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Satellite Internet

One might think that there could be an intellectual discourse about alternative internet providers. Not so sure about that any more.  After many submissions complaining about Satellite Internet service, the following is an amalgamation of survey submissions.  The names have been changed or deleted for safety.

In ALL the survey results there was only ONE thing said that could be construed as positive.

"It ain't that cheap".

Any positive contributions to the idea of loving satellite internet are gratefully welcome.  Please click the email button below and tell your story.

Some idiot had the brilliant idea to develop an alternative internet service using orbiting satellites.  Hughes Net being pretty much the only option for those without broadband or high speed dial tone service like DSL.  Every time I see the commercials I just freak out!  It is not better than dial up for upload speeds which rarely exceed 38kps.  That is 38 kilobytes per second.  Download speeds are slightly better.

I write this as I sit in a snowstorm waiting for both satellite tv and internet to go down.  Not a matter of if, just simply when and for how long.   After a snow storm, we could be without satellite internet until a big strong man climbs up on the icy roof and literally sweeps the snow off of the dishes.  We live in the deep forest and the only un-impacted direct line of site is on the uppermost roof level.

Last week my son asked if I could upload the video of the granddaughter winning the county spelling bee. "Well, sure", I said, "Soon as I get a clear sunny day I'll allocate several hours uploading  a 2 megabyte file to my You Tube Account.".  He was kind of hoping to send it on to other grandparents.  Like NOW.  So sorry, we have satellite internet service.  The WORST internet in existence.

We have had Hughes Net out here so many times, the technician asks for a soda before he leaves.   They've changed the receptor satellite several times.  The dish has been changed and the cabling toned out and tweeked up.    The last time I made him stay and drink his soda to watch me pull up a couple web sites.  Three to five minutes each before any web page is fully downloaded.  The 'party' line is that it might take several hours for the satellite to 're-calibrate' itself.  I think it is an exit strategy translated to, "Please lady don't make me stand here and watch!  I just can't bear it!"

I have a goat farm in North Carolina.  I also try to maintain a website that sells our goat milk soap, lotions, etc.  We also buy and sell goats on line.  The nature of this website is to keep it updated continually.  It is just not good to sell a goat and not get the profile off line quickly.   Some days the only time I have to do web site work is at night when I am beyond exhausted.   I have actually fallen asleep in my chair waiting for new files to upload to the website.

My dad says that although the satellite dish downloads directly from outer space, uploads are done via cell phone built into the dish.  I have yet to get a straight answer about this but it makes sense.  Check Hughes Net website.  The promise no more than 38-56 kps.  This is generally worse than dialup.

The fight in our house is that the husband thinks (considering the source)  the download speeds are perfectly satisfactory. On the other hand, I work with digital photos which requires frequent emailing or uploading of large photo files.  The battle continues and short of moving away, we might get divorced over it.

If one more person tells me that 'all we have to do is' .... pick a lame stupid excuse.  No, cable tv doesn't come out here.  No, DSL is not available.  No we can't move.   It seems everyone has a suggestion including relocating.  One might think we were in the remote vast wonderland of Wyoming or Alaska.  Nope.  We are within 10 minutes of civilization.  Well, OK, 20 minutes if we want a big grocery store.  DSL and cable service are available to people less than 5 minutes away.  There is a massive fiber optic run going down the highway less than a mile away.  AT&T has absolutely no plan or intentions to tap into that line to allow people in this fairly large sized neighborhood to have high speed dial tone. 

And the best submission of all:

Hughes Net should be ashamed of themselves!