Offshoot of Cable vs Satellite

[Bryce]

Didn't want to hijack Tom's topic but was interested where it was heading. What are my options for internet access? Currently have diretv for tv and that option is working out very well. Since Qwest does not have DSL for area, we also have cable for broadband. Hard to write out that $60/month just for usable internet. Have heard that satellite connection is slow and that just won't work as both wifey and I need to send large files back and forth between our workplaces. Has to be others in this situation and hopefully someone has it figured out.

[Tom7227]

Bryce,

My daughter in Denver has some sort of deal where she hooks up her cell phone to the computer and it is the link. I think she said it only cost $15-20 a month. She had to get some sort of jobberdo to make the hookup but she is very satisfied. She lives in apartment and has no other options. MIght be worth checking out.

Tom

[BoxMN]

Wireless access point on neighbor's nearest wall then pay half their bill, heh.

[Bryce]

Tom, sounds too much like my work laptop with phone card... too slow but still nice when working in BFE.

BoxMN, some of the other supervisors used this method when on compact job sites before we had the above method. Usually just a matter of leaving the router with the home owner at the end of the job. Not sure what range is on new routers but don't think it would reach neighbors where I'm at and I already feel like trailer trash in this developement without asking for something like that at the starter castles.

[upnorth]

The only thing with the cell phone thing is it is probably just dial up speed. And the way people are building web pages now days you....well I know I would go insane waiting for them to load on dial up.

[L_Cappo]

cant realy beat cable tho.always connected dont have to worry about getting booted off all the time like dial up,and its way faster then dial up.dsl is also very fast,but then again if ts raining,snowing lots of cloud cover you will get booted.just my 2 cents worth

[Iambjm]

Another thing to remember with satellite internet it is very touchy, if you do not have a good line of sight to the south. I ended up taking down around 18 trees trying to get mine to work in the summer, worked okay in the winter but when the summer came .....problems. I still need to take a couple more down, if it is breezy, they interfere, when the sun is shining I can't get on during the daytime. Call them about it and they tell you to call your installer, they will come out and check things out......for $99 bucks an hour. Never had that problem with Comcast.

[TRITC]

Bryce,

Sorry to have to say this but I think your best bet is cable, if you are actually sending "large" files on a regular basis (I only say "if" because some people's definition of large is different than others). Also, at this time I don’t think you can find a consumer level connection that is really even close to the speed of cable.

[Da Beak]

Bryce,

There's a company out of Eden Prairie that does wireless off of towers in the area that promises up to Burstable T1 1500Kbps (1.5Mbps) speeds upload & download. I don't know if I can post the web address here or not. Send me an e-mail if you'd like the info.

Beak

Beak621 @ yahoo dot com

[upnorth]

The only thing with wireless is that it is line of sight and distance sensitive, as are most digital connections. If you are on the edge of the connection radius or too many buildings etc blocking your signal it may be week and slower than advertised. But there are more and more rural areas offering wireless, bit would still be better than satellite broadband.