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BigWooo
Senior Nomad
Posts: 579
Registered: 1-2-2007
Member Is Offline
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Satellite Internet
Ok...I know I'm going to start a Starband vs. Hughesnet debate, but I’m so impressed with the service I’ve received from Bajabus (a fellow nomad) I
felt I had to give him a little plug.
We purchased our Starband system through Bajabus and took an online course to learn how to install it ourselves. Setting it up was a bit frustrating
at first but through Bajabus’s (Max) excellent guidance we were able to get the system up and running in fairly short order. He’s really good at
figuring out what you’re doing wrong…and he had a lot to figure when I called for help.
For customer service I don’t think his company can be beat.
Max can be reached at www.orbitalenterprises.net
Woo
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bajadock
Super Nomad
Posts: 1219
Registered: 12-20-2006
Location: Punta sur de \'Nada
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Good to know. Max responded to my inquiry within a few hours via email. I'm about 6 weeks away from installation. My early light research indicates
that if your expectation or recent service is cable or DSL, you will be disappointed in satellite. But, if you're S.O.L. without an alternative,
looks like a plan.
Hope to hear from others' recent satellite internet performance pros/cons.
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CasaManzana
Nomad
Posts: 398
Registered: 7-4-2004
Location: Was Mulege:Posada Beach/now Zihuatanejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Naykid
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"without an alternative"...mucho correcto
I've had Hughes Net now for 6 years, was DirecWay until last year, and feel lucky to have this option. Yes you have outages from sun spots and other
unknown reasons, but overall it's been good. Tech support is good as well. I'm paying $60/month....assume yours is about that too. They offer
modems that now are very energy efficient, a big deal to us solar powered guys
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Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8809
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
Member Is Offline
Mood: Full Time Residents
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we too have hughes net and are satisfied...
in a place w/o services it is NICE to connect with the world
tech support person here in mulege is OUTSTANDING!!!
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losfrailes
Senior Nomad
Posts: 577
Registered: 11-16-2004
Location: Ejido San Lucas near Santa Rosalia
Member Is Offline
Mood: Good!
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I have been using DirecWay (aka Hughes) for about 4 years now. Other than the infrequent outages caused by solar disturbances, have never had a
problem.
Am presently on the Pro plan, cost about 70 a month, download speeds I get up to 1000 /uploads close to 200 . Not just promises by actual speeds.
This speed is what you pay for! Here is the actual test results of just a few minutes ago:
August 16th, 12:09PM - 815/193 kbps
[Edited on 8-16-2007 by losfrailes]
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Pescador
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
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Well, I guess in the final analysis I really could care less which company I was dealing with since they both have a market share I would assume that
they both have strengths and weaknesses. But, in my humble opinion, most of that is "techie talk' about upload speeds and download speeds and
whatever other speeds we should be knowledgable of. I talked to the two major players or installers and made my decision totally on a personal basis.
Wayne Davy, the Direcway installer from Ejido San Lucas, gave me the confidence that between the two of us we could install and keep this fandagled
thing operating. Does that mean that I might have loaded the crossword puzzle in .0058 seconds faster if I had gone with the other company? So he
helped me, trained me, and continues to hold my hand through the whole experience and to quote the Mastercard add the cost of that is "Priceless".
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BigWooo
Senior Nomad
Posts: 579
Registered: 1-2-2007
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Pescador
Wayne Davy, the Direcway installer from Ejido San Lucas, gave me the confidence that between the two of us we could install and keep this fandagled
thing operating. |
I guess I should clarify my statement a bit:
If you're going to use Starband I wouldn't go with anyone but Max (Bajabus), but if you do decide on Hughesnet, I have some neighbors that had Wayne
install and service their systems and everyone is very satisfied.
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BCSTech
Senior Nomad
Posts: 584
Registered: 4-16-2006
Location: Todos Santos, BCS / Placerville, CA.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Carpe Manana
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Hey Wayne, what sat/xpndr. freq are you provisioned on?
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losfrailes
Senior Nomad
Posts: 577
Registered: 11-16-2004
Location: Ejido San Lucas near Santa Rosalia
Member Is Offline
Mood: Good!
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Alan
SatMex5, 117W/1230/V/H
Sig 68 but steady.
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Russ
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6741
Registered: 7-4-2004
Location: Punta Chivato
Member Is Offline
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If you have decided to use Hughes here are some of my experiences on set up & maintenance. I brought my system( a 6000) down in Feb. of 04. A
neighbor and I got it up and almost working. But it needed some twicking we just couldn't figure out so called another neighbor with all the equipment
and he fine tuned it and I was on. Well at least for awhile. When I started having problems none of my local help sources were around. I had heard
about "Wayne on the Beach" and finally got in touch with him. He came out right away and rehabbed the whole system from from new connectors to a new
satellite that day. Awhile later I move and thought I could move my system to the new place myself. Not. Wayne came out and moved the antenna and
aligned it. I had no problems until just before Hurricane John came to play. Ended up taking my modem to Wayne and it checked out perfect except no
service. He called on his tech line and they said I didn't pay the bill. Impossible! It's on auto pay. I called billing (in India) and the said the
credit card was bad. I asked what number they were using and of course they couldn't/ wouldn't give me that info. So I gave them my numbers again and
I was back up at Wayne's house. Hughes had changed some book keeping practices and messed up my card number.Got it home and still got an error
message. Wayne asked if all my connection were clean and tight and I said they were. He came out and after a lot of head scratching he went around an
changed out all my connectors and I haven't had a problem except normal signal degradation since. The point of this long and boring post is that if
you go with Hughes drop it off with Wayne and he'll get it initialized at his place and then install it completely at your location. And patiently
walk you through using it. He guarantees his work. Wayne's great! However, the help lines Hughes uses for customers suck! Their tech lines are
American and fast but you have to have an installers ID #. 
Bahia Concepcion where life starts...given a chance!
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nastalgia
Newbie
Posts: 11
Registered: 6-13-2007
Member Is Offline
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Doesn't really matter who's service you use. The trick is to set it up correctly on the best satellite for your area. I have three of the DS6000 units
from e-bay set up on Satmex 5 in three different towns in Baja. All work well with 60 plus signal strength. Do have outages now and then but the sat
is 22,000 miles out in space. The moments without service are minimal compared to the times with service. At 59.00 dollars per month for each service
compared to 48.00 dollars per month for prodigy\telmex service it's a good deal. Even if you have a phone line and prodigy there are many times with
no service at times for several days on end. For those of us not in an infinitum service area it's a great option.
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toneart
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4901
Registered: 7-23-2006
Member Is Offline
Mood: Skeptical
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Russ
If you have decided to use Hughes here are some of my experiences on set up & maintenance. I brought my system( a 6000) down in Feb. of 04. A
neighbor and I got it up and almost working. But it needed some twicking we just couldn't figure out so called another neighbor with all the equipment
and he fine tuned it and I was on. Well at least for awhile. When I started having problems none of my local help sources were around. I had heard
about "Wayne on the Beach" and finally got in touch with him. He came out right away and rehabbed the whole system from from new connectors to a new
satellite that day. Awhile later I move and thought I could move my system to the new place myself. Not. Wayne came out and moved the antenna and
aligned it. I had no problems until just before Hurricane John came to play. Ended up taking my modem to Wayne and it checked out perfect except no
service. He called on his tech line and they said I didn't pay the bill. Impossible! It's on auto pay. I called billing (in India) and the said the
credit card was bad. I asked what number they were using and of course they couldn't/ wouldn't give me that info. So I gave them my numbers again and
I was back up at Wayne's house. Hughes had changed some book keeping practices and messed up my card number.Got it home and still got an error
message. Wayne asked if all my connection were clean and tight and I said they were. He came out and after a lot of head scratching he went around an
changed out all my connectors and I haven't had a problem except normal signal degradation since. The point of this long and boring post is that if
you go with Hughes drop it off with Wayne and he'll get it initialized at his place and then install it completely at your location. And patiently
walk you through using it. He guarantees his work. Wayne's great! However, the help lines Hughes uses for customers suck! Their tech lines are
American and fast but you have to have an installers ID #. |
OK, Russ. I'll help you out with the boredom aspect (that you mentioned):
A little "twicking" from friendly neighbors doesn't hurt!
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BCSTech
Senior Nomad
Posts: 584
Registered: 4-16-2006
Location: Todos Santos, BCS / Placerville, CA.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Carpe Manana
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Finding good, solid speeds lately on SM-5 for new accounts using HN7000s modems. Just set up a system today and getting a consistent 895 kbps down
/187 kbps up on a max 1,000 kbps up / 200 kbps up account. Outside of the satellite latency issue, that's better than my TelMex DSL connect.
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Bajagypsy
Super Nomad
Posts: 1416
Registered: 8-31-2006
Location: BahÃa Asuncion BCS
Member Is Offline
Mood: Living the dream
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just curious if any of you are using your sat system for VOIP?
And if so how well is it working for you?
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BCSTech
Senior Nomad
Posts: 584
Registered: 4-16-2006
Location: Todos Santos, BCS / Placerville, CA.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Carpe Manana
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| Quote: | | You have any idea how far you are from your local exchange? |
Probably about 2 miles. DSL providers in the US
usually limit service to anywhere from 12,000 to 18,000 feet from the exchange. Don't know what it is down here but I suspect they really push the
limit.
But you're only getting 100 kbps incoming? That still sounds pretty slow. Our DSL here is max rated at 512 down/128 up. Just ran a test and it's
coming up higher that the rated max for down:
| Quote: | just curious if any of you are using your sat system for VOIP?
And if so how well is it working for you? |
Yes, I've used VOIP over sat, and some of my clients are using it.
But you have to have one of the higher levels of HughesNet service to get it to play well. It works, but there will always be that delay.
BTW, Skype tends to work a little better than Vonage over satellite.
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajagypsy
just curious if any of you are using your sat system for VOIP?
And if so how well is it working for you? |
Gypsy,
Just for your information, Jose Luis at the Internet Cafe in town is working on setting up a wireless system system for the town---one we would pay
for, but not expensive. I asked him if we would be able to receive it in our area, and he mentioned some technical things---repeaters, etc. and said
yes.
What he is waiting for is for TelCel to give him DSL over the microwave system so it will be a lot faster than the dial-up---of course just when that
will happen, well soon they keep telling him. He set up up a system like this for Punta Prieta. Now I understand absolute zero about all of this,
but I hope it works soon. We don't even have land-line phone service available to us yet.
While in the Internet Cafe, I have seen a few people use their own computers and Skype---seemed to work OK. Or I should say I heard them---it is like
the real old days when everyone shouted during long distance phone calls.
See you soon!
Diane
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Bajagypsy
Super Nomad
Posts: 1416
Registered: 8-31-2006
Location: BahÃa Asuncion BCS
Member Is Offline
Mood: Living the dream
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thanks for the info!!!
it will be a few years till we need it (for now we've got the sat. phone but its not very reliable), maybe he will have it up and running by the time
we finally move for good...see you soon
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajagypsy
thanks for the info!!!
it will be a few years till we need it (for now we've got the sat. phone but its not very reliable), maybe he will have it up and running by the time
we finally move for good...see you soon |
Yikes, we hope it is running a lot sooner!
HAVE A SAFE TRIP--
Diane and John
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fdt
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4059
Registered: 9-7-2003
Location: Tijuana, Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: Yeah, what if it all goes right
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While on the subject of VOIP, how many of the nomads here have and use Skype, both Baja California and Baja California Sur. Simone finaly got our
configurations going and we will now have a phone for call in's during the show and it will be thru skype so we can also do Skype to Skype  and I'd love to have you to talk to.
saludos
A well informed Baja California traveler is a smart Baja California traveler!
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losfrailes
Senior Nomad
Posts: 577
Registered: 11-16-2004
Location: Ejido San Lucas near Santa Rosalia
Member Is Offline
Mood: Good!
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| Quote: | Originally posted by jdtrotter
| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajagypsy
just curious if any of you are using your sat system for VOIP?
And if so how well is it working for you? |
Gypsy,
Just for your information, Jose Luis at the Internet Cafe in town is working on setting up a wireless system system for the town---one we would pay
for, but not expensive.
Diane, it has been my personal experience that TelMex will not bring DSL (Which requires hard wire connection) into the places serviced by their
microwave systems.
At least that has been the case here in Ejido San Lucas, 16 KM south of Santa Rosalia and 40 KM north of Mulege, both of which are serviced with DSL
and are on the main phone line. I waited for a couple of years of promises that they were going to bring DLS (INFINITUM) here. Finally they said not
as long as there were insufficient customers to justify it.
Good luck with the Satellite Internet thing tho. |
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