High speed internet options for people living in the country.

[bernse]

My sister and brother-in-law run a very successful business out in the country. A lot of their customers are requesting invoicing and other goodies to be emailed to them, but they can only get conventional dial up service where they live (they have a ranch about 30 miles out of the city). Since some of the files they have to send are rather large (several megs) they are desperate for some sort of highspeed internet service... probably min 256K up, but preferebly faster.

They checked with Satellite (via their TV provider), but the upload speed is still dial up speeds. Another firm mentioned some other satellite 2-way jobbie, but they said it was only twice as fast as dial up (approx 128K, not good enough).

Seems to me there was some other satellite service that rivals DSL/Cable speeds.. but I can't remember the name of it. Anyone know of it or have any other ideas? Cost is not much of an issue (within reason - IE, they aren't going to pay $40K to lay 30 miles of fibre optics to their ranch) but a few K might not be out of the question for the right service.

Thoughts?

 

[blackdogdeek]

direcway from directv is satellite-based broadband i believe.

 

[bernse]

I can't find the upload speeds on their website, but if its like their TV provider, upload is still dialup speeds.

 

[Gravity]

It wasn't too long ago that sat uploads were via modem. Latency sux too.

 

[Freejack2]

They are working on a wireless technology that isp's could use to distribute bandwith up to 30 or more miles away. It was introduced at CES and will probably start to be more available in a couple of years. Anyone remember the name of it?

Their other option is to purchase a T1. That can cost anywhere from $500 to $1500 depending on what the phone company charges.

 

[McCarthy]

Have them look around for 'wireless DSL' providers. Prices suck compared to wired around here, but then they've been considering sat which isn't exactly a bargain.

 

[Ferocious]

Most satellite internet (if not all) are worthless for online gaming.

Incredibly high ping times.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: Freejack2
They are working on a wireless technology that isp's could use to distribute bandwith up to 30 or more miles away. It was introduced at CES and will probably start to be more available in a couple of years. Anyone remember the name of it?

Their other option is to purchase a T1. That can cost anywhere from $500 to $1500 depending on what the phone company charges.

wimax?

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Freejack2
They are working on a wireless technology that isp's could use to distribute bandwith up to 30 or more miles away. It was introduced at CES and will probably start to be more available in a couple of years. Anyone remember the name of it?

Their other option is to purchase a T1. That can cost anywhere from $500 to $1500 depending on what the phone company charges.

yes but now mucn to run a T1 30 miles out to the ranch

 

[Frdm51472]

and the cost of the line for the T1 if the fibre loop isnt already nearby. We have a burstable microwave T1 service in this area, requires LOS, but that usually just involves a small tower which can be had fairly cheap, the service runs around $200/month though including a full class c.

 

[blackdogdeek]

another wimax article

 

[bernse]

Originally posted by: Ferocious
Most satellite internet (if not all) are worthless for online gaming.

Incredibly high ping times.

Well, yes, but where did I say they want it for gaming? They're using it for uploading files. Ping could be a few seconds for all we care... just needs to be fast enough sustained upload speed.

 

[amdskip]

Direcway satelite internet sucks and I wouldn't waste my money. I would rather have dial up than that crap.

Don't search necessarily for dsl wireless, rather just a wireless ISP. It may or may not be available and its a good 256k up and down usually and works good.

 

[alkemyst]

sometimes a cost-effective way is to become a mini-isp. Run a t1/t3 out and then have neighbors help with the billing. Depending on size of the 'neighborhood' it may be reasonable.

 

[Frdm51472]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
sometimes a cost-effective way is to become a mini-isp. Run a t1/t3 out and then have neighbors help with the billing. Depending on size of the 'neighborhood' it may be reasonable.

Oh how I wish I could talk my neighbours into that. Mmmm T3 for me with bandwidth throttling for them!

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: Frdm51472
and the cost of the line for the T1 if the fibre loop isnt already nearby. We have a burstable microwave T1 service in this area, requires LOS, but that usually just involves a small tower which can be had fairly cheap, the service runs around $200/month though including a full class c.

^^^
if they need higher upload speed than satellite provides (which on the 2 way systems we tested, was about 100 kbps) , then you should try to find a microwave/LOS provider

another option would be to get a dedicated server in a data center/web hosting center and terminal server/remote desktop into it. the remote desktop session takes little bandwidth and they could do all of the actual sending/recieving on the remote server where they have the bandwidth.

 

[bernse]

Any idea what it would cost to lay a T1 per mile? Is it something prohibitive like $10,000 per mile or $100? I guess the telco would be the people to ask for sure but does anyone have an even rough idea? Someone here work for a telco?

 

[bernse]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

another option would be to get a dedicated server in a data center/web hosting center and terminal server/remote desktop into it. the remote desktop session takes little bandwidth and they could do all of the actual sending/recieving on the remote server where they have the bandwidth.[/quote]
Interesting thought... never thought of it that way. I've got 512 up at my place via DSL, and I could do the hosting from my house... they could use a dialup connection to a small server which is put into my LAN. Hmmm...

Thanks for the thought. That's the kind of outside-the-box thinking I like from some people!

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: bernse

Originally posted by: FoBoT

another option would be to get a dedicated server in a data center/web hosting center and terminal server/remote desktop into it. the remote desktop session takes little bandwidth and they could do all of the actual sending/recieving on the remote server where they have the bandwidth.

Interesting thought... never thought of it that way. I've got 512 up at my place via DSL, and I could do the hosting from my house... they could use a dialup connection to a small server which is put into my LAN. Hmmm...

Thanks for the thought. That's the kind of outside-the-box thinking I like from some people! [/quote]

even better if you can host it yourself. build them a white box server with 1GB of RAM for $500 running Windows Server 2003, have them pay half your ISP cost and there you go.

 

[vi edit]

I'd steer far away from the satellite services. Just far too little bandwith and FAR to high of latency for the $$. They are terrible. Absolutely terrible. And sadly enough, the tech support is even worse than the service.

I would call your local phone carrier and see what you can do for having a T1 run out. It's going to be high, that is for certain.

 

[bernse]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

Originally posted by: bernse

Originally posted by: FoBoT

another option would be to get a dedicated server in a data center/web hosting center and terminal server/remote desktop into it. the remote desktop session takes little bandwidth and they could do all of the actual sending/recieving on the remote server where they have the bandwidth.

Interesting thought... never thought of it that way. I've got 512 up at my place via DSL, and I could do the hosting from my house... they could use a dialup connection to a small server which is put into my LAN. Hmmm...

Thanks for the thought. That's the kind of outside-the-box thinking I like from some people!

even better if you can host it yourself. build them a white box server with 1GB of RAM for $500 running Windows Server 2003, have them pay half your ISP cost and there you go.[/quote]
The more I look at it, the more I like that idea. My folks are running a small business in Belize (renting suites out) and I was thinking of setting up a website for them too. I could look at starting a small business here and start getting some tax benfits!

I'm going to have to do some checking into stuff here. THanks.

 

[bernse]

*dp*

 

[thomsbrain]

they could always just get another phone line and run two modems at once. i kinda like the remote desktop idea though, that sounds pretty smart.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Also encourage them to use file compression prior to transmitting large files.