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Is Starband's Satellite Internet Service Palatable?
George Thomas asks: "Since Centurytel bought out my local teleco, my internet access has been limited to about 14k compared to the 48k I previously enjoyed. I am interested in reader experiences and/or comments about internet access by satelite dish, specifically Dish Networks, because they offer 128k up and 350k down. I live in a rural area and cable is not a viable option. I am currently running Red Hat 7.2 on an old Supermicro LX series dual PII MB. I have USB ports native to the board, but don't have a clue whether they will work with the USB modem supplied with the hardware package. Also I can boot to Windows95 with LiLo, but my copy of Windows doesn't support USB. I can replace the MB if necessary, but would rather not if I can avoid doing that. Any help will be gratefully appreciated." Of course, Dish Network used to be a reseller for Starband. Now, it appears that things have flip-flopped and Starband is now offering 'upgrades' for Dish Network service. So are any of you Slashdot readers current Starband customers? If so, please share your thoughts on the service.
Holy Shit. This board isn't used for tech support questions.
From their FAQ:
PLEASE NOTE: Networking the StarBand service via a router or other hardware device connected directly to the StarBand satellite modem is expressly forbidden. A Windows-based PC running the StarBand software must be the interface with the StarBand satellite modem as it converts Internet requests into a protocol optimized for satellite-based Internet connectivity. Circumventing this optimization software creates excessive and unauthorized traffic on the StarBand network and may result in a measurable decrease in transmission speed or complete service outage.
What? Windows knows how to slow down my Internet connection? Imagine. I take "converts...into a protocol optimized" to mean that the Starband software is sitting there in the background going, "A packet? What's this? He wants a download? HA! I'll just stick this in a buffer for 5 minutes and then send it on. That'll keep his pr0n addiction in check."
I....think I'll stay with modem, thanks. (as painful as it might be, at least I get low-latency, if slow, pr0n.)
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*waves hand* This is not the daughterboard you're looking for.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
you only have one friend? so sad for you...
End Transmission....
Wow! Where did he say that he was running an OS that was a decade old? What OS is this? And how did he get it to support USB? I want to run an OS a decade old that supports USB. Not even Microsoft's OS that only 6 years old supports USB. And it even support dual Pentium II's. Well, I must admit, he didn't actually say that he had 2 processors, only that the motherboard supported dual, but you could probably imply that he was. Anyways, I want to know why this OS has been hidden for so long...
Not to mention, he specifically said that he ran Redhat 7.2, which, the last time I checked, could barely even be a year old.
-BrentNow they just need to put some HDDs in the satellite and set up the cache up there. That would at least cut the time in half. Makes maintenance a little difficult.
Bah.. my tech support guy just hit level 60 last week. Damn Everquest caps!
-Billco, Fnarg.com
They're a pain in the rear arse.
Do you have a front arse?
As opposed to a pain in the side or front arse? First it was new math, now it's new anatomy...
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
Need I say more?