We've bought a house and it looks like Hughes Net satellite is the only choice in the area for high speed Internet access. No cable or DSL. Does anybody have an opinion on satellite Internet?

 

Its decent (and possibly your only high speed option) if you are remotely located.

From a technical aspect it has higher latency and there is nothing you can do about it. Latency is not your speed rather it is the time it takes for a request for info to make a round trip.

You wont notice it much for web browsing, etc but for online games, remote control software (pcanywhere), or terminal server access to company resources you may experience dropped connections or "lag".

All that said I'd take it over dial up in a heartbeat

 

I had the one way system for five years. Its a decent service. Mine ran 45 a month with 30 dollar phone line. If you download more than 200 megs in 8 hours you will get cut off for about 8 hours. For music it is pretty good if your just a leech. The fastest I could get was about 200k a second. Which rarely happened. I got verizon treo 650 and national access now. I use the phone as a modem. Its like 15k a second up and down. Its your choice.

 

I've done a little research into satellite internet myself and found DirectWay/HughsNet to be on the pricy side. Check out WildBlue. They are less expensive on the equipment costs and the monthly packages are less. I've got my order in, just waiting for them to come hook me up!

 

Thanks for the information. I'll check out Wild Blue and see what they offer. I'd hate to go back on dial-up......

 

Before jumping into the world of satellite Internet, make absolutely sure there are no other options. Specifically, check for wireless ISPs (WISPs). I finally got off DirecWay/HughesNet and onto a WISP last week. Can't tell you how happy I am now!

Also, check out the satellite forums at dslreports.com and wilblue.cc for information on what to expect. Pay close attention to the "FAP" statements in any contract you sign.