By Winkler1 (Winkler1) on Thursday, September 27, 2001 - 05:50 pm:

Hey All,
Is anyone using Starband - satellite based broadband? I'm researching it for my stepdad up in the sticks of NH - where you can't get cable, never mind cable modem :)
My sense from deja and google so far is that many of the kinks have been worked out, though it's still based on a shaky USB modem, but would like to hear if anyone has strong 1st/2nd hand opinions.
Thanks

PS. Am using a cool service called gotomypc.com to do remote control of home PC over the 'net..it works well, has a good security story and is free first month.

By Timmy Tuner (Tatertot) on Thursday, September 27, 2001 - 06:12 pm:

I believe Gar was going to resort to satellite-based net access. Did you end up doing this, Gar, or has the crunch hit too hard to consider the expense?

By Timmy Tuner (Tatertot) on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 02:44 pm:

Gar, have you thought anymore about doing a point-to-point 802.11 network and splitting the cost of DSL or cable on the far end? Check out these links I got from Boing Boing today:

http://www.quicktopic.com/cgi-bin/link.cgi?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oreillynet.com%2Fcs%2Fweblog%2Fview%2Fwlg%2F448
http://airshare.org/sd/installfest.html

You can build a directional antenna using nothing more than a Pringles can, some PVC pipe, and various hardware. Total cost, about $6.50 apiece.

From the O'Reilly article:
"Apparently, antennas of comparable gain cost upwards of $150. Over a clear line of sight, with short antenna cable runs, a 12db to 12db can-to-can shot should be able to carry an 11Mbps link well over ten miles."

By Gareth Branwyn (Gareth) on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 04:33 pm:

Believe it or not, I have cable broadband now! They installed in last week!!! Woo-hoo. Smooth install. Everything works fine. Comcast finally came through. At least something in my life is going well at the moment.

Someone here should do a piece for ST on these "parasitic grid" networks using Wi-Fi. Anybody interested?

By Timmy Tuner (Tatertot) on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 07:25 pm:

OK, I just ordered an Orinoco Gold card - I've been wanting to for a while, but needed a justification. Thanks, Gar! There's a Starbuck's a block from my house, and according to the incredibly cool PDX Wireless map, there's an open access point about that far, too.

Check it out, it was only $101 with free shipping!

http://www.z-buy.com/cgi-bin/pickup.cgi?ITEM=NT-AVGPCCR&SELECT=nic

http://www.z-buy.com is the site address. Hope I didn't get ripped off :)

By Winkler1 (Winkler1) on Saturday, September 29, 2001 - 02:31 pm:

very cool stuff..unfortunately, he's really in a valley, and it's hard to get line of sight very far.

WildBlue is supposed to deliver 3 mpbs via satellite sometime next year..drool drool..