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I'm interested to hear current reviews of satellite broadband options here in Puna. I wonder if it's possible to combine phone service with satellite broadband? Hawaiian Tel's service here in Fern Forest is glitchy and they haven't been able to fully resolve some issues that have caused noisy/intermittent phone signals and spontaneous loss of dial-up internet connections during the mystery problem periods. I suppose the advent of cell service and tiny customer base out here make maintaining the land-line hardware prohibitive for them. Anyway, users of the satellite ISP's, what are your experiences with the various providers? Any clear winners?
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From experience: VoIP-over-satellite "works", but people will talk over each other until they work out the rhythm imposed by the 2-second round-trip delay.
Side effect: VoIP service can be purchased anywhere, doesn't have to come from Telcom.
It's very unfortunate that Telcom isn't a real phone company; there's no technical reason they can't deploy DSL (even in sparsely-populated remote areas), the current "no plans" are all driven by money.
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I really dislike the start/stop exchange caused by delayed voice communication and "speaker" phones which combine speaker and mic functions. In my experience both parties will step on each other pretty consistently, even if they're aware of the issue. The lunge for the next opening in the conversation inevitably occurs simultaneously. It's especially annoying when a chatterbox is involved. I was thinking the increase in cost for satellite broadband could be offset by dropping the landline, but I'm not sure I want to deal with the audio problem you bring up.
I was just checking out Wild Blue's website I bookmarked months ago, seems they are now an Exede affiliate. Maybe they just changed their name and logo.
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Kalakoa, does the VOIP work if both parties are on satellite?
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We are completely happy with Exede and use it for VoiP along with an ATT Microcell (device free of charge since we are out of ATT range--but $20/month to keep our former landline number). This means we have our cell phone connections at home as well.
Yes, it is annoying with the delay but it functions. Speaker phones make it worse, but it functions. Not sure about VoiP satellite delay on both ends--have never experienced it yet.
We also got in on the unlimited plan--not sure if that's still available. Ends up $114/month.
A previous thread may help you:
http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19281
If you are coming from dial-up there is no comparison...as far as internet speed goes. If you can't take the VoiP lag, and are not really interested in the internet, then forget it. I guess. Pretty expensive phone line with a lag.
Cheers,
Kirt
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VoIP is transport-agnostic; with both ends on satellite, you'd just get twice the delay.
(Unless both endpoints were routed through the same satellite, and it was also smart enough to forward traffic directly between the endpoints...)
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Just signed up with Cricket wireless all you can eat buffet. Talk, text, and 2.5 GB 4G then it goes down to 2G. Not bad for 35 a month. Doesn't pay to stay with a land line. If you can't get a signal try an amplifier. Not sure about cell coverage in the back of the subdivision. I predict when google get's it's plans going on t-mobile, data will eventually be unlimited on cell phones for about the same price.
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After a series of problems with Hughes Net, we just switched to Excede. It is working well for us and is far superior to dial up, our only other option. We got the cheapest package, about $60 per month. It's not as fast as DSL but suits our needs.
During our previous issues I again called around looking for DSL to no avail. It's puzzling because friends a street above and a street below us have DSL connections through Hawaiian Telcom so I know the cable runs at least this far down Kaloli. They just don't want to stretch the cable down my street, I guess.
1 island 2 another
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I used star band for a while, while I was in fern acres. Pages loaded corrupted almost all the time until I found some obscure work around on a tech forum. That worked for several months, then suddenly quit. Tech support from the company was not helpful in the least and rude/insulting at times. I stuck with it for about 13 months out of my 24 month contract. I called and cancelled and said," I shouldn't have to pay the early termination fee. Your service didn't work as advertised." The woman I talked to agreed and I thought I was done with them.
I got a call a year later from a debt collection agency saying I owed like 450 bucks with interest because of the early termination fees. Needless to say I wouldn't recommend starband.
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They just don't want to stretch the cable down my street, I guess.
If people on either side have DSL, it's probably not a distance problem, just a lack of ports on the DSLAM, with Telcom refusing to install more ports (it's "just" a piece of equipment).
Case in point: "some" people in HPP (OLE, HA, Ainaloa...) have DSL, so it's "technically feasble", it's just that Telcom hasn't installed any new DSL lines in the past few years. (Except in Hilo: I qualified an address, Telcom said "sure, no problem, you want the 15Mbit service or the 25Mbit?")
Telcom needs to be sued by shareholders for refusing to make the profits from selling service, or Telcom needs to be pressured by the PUC, or both. The third-world bandwidth conditions are negatively impacting the local economy and contributing to the overall technological decline of the US.
when google get's it's plans going on t-mobile
Yes, that will be awesome for the 27 people that have T-Mobile coverage; their signal drops out long before my house. Sprint drops out in the subdivision, I lose ATT in the driveway, only Verizon is actually usable, most of Puna has this same problem.
