Satellite Internet Providers?

[engineergurl]

Any recomendations? Or suggestions on other options available?

I've found a local provider and Hughes Net... but don't quite understand this concept...

 

[Flyer_PE]

My mom and BIL both had Hughes for a while. It's not very speedy and if you like to stream video at all you'll be buying more bandwidth in a hurry. My mom has switched over to something else that's a much better deal. I didn't pay enough attention to tell if it is a cell system or satellite.

 

[engineergurl]

yeah, I'm thinking that this is going to put a major hinderance on the hubby's xbox game playing...

 

[Flyer_PE]

Satellite won't work worth a damn for gaming. The term we used to use was "sucky ping".

 

[engineergurl]

yeah, I'm wondering if there are any better options out there now... how slow are air cards and could they keep up?

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

No more surfing porn for you.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

My parents have had Wildblue for years and love it, but they don't game, so I have no idea how sucky their ping is.

 

[Flyer_PE]

I think satellite will always have a latency issue just due to the distances the signals have to travel.

 

[mudpuppy]

^Right. . . geosynchronous orbit is 22,000 miles up. Even at the speed of light in a vacuum that's 118 ms one direction, twice that round trip plus other delays, you're approaching 250 ms. Gaming should have a ping under 100 ms.

Air card probably isn't work very well unless you have 4G available. . . though it MIGHT work with 3G. . . take a look at this: http://www.evdoforums.com/thread14928.html

 

[knight1fox3]

If you have a strong reliable 4G data connection available, that may be alright for gaming and streaming video. However, since it is another wireless data connection, signal drops and interference will occur. It's the nature of the beast.

What is your closest metro area again?

 

[maryannette]

We use a verizon hot spot. We are currently on 3G and it is tolerable. We can't usually stream video without a buffering delay. We don't game, but I'm sure it wouldn't work. There is also a difference in different times of day.

 

[blybrook PE]

Hughes net is the primary provider of satellite internet in AK. You can usually find faster speeds on dialup! Those that have it and try to game online will avoid it at all costs due to the lag. Hughes (and others) typically have a cap on how much you can download during the day and have no problem locking you out for 24 hours, etc...

As for air cards, they are only as good as the signal reception available (bar scale, 3g, 4g, etc...) I probably wouldn't recommend one for gaming, but it's considerably better than Hughes net provided you have near full signal coverage and a 4g service.

Good luck!