Ideas for Broadband Connection???

[calmloki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaHa two4, I have heard people complain online that there is an annoying latency when opening pages. Do you notice this? How does it compare to DSL? Ha

The gal had WildBlue installed at her Mom's house out in the sticks outside of 29 Palms Ca. for the 2 weeks/month she's down there. It's noticably slower than our Qwest DSL, but plenty ok. Not as solid a connection. Great customer service down there. WE're thinking it would be good for when we start wandering the country, as it only requires an unobstructed Southern sky view. Dunno how tough aiming the Dish would be though.... Loose Chickens? What say you?

[fluffy]

Just call Comcast and tell them you are considering cancelling and switching to cheap DSL which is available in your area for $15/mo. Comcast will offer to put you on promotional rate of 20-30/mo (depending on what rates are available) for 6 months. At the end of those 6 months call them again. Sometimes you won't get the offer the first time -- just hang up and try again. Sometimes takes a few calls.

[Rustic23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki The gal had WildBlue installed at her Mom's house out in the sticks outside of 29 Palms Ca. for the 2 weeks/month she's down there. It's noticably slower than our Qwest DSL, but plenty ok. Not as solid a connection. Great customer service down there. WE're thinking it would be good for when we start wandering the country, as it only requires an unobstructed Southern sky view. Dunno how tough aiming the Dish would be though.... Loose Chickens? What say you?

You might think DirectWay not Wild Blue if you are going to wander. They use a different type of signal and WB must be installed and aimed by an installer. If you search for info on WB you will see how people talk about what lobe they are on. ie 44 I think is mine. WB is 5 times faster than dialup but 5 times more expensive also. DSL is available sometime this summer, and we will most likely switch in December when our contract is up. DSL - $35 for 6 mps. WB $52 for 500 kps.

[chinaco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OKLibrarian The power companies have been saying "soon" since back when I was in Telecom (99-02). I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. Then again, if it happened we'd probably make the switch assuming the price were right--one less utility vendor to deal with.

The electric companies are probably trying to figure out how to approach it, (cost, support for new service, maintenance, etc...). To get share, they have to take it from the existing vendors. This means price war. It reduces the profits. If the connections to the homes are not quality (i.e. problematic), it could lead to extra costs in terms of maintenance visits.

I believe the entrepreneurial profits in broadband are gone. From here on out, the prices will go down due to competition, it is just a matter of time (and possibly technology innovation).

[spncity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff Back when I first got on this forum someone posted about a back door to Verizon. I have been using that ever since.

Could you say more about this? Does it "not" work with EVDO phones like Treo?

Thanks.

[Dog]

I worked for a gas and power company for several years - asked if they had considered offering internet access. They were not interested due to the Enron scandal and were sticking to their core business.

I have checked out Clearwire - they are advertising quite a bit in the Puget Sound area. I'm not sure if there is coverage on the island, but it won't hurt to check. I understand that they are about to be bought (no big surprise considering it's a Craig McCaw venture).

I will probably try calling Comcast again....what a game!

[loosechickens]

Ours is a mobile, automatic system, up on the roof, that finds the satellite by itself. Normally, it takes it about a minute, sometimes two. It finds the satellite quickly. The system has a built in GPS, so when we stop and turn on the computer and tell the system "find satellite", it knows where we are and the software knows just where to look. But then it takes it a minute or so for the software system to fiddle with it trying to make sure it has the most solid signal. That fiddling is what takes the time. Just locking onto the satellite usually only takes it about 30 seconds.

We have friends with the manual satellite tripod systems. They are a LOT cheaper, but the day to day frustrations with getting the satellite when you are using it for a mobile application, we figured was a lot worse than the pain of writing one big check to avoid all those hours of frustration. Since we got ours back when they were first available, our system was really pricey, and costs have come down considerably since.

Most folks who get good with their manual systems can locate the satellite within twenty minutes or so, and of course, if someone were in a fixed based location where they would only have to find it once, not a big deal. But when you move sometimes constantly, and sometimes just want to run the dish up in a rest area somewhere to check your email, you don't want to fiddle with a manual satellite system if you can help it.

We were early adapters and got our system when they were first coming out. Our dish is from a Canadian company called C-Com in Ottawa Canada, and we get our service from Directway, (Hughesnet).

It's not as fast as DSL or some wireless systems because you do have the delay in the upload function to get the signal up to the satellite, although downloads are DSL speed. We generally have about five seconds between screens, and most of that is the upload signal.

It's been very reliable, though. And very good in adverse weather conditions. We chose C-Com because their platform was at the time the only one that was specifically designed for internet. The MotoSat platform, which was the only other one available at the time was originally designed for TV reception, so the tolerances and wiggle in the platform were more. When you are getting a TV signal, you're locking on to a signal that may, in the sky, be full moon sized, and for internet, you're looking at a signal that is about one and a quarter inches in diameter, in a big, big sky. The C-Com platform is incredibly stable and even in high winds, when the motorhome is moving, it stays locked onto the signal just fine.

We don't have any knowledge of WildBlue at all. The RVing folks we know mostly have MotoSat and DataStorm systems. We're the only ones we know with a C-Com system, as they don't do many residential type systems. Most of their business is commercial.....pipelines, trucking companies, etc.

Cost is pretty standard for the service, as most are using the Hughesnet satellite regardless of their platform. We pay $59.99 per month. I think our system cost about $5,500 in the beginning, although costs have come down quite a bit since then. Just part of the price premium for being an early adapter.

Hope this helps.....LooseChickens

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Rattling comcasts cage works occasionally, but what you want is to be connected to the 'retention department', not the regular customer service people. Sometimes they'll put you through to retention to try and keep you, sometimes if you ask that works. Lately so many people have been trying it to get lower rates that they're just letting you cancel, figuring you'll change your mind before they actually pull the plug.

Sometimes the customer service guys tell you they ARE in the retention department, then tell you that you cant get a better price. I've heard that comcast also will not give a promo to someone two times in a row, so if you already got six months at a reduced price, they wont give it to you again when that expires, at least not for a while...this is something new, I used to get better rates all the time.

They do know where DSL is and isnt offered, it comes right up on their screen. So bluffing on that doesnt work. They dont know about smaller wireless companies, so you might try calling and saying "gee, i'd like to stay with comcast but this wireless outfit is offering me a decent speed package for $20 a month. Are there any customer retention deals that would bring my price down a little and make the decision to stay easy?"