Thought I would bring this section up to date since I had WILDBLUE satellite internet installed last week. I used a local dealer in a city 30 miles from my rural foothill home.
They are currently waiving the
installation cost ($100?) only which leaves the equipment cost at $300+tax+shipping ($60). My monthly cost is $50/month. Local sales did not tell me about paying the shipping, so I got it removed after they charged me. A local
installer took 4hrs to install the KA Band dish and LNB, run the twin coax to the office, through the wall to a sat modem and into my 1st computer. (we have his and her computers at opposite ends of the house).
Installation went smoothly and he suggested I buy a router to connect the 2nd computer. I bought the LinkSys wireless-G w/speedbooster for the router and PCI card. Installation was done by me and was very easy.
Worked like greased lightning! BUT... got up the next morning and although I still had a connection to the satellite, I could not get in.
After 2 days w/o service and three seperate phone techs trying to find the solution, one finally did. It was called a LONG SHUTDOWN. Turned off and unplugged the modem for over a 1/2hr to clear and dump the memory (including a reboot of the computer while it was off). The default gateway then changed and solved my problem.
Both computers now are operating up to 512kbps download and 128 kbps upload. (Sept/01/2006 update: actual speed is dependant upon which package you buy. I bought cheapest $50/month. There are faster speeds for more $$.)
VERY happy customer. Great system.