‘Macsimum’ readers offer satellite Internet experiences

Posted by Dennis Sellers Sep 1, 2005 at 1:40am

There are lots of Mac users who don’t have broadband and who don’t have access to cable, DSL and other high-speed options. On Monday we asked for feedback from those who have tried Internet satellite access. Following are some of the responses Macsimum News received. We think you’ll find them useful if you’re considering this option (which Macsimum News will investigate further). Also, read the comments under the aforementioned article for more info.

Doug Shey (Bend, Oregon): “We have been using Direcway since April of this year. The service has been pretty good, but you don’t see near the speeds we had with cable internet when we lived in town. A friend two miles from us has DSL, but we are just out of range at our home. I would say it is worth it, but iTunes downloads and software updates are slow. The ironic thing is that our cable Internet at work sometime is slower to load pages that our satellite connection, but still wins with big files.

“Equipment cost us around $600 for installation and $70/month for the service, The contract is for 15 months. We would certainly go to DSL or cable if it came to our area. Our speed seems to be between 256 and 400 kbs, but is advertised at 500 kbs. We were told most people see between 500 and 750 kbs, but that may be only on a PC with special software. The satellite modem has a ‘rating’ of its connection quality from 1-100. We seem to be in the 69 to 72 range. I don’t really understand it, but will likely look into it more when I am less busy in the fall or winter. Weather does not seem to impact it much, but we get only 7-inch of rain per year and we haven’t had it through the winter so the affects of snow is still a question. Ours is mounted on the roof of a single story ranch house, so cleaning it off would be easy.

“We are have a wireless network in the house with a Netgear 54mbs router and a AE print and music server. We have two Macs which use the network for probably four hours per day.”

Kenneth Lay (Wyoming): “I happen to use satellite Internet successfully with two Macs at a rural ranch in Wyoming, where the only other option is dial-up (which is fairly unreliable in its own right). We are using Direcway Satellite service and the DW4020 router, which I believe was the first router to support Macs, since it uses Ethernet instead of USB to deliver the data. Thus, we don’t have a Windows box of any kind in use. It’s satellite->DW4020 router->(using Ethernet)AirPort Extreme base->computers. I also believe that Direcway has a newer, cheaper router available that has a few more features and retains the Mac compatibility.

“The satellite is used for both upload and download, although the upload speed is horrendous: probably slower than dial-up upload, around 40kb/s. However, for us, since dial-up is unreliable anyway, it works. Download is much better, and is on par with a slower DSL connection, maybe 700 kb/s. The system is great for casual Web surfing, but it doesn’t work with iChat audio or video, mainly because of the upload speeds. I believe it’s possible, however, to hook it up so it downloads over the satellite but uploads using the phone line.

“In terms of reliability, it’s far more reliable than I expected: it has a measure of ‘signal strength,’ which I’ve tried on a few occasions, and it remains at a relatively constant 75 (/100), whether during the day, night, or even in a storm. According to the documentation, signal strength has very little to do with speed, so I don’t believe having a higher number would increase our speed much. In addition, we have never experienced a service outage.

“The major drawback is pricing. For us, it’s somewhat of a necessity, but it’s not for the average user. I believe it’s somewhere around $80/month for the cheapest package, and the router and dish may be additional; I can’t remember whether we paid for that or not. In any event, it is now definitely possible to use satellite Internet without the help of a Windows router, and it’s a reliable and (fairly) quick system. If money’s not a problem, give it a try. For us, it’s been a godsend.”

Mike Evangelist: “I set up a friend of mine with Direcway satellite Internet, and he’s quite happy. He has two Macs and a PC, all sharing the connection through an AirPort Extreme base station. As has already been posted, the upload speed is much slower than download, but still beats dial-up. The download speeds can be quite good. A couple of things to note:

” Severe weather will affect the performance, although a complete outage has been very rare.

“Be sure to read the details of the service agreement; they have the right to throttle-back your speeds (for varying amounts of time) if you use too much bandwidth. My friend has never run into this issue, but if someone was trying to download a bunch of music/movies/wares, it would likely kick in.”

John Hill: “I used StarBand for over two years. I often ran speed tests. My normal connection was about 450kbps. I found this to be far better than dial-up. Outages due to weather were an annoyance. The outages were only during the heaviest parts of a storm, so the outages were usually short in duration. Customer service at StarBand was excellent.

“I had an old PC that I used just as a Internet server for my Macs. StarbBand did support Macs before I dropped the service, but I never did use that option. Comcast was not available in my neighborhood when I moved in, which is why I got StarBand. When Comcast was made available I still did not switch. When they offered a ‘special deal’ last winter, I made the switch. If StarBand were significantly cheaper than Comcast I would switch back. Comcast is slightly faster, slightly more reliable and cheaper.

Carl Butler (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands: “I live in the US Virgin Islands where there are few option available. After years of suffering the slow dial-up speeds I opted to try satellite provided by StarBand that had just started supporting the Mac with their new lineup of modems. I had to get a large dish because of the fringe area we are in here in the islands.

“I am using a StarBand 481 modem that only supports one machine, but I have it connected to an Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (WAN) which gives me access to a laptop in another room by (wireless) as well as my desktop connected by Ethernet from the LAN jack of the Airport card. My HP Deskjet 6840 is also connected to my computers via wireless to the Airport Base.

“I have experimented with a LinkSys Ethernet five-port switcher and have had success with it linking other computers to the AirPort card and access to the net. (481 Modem to Airport WAN, Airpot LAN to the LinkSys, LinkSys to my desktop and laptop iBook G4 by Ethernet). My download speed is about five times faster than dial-up. A 1MB file that took 4-5 minutes to download now takes about 30 seconds to a minute depending on the system status and weather conditions..Heavy overcast does slow down the connection, and heavy rain will destroy the connection. I have not noticed any degradation in speed when two computers are connected either by AirPort or Ethernet.

“Typical results using http://www.Toast.net/performance and the ‘Image & Text’ speed test: I get in the range of between 5-15 seconds using the link to La Mirada, California, the average results being 567kb (10.5 seconds). The initial installation was about $1,400 and the monthly fee is $89 so it IS an expensive option.

“StarBand has a 482 modem/router option available for business service as well as the 481 I use for limited home use. I believe that it delivers faster uplinks than the 481. I have never need support so I cannot offer any advice as to this aspect of the service. I’ve been using this arrangement now for about six months and have no complaints whatsoever.”

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