Beware satellite internet service

[Ronald Garrett]

I thought I wiould share this with everyone so maybe some will be spared. I have internet provided by one of the major satellite services. I just found out that if I download too much in one hour, they spank my hand by slowing down my service to a speed that is unuseable for the next 24 hours. On top of that the actual speed they have provided me is far short of what I was told to expect.

I will not name names because I am contemplating legal action. If you are on satellite you may want to drop me an e-mail. I have to get off now and let the computer rest because one never knows how many images will be in each thread, and I might go over again and have to wait until tomorrow to use the computer again.

[DougAxford]

Since I added WiMax, I have switched my dial-up to Toast.net. It's the cheapest I could find with a number that is local to me and the $8.95/month is worth it for added safety for exactly what you are encountering.

Doug

[Ronald Garrett]

Right now I am getting less than half the speed advertised. My upload speed is miserably slow, almost dial up slow. I would not have believed this would happen in this day and age.

[MikeA]

Ronald,

Could be worth checking the advertised upload rates. It's possibly different where you are, but almost all the sat services I have seen are very slow upload because upload is routed over the dialup - only the download happens over the sat connection.

I'd still prefer to have my service throttled when the limits are exceeded than pay excess data charges. We have a major ISP here in Australia that routinely hands out $1000+ excess data bills to housholds..

Mike

[AndrewCassino]

Ronald, Are you CERTAIN you are being throttled, and not having technical problems. My Earthlink DSL recently seemed to be throttled, because after a good Internet session my speeds would drop to modem-like levels. But after repeatedly calling tech support and complaining, they finally found a line problem and have corrected it. Of course, you don't have a line - but there's other things that go wrong with satellite!

[Ronald Garrett]

This satellite service has a feature that tells me what the current download / upload speeds are. I have checked same on a regular basis. They have been furnishing me at 40% of advertised speed, {at best}. I have been told that they have oversold service and this is the only way they can survive. Trouble is I bought the "business" package. When looking for service I told the representative that I would be downloading some pretty big files at times. "No problem" was the answer.

I cannot afford for a customer to download some images for repair and that cause me to be virtually off line for 24 hours. I am cut back to 18 kpbs when that happens.

The only way I found out this was happening was to, after I had pulled my hair out looking for a problem, call the service and demand to know what speed I was working at. No warnings, no notifications, no nothing.

I am incensed and totally hacked off that a major company would conduct business this way.

[Jeffrey_Nye]

I had the same issue, and it also took a long time to figure out what was actually wrong.

I dumped them and told them to come take the equipment off my house. They are getting a lot of that now, so it shouldn't be a surprise and don't let them think they can bully you with the contract. They are the ones that are not living up to the contract and they know it. Stand tough, you will win the battle.

Try looking into the high speed cellular cards for laptop and PC. About the same price per month. You then also have portability if with a laptop.

Been there.

[Pro Photo Store]

Visit the B&H Pro Photo Store for the best Gear Prices and regular specials!

Brilliant Color for any Digital SLR
White Balance Cap
The Pros Agree on ColorRight
What People Are Saying