[TriLUG] OT - Satellite ISP

[Brian McCullough]

On Mon, Apr 19, 2004 at 12:42:00PM -0400, Michael Thompson wrote:
> I was using DirecPC for a while about 4 years ago, at the time it
> required a dial-up uplink.  I was forced to use a Windows machine with
> internet connection sharing to run the access software though.  There
> was a company that actually had Linux access software, but it was around
> $300 iirc, so I ended up using a windows box just for the connection and
> shielding the rest of my home net with a Linux firewall.


Although I was also using DirecPC at about the same time, I was able to
find Linux software to drive the link.  At that time there was a PCI
card with a 75 ohm connector in my Linux gateway machine and the
software that controlled it and the modem with the up-link were from ---
brain-fade --- that Linux company in Utah, spun off of Novell.  (
Actually, it may even be the company that took over an old Un*x name
from Santa Clara.  !! )

The people there, especially the management ( very small group ), were
very helpful, even though I suspect that I was one of a similarly small
group using Linux.  At the same time, I think that they were producing
turn-key boxes which acted as routers on things like school networks,
connecting the school to the DirecPC system, and running Linux
internally, although the customer didn't necessarily know.



> DirecPC had download limits that changed dynamically based on the
> current sat. load, even DirecPC tech support could not fully explain the
> "rules" to me but basically, if you download more than $BYTES (iirc it
> was around 150MB) in $TIME amount of time, you'd get knocked down to 56k
> for a day or so.  Business customers had a higher threshold.  I believe
> that the new satellite hardware does both upload and download through
> the dish, but the FCC requires that a "certified" installer put it in.


I also remember those limits, and examining the logs and invoices to see
when they might have over-reacted to my activity.

I found the Linux tech support people much better in general than the
DirecPC people, probably because I was talking more to developers and
such, than telephone-answerers.



> If you have a DSL or Cable option, I'd avoid the satellite connection. 


Unfortunately, I have to agree with this recommendation, simply because
we, as small users, don't have the 1000% over-design factors that big
commercial users have.  We are running much closer to noise thresholds
with the size of dish and power being used.


> Otherwise, its much faster than dial up, with a few things to
> consider...
> 
> Don't know if this helps, but just my $.02.


Ditto!  ;-)



> --mike


Brian