-----Original Message----- From: Windows Home/SOHO [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Sharol Cutrell _____________ Hello Sharol -
Before you decide to go with any flavor of satellite, make sure you check to see if there might be a WISP (Wireless Internet Service Provider) in your vicinity. Those things work quite well out in the flat lands, so it is not inconceivable. My eldest daughter lives in KS, in the vicinity of Harper, which is some 38 miles south of Wichita and there is a WISP there that provides her service around 12 to 15 miles out of town. If you can get it, you should be MUCH happier with it than satellite, although there are a few bad WISPs around too. Always that rotten apple... As I have mentioned in other posts, I have been using the Direcway DW6000 (as of 1 September DW now sells the DW7000) satellite system for just over 13 months now. In my experience, it most surely is NOT broadband but it is indeed a very viable alternative to dial up. As with most electronics, a properly installed and grounded system is imperative for proper operation. The best source of information on satellite internet I have found is at: http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/sat I strongly suggest you spend a fair amount of time on that site, reading the FAQs, which are comprehensive and well written, albeit occasionally a bit out of date. That is understandable, for this is a relatively new and evolving technology, and as with this forum, there isn't any "paid hired hands!" You should also read the forum posts, preferably skimming back a few months. There is a wealth of information there, again, similar to reading past posts on this forum. A lot of chaff sometimes hiding the wheat, but there are a lot of real kernels of wisdom there too. Specifically to satellite alternatives, the 3 main players that provide consumer oriented systems are Direcway, Starband, and Wild Blue. DW is the big dawg in the field and has the deepest pockets, but many people absolutely HATE their outsourced (India) support. IMO, part of that is warranted, but a lot of it is plain old xenophobia, pure and simple. Starband has been around for a while, but they have been in and out of bankruptcy a couple of times. Some feel that their survival is problematical. Both DW and SB currently operate in the Ku band. The new kid on the block is Wildblue. They have suffered some birthing pangs but finally got started installing home systems in June 2005. They operate in the Ka band and use spot beam technology which is supposed to work much better than Ku does. The reports from the relatively few users indicate that this is indeed the case. Their support is based in North America and to date has been very responsive. OTOH, they have a few thousand customers right now, as opposed to DW's some 300,000 so I suspect that their support folks are not very busy. They are partnered with the NRTC and current installations are through the various NRTCs only, but if you happen to live where there is an NRTC doing installations it is a very good deal: $299 total for equipment AND installation, and the subsequent monthly charge is a bit less than DW's and you get greater capability. "Regular" installs will likely be delayed until January and seems like they will run about $300 more. NRTC is subsidizing current installs. Were I just getting a system now, I would likely go with Wildblue. They are currently cheaper, provide faster up and downloads and currently have better support. Caveats are: their system is very lightly loaded right now; whether the speeds remain good when the number of users climbs a couple of orders of magnitude remains to be seen. Also, they are pretty much without a track record, have suffered numerous delays in getting to this point, and are using fairly untried technology. I would still "bet on the come." While there are many dissatisfied DW customers, most of those are the ones who did insufficient research before diving in and bought their systems with unrealistic expectations. Some received poor installations and don't even know enough about their systems to ask the right questions. If it works, it is a no brainer to use; if you have a problem, you either need a little technical knowledge or some hand holding. Broadband Reports is pretty good on both those counts. ;) As for Starband, it is a nice name, and I don't want to "kick 'em while they're down," but it just isn't for me. You can do further research on them at BBR and by Googling. All that said, I will reiterate that satellite is NOT broadband, and while I find it immensely preferable to the dial up I endured for 10+ years, I would drop it in a second for true broadband of almost any flavor. Bill Hatcher - [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- ---------------------------------------- To Change your email Address for this list, send the following message: CHANGE WIN-HOME your_old_address your_new_address to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Note carefully that both old and new addresses are required.
