Question to those who use Sattelite Uplink Broadband.

[_Sinue_]

Hopefully someone here will be able to help me out. I'm currently looking for opinions on which Sattelite Uplink service I should get for my DSL needs. I live out in rural Indiana.. so getting a piece of a T1 line anytime soon is out of the question. The only choice I have left is to look at alternate wireless Broadband services. Sattelite seems to be the way to go, but I'm at a loss for where to start looking.

Low Earth Orbit sattelite services seem to be the way to go.. but none currently exist (to my knowladge) just yet. Teledesic should be up and running this year.. but how well it will run and how much it will cost is uncertain. Since, for now, I'm stuck using GEO Sattelite services, I'd like to know how many people here use one and what the online gaming experience is like. Which service would you recommend, and is it worth plunking down the cash for if Teledesic is going online sometime in the (hopefully) near future? How much do you pay per month, and how tight is the bandwith cap?

If you use a GEO Sattelite Uplink service for your Broadband.. let me know the name of the company you're going through and how well it's working out for you. Also.. how much does the Dish and installation cost?

Thanks

[Gigawatt]

I didn't even know you could use GEO with the gamecube. Are you even sure it would work? I've never heard of someone using GEO for using a game console online.

[_Sinue_]

I don't see why you couldn't. The service I'm currently looking at (DirecWay) connects to your PC through USB and not CATV. I don't really like that idea (part of why I'm trying to gather info about other services), but they do support LAN connections.. so I would assume it would just be a matter of setting up a Ethernet card in my PC and buying a hub to network my consoles together.

[BrokenHope]

I didn't think satellite broadband connections provided upload? Also if they did the ping times are going to be horrible so you're most likely going to experience a lot of lag.

[_Sinue_]

Yeah, certain ones do. DirecTV has two services.. one which sends out the requests and uploads via analog modem, then downloads via Sattelite at T1 speeds. I will NOT pay for two full price ISPs and only get the service I'm paying for half the time. DirecWay is a co-op with HUGES who has bandwith dedicated to providing the same type of KA connection that News Stations have been using for Live Feeds for years rather than relaying it through a remote terrestrian recieving station.

Yeah, there will be about a half second lag.. since GEO's are the only currently available service and their located about 30,000 miles above the Earth. That's why I want to go with a LEO service which provides a fiber like connection since they're located only 700 miles above the earth.. but those won't be avalable until later this year or early next year - and the price for such a service (as well as TaC like bandwith caps) isn't specified yet.

I'm just looking for something to use in the mean-time until LEOs become a proven and affordable technology. Either way I go, it's going to be a helluva lot better than what I'm currently stuck with - a 56k dial-up modem.