Satellite Internet

I'm considering a job that will allow me to work from home that requires internet service. I currently have DSL but the connection at times is less than stellar, especially when I tie into my current companies intranet. I continually get knocked off and usually only have about 5 minutes to work before I get disconnected. Cable is out of the question cause I live in the boonies. I am considering satellite internet and wanted to get some feedback.

It appears through searching that HughesNet and WildBlue are the preferred systems. VSAT appears to be somewhat pricey for a home office. Currently thinking of a minimum dl speed at 1.0Mbps, ul at 256Kbps is fine. The occasional storm does not factor. I would appreciate any and all feedback for those that currently use it.

I use SkyCasters. Its OK. There are not a lot of options for me and at the time this was the only one that worked with a Mac. That has changed so now there are more options. SkyCasters seems to be very reliable, it is a commercial service with claimed higher reliability. No clue if it is true as I have not compared it to anything else. I know the installer spoke very highly of it and he installs all brands.

Any satellite system has some latency issues so you can't video conference with satellite. Other than that it is pretty normal. Moderately fast. Reliable except during the worst storms.

If you need to use VPN or anything like Webex or Skype then the performance will be pretty rough. I just got rid of my Hughesnet since a local wireless ISP put up a tower near by.

You can do VPN over satellite. From Hughesnet, you need to get their Pro Service and a static ip address. It wil then work with most VPN solutions. I did have problems getting it to work with Cisco's VPN.

Do you need VPN? Do you have any specific corporate apps that need a reliable connection.

I also had problems with some Remote Desktop/Citrix based apps. They just wouldn't maintain a connection with the latency issues.

If you were closer, I'd give you my DW7000 modem and dish. If you want to pay the shipping - it's yours. I just have to take it down. I'm not sure if that is a deal though. (BTW - This offer is only for Big Dog )

I have installed and serviced several, including SpaceNet, SkyCasters, DirecWay (now HughesNet?), and currently WildBlue. You didn't say exactly what you would be using it for, but if doing anything 'special' on the Internet like UDP, WildBlue seems to be the only one able to continuously (24/7) pass UDP without locking up. Since our data streams are all UDP, it had to be WildBlue for us.