The Virtual Assistant Social Networking Forum: Satellite-based internet - The Virtual Assistant Social Networking Forum

Good day all,

This is more of a general question:

1 - Does any VA here presently use a Satellite Based internet connection?
2 - Any friends using anything of the sort?
3 - Is is worth it?
4 - Does it work well?
5 - How expensive?

I am asking this, because I am thinking of moving my connection to something of the sort. I've just started reading about it, and though it would be a good idea to come to VANA and see if any of you (which work from the web on a daily basis) are using this type of connection - and what you think about it!


Thanking you all in advance,


Eleanora

Hi Eleanora

I used it for about 6 mths when I lived where I couldn't get cable. It's nt as fast as cable but faster thatn dial up. Other than that I didn't have any problems with it. The cost was comparable t cable.

-Karen

Eleanora,

If you have access to DSL or cable or some other high speed internet besides satellite use that. I have been using Wildblue Satellite for about 2 yrs now because other than dial up that is all I have access to. It is a lot faster than dialup but it is not very reliable. You have usage limits and if you go over those limits, they basically suspend your account so you can't access the internet until your usage goes below the threshold. I have the lowest available speed and it costs me $50 per month it cost me $200 for the equipment.

If you live in an area where you get snow or lots of rain, it will cut out your internet. The weather affects it terribly. I will say it has gotten better but the first year that I had it, it didn't work over 50% of the time. I then had to call Wildblue and really fight with them because I told them that my internet should not be going down as much as it has been. They wanted to make me pay for a tech to come out and new equipment (it wasn't right from the get-go and when I called tech support they always blamed it on the weather) finally they came out and looked at it and told me that part of the Satellite was broken and if I wouldn't have argued with them, it would've cost me over $200 for just the part and another $100 for somebody to come out and replace it.

Like I said, it has gotten a lot better since I first had it. It has been a long time (knock on wood) since it has gone offline but it has gotten slowed down tremendously when we have gotten some bad snow storms. If it's all you have access to besides dialup then yes, I would recommend it but just be prepared for some downtime. If you have access to cable or dsl, stick with them. They are cheaper and are much more reliable.

If you do need Satellite internet I have a friend who had both Wildblue and Hughesnet and she said Wildblue was much better than Hughes Net so stick with Wildblue.

I know it was a long response but I just wanted you to be aware of what issues you may run into if you go with Satellite internet. Hope this helps.

Tracy Collins
Collins-Admin Services

Thanks for the info Tracy,

I had been considering Hughes Net because our DSL has been so unreliable. Verizon has been here 3 or 4 times in the last year; we are on our 3rd modem and still seem to lose service on a regular basis. They are still working on it; guess I will have to be patient and hope they get it right one of these times. They have fixed the neighbors so I guess there is help for us.

Thanks to all of you!

I live in Quebec, Canada...and from what I can see the prices are pretty much the same - give and take. Great, at least now I have a better idea of what I may get into!


Merci!

Elenora

Late answering, Elenor, but... I know one of the ladies that comes to our Monday chats has it. She can hear is fine (we use GoToWebinar) but if she tries to talk, it comes in all garbled. So the upload time is pretty "eh" but the download appears to be okay.

My father-in-law has it as well. He uses it mainly for video gaming and he does okay, but he has some lag time.

I guess it depends on how much data you need and how reliable you need it to be. As someone said, the weather is a BIG contributor - my FIL says when it rains he may as well forget about it.

Elenora,

Do you think an Air Card may work from your location? If cell phone service works in your location, you may want to check into your cell phone company's air card product.

Good luck!
Jessica

Hi,

I use Xplornet and am happy with it. It was expensive to get the equipment, but the prices have come down considerably. I pay about $60.00 a month and can increase the speed anytime and of course increase the monthly bill. There is 24 hour support which is easy to access by phone. I haven't had a lot of problems and would recommend Xplornet. I live in the middle of nowhere so have access to nothing else. I think it would be worth looking into.

Good Luck.

Brenda
Just Ask Virtual Assistant Services
www.justaskva.com