Has anyone used satellite internet for rural areas without cable options?

[MomToEli]

We are moving back to the country - just outside the range of cable (I have phone, DSL and cable bundled). So, I have to figure out how to get all of this services separately.

I do NOT want to go back to dial-up :grumpy: That leaves me with satellite. Anyone have any experience with this? Recommended carriers? Costs? Pitfalls?

With P3, my website and an internet based application that I use for my other company I really can NOT go to dial-up ...

On the up side, I now have a 13' island in my kitchen I get counter space and cupboard space!!!! YEAH!!!!

 

[crystalscookingnow]

We live in the country too & didn't have the option for DSL. I checked into several different satellite options & none of them worked for us. I finally came across cingular/att wireless. I love it! It works just like a cell phone using cell signals.

We have great cell service in our house, so it works perfect. It's great for with our laptop because it's portable. Anywhere there's cell service, we have internet! We used it driving down the highway to get directions on a trip that we took. (DH was driving, I was looking up directions).

Anyway, it's $59.99 a month & doesn't use cell minutes. It's unlimited.

 

[MomToEli]

Ok, my interest is peaked What do you need to have for service (hardware wise)? What about speed?

 

[crystalscookingnow]

We have an adapter that plugs into a usb port on the machine. It came with software that's needed to make the connection work. The adapter we have was $89.99. They have one that's less expensive (like $49.99), but it only worked for the laptop & I wanted one that was compatible with both machines.

Speed is pretty quick. I'm talking as quick as dsl. I definitely don't have any complaints with it. Wait, maybe one. We added it to our existing cell plan & had to sign a 24 month contract. But, my dsl service wasn't going to be available before then, so I didn't mind.

We've had it for a month & I'm really happy with it.

 

[nikkijo]

I agree with Crystal, I would take a look into your local cell phone providers that have good signal at your house. We looked into Altell, it was slower than our cable (we are at 5 meg) but a lot faster than dial up...i think we got speeds of 750 k at our house.

Satellite was just waaaayyy to expensive for internet by us. But I love them for TV..plus they have the NFL network

 

[MomToEli]

Well, geez. I've just checked coverage. We are in a poor service area. I remember now why I went with US Cellular - better coverage in more of the areas we live around. I'll have to check with them and see if they have anything available.

 

[etteluap70PC]

This sounds Perfect for me! I am looking into it now! Thanks for bringing this up!

 

[crystalscookingnow]

What about through Sprint? Do they have coverage in your area? Maybe with the Pampered Perks thing it wouldn't be so expensive?

 

[crystalscookingnow]

Paulette - we really love the service. It works great! A bonus that I hadn't thought about was that I take my laptop to shows. If I had a host that wanted to submit from their house & I had cell service, I could!

 

[SilverCeladon]

My sister had it in Alabama. She had to pay $700 up front for all the set up fees and then it was like $70 a month or something like that. She was pleased with it though!

 

[MomToEli]

I'm going to check with US Cell - we get a good strong signal at the house.

On the satellite, the start up costs now are about $250, but it is still $70 a month.

 

[janetupnorth]

We have DirectWay - all we can get at our house is satellite. It is about $60 a month.

Downfall is that we ALWAYS lose it during a storm.

 

[pampermeplease]

We were told in our area in MO, we'd have to pay $600 up front for just equipment first before we could pay just the monthly fee...guess who went with slow dial up instead. Your upfront fees probably vary with who you're going through.

 

[Kandio]

We have ours through Hughesnet. The inital set up was $600 and it's $56/month. There was an option that you could pay more per month for 2 years and only $100 for the initial set up - which is basically purchasing the equipment. I love it, I would say it is as fast as DSL and I will never go back to dial-up again!