Satellite internet - DSL ?

gsupa

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Nov 14, 2004
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how much is satellite internet in the DR? (Installation cost + monthly fee).
Which one is better ? Flash or Satellite internet ? Is DirecWay reliable and who installs this in sosua? I read many threds on this board and people seem to have trouble to get DSL from Verizon. It seems to take very long to set up,

thx
Supa
 

sjh

aka - shadley
Jan 1, 2002
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looking for more info on this myself. I have DSL now but am moving up the mountain and off the grid so i have to go satellite.

I have been pretty happy with verizon DSL service. I am going to miss it.
 

Jerry K

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Jan 1, 2002
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Sat DSL

Talk to Chris who lives near Caberete. She and her husband are in the business. Download speed should be about equal with Dominican DSL.
Most critical thing is the dish alignment. I have a Directway system from
Skycasters in the Turks & Caicos I used before I got DSL. Uses a 3 meter dish. I think it was around $50 a month.
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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Robert will kill me if I advertise on the board. But generally satellite connectivity has come into its own in the last year or so. From having three configurations about two years ago, we now have over 40 different configurations, just about fitting everyone's pocket and everyone's need - we work with three different suppliers and so can choose which satellite we point to, to fit the requirements of the customer. Before, the electronics of satellite earth stations for internet were based on hybrid technology utilizing the old analog C and Ku bands. Now the basic hardware and electronics have moved to true digital signal processing based on true TCP/IP. The other large change and big advance, is we now have synchronous connections. So, speed of DSL, T1-3 or even higher, can be rivalled by speed of satellite earth stations. This means that one can now viably place a server underneath a satellite dish and expect good speed, rivalling land lines.

The thing with satellite connectivity is that one still has to pay for the basic hardware (dish and modems) and connectivity is still a little more expensive than say for your basic DSL. Terrestrial connections are still the way to go for bang for the buck. For myself, I've now been on a satellite connection for upwards of three years on two different islands and will never go back to terrestrial connectivity. Satellite Earth Stations (if they are specified and installed correctly, correct hardware and correct dish size) are totally reliable even in the worst of weather. Over the past very hectic hurricane season, none of our dishes even needed repointing and a number of them are in the Turks and Caicos, where they were 40 miles from the eye of one of the storms. We also have installations in Samana and near Nagua. Our installation in Nagua became the 'emergency center' during one of the storms as we have a VOIP over Satellite phone there. Folks called from there to California and back to the DR for emergency response and for keeping in touch with family. (People wonder why I involve myself in the weather, this is why, we have many dishes out in the Caribbean).

Anyway, please feel free to pm me for any further information. I'll now ask Robert's forgiveness and I'll publically promise to advertise with DR1 within the next month (should have done this 6 months ago but can never get myself together enough to actually do it - but now, it is a public promise and I have to keep it!).
 

Thebes

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Jun 18, 2004
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One thing with Satellite is that you have unavoidable latency. This means there is a pause between clicking and when you get your data back. When I had Starband the pause was about a second, perhaps a little more. The theoretical minimum is around 2/3rds of a second and my DSL is under 1/8th of a second. So if you play twitch internet games dsl is definately the way to go. The latency gets to be a royal pain with secure servers.

I'm not familiar with synchronous satellite. Actually, CHRIS, I would love if you could pm me with what the VoIP system was and how well (or not) it worked. When I tried VoIP over my Starband I had serious trouble with the uplink speeds, I also found the low uplink speeds of my system a bother for my uploads. This was months ago and on a completely different system as is availible here.
 

Chris

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Thebes said:
One thing with Satellite is that you have unavoidable latency. This means there is a pause between clicking and when you get your data back. When I had Starband the pause was about a second, perhaps a little more. The theoretical minimum is around 2/3rds of a second and my DSL is under 1/8th of a second. So if you play twitch internet games dsl is definately the way to go. The latency gets to be a royal pain with secure servers.

I'm not familiar with synchronous satellite. Actually, CHRIS, I would love if you could pm me with what the VoIP system was and how well (or not) it worked. When I tried VoIP over my Starband I had serious trouble with the uplink speeds, I also found the low uplink speeds of my system a bother for my uploads. This was months ago and on a completely different system as is availible here.

Yes, because of the distance that the signal (packets/frames) has to travel, satellite connectivity has latency. Lately, satellite latency is largely compensated for by simply having fewer hops to the internet backbone - basically one hop to the satellite and one hop down to the NOC (Network Operating Center) and one hop into the internet backbone (that is if you use good providers). For myself, I do not usually find latency a problem, given that bandwidth chosen is suitable for the type of application. I don't really play fast games, so cannot give you my experience on that..

Asynchronous, in satellite terms, simply means that the up is slower than the down - but in real life, one does not see or experience this (for stock trading fine, for games, no experience with this). The momentary hesitation on the up, is more than compensated for by the minimal amount of data usually being sent up to request something and the speed of the download. With synchronous services, the up is the same as the down - similar to DSL in that respect.

VOIP async is a pain in the butt. With voice, the digital encoding is dense and a bandwidth hog and with a slow up, the delays get even longer - sometimes several seconds. With synchronous services, it now has come into its own. If one is using an async setup, you need to have sufficient bandwidth, and very good pointing and cross pol numbers to make it work well. It is quite easy to understand, as it is point to point. You have a host unit, say in the US that enters the POTS (terestrial telephone infrastructure) via DSL or other connectivity. Then you have a remote unit (say in the DR) that simply acts as if it is an extension on the first unit. So, if you make a call from the remote, you dial as if you're physically at the host unit. The cost of your call from the remote, to the host is free and from there, you pick up the costs of the call as you enter the POTS. With synchronous satellite services, it is easy to use stuff like net2phone and similar apps.

The other interesting thing is that some satellites are now becoming oversubscribed. We had one customer that we had to change to another satellite, as their voip just did not work and we could not figure out why. We changed to a less used satellite and it works well. So, up to now in the development of this technology, there was lots of space on the satellites, now, space is becoming scarce.

My best type of configuration for this technology is to use terrestrial lines up to a point, then have satellite earth stations around this terrestrial node and then spread the connectivity with wireless from there. Ideal for the Caribbean Islands with the notoriously bad infrastructure and service levels.
 

Escott

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Jan 14, 2002
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Jerry K said:
Talk to Chris who lives near Caberete. She and her husband are in the business. Download speed should be about equal with Dominican DSL.
Most critical thing is the dish alignment. I have a Directway system from
Skycasters in the Turks & Caicos I used before I got DSL. Uses a 3 meter dish. I think it was around $50 a month.
Hi Jerry, I was a beta tester for Gilat at Home which I think was bought out by dishnetwork. You get the same speeds on streaming downloads but uploads... forget aboutit

Technology may have changed but it didn't hold a candle to Cable in the States and I am very satisfied with the Verizon DSL.

Escott
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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Escott said:
Hi Jerry, I was a beta tester for Gilat at Home which I think was bought out by dishnetwork. You get the same speeds on streaming downloads but uploads... forget aboutit

Technology may have changed but it didn't hold a candle to Cable in the States and I am very satisfied with the Verizon DSL.

Escott

Hi Scott - your info is old my buddy! Technology continues to gallop along at a dizzying pace.... In technological terms, your beta testing days were when Pa fell off the Bus! When Granny got her uhm.... caught in the wringer... Gilat is still Gilat. Dishnetwork now offers duel LNB's on the small dishes in the US together with Echostar, now known as Starband....

There are two main satellite connectivity suppliers, Hughes and Gilat. Gilat has another US subsidiary called Spacenet, who markets through the Connexstar channel.

For the rest, I can hardly keep up with the doings of the Satellite suppliers... Anyway, you now get synchronous satellite services, same upload speed as download... I think I've said this before... Read and update yourself ;)
 

Robert

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Escott said:
Technology may have changed but it didn't hold a candle to Cable in the States and I am very satisfied with the Verizon DSL.

Escott

Some of your DR DSL bandwidth is supplied via Satellites.
The cable from Puerto Rico isn't that fat :)

Satellites have come a long way over the past few years.
I have been to call centers here that are using it for VOIP and the latency is non-existent.