Satellite TV/Internet

[CMcCardell]

Does anyone have any suggestions about a good stationary (not in motion) satellite dish for an '04 Adventurer? I've got Dish Network at home, with a receiver that I hardly ever use, so I'm hoping to find a system which I can just plug that unit in to without paying for extra service (don't know whether that's possible or not).

Since I need to access office servers and have good internet while on the road as well, I need to find a decent satellite-based internet solution. I have Verizon broadband through my phone, which works well, but I'd prefer to drycamp in area that generally don't have cell service. I've had satellite internet at home before (I live in rural Wyoming) which worked generally ok but not quickly, and was only about $100/month for unlimited bandwith - I haven't found anything near that price in the mobile RV market.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,

- Clay

[paz]

MotoSat offers broadband satellite internet service starting at $80 a month. An automatic rooftop dish is around $5k installed. An internet dish setup with a tripod runs around $1.5k. You will need to find an installer near where you are located. A good place to get info on satellite internet is datastormusers.com.

[John-D]

Make that two recommendations for Motosat.

One thing.. With DiSHetwork (And DirecTV for that matter) your local network stations (ABC, NBC, etc) are most likely on a "Spot Beam" Another type of spot beam is called a SPOT LIGHT, think of a giant spot light shining on your house. When you move out of the spot.. the station goes "Dark" (you can't get it)

All American Direct Communications LLC offers DISTANT NETWORK service (East and/or west coast) to DishNetwork subscribers for a small fee

The problem is you have a HOUSE account, not an RV account. I do not know if they will give you DNS for your RV on a HOUSE account.

The solution is simple.. Cancel the house account, get an RV account and get DNS for it.. then use the "Spare" receivers in the house

[Bill Adams]

Originally Posted by CMcCardell

Does anyone have any suggestions about a good stationary (not in motion) satellite dish for an '04 Adventurer? I've got Dish Network at home, with a receiver that I hardly ever use, so I'm hoping to find a system which I can just plug that unit in to without paying for extra service (don't know whether that's possible or not).

Since I need to access office servers and have good internet while on the road as well, I need to find a decent satellite-based internet solution. I have Verizon broadband through my phone, which works well, but I'd prefer to drycamp in area that generally don't have cell service. I've had satellite internet at home before (I live in rural Wyoming) which worked generally ok but not quickly, and was only about $100/month for unlimited bandwith - I haven't found anything near that price in the mobile RV market.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,

- Clay

The MotoSAT Datastorm antenna will meet both your TV and internet needs. The internet antenna can have a BOW (bird on a wire) TV LNB added and you will get both the Hughesnet satellite internet service and the Dish Network (or DirecTV) signals at the same time. You just plug in your existing Dish Network receiver and you receive all the same programming that you are paying for now (with the exception of local Networks, but they are replaceable with DNS Networks). There are no additional fees related to the TV service.
The Hughesnet monthly service costs $79.99/month with service through MotoSAT and US based tech. support. If you currently have cable or DSL service at your home the Hughesnet service will not be as fast but you can expect speeds in the 100-150K up and 600-1000K down range. This will allow you to do most anything you like and the connectivity time is greater than 99%. You can be on-line 24/7/365 but there is a limit to the amount of data that you can download (uploads don't count) in any rolling 24 hour period. For MotoSAT customers that means you can download up to 375/MB per day. That's a bunch and you have to work pretty hard to exceed this amount. The good news is that even if you go over, there are no additional fees like an air card has but rather you are sent to the "penalty box" for 24 hours and your speeds are dropped to about dial up.
If you have any other questions you can give me a call or check out www.datastormusers.com . I have made a few thousand posts there!

[CMcCardell]

Thanks to all for the quick replies -

Does the Hughesnet service still have the same issues with using secure sites (online banking etc) that they used to? I remember browsing being fairly quick, but online banking unbearably slow since apparently compression wouldn't work with SSL links (or something like that). I moved to a radio-based internet system a few years ago, and it's almost indistinguishable from the cable connection at my office.

I'm not particularly concerned about local TV channels - I'm in the shadow of a mountain and haven't received local TV in 15 years.

How difficult are the tripod mounts to point? I don't know that I want to drop $5k into an automatic disk (though it would be nice). I wouldn't be using it all the time, probably -- just when Verizon wasn't available - and it may perhaps be handier to be able to move the antenna instead of the whole rig to find a clear line of sight to the satellites, in some areas.

I guess a used system may be an option as well -

Thanks,

- Clay

[Bill Adams]

It's not the Hughesnet service, it's any satellite based internet service. The Hughes internet service uses proxy servers to speed up HTTP traffic. What this means is that instead of your computer repeatedly requesting that the various parts of an internet page be sent, the Hughes proxy requests them all at the same time and they are all then sent to you pretty much simultaneously. HTTPS traffic is secure and cannot take advantage of a proxy without becoming insecure. Therefore, all HTTPS traffic must go though the request, receive, request, receive, request, receive protocol over and over again until the entire page loads. All satellite communications will be dramatically slowed with an HTTPS connection. The good news is that is will still be MUCH faster than your cell card that has no connection at all!!!
The tripods are not difficult at all to setup, only time consuming and inconvenient. If it is raining you are not going to set it up. When it's 100 degrees outside, you are going to set it up but you are not going to be happy about it. If you are only stopping for an over-night you likely won't bother and when the DW has had it with the antenna riding in her bed you better be prepared to find a new location for this dish! Remember how it was warm and sunny when you set the dish up? Well now it's raining and it's time to leave. You have no choice but to take the dish and tripod down and put the parts "somewhere" that all that water won't cause you any problems.
Before the Datastorm antenna became available we were a tripod user so I am not speaking from speculation. I was lucky, I had a big van where I carried my antenna inventory and even wet parts and pieces were not going to do any harm. There was exactly 0% chance that Janet was going to allow any of these parts in the coach (wet or dry) so I became accurately aware of the current and upcoming weather.
Shortly after installing our Datastorm we held a big party and stomped, crushed and burned everything we could find related to the tripod setup!
The thing to consider is how you travel and how you will use the system. We "travel" full-time. We are rarely in one place more than a few days or a week. This is not a good scenario for a tripod user. However, if you only move 4-10 times over the course of a year the problems related to setting up a tripod become minimal compared to the number of times that you have to do it.
Consider your internet NEEDS. Can you go for a day or 2 or 3 without an internet connection? Do you NEED, or really want, an internet connection every night that you park? Once you know what you need and/or want then you should be able to make a fair decision on what kind of hardware that you need.
I made post on another forum awhile back that several folks commented on as being a clear an concise explanation of the various options available to mobile users. Here is that post:

The first thing you will need to consider is just HOW much you need this
internet connection, where you think you will be traveling and what your
budget will support.
The top of the heap is the MotoSAT Datastorm fully automatic, roof mounted,
satellite internet system. This works everywhere you travel in the US (48
States plus Alaska), Mexico and Canada. Push one button and you are on-line
in about 10 minutes. Cost is about $5000 and $80/month for the internet
service. VoIP just barely works and would likely not be usable for any kind
of a business conversation. High end satellite internet is also available
but costs $10,000+ for the hardware and $300/month for the service. VoIP is
excellent.
The next step is the same Hughes satellite service but the antenna is
mounted on a tripod and must be assembled, disassembled and manually pointed
at each new location. High end service is not practical with this type of
system. Cost is around $1000 and monthly service levels are available for
$60, $70 or $80/month depending upon the service you choose.
Cellular air cards are the next step but of course if you have no cellular
coverage you have no service, possible no voice and no data. However, cell
service gets better every day and if you can choose the times that you need
to be on the internet then you can plan your travels to ensure that you are
in a good coverage area when a connection is required. No service (without
a huge bill) in Canada or Mexico but good in the big AK cities. Cost for
hardware Free to $30 with service at $60/month with a 5GB/month data usage
limit.
The last step down would be using a cell phone tethered to a computer or
router to provide some level of service where ever your cellular carrier has
a good signal. This may cost as little as $15/month on top of your cell
phone's monthly charge.
OK, there's your match to help light the darkness. Now let us know more
about what you think your needs are and we can try to get you more details
on the various options.

[CMcCardell]

Bill, thanks again for the excellent and detailed information -

Very unfortunately, I "need" to be connected to the internet regularly (daily). I run a boat charter business, with operations in various places worldwide, and unless I hire someone else to do what I do in terms of accounting, communications etc on a daily basis, then I need to be able to do it. If I don't have reliable internet (mostly for remote desktop access to our server) and email, I can't travel. While I absolutely detest having a Blackberry, it gives me a lot more flexibility in terms of time not sitting in front of a computer - necessary evil.

If I had my 'druthers, I'd be off grid on a pack trip with my horses in the mountains...but I digress!

The Verizon broadband works more than adequately for what I need to do, but our preference would be to boondock in fairly remote areas, which means no cell service. Like you, we wouldn't be staying too long in any given place while traveling, so it'd sure be convenient to have an automatic system - but then again, we like the mountains, which means trees, which means locating the coach in limited areas in order to get satellite view - everything's a compromise.

Perhaps my best bet would be to:

1) Get an external antenna/booster to extend the range of my Verizon broadband (does anyone have any experience with how well that works?), and

2) Find a used automatic system to see how well it works and how much I end up needing/using it.



I've seen used F3 systems for less than half the price of new, complete with modem and everything else, fully refurbished. Obviously they're older technology - would something like that work, for both TV and internet?

Thanks for shining the light - I've never had the opportunity to take the time to keep up to date on technology as it changes.

- Clay