Satellite internet?

[Soothsayer]

How many of you use satellite internet? I don't really live that far out in the sticks, but DSL, wireless, etc. are not available options here. Neither are the different cellular options (too restrictive and I don't get good cell coverage at the house either). I've been using dial-up for years and it sucks. Because of change in work, etc. I'm going to have to get something better. Who has experience with Hughes.net or Wildblue? What are your opinions about the two? Any other options (not cable, dsl, or cellular)?

 

[bsmith918]

My parents had Hughes up until a few days ago and it was awful. They were down more than up and the price for speed was ridiculous. They were also getting the run around about why their service was so unreliable and no one could answer why their fastest speeds were merely a fraction of what they were paying for. This is just one experience thogh

 

[Larry Morgan]

Only do it as an absolute last resort. Expect upwards of 1000mS ping times (data transmitted takes upwards of one whole second just to make it back and forth), and a bandwidth cap of around 200MB per day. If you go over their "fair access policy" limit, they'll knock you back down to dial up speeds for a day. It's a joke.

 

[Neanderthal]

Try EVDO. I live about as far out in the sticks in OK as you can get, and I still get a great connection. I couldn't get wildblue out here and no way I was going with Hughesnet. I pay $69.99 a month, unlimited..and I can take it anywhere with me. http://www.millenicom.com/

 

[waltham41]

Ive had Hughesnet for about 7 years now.... its true its the hi speed of last choice, although to be fair I have had mostly good luck with them over the years. I pay 80 a month for 2.5M down and 256k up with a FAP of 450MB a day..... far from a great deal, but I will never go back to dialup.

A lot of people that have trouble with them either didnt read up about what they were getting into, or dont pay attention to when the installer puts the system in. Be friendly with the installer, ask them to get the best signal for you that they can get and you will have a better chance of being happy.

Their customer service is getting better than what it was in the past.

 

[Verdigris]

Since you mentioned work, I will point out that you cannot VPN over satellite. The encryption packets timeout faster than you can make the round trip.

 

[dieseltech09]

I'm on WildBlue at my parents surfing OSA right now on my IPad. It's not the fastest but it's much better than dial up. I think they pay like $80 a month for it but it's the best option they have right now. It's not fast enough to stream NetFlix and you tube takes a while to load but it's good enough for general surfing

 

[OKIE-CARBINE]

look for a wireless internet provider. we had wildblue for a couple years before we found out there is a wireless provider out of duke with antennas all over the place. went from $80/month to $20. and no stupid fap limit. and its smoking fast and no lag so i can game. ours is called southwest oklahoma internet. i doubt they are that far up, but surely there is something along the same lines up there.

 

[OKMike]

I have Wildblue and it is fair, slow to load video, but good for basics (as reported earlier). I pay 53 a month. I'm gonna research some of the other options mentioned though.

 

[Perplexed]

My dad had Hughes a couple years ago since neither DSL nor cable was available in his neck of the woods. It was alright considering the alternative of dialup, but the FAP was ridiculous. My dad would experience decent speeds in the morning, a slowdown through the day, and by the evening hours, his connection would barely crawl. Calls to customer service never did produce any improvement, and it seems every rep he spoke with had a heavy Indian accent that made communication difficult.