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[Azure Dream]

For years I've been wanting to get high-speed internet at my place, but every time I checked it out, I was fed the "New Serviceable Areas are being added all the time!" line, as if, lo and behold, next week could be the week. Every now and then I check out all of the local DSL and cable provider sites, and I just seem to be in some sort of dead zone when it comes to service. I get two false positives, but I've checked both out thoroughly, and neither can actually do it. (Or will do it, at least.) This has held me back for quite a while when it comes many of the things I've wanted to do online, and frankly, it's hard to function on the internet anymore with a dial-up connection; websites simply aren't built for it. This place is a rare exception, and even then, count how many "56k no" threads there are.

So, despite that it's expensive, despite that it's not THAT fast, I've still been considering what seems like my only option, Satellite Internet. The problem is that I've heard satellite internet has a huge lag/ping, worse than dial-up. But this was feedback from a classmate years ago. Has the technology improved at all? Would I get away with being able to play, say, City of Heroes on it? Anyone with satellite willing to post their impressions of trying to game on it? Any service providers you recommend I avoid?

My only other options seem to be moving (which I can't afford nor want to do at the moment), or buying a gaming-capable laptop and sitting at my sister's place all the time (which would just be sad). And I'm just tired of waiting on cable and DSL ISPs to realize I'm frantically waving my cash around in their faces.

 

[Beer Monkey]

No. The latency sucks. Forget about it.

OK, I dunno, maybe turn-based games wouldn't be awful, but I can't imagine any RTS working for shit, it'd be a real handicap.

 

[Blimblim]

Let's see. Georbital satellite = 36000 km. Speed of light = 300.000 km/s. So earth -> satellite -> earth = 72000 km ~= 1/4 of a second.
Add to this the delay the signal modulation and usual earth cables, and you get a nice minimum .5 second latency.

 

[R0nn]

Ask Nintendo about their Sattellaview experiment for the SNES.

 

[anachronous_one]

Have you checked into any local ISPs that might be providing wireless (point to point or point to multipoint) Internet service? Basically works along the same lines as cell phones. It would definitely be an upgrade from satellite Internet service, and is nearly indistinguishable from DSL or cable Internet service, except that the available speeds might not be as high as the conventional wired services (expect ~250k to ~1.5Mb connections, depending on provider).

 

[Azure Dream]

Have you checked into any local ISPs that might be providing wireless (point to point or point to multipoint) Internet service? Basically works along the same lines as cell phones. It would definitely be an upgrade from satellite Internet service, and is nearly indistinguishable from DSL or cable Internet service, except that the available speeds might not be as high as the conventional wired services (expect ~250k to ~1.5Mb connections, depending on provider).

I remember there being someone at one point offering a line-of-site method (I don't think it was infrared, but I can't remember the exact phrasing), but they checked it out, and a neighbor's tall trees blocked it. I didn't pursue it further at the time.

This was a year or so ago, so they could easily be out of business by now. Still, if the prospects of satellite are as stark as everyone makes it out to be (and didn't Sattellaview just download game programs, not offer online gameplay?), maybe I should try to dig them up again and try to figure out some sort of solution.

Alternatively, would a major provider offer this? Because we get a fairly strong T-Mobile signal.

 

[Joe]

verizon just came out with wireless broadband. heres there coverage areas:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/broadband/coveragearea.jsp

theyre marketing it towards laptops only it seems but im sure theres a way with a router to use it for more than that.

 

[anachronous_one]

I remember there being someone at one point offering a line-of-site method (I don't think it was infrared, but I can't remember the exact phrasing), but they checked it out, and a neighbor's tall trees blocked it. I didn't pursue it further at the time.

This was a a year or so ago, so they could easily be out of business by now. Still, if the prospects of satellite are as stark as everyone makes it out to be (and didn't Sattellaview just download game programs, not offer online gameplay?), maybe I should try to dig them up again and try to figure out some sort of solution.

Alternatively, would a major provider offer this? Because we get a fairly strong T-Mobile signal.

Not sure that a cell provider would offer a service like what I was describing, where it's broadcast from an access point on a tower directly to a radio mounted to the building/house, but I know that Verizon Wireless offers a service (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/promotion/controller?promotionType=miniPac&action=miniStart) that allows roaming access from a laptop.

EDIT: *gah* beaten!

There are also non-line-of-sight options that are available (commonly operating on the 900mhz frequency range). You might check back with that same company from a couple years back to see if they offer such a solution now. Also, you might have more than one company in your area offering wireless Internet access in your area. I know in west Michigan, where I am, there are no less than 5 different companies offering this type of service.

 

[polg]

Not sure that a cell provider would offer a service like what I was describing, where it's broadcast from an access point on a tower directly to a radio mounted to the building/house, but I know that Verizon Wireless offers a service (http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/promotion/controller?promotionType=miniPac&action=miniStart) that allows roaming access from a laptop.

There are also non-line-of-sight options that are available (commonly operating on the 900mhz frequency range). You might check back with that same company from a couple yaers back to see if they offer such a solution now.

just curious... where do u live?

 

[golem]

if you can get verizon or sprint, might want to look into their high speed internet plans... not always totally open with the ports though. usually they have adapters that let you use it on PC or use your phone as a modem at least

 

[Azure Dream]

anachronous: I'll see if I can dig them up, but I doubt that I still have the flier or anything, and my memory of it isn't too sharp.



It's kind of hard to tell, but it looks like I might be right on the edge of Verizon's wireless broadband service (it's hard to tell, wish their map zoomed in farther). A bit costly, but better than satellite, still. I'll have to do some digging into that, thank you.

 

[Apharmd Battler]

verizon just came out with wireless broadband. heres there coverage areas:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/broadband/coveragearea.jsp

theyre marketing it towards laptops only it seems but im sure theres a way with a router to use it for more than that.

Thanks for that info, I have some pals I need to pass that along to.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Let's see. Georbital satellite = 36000 km. Speed of light = 300.000 km/s. So earth -> satellite -> earth = 72000 km ~= 1/4 of a second.
Add to this the delay the signal modulation and usual earth cables, and you get a nice minimum .5 second latency.

Yeah, pretty much.

I wasn't big on online gaming when I used dialup, but I'd occasionally have spats of Starcraft. That's pretty much out of the question with a satellite connection. Mario Kart DS will allow me to connect to people, pick a racer and stage... but then can't start the actual race. Animal Crossing Wild World works to a limited extent, but getting disconnected is a frequent thing so I keep trips and visits short and to the point.

 

[Azure Dream]

Just a bit of an update, and a warning.

The Sprint coverage doesn't look too great, and when we were first getting cellphones, before our current provider, we tried Sprint, and didn't have much luck with them at our home. But we seemed to be in Verizon's area for BroadbandAccess, and I was starting to do some digging along with a friend, getting pepped up about this, until my friend spotted this:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/promotion/controller?promotionType=miniPac&action=miniStart

Unlimited NationalAccess/BroadbandAccess services cannot be used (1) for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games, (2) with server devices or with host computer applications, including, but not limited to, Web camera posts or broadcasts, automatic data feeds, Voice over IP (VoIP), automated machine-to-machine connections, or peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, or (3) as a substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections.

"I know we say it's a broadband service, but you shouldn't actually use it to do anything bandwidth-heavy on it. Or anything at all, really."

So, basically, it's back to square one for me. I'll see if I can dig up that local company, but I think I'm pretty hosed. Back to pining for cable or telephone companies to get their act together. Huzzah.

 

[HokieJoe]

Depending up on where you're located Kulock, look for BPL, or broadband over powerline to make some inroads soon hopefully. They have a pilot project going in Manassas, VA and somewhere down in TX IIRC. The only snag they've hit so far are with ham radio operators.

Just do a search for BPL and see if you can come up with some possibilities. At least maybe you can see some light at the end of tunnel anyway.

 

[Azure Dream]

I've heard of that. So far it's not planned to hit us (right state, but too far south), but you're right, there's always hope for the future.