satellite Internet

Works better than dial-up - but not as reliable for working all the time, and not much faster when transmitting (uplink). Much faster on download. We also found that we cannot send large files - they crap out and fail I tried several times to send 15MB attachements by email, and they failed every time. To be fair though, that's big - and I went down town and used someone's RoadRunner cable broadband, and it also failed to send a 15MB file.

When we bought this system - we purchased the equipment outright and paid $70 a month for access. Our plan was - to dump the dial-up and save some bucks on the montly fee and the call-waiting fee we needed from the phone company. Now, after finding many times the satellite does not work - we're keeping the dial-up for backup. We have satellite TV and that has always worked fine. Tends to crap out just before a heavy rain or snow storm - but then comes back pretty quick. This satellite internet thing tends to stop working at unpredicitable times - often only for minute or so - but it's gets aggravating at times. I've had to switch over to dial-up several time to answer an email for forum post.

One warning - I found out the hard way. Just after getting this thing going - I was anxious to download some large files I'd been wanting including some CAV injection pump data files. Well, I spend one morning downloading - and the system crapped out and would not work for 24 hours. After callling tech support - and getting some guy in India - found out there's a use limit - set at 250 MB per day. Once you exceed that, you get shut down. Yeah - that's a lot and now I plan. But, if you don't know? I was told that unlimitted use is allowed in the middle of the night - like 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. I don't need anything that bad.

My wife and I aren't sure yet - if it's worth the expense. We might cancel it, we'll see. The only big plus - is being able to download large files which we can't do with dial-up. A file that takes an hour to download with dial-up, takes only five minutes with the satellite deal. With uplinking - a file that takes 30 seconds to send with dialup sends in 10-20 seconds with the satellite (when it's working). You can buy a stronger transmitter and send a little faster, but that raises the monthly fee. $70 per month is enough.

99% of internet providers, don't allow emails to be more than 5 or 10MB in size, including attachments. Roadrunner maxes at 10MB. Many ISPs have upgraded to 10, but some are still 5. If you try sending anything larger, they fail. The type of connection doesn't matter, and it happens with cable, DSL, Satelite, etc... But the actual file size limit can vary with different internet providers.

There are sites online you can use to transfer large files, or you can use programs, like HJsplit to break them into several smaller files. Then you can send 3 separate emails each, containing 1 chunk. Of course, the recipient needs the same program to re-assemble them also.

HJSplit is a freeware program, and is a small simple file that can be send along with one of the file chunks. The program is only about 350kb, and can be downloaded free online from several places. Just google it.

Link

Problem I have is that they have ONE (that's ONE) repair guy for ALL of Maine, except the southwestern-most 3 counties.

When my Transmit-Receive unit on my dish died, I was dead in the water for two weeks waiting for him to show up and replace it.

Turns out line-of-sight isn't necessary for wireless, just makes the connection faster. My friend with an aftermarket booster antenna gets ~500k broadband without line-of-sight, behind a hill.

Allan

Allan

steveormary