[olug] Alltell / Windstream and a new DSL modem...

[Dan Linder]

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 12:32 PM, Dan Staehr <staehrmedia at neb.rr.com> wrote:

> Also OT for a Linux list, but do any of you have experience with
> satelite broadband or long range wireless access. I have a client in
> Raymond, NE that is using DSL and has had all sorts of problems.
>


I can contribute a bit on this note.  Before they got DSL, my parents had
the Satellite broadband through DirectTV for two years.  When it was just
the two of them doing their normal e-mail and basic surfing, it worked very
well.  The only issues they had were the same ones they had with the
Satellite TV - outages during extreme weather, wind could move the dish out
of alignment, etc.  The speeds weren't the greatest, but that wasn't an
objective.

They ended up leaving because the technical support was pretty bad.  Even if
we went down to the basic Windows XP connected directly to the RJ45 port on
the Satellite "modem", their people were troublshooting it to a problem with
their wiring and/or computer.  Couple that with the fact that their TV
support was saying that their analog phone lines weren't perfectly
compatible with the DirectTV tuners (for periodic dial-in to check
subscriptions), my dad finally had enough and dropped back to the basic
service as soon as DSL was available.

But for a person in a remote location, the speed for DSL will vary depending
on distance from the CO where Satellite Internet is always the same speed on
an average day.  Plus it can be mobile so you could take it with you when
you go for a camping trip (if you so desire).

Dan

-- 
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" (Who can watch the watchmen?) -- from the
Satires of Juvenal
"I do not fear computers, I fear the lack of them." -- Isaac Asimov (Author)
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