rural highspeed internet options?????

[Starfury_2260]

living out where you can't get dsl or cable is HORRIBLE. dialup service is always unreliable, and agonizingly slow. there's also hardly no games that can be played online here.

I'm wondering what satellite internet's like and what the cheapest service is. Also, is it terrible for online game playing?

[Urban_Squrill]

Yes it sucks for online games.

[ShawnD1]

I don't know anything about satelite internet companies but I know satelite is usualy more expensive than DSL or cable.

It's terrible for online games because it's wireless. All wireless internet is just horrible for games. A friend of mine someplace in California has wireless T3 and his ping is always over 300 when we play online games together.

[VHockey86]

The 2 comanies I know of that offer satelite connections are Starband, and DirectPC (through direct TV). Starband used to be through Dish Network but I think they kind of broke away.

Prices are around 60-70 dollars a month, and equipment charges are horrendous (like 300-500).

Its faster than dialup... but it would be worse than 56k for games. We're talking like 1000-2000+ ping. But if you just want to dl alot of stuff its a hell of alot better... to a degree. It also sucks b/c most services limit the amount you can donwload in a given amount of time. Not exactly sure on the numbers but its not alll that great. One number that seems to stand out is 200 megs every 6 hours, but I'm really not sure at all on that.

[elroy]

I feel for you as I also live in a small town in a rural area and suffered with dial-up for a long time. Though we now have DSL. HOORAY!!! There are a couple options for you. ISDN and dual ISDN. Satellite and possibly a T1 or fractional T1 line. ISDN is like dual phone lines that give you 128k. This is often available in places that don't yet have DSL. The T1 while being expensive would be great. You didn't say if you live in town or in the middle of a cornfield. If you're in town you might get a bunch of your neighbors to go in on a T1 line, hook it to a wireless router and everybody share it. Basically start your own little ISP. There is a new wirelesss chipset coming out later this year that has an extended range. Just some thoughts.

[golfcart]

It's terrible for online games because it's wireless. All wireless internet is just horrible for games. A friend of mine someplace in California has wireless T3 and his ping is always over 300 when we play online games together.

This statement is completely untrue. Yes satellite service is bad for games because of the distance the data has to travel. The satellites are approximately 22,000 miles away. That's 88,000 miles round trip for each packet.

Other forms of wireless internet such as microwave are much more efficient. It sounds like your friend has been fed a line of garbage by his ISP. A T3 is 45 mbit/second and costs thousands of dollars a month to lease. The company he buys from may very well have a T3, but it's not dedicated just to him. He probably shares the line with a few hundred or thousand other people. When the line gets busy, the service gets slow. Simple as that.

We use a wireless connection here and it is extremely quick. Ping times are even better than cable and DSL. It all depends on how the ISP equipment is set up and how good the customer to resource ratio is.

[ShawnD1]

Nope his wireless T3 is all his. Wireless T3 is very very cheap compared to wired T3. It's expensive to lay fiber but it's practically free to send out broadcast signals.

[golfcart]

My point is it's not slow because it's wireless. There is a huge difference between satellite service and wireless service. Anything labeled a "T3" should be so fast that it makes your jaw drop. Do you know the name of this ISP? I would be interested in looking at their marketing strategies

[ShawnD1]

Ok my buddy said his T3 provider is www.vistabroadband.com

[golfcart]

They look like respectable to me. I wonder why it's so slow?

Starfury_2260, sorry to take your thread off topic. To answer your question, I would not recommend satellite internet. There are just too many downfalls all the way around. ISDN is a little slower and can be a little more expensive, but is much more reliable if it is available in your area.