Satellite or Cable?

Rick:

As far as satellite Internet, it has a long way to go before it can compete with DSL or especially HFC on cable. The primary disincentive is the setup cost, the second disincentive is the bothersome lag (Delay/Jitter) in the connection.

Here in Canada, once you're outside a major urban area, high speed Internet from DSL or HFC is scarce to nonexistent. I know folks who have gone to the Canadian government "approved" DirecPC system.

Most have to cough up $1,500 or more just to purchase the box and have it installed. Per month the fees are at least 50% higher than comparable DSL or HFC.

That said, if all you do is one-way traffic (Downloads) and no complex streaming, the connection is usually reliable. Especially if your only other option is dial-up.

Since the signal must go from your dish to a satellite orbiting above the equator in the Clarke Belt, back down to an Earth Station, then to the Internet, Delay/Jitter becomes very noticeable and objectionable if you try to use a webcam or webphone.

Usually, a webphone (VoIP) will not work over a satellite connection. Since the delay is predictable and the jitter usually is not, odd things happen to the timing and the buffers become confused.

Remember how long we had to endure CNN's Christianne Amanpour in Afghanistan nodding her bloody head like a bogglehead when the anchor asked her a question? It was enough to make me queasy.

As far as comparing download speeds of DSL and HFC: unless your cable provider is hopelessly overwhelmed and it slows to a crawl, you'd be disappointed going from HFC to DSL. Folks usually go from DSL to HFC. On average, HFC is twice as fast as DSL around here.

Jay

 

dsl is the way to go here. to get cable internet, it costs 55 a month stand alone or 45 a month if you have cable too. then 59 for digital cable plus other fees... its over $110 a month.

OR... get basic phone service 23$ (well 12.95 plus everything but the kitchen sink) and dsl 1.5 Mbits for 29.99 direct tv 42.95... total just under 100... but has phone service too.

on internet lag with direcway... i used to work for direct tv as indirect sales and service agent...average lag time was 3.5 secs under optimum conditions which makes it completely useless for online gaming.

 

Rick, that's basically what I have set up after doing some research. At the time I opted for internet cable there was not a great advantage in switching to DSL but that has changed somewhat. Suggest before going the DSL route you have a look at www.dslreports.com for some recent info.
Gary
Dave, since I do online multiplayer flight simming the delay in satellite relay was like flying at 1/3 FPS.
G

 

As a former Army SATCOMmer, I'd be interested in trying out one of those earth stations for Internet access. They're much more expensive than DSL, though, which I get at a decent price (384k up, 3 Mbps down). Cable would be prohibitively expensive--last quote I remember was from nine years ago, when the cable company wanted US$1500 to run a line the quarter-mile from the highway to my house.

 

The delay with satellite broadband is called latency. If I had a choice, I would go with a different form of broadband over the satellite system. When it works, it works well. When it doesn't, it's a PITA to get running right again. DirecPC has been two way broadband for several years. If you have other broadband options, I'd say to go with them. If you are rural, and your only choice is satellite broadband, then it will work. One of the bigger annoyances is that DirecPC will throttle your connection speed if you download "too much" data. They call this a "Fair Access Policy." This means that if you download alot of video, you will find your connection speed reduced untill you've gone through a predermined period of idle time.

 

i like my cable. I used to be a DSL user. My cable company upgraded the wires in my house. Upgraded the lines comming off the pole. Came in and tested the latency.. er.. whatever it's called. and made sure i had a fast and static free connection before they plugged in my modem. Well. . i connected the modem and plug to the wall. they raplaced my plug with a better one with better connects and then hooked it up to their computer for testing. all free. i like them.

a notice was left on my door that they are going to upgrade out connection in this neighborhood. 4mb lines all free. the note says they are installing a new fiber optic system.. hmmm

 

For TV I have been on Time-Warner Cable for the last 12 or so years, and it has been good enough to prevent me looking for alternatives. Hardly any outages or pixelation worth speaking of. Two years ago I supplemented it with a TiVo that I hacked by replacing the 40GB hard drive with two 160GB hard drives for a total of up to 320 hours of recording capability. Unfortunately over the years I have found that there is less and less on TV that I actually want to watch, and I have recently started playing with the idea of giving up TV altogether eventually and relying solely on Internet and my Netflix subscription for that type of entertainment.

On the Internet side of things I used to be with Verizon DSL, which in Durham as of two years ago pretty much sucked and at the time replaced it with Earthlink cable, which I roughly estimate to be about 10 times faster (downloading large files takes about 1/10th the time) and which is costing me about $8 less per month than the DSL did. I also used to have a Verizon landline in addition to my Sprint PCS cell phone, and at the time when I switched from DSL I also ditched the landline altogether, since I really don't make enough phone calls to justify paying two phone bills. At first I was a bit nervous about giving up the "security blanked" of a landline, but I have not found myself missing it at all. And the fact that I have not gotten a single telemarketer ever since is also kind of nice.

- Bill

 

I have a 10' C band 4DTV and get showtime HBO HD and a Lot of the other 1st and 2ed and 3rd level programing (30 or 40) that is sent out for Dish Net and Direct TV for under $25.00 per month from my providers NPS and SRL. am thinking of using it for Internet access

 

You need a third category - I have both, though my primary is DirecTV with Tivo.

 

We've got Comcast Digital cable here at the house...HBO/Skinamax, DVR, HDTV, and about 200 other worthless channels....we went with DSL though for our internet because for some reason in our area, Comcast has been having issues forever with their cable internet. Dumped it and switched to DSL after about a year of headaches....cut costs down a lot because they charged an extra 45 bucks a month for it. Our DSL is plenty fast though, so I don't really miss the cable internet too much. Would have loved to have satellite, but way too many trees in our back yard to get a signal. Oh well, I'll live.

Dave.

 

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I'm waiting for the day that DirecTivo supports the home media option, allowing me to transfer files between directivos. I envision pulling into the garage, wirelessly syncing a Tivo in the Prius with the latest shows from the main base, and having those available for the commute the next morning (for the kids, not me!)

 

I vote satellite. I have DirectTV and their PVR with a double tuner. I had cable for years and I am much happier with satellite which I have had for over 5 years now.

 

i had Comcast years ago when it was still the old cable company that AT and T bought out.

now they have on demand where you can call up a library of stored shows to watch on your own schedule. now that would be cool

 

I have Brighthouse (division of Time Warner) and I'm very happy with it. I have the HD digital cable and HD DVR. I also have my cable broadband with them. I've never had any problems with either.

I also had the same setup when I lived in Texas.

 

Great timing on the poll! Just got the dish last night (Direct TV). Technically I still have both but will be ditching the cable. The picture and programming is so much better with the dish!

 

When we moved to MN the house was not set up for cable...crazy! So we got Direct TV so I could watch my beloved NY Yankees. Ended up getting Comcast cable for high speed internet...$64/month, $25 more than my Direct TV, but we're too far from a DSL point.

 

When I got my treadmill I got a tv to alleviate the boredom of a one-to-two-hour workout, and cable, because I had no southern-sky exposure. Three hundred channels of absolute pure garbage! Even with a DVR there was nothing to watch!

Where I went hiking in Canada, the lodge had satellite broadband internet. It was excruciatingly slow. About halfway between dial-up and real broadband.

Now I have cable internet, which costs $45 per month; and just the DVD on my tv, which I only watch while working out on the treadmill. I'm working my way through DVDs of Cirque du Soleil. Amazing!