OT: High Speed Connections... in the boondocks?

  • Thread starter Thread starter REM
  • Start date Start date
R

REM

This is OT, but for many like me who struggle to download an 8 meg file before
losing the connection, there appears to be a new ISP that can change that:

http://www.wildblue.com/

The continental US is the first. Surely other countries will also have
satellites soon also. This seems to be the way to the future to me. Wireless
satellite! I'm giving my external modem a very bad look right now...
 
REM said:
This is OT, but for many like me who struggle to download an 8 meg file before
losing the connection, there appears to be a new ISP that can change that:

http://www.wildblue.com/

The continental US is the first. Surely other countries will also have
satellites soon also. This seems to be the way to the future to me. Wireless
satellite! I'm giving my external modem a very bad look right now...
Click to expand...

British Telecom have been doing this for quite a while.

The downsides have been that there have been caps on the amount of
bandwidth/time you can use it per month. But on the upsides, in some of the
smaller villages in Wales because the take-up of broadband has been so small
that they would never install it, the European Union have been giving grants
to small company so they can have satellite broadband!! And then they've
also been given extra money to they agree to share this with the rest of the
village.

Now, how many small villages in Wales would have anymore than one or two
houses where they would want broadband?!

Money for nothing.
 
British Telecom have been doing this for quite a while.

The downsides have been that there have been caps on the amount of
bandwidth/time you can use it per month. But on the upsides, in some of the
smaller villages in Wales because the take-up of broadband has been so small
that they would never install it, the European Union have been giving grants
to small company so they can have satellite broadband!! And then they've
also been given extra money to they agree to share this with the rest of the
village.

Now, how many small villages in Wales would have anymore than one or two
houses where they would want broadband?!

Money for nothing.
Click to expand...
Yes satellite has been around for a while ,in wales too.I sometimes find it
amusing that the european union in thier benevolence gives the UK grants but
on closer inspection its just moneth that the UK has already paid into the
"black hole"Currently i believe its someting like 8 billion paid in and only
4 billion we recieve back.Such is UK politics at the moment.Regarding
broadband in small welsh villages and the apparent lack of it , i believe
the biggest factor is that welsh avearge wages are well below the rest of
the UK with many taking home far less than £150 a week , but house prices at
an astronomical level.Maybe they are waiting for the inevitable price
reductions :)
me
 
http://www.wildblue.com/
Click to expand...

I hpoe they get this rolling. I signed up for a telecom beta test (It
has been so long I cannot remeber the name...Phoenix something maybe? I
wil lcheck when I get home...) that never materialized. Lot's of
promises, nothing delivered. The were offering phone, TV and Broadband
in a bundled package for $99 month, with the first 6 months at helf
price for the beta testers and 1 month free for everyone the beta
testers got signed up.

Still waiting...

--
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
El Gee

Did you hear the one about the dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac?
He would stay up late every night and wonder if there was a dog.
Remove yourhat to reply ... but it
may take a while. Best to go to www (dot) mistergeek (dot) com and
reply from there.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
This is OT, but for many like me who struggle to download an 8 meg file before
losing the connection, there appears to be a new ISP that can change that:

http://www.wildblue.com/

The continental US is the first. Surely other countries will also have
satellites soon also. This seems to be the way to the future to me. Wireless
satellite! I'm giving my external modem a very bad look right now...
Click to expand...

Lots of people are excited about Wild Blue. I hope it pans out, and the
outlanders can get good service at a good rate.

I live in the boondocks, but got lucky. A cable company decided to move in
my neighborhood, and I wound up with a clean, reliable 3Mb connection. Many
people around here that live closer to large towns than me can't get any
broadband at all. Wild Blue could be the answer. It could even be
competition for my overly expensive cable connection. I would be perfectly
content with 1Mb if it's cheap and reliable.

Bob
 
REM said:
This is OT, but for many like me who struggle to download an 8 meg file before
losing the connection, there appears to be a new ISP that can change that:
http://www.wildblue.com/
The continental US is the first. Surely other countries will also have
satellites soon also. This seems to be the way to the future to me. Wireless
satellite! I'm giving my external modem a very bad look right now...
Click to expand...

It's already available in Europe and is a great benefit if you have no hope
of getting broadband otherwise. Disadvantages appear to be related to the
time to send packets too & from the satellite. For example this affects
ping times badly. This is a big problem for gamers (not one myself), and
for some applications such as VoIP and VPN (timeouts).

I have no idea how remote you are but you might be interested in the work
some people have done in long distance wireless using 'standard' 802.11 to
get broadband. Here's a couple of interesting links (if nothing else they
might amuse you!). Note that equipment costs are far cheaper now.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010628.html
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010712.html
 
Back
Top