HughesNet or WildBlue, considerations before buying

[UGLandrum]

I did my research before I chose and I am really happy with my choice.
If someone tells you WildBlue is the best, they are mistaken and they need to read this page at HughesNet's page. I post this on this thread solely because I want folks to know that they can get more and better satellite internet services for their money!
I cannot stress enough, that these comparisons are completely factual and not just a ploy to get more customers, I've found HughesNet to be the best all around service in North America, while I don't have the service yet, my facts are from research and personal testimonies from fmaily and friends that have the service. I am merly waiting to move where I will have no access to landlines, I am milking this wonderful cable internet! lol
But I have made my desicion as to what I will have as Internet service when I move to the boonies (at least 10 miles away from the nearist fiber-optic lines). Please check out this page, you'll be happy you did. HughesNet Satellite Internet, vs. WildBlue Internet, High Speed Internet


Regards- Will

[Corey]

Originally Posted by UGLandrum

I did my research before I chose and I am really happy with my choice.
If someone tells you WildBlue is the best, they are mistaken and they need to read this page at HughesNet's page. I post this on this thread solely because I want folks to know that they can get more and better satellite internet services for their money!
I cannot stress enough, that these comparisons are completely factual and not just a ploy to get more customers, I've found HughesNet to be the best all around service in North America, while I don't have the service yet, my facts are from research and personal testimonies from fmaily and friends that have the service. I am merly waiting to move where I will have no access to landlines, I am milking this wonderful cable internet! lol
But I have made my desicion as to what I will have as Internet service when I move to the boonies (at least 10 miles away from the nearist fiber-optic lines). Please check out this page, you'll be happy you did. HughesNet Satellite Internet, vs. WildBlue Internet, High Speed Internet


Regards- Will

With any satellite Internet service, you're going to get very long ping/latency times, compared to a terrestrial service such as DSL, cable, or fiber optic lines. This is at least partially because the speed of light limits how fast your data can make a round trip of 44,000 miles to and from the satellite. To take the case of an Internet ping, it must make this trip twice: the ping is sent to the satellite and bounced back to a receiving station, where it is forwarded to the Internet. Eventually the ping reply comes back to the receiving station, and is sent up to the satellite and back down to your machine. A total of 88,000 miles. At the very minimum, you will see ping times on the order of 500ms. And that's assuming the Internet has 0 latency, and that there's little contention for bandwidth on the satellite. A more realistic ping would probably be in the 600-700ms range. Long latency times are considered bad for MMO games. You might look around for Internet service that's provided via long-distance WiFi. I think those can go up to 10 miles, but I'm not sure. In any case, good luck.

[N4ST]

Originally Posted by Corey

With any satellite Internet service, you're going to get very long ping/latency times, compared to a terrestrial service such as DSL, cable, or fiber optic lines. <snip> A more realistic ping would probably be in the 600-700ms range. <snip>

Sadly, satellite internet services such as WildBlue, typically implement DAMA (Demand Assigned Multiple Access) which results in ping times of 1100-1200ms when there is no channel contention issues (yes, it gets even worse). VOIP, VPN and twitch gaming are just not worth it and even https sites are noticeably slower.

[N4ST]

Originally Posted by UGLandrum

I did my research before I chose and I am really happy with my choice.
If someone tells you WildBlue is the best, they are mistaken and they need to read this page at HughesNet's page.

Well, that all depends on your usage and needs. The provided link contains old information and a few errors about WildBlue's service. It also presents things in the worst possible context for WildBlue. Following a similar logic I could truthfully say something like, "I can download a 640MB Linux CD in less than 1-hour on my WildBlue system and that could take over 9-hours to do as a continuous download on Hughesnet because of their quick FAP. And that's +9-hours if you used their $79.99/mon ProPlus Package. It would take twice that long with their Home package."

I've been using WildBlue for over 26 months with no equipment failures or service calls. Running between 3 and 6 computers off the router, depending on how many kids are home from college. It works fine for me.

But please... Don't put me in the position of defending or promoting any satellite ISP. Superior only to dial-up, and not in all aspects.

[UGLandrum]

Well I see your point N4ST but, I guess I was thinking that getting your service turned down slower for up to a month was not what I wanted to deal with, Huges I guess is more tailored to my needs. I do not download huge files and strongly am against downloading music (because of shady laws and guidelines on downloading polocies and I'm certainly not going to pay for them with my credit card!) I figure Hughes FAP is better for me.

Has anyone heard of ClearWire internet service, this service involves you going and buying a s-band device that accesses the satellite signal much like XM radio or GPS, then just hooking it up and you get service all for $20 a month. My neighbor told me she gets 100mbps.

- Will

[Corey]

Originally Posted by UGLandrum

Has anyone heard of ClearWire internet service, this service involves you going and buying a s-band device that accesses the satellite signal much like XM radio or GPS, then just hooking it up and you get service all for $20 a month. My neighbor told me she gets 100mbps.

I'd seriously doubt 100Mpbs. That's probably the link speed she's getting to the clearwire modem, which is not where the bottleneck is. You can check out the specs at Clearwire: Wireless Broadband Internet Service Home and Office. They claim 2.0Mbps down, and 256kbps up. Also, it's not a satellite service, but more like WiMax.. they use towers to transmit and receive the signals.

If you have access to that service, though, that would be a good solution, I think, for gaming and general Internet usage. The rates they quote appear to be higher than $20/month, but I could not check the details since I didn't have an address to check in their coverage area. $20/month would be an excellent price.

[Muad'Dib]

100mbps via sat is impossible yet.

[UGLandrum]

I apologize, my sources were completely wrong! Ive been trying to hook up and retrofit a system that can utilize my Primestar dish, homebrew cantenna, Sat. motor and Fortec receiver. I angled the dish at 2 digree adove horizon, took a pipe for an adaptor and mounted the dish to the motor, positioned it as not to change the elevation. Hooked up the receiver to a small TV next to the computer and programed in Sat locations for the WiFi towers. Worked great! FREE INTERNET ACCESS.

[Corey]

Originally Posted by UGLandrum

I apologize, my sources were completely wrong! Ive been trying to hook up and retrofit a system that can utilize my Primestar dish, homebrew cantenna, Sat. motor and Fortec receiver. I angled the dish at 2 digree adove horizon, took a pipe for an adaptor and mounted the dish to the motor, positioned it as not to change the elevation. Hooked up the receiver to a small TV next to the computer and programed in Sat locations for the WiFi towers. Worked great! FREE INTERNET ACCESS.

That's great! Could you post a picture of your setup? I'd love to see it, and I think a few others would too.

[ayelvington]

Originally Posted by N4ST

Well, that all depends on your usage and needs. The provided link contains old information and a few errors about WildBlue's service. It also presents things in the worst possible context for WildBlue. Following a similar logic I could truthfully say something like, "I can download a 640MB Linux CD in less than 1-hour on my WildBlue system and that could take over 9-hours to do as a continuous download on Hughesnet because of their quick FAP. And that's +9-hours if you used their $79.99/mon ProPlus Package. It would take twice that long with their Home package."

I've been using WildBlue for over 26 months with no equipment failures or service calls. Running between 3 and 6 computers off the router, depending on how many kids are home from college. It works fine for me.

But please... Don't put me in the position of defending or promoting any satellite ISP. Superior only to dial-up, and not in all aspects.

I agree with N4ST. I also looked into Hughes against WildBlue and went with WB. Both had their detractors and advocates, but it was both a financial and technical decision. I'm running a multi-machine SOHO LAN and am content with the service. I went with the $79 package for download so that multiple users did experience too much congestion. Our usage has stayed just under the fair-access-policy, so no problems there. I did not install their "optimizer" software, and I've not had any trouble.

Both have good products tailored to their users. As long as you base your decision on what you expect, you'll probably do fine. Going into a satellite solution knowing that ping time is a fact of life is always a good thing.

[ayelvington]

Originally Posted by Corey

That's great! Could you post a picture of your setup? I'd love to see it, and I think a few others would too.

I recommend that he doesn't. It's extremely unlikely that he's getting anything for free. And it's a theft of service if he is.

I'd ask that we all proceed cautiously here and play by the rules.

a

[Corey]

Originally Posted by ayelvington

I recommend that he doesn't. It's extremely unlikely that he's getting anything for free. And it's a theft of service if he is.

I'd ask that we all proceed cautiously here and play by the rules.

a

It depends on who is offering the WiFi service. In Portland, there is a free WiFi service that's offered in the downtown area.

[ayelvington]

Originally Posted by Corey

It depends on who is offering the WiFi service. In Portland, there is a free WiFi service that's offered in the downtown area.

I used to live in the progressive West and forgot about the free Wifi in some areas. My apologies to all.

Al

[UGLandrum]

Yes it is true that there is free public access Wifi. Some folks or business's are willing to broadcast free Wifi signals. Now an unsecured router isn't the way to connect but, most of the Wifi signals coming from towers have an unique SSID that identifies their signal as private (with WEP-WPA encryption) or is public and is free to use. In the time that I last posted I setup a free access WiFi tower (nothing to fancy, about 50ft tall) and I'm simply using a Lynksys router (pre-programmed on my computer) w/ signal amps, a modulator (motorola high speed modem). I just hook the setup to the WiFi feed from my dish via switcher/splitter to the modem it descrambles the signal into a readable signal for the router via a CAT5 cable. Then the router/access point broadcasts the Wifi. I tested it with my buddies laptop and his adapter got about 185 yards away before losing my signal. (With a clear line of sight)
And keep in mind the router is not hooked up to my computer contunasly I only hook it up and take the network down for checking of the router settings and check the logs for user traffic. See my SSID is AVK629FreeWiFi, so folks will know that it is free to use when they scan with their wireless adapters nearby in the neiborhood. Now since the signal i'm grabbing from the tower is free to use, it is free to broadcast at a more lower scale like my setup.
You can acually hook up a high speed modem (motorola surfboard $50-$55) to your cable internet feed, then hook that up to a router (Lynksys Wireless-G WRT54G router $50-$60) then get a wireless adapter (USB 2.0 works good) (D-link Wireless G & N capable 56mbps $60=$70) hook that to your computer and get great performing wireless internet troughout your home and possibly on your porch too! You just have to pogram your router hooked up to the computer as is the normal setup, after that unhook it and follow those instructions. Even if you don't have security feature on it will still be secure with your firewall and anti-virus program going, because the router hase no hard-link to your pc is is that much more secure from hackers. But ordering online and using creditcards, you should have WEP-WPA security features enabled.

[UGLandrum]

Sorry guys I have no functioning camera to take pictures of the setup, but as soon as I do I will post them. By the way you can get WiFi signal boosters (like a linear amp) from who knows where, but they are available.
Now I don't know the legal limit where you may be for the max watts. but chech your local laws first. I beleive most cities do let you transmit the max 4 watts. You can also have repeaters and skip towers as well, there are limits on how far you can transmit WiFi weather it be 2.4GHz or 5GHz.
2.4GHz can get about 10 miles @ 4 watts with the right setup, 5GHz can get about 6 times that and go up to 300 miles with repeater towers (all info in the last sentance is provided that you have direct line of sight and there is no rain or fog, although they do not have much impact on signal strength) Back to my original point, my buddy is a tech genius when it comes to wireless tech, he built my WiFi linears for me, they work wonderfully. Also they do not exceed the legal limit of 4 watts, infact mine are tuned precisely to 3.843 watts to make sure they stay legal. You really don't want the FCC breathin down your neck! Thats why I check laws and stay within legal activity. Please I would like to hear more feedback on these matters so post me please. -Will