[TriLUG] OT - Satellite ISP

[Marty Ferguson]

Thanks, Michael, Ron

I know that cost/benefit has significantly improved.
The Hughes DW6000 is an integrated brouter, but I would
still place everything behind a firewall.  The unit is around
$600.  Ron This plus a linux router and squid would probably make
a significant difference in many cases, however we're up to a
significant portion of a kilobuck in parts plus linux box setup
by the time you would be finished.

The rates I've typically seen are about $60 per month,
but this would be partially offset by the $20 I'm now
paying to a dial-up ISP.  I've contacted TWC and Verizon,
with no hope of hi-speed ground based service on the horizon.

I think that VPNs over satellite are a problem due to repacketizing,
but $OPTIONS are available.  I don't need a VPN, so this it becomes
a non-issue for me.   However based on Ron's advice on latency, it
may be worthwhile looking at that option, or for a satphone option,
since they may be using some internal IPV6 QOS $OPTIONS depending
on subscription package.  I'll keep on looking.

For ISP problems, Ron, are your folks using Hughes or a 2nd tier reseller?

Marty


-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Joffe [mailto:rjoffe at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 12:22 PM
To: marty.ferguson at pobox.com; Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] OT - Satellite ISP



My Folks are using the DirectPC solution. I would say if you have any choice
other then Satelite I would go that way. The number of reasons are plenty,
In
their case that is the only solution they have (Other then moving
elsewhere).

The issues we have:

1. As far as I am awareyou must have a winders PC as the main host. The
authentication and logon software is part of the application. The "modem" is
USB connected to the PC via propretery drivers.

2. The connection latency is a real pain. Forget about using any type of
vpn,
telnet is painfull to use. Remote admin tools like VNC are useless.

3. The uptime is horrible. We have had many problems with weather. And in
the
last few months we have been having problems which seem to be on the ISP
side
of things.

4. Web site issues. There are a number of sites that just will not work with
this connection. We are not sure if the issue is filtering by the ISP, or if
things such as shttp just require too much back and forth coomunications.
Either way if we disconnect from the satelite and use plain old dial up we
seem to get those sites to work just fine.


As I stated above there are some issues, on the other hand if all you are
doing is surfing then the satelite is a bit faster. Sometimes plain old
dialup "feels" faster, but that is more dependent on the design of the web
page.

Download speeds (for things like ftp) seems to be about as advertised 400k/s
or so.

The real killer is the latency. If you are trying to get to a page that has
links to a bunch of other pages (like advertisers, etc) then the page just
absolutely crawles.

Just my 2 cents.

Ron



On Monday 19 April 2004 11:52, Marty Ferguson wrote:
> Is anyone on this list subscribing to a or knowledgeable of any
> satellite-based ISPs?
> I am going to start shopping around, and would like any feedback possible.
>
> I'll be using my linux box as the interface, so the only equipment I'll
> need is the
> bridge, transceiver, and dish.
>
> Thanks,
> Marty
>
>
> export AT=@
> mailto:marty.ferguson$AT\pobox.com