I've been wondering what internet provider you guys in the Boonies use. At home away from the office I'm relatively close to civilization using a wireless card from T-mobile, my cell provider, and would like to know if there are any other people using products other than landlines. My t-mobile card gets me 11mbps max on a good day and I'd like to find something faster so I can look at these plane pics without waiting 1/2 hr between clicks.
wirsig.

Satellite internet access can provide up to 1500 kbps download and 200 kbps upload for less than $100 per month. Startup costs are not too steep, but not cheap either.

Check out Wild Blue satellite. A friend had it and was happy most of the time except in heavy rain and snow.

I have had Starband satellite IP for several years with mostly dependable service. In the past I have used Direcway satellite IP, and I would not recommend them based on very poor customer service.

With both satellite providers I have found that the expertise of your installer has a big impact on whether you're off and running, or banging your head against the wall interminably.

I also use Starband in our remote homestead in the Wrangell mountains, as do most of the other people out here. Basically it is a satellite dish that we power with solar panels. While you should check into Starband, I would highly recommend that if you are located in the lower-48 that you take a hard look at Wild Blue. It is also satellite based, but has a much larger market area than does Starband, and hence has a larger revenue base to sustain their operations and service.

Nizina

Hughes. DSL, I've used it for a couple of years, it works OK. Lot better than my dial up did, but it costs more. They have several rates based on speed, I have the least expensive rate, it's about $70.00 per month. 3-4" of fresh snow and still snowing, it gets a little interference. You have to add a dish for it as well. It does upload and down load much faster than dial up.

We use Starband Nova Pro, works pretty good. We use the 109.00 per month plan, as we used up all the bandwidth on the lesser ones. Kind of burns my ass to pay that much, but it works.

A friend of mine is working with the Hughes folks. They have a brand new satellite up and is supposed to really be the cat's meow for the northern latitudes. He has 1 of 2 test units on it right now. It is very impressive. Should be available by summer.

gb

GB

I have also heard that Hughes has come to Alaska and is supposed to be good. I'm going to consider it. Starband has not been reliable enough for my consulting business. I won't get into all of my gripes, but I am open to taking a look at Hughes.

Thanks
Eric

I have Hughes in Maine, cant say I would reccomend it. Its good at 5 am, but when everyschool kid gets home from school at 300 pm and jumps on, its not much better than dialup. Even some days before lunch its slow depending on how many people are on it. Also, read the fine print about "fair use policy" which means if you download big files repeatedly, Hughes will almost kill your speed to be fair to"others"
Wild Blue is much better here, mainly because they dont have as many customers as Hughes yet. Plain vanilla DSL rocks around here, I just cant get it here in the boonies.

Jim

We have Starband. since their beginning. Not much of an ISP but you can make it work. I might go Hughes net if new, but have all the Starband hardware.

I might suggest your own satelite pointing system. I use a birddog.

Actually these folks are string and tin can but we are not much of a market for them to serve

Go with anything that functions.

GR

I've also got a Birdog and it helps, but it's not bombproof. You still need to know where to aim the dish and the Starband signal is so weak, that you really need to know where in the sky to start looking. But aiming is not my issue.

Email reliability is my problem. Recently Starband email has been down for hours at a time (and almost a day at one point), but more importantly, it frequently rejects emails to me from very reputable ISPs such as GCI and ACS. I don't have any idea how many important emails have been rejected by Starband because of its restrictive Spam blocker. I'm all for Spam blocking, but it should be able to recognize reputable Alaska ISPs. I wouldn't mind missing a few personal emails, but it really hurts business contacts. I'll continue to use Starband for certain email applications, but I am going to switch to Alaska.net for business purposes. Wish we had Wild Blue up here, but I will check out Hughes.

But hey -- living in the bush is my choice and Starband has been a real asset for this lifestyle. I really appreciate the ability to conduct my business from a wilderness setting -- even if the communications is not perfect. Used to be all we had was a CB radio and a kerosene lamp.

GR -- Where are you located at Lake Clark? I have some property at Key's Point.

Nizina
Nizina

Eric,

Yes, the Starband email server was down for at least a day a few days ago.

So far, no one I know on the Lake has the Hughes net set up. The crew that set up the cameras on Hatchet Point use Hughes net and say it is much better. I think I have RJ's email somewhere and might be able to connect you two so you could pick his brain. He has a lot of installation experience.

I was fed up and ready to switch about a year ago, but John at Satellite Alaska in Anchorage said that he could sell either, but Hughes Net was no better.

I understand that there is a plan for a new swarm of satellites to cover Canada and the Yukon over the next few years. So perhaps things will get better.

I live in the cove by VanValin Island ( the horseshoe shaped island about 5 miles down the lake from the pass). If you knew Howard Bowman, I am near his place. The Portage Creek handle comes from the creek just down the beach.

GR

Thanks Guys!

I have the middle grade wildblue ($70/mo) also. I am happy with it, besides your email address ends with "@wildblue.net" which is not bad for pilots.

Portage Creek wrote:Eric,

I live in the cove by VanValin Island ( the horseshoe shaped island about 5 miles down the lake from the pass). If you knew Howard Bowman, I am near his place. The Portage Creek handle comes from the creek just down the beach.

GR

I know of Howard Bowman but have never visited your end of the Lake other than to fly over it on way to other destinations. It is certainly a beautiful area though. Sounds like you are in the same neck of the woods as Bill Beachler.

Eric

Eric,

I know Bill and his family very well. Bill 's place is within sight of mine, I don't think he ever made it up this summer. Too many freight loads to Keys Point for George's place.

GR