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Experiences with DirecWay Satellite Internet
Since moving outside Ann Arbor almost 2 years ago, I've had only a 56k modem to tether my home to the net. Cable, DSL and ISDN are impossible in my location. DirecWay now offers the DW6000, which appears to be an operating system agnostic router for satellite internet access. I already use DirecTV, so this might work well.
I'm aware of the game crippling latency, but that's not a huge deal to me. The monthly price seems reasonable, but is there a catch? I'm abusing my power as Slashdot editor to ask for experiences with this (or similiar) services.
Does it bog down during the day? Not work with common hardware? Hidden costs? Does it cost a fortune for the required professional installation? Is ssh completely unusable?
One of the advantages of the "Internet Lifestyle" is that it lets you do your work from more and more remote places.
One of the disadvantages of the "Internet Lifestyle" is that it lets you do your work from more and more remote places.
Places where broadband isn't available.
You might be surprised just how many geek gods are on dialup because they are geek gods. If they just lived in Altoona (or Ann Arbor) and delivered pizzas they could get cable service, but they can live anywhere they want and still work, so they go someplace nice.
Personally I like mountains and oceans, but dragging a few thousand miles of coax behind you is a bitch. The bounce to the bird is irrelevant for downloads and uploads (you only experience the lag once), but a bitch for real time interaction.
The geekiest people may well be the people with the worst internet service.
KFG
I think you would be surprised how many developers have 56k at home. I have looked into DirecWay also; as I happen to live just between two cities. DSL might come in a year or two, but I doubt cable will be available for the next five years.
The truth is that I don't need more than 56k. I work long hours, and our netadmin is cool at my employer. He doesn't mind if I d/l legal music or non-business ISO's. I can get pretty much whatever I want; his only rule is that we don't use any P2P programs and blocks the standard ports. And you know what, when I get home late at night or have the weekend off, I don't really want to sit in front of my computer very much. I'd rather talk to my fiance or go outside or do ANYTHING different from what I do 60 hrs/week.
I understand the great beauty of an always-on connection, and if broadband were cheaply available, I'd take it. My point is just that many of us here love computers and programming, but we get so much of it during the work week that we really don't care much about having broadband at home.
Having a good dev laptop also helps assuage the need for broadband.
Do *try* to recall that broadband isn't available everywhere. No, the right answer is not "move someplace else". There are huge numbers of people in suburban and rural parts of the USA where the choices are $100-a-month DirecWay (if you can get it. I couldn't due to "lay of the land" issues) or crappy dialup.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
By the same token if you have the $$$ you can get cable anywhere you can get a T1.
.Stop!
Well, perhaps you might be surprised that a good many geek gods don't have $$$ because they've been doing geeky things instead of amassing $$$.
I'm not a geek god. Maybe a Roshi. A grey ponytail. Larry can have fun playing with his Ferrari and Marchetti, but I'd slit my skinny geeky wrists before I'd do what he did to get them. I have just as much fun with my Schwinn and homemade scrounged bits and plastic sheeting hang glider.
Or maybe a boat.
Do you have a globe handy? You are a geek aren't you? Ah, well, they don't make geeks like they used to I guess. In my day. . . , well, nevermind.
You've at least seen a globe. So picture that globe in your mind, rotate it up a bit. A bit more, Now to the left, more, more. . .
You are now looking at a globe that for all practical purposes is painted blue.
Who is the local telco and will they run a T1 line there? Will they run another 100 miles away tomorrow?
You are looking at the ground. Lift your head and broaden your horizon. It's a big world and it ain't all wired, or even wirable.
Once upon a time, out in that patch of pure blue on the globe, a women alone in a small sailboat got into trouble. The only other person with any hope of coming to her aid was a man in another small sailboat. He was asleep at the time.
How was he notified of the situation?
Email.
The big world gets smaller all the time. It is possible in some way to get connected from anywhere (although if you have to carry that way on your back over mountains it might be better to just forget about it).
But that way will often have to eschew wires.
KFG