaming, I haven't tried it for myself, but I do have friends that say that there is a noticeable lag while they were gaming on places like Battle.Net and such. Forget about logging anywhere on rainy days, as the clouds completely block the connection.

 

[maclover001]

We have satellite TV (Bell "ExpressVu"), and it sometimes cuts out during really bad weather. I would assume internet would be the same.

 

[TK B$K]

We have satellite TV (Bell "ExpressVu"), and it sometimes cuts out during really bad weather. I would assume internet would be the same.

same, when i had it everytime it was cloudy and cruddy it would cut off and on. reallyyy F*#$@%ing annoying actually.

 

[kastenbrust]

We have satellite TV (Bell "ExpressVu"), and it sometimes cuts out during really bad weather. I would assume internet would be the same.

Do you think Nasa looses contact with its Satellites or the ISS during a storm? Obviously not, its because Satellite TV uses a high frequency wavelength but internet and higher data services use lower frequencies that aren't effected. Actually the TV uses a frequency similar to Wifi.

 

[jampat]

As others have said, be aware of the monthly caps. Satellite typically has much lower monthly caps than other types of internet and the overage charges can be crazy.

 

[Signal-11]

Do you think Nasa looses contact with its Satellites or the ISS during a storm? Obviously not, its because Satellite TV uses a high frequency wavelength but internet and higher data services use lower frequencies that aren't effected. Actually the TV uses a frequency similar to Wifi.

Most of your common satellite providers use Ku/Ka-band, which is susceptible to weather phenomena but if signal consistency is extremely important to you, C-Band satellite internet can be had if you're willing to pay the price. You WILL see varying degrees of signal degradation on rainy days with WildBlue but you'll see it as a slowdown in speed, not packet loss.

And yeah, it's not possible to get around latency.

 

[vniow]

I was about to answer the question but the signature of the OP made me run away screaming.

 

[rdowns]

I was about to answer the question but the signature of the OP made me run away screaming.

Comic-Sansitis is only temporary. No permanent damage will come to you.