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Really Remote Internet Access

Posted by Zonk on from the can-we-have-a-souvenir? dept.

RexDart writes "The BBC Online has profiled Duane DeFreitas, an adventurer and guide living in Guyana. He's three hours away from the nearest town (in the dry season; three days away when it's raining), yet has full internet access via satellite. His latest project: setting up Skype for phone service, as soon as he can import a microphone and speakers. Yet more proof that the internet is truly everywhere. Mind the jaguar."

18 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. I wonder... by TheOtherAgentM · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do you think he is worried about identity theft?

    1. Re:I wonder... by MoonBuggy · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'd be more worried about the mind rays getting to me - can you imagine how hard it can be to get a proper supply of hat-making foil out there?

  2. Mic & Speakers by fembots · · Score: 4, Interesting

    setting up Skype for phone service, as soon as he can import a microphone and speakers

    Is there a software which turns text into audio for Skype, and turns audio from Skype into text? Can the normal text-to-speech software do that for Skype?

    To him it'll be like an IM client, but the other party might enjoy talking/listening instead of typing.

    --
    Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
  3. Yanno.... by Khyber · · Score: 4, Informative

    were he really fast, he could use one half of a set of headphones for listening, and the other half as a microphone, if they were small enough. Earbuds work really well for this purpose, he just needs to split a jack and add another stereo jack. A little wire-rigging and he'd be set for less than 5 bucks.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  4. Upgrade by tinfoilgrrl · · Score: 5, Funny
    Mind the jaguar.

    Surely he's using Tiger by now.

  5. Hmmm... by rackhamh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Three hours away from the nearest woman.

    I wonder what sites he vists most often?

    1. Re:Hmmm... by fembots · · Score: 5, Funny

      Slashdot? Like everybody else here?

      --
      Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
  6. bi directional satellite? by Local+Loop · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I thought satellite internet was downlink only, with the uplink being provided by a phone modem. What is this guy using that is bi-directional?

    1. Re:bi directional satellite? by Khyber · · Score: 3, Informative

      Got news for ya, For some people in MS, they've got two way satellite net access.. thogh it still sucks, because after you hit 150 megs of bandwidth used, you get capped to 56k speed.

      You just need two boxes hooked up to the satellite to send and receive. The lag's still horrible, though. DirecWay offers it in Como, Mississippi.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    2. Re:bi directional satellite? by FlynnMP3 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Bidirectional satellite connections have been available for consumer use for a little over 3 years now (that I am aware of).

      I use DirecWay. The Fair Access Policy sucks, you only get a measured amount of bandwidth to use per time slot. Mine is 500 meg per 4 hours. The speed of the transmission is nice. Download speeds can get upto 2000bps and upload varies based on how much money you parley. Mine is 120bps (pitifull I know).

      The latency is born from the signal having to leave your satellite dish, upto the geosychronise orbiting satellite, back down to the Network of Operations, out to the Internet, back from the Internet to the NOC, back up to the Geo sat, and finally back down to your satellite dish. All told, the best time for round trip transmission is 0.7 seconds.

      All network traffic handshaking is hampered by this high amount of latency. If whatever protocol requires pretty rapid back & forth to be responsive, then it's pretty much guarenteed it will suck with satellite internet service.

      -FlynnMP3

  7. We need to get him to set up a website by Solr_Flare · · Score: 3, Funny

    So that we can legitimately claim that there is literally no place on earth safe from being slashdotted.

    --
    You are who you are, let no one tell you different. But, never close your mind to a new point of view.
  8. Re:Performance of Skype over Sat? by epiphani · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I looked at satalite access a few years ago when I was looking at buying a house too far out of town to get broadband.

    Geosynchronous Orbit is at 35,786 Kilometers. It takes light 120ms to get from earth to a geosync satalite. (source).
    Hence, 240ms round trip. Back and forth, you to your provider. Another 240ms to get a responce.

    The only reason I'd consider satalite access would be for bulk downloads. 540ms on an ssh session would quickly drive me insane.

    So add that half second to whatever routing overhead there is involved in skype (I usually see about .3 to .6 of a second delay, talking to people within a few hundred kilometers). I'd say, all in all, pretty crappy experience.

    But its better than nothing I suppose.

    --
    .
  9. I like how the story mentions carnivorous jaguars. by windowpain · · Score: 4, Funny

    Because the carnivorous jaguars are much worse than the vegetarian jaguars, believe me!

    --
    Insert witty sig here.
  10. Inmarsat BGAN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    The days of being amazed by remote connectivity are over. For several years it has been feasible to setup VSAT powered by generator or solar. You can get up and running for less than $5,000 and a couple of hundred dollars / month.

    The Regional-BGAN has been operational for a couple of years, but has been very expensive and a max speed of 144kbps and a foot print that only covers middle east, europe and northern africa. $700 up front and $10 / mb.

    In the next couple of months, Inmarsat will be bringing their new I-4 satellite online to be used with BGANs. This will provide speeds of almost 500kbps (depending on how you like to calculate your overhead) in a unit the size of a laptop. Coverage initially extends from Europe to southern africa and central australia.

    By the end of '06 the network will be almost global - including the amazon.

    Just for the record, I've done Skype and other VoIP over the RBGAN. It works ok with a similar delay to any other satellite phone. But the cost is still quite high due to the cost / mb.

  11. Re:As a former guyanese by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 3, Funny
    Just like to note Guyana has hotdogs, cheetos, televisions, and mobile phones.

    So, it really is a god-forsaken place after all.

    --
    http://www.rootstrikers.org/
  12. Another good article... by kevcol · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...in IEEE's magazine Spectrum..

    Bill Woodcock of Packet House travelling the world and setting up Internet connections in remote locations.

  13. IP over Ham by cyberfunk2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've heard you can do IP over shortwave radio (i.e. Ham Radio), would this be a reliable/ reasonable option in this case?

    In what cases does that sort of system work? Is it high bandwidth ?

    I'm hoping for some knowledgable Ham slashdotter here.

  14. Ummm by Nailer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    has full internet access via satellite. His latest project: setting up Skype for phone service

    Combining a high latency connection with an app that demands low latency? Good luck.