Satellite Internet for the ranch

My dad has suddenly expressed interest in having the internet at his ranch where he has no phone or cable access.

I have been reviewing Hughes, WildBlue, Starband, etc. Lots of complaints about all and when I go on eBay, there are loads of systems that are affordable but all of the sites say that you have to have pro installation by law.

He is 30 miles west of Roswell, NM has Dish Network TV and a clear view towards the equator....anyone have any thoughts?

I would really love to set him up as a Christmas present. I work online and he wants to share what I do plus he knows that the more access I can have, the more time I can spend there with his only DG. :)

Thanks, ya'll!!

Hi Daisyavenue,

I live in a rural area of south central Oklahoma and neither cable internet nor DSL is available. For several reasons, dial-up internet became a very unsatisfactory option so I have gone with WildBlue. While it is certainly less than perfect, (i.e. downtime when there are weather issues at the "portal" and a small amount of unexplained downtime) it is certainly much better than dial-up. I waited until I found a "sale" and the equipment was approximately 1/2 price. It was shipped direct from WildBlue and then a dealer called me and set up an appointment for a "professional" to do the installation. I am originally from Roosevelt County New Mexico (just east of Roswell) so I am somewhat familiar with that part of the world - I would think there would be a dealer in the Roswell area although instructions came to "do it yourself". BUT, at least for me, that was not an option. I choose the slowest speed which is satisfactory for my use and since I do very little downloading, the limits on that and the uploads have not been a problem.

I said all that to say, the satellite internet is not perfect, but it sure beats what I had. I would say I have had approximately the same amount of problems and issues with the satellite internet as I have had with DishNet but my experience with the toll-free tech support has been more favorable with the satellite internet than with DishNet - I have always been able to understand the person on the other end with WildBlue but that has not always been the case with Dish Net.

Thanks, Aggiesmom!

Can you combine satellite TV with WildBlue like you can with Hughesnet?
I would love to get him VOIP too but I think that is near to impossible with satellite.....

Woot to the Aggies taking UT! ;)

To my knowledge, WildBlue does not offer satellite TV service. But I can't say that for a fact. You should be able to contact them with questions via their website.

And yes, whoop - Bevo has been "dehorned" yet once again. The only thing sweeter would have been to be there - as it was, my living room was a fun place to be. My Aggie daughter and her husband were here as well as my son & his wife and most, if not all of us, are Aggie fans. However, my daughter's father-in-law is a rabid Texas fan so I'm sure he did not enjoy the game near as much as we did. This is the first year in about 3 that he wasn't here to watch it with us - too bad after the ribbing we have taken, huh?

Dish Network .. powered by Wild Blue

> http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/products/internet/high_speed.shtml

To schedule your FREE Standard Professional Installation, contact your local Retailer. (these dealers were listed for the area)

DIGICOM INC
4501 N MAIN ST
ROSWELL, NM
(505) 622-9070

SUNCOM WIRELESS
3718 W GRAND AVE
ARTESIA, NM
(505) 746-0519

- - - - -

And, an alternative satellite (broadband) internet service, is StarBand® Internet access service
Here > http://www.starband.com/about/ .. and, TOLL FREE Teley # Call 1.800.4STARBAND
Appears to offer two choices of options: 'Pro' & 'Ultimate' .. however, the info states "Coming Soon" for the Pro option.
> http://www.starband.com/services/

Hope that some of the info will lend some aid to you ..

- Magpye

This message was edited Dec 1, 2006 6:01 AM

Thanks, Magpye!!! I appreciate the options!

This should be an adventure- my dad is pretty stuck in his ways and I gotta get this all set up just right.

I think that I am going to give him one of my laptops and set it up with all of his business stuff so that he can carry it back and forth between town and the ranch.

BTW- he is a New Mexico Aggie and I am a Lobo so we have a little rivalry in the house ;) I live in LA so was rooting for the Longhorns during the Rose Bowl last year...made people a little mad at work. LOL

Ahh, shucks .. twern't nuffin'. (hee) ;-)

Just tickled for ya, that the info may will help you out a bit .. in tryin' to get your Dad fixed up.

We'd made a preliminary check on Starband, to be installed in/on our RV - while we were out in the boonies of New Mexico, last year. The installation fees have dropped to about half of what they were at the time. And am very delighted to see that the monthly subscription fees have decreased somewhat, also.

((Wish you the best))

- Magpye

i just have to say that magpye really goes above and beyond the call of duty to reseach for dg'ers and i want to say thank you.

If you read reviews of satellite, there are a lot of complainers so I really just wanted some experienced folks but appreciate the links as well!

Hi there,
Just moved from CA to NM, just south of Las Cruces and the only internet service was Hughes.. we did have to pay 500.00 for the Satelite dish as cable has not yet arrived in our part of this rural area, and just got it installed a few days ago. I do not know how this is going to work compared to what we had in CA. So far, so good.

There are specials going on with Hughes too, something like 200.00 rebate/off, so make sure you get online with these companies and see which coupons they have to offer. They do not mention them if you do not ask. ALso, we found out about the 200.00 off on a TV commercial, they did give us the credit, but we had to call to ask for the rebate.

I hope this helps some. I was having DG withdrawls.. lol.. (almost 3 months worth)...

A.

Antoinette! I just happened to see you name in the list of NM DGers and I thought that my mind was playing tricks on me!

Just so that you don't get homesick for CA, I know that ya'll had a storm blow through Las Cruces last night but the wind in the Inland Empire was extremely destructive last night and freezing cold. I know that you won't miss the crazy floods either!

Good luck in NM- the mountains in that part are beautiful!

It is beautiful here, but I miss my garden and yard.. There are tons of pecan orchards here and there is a real cute story about it that I learned from one of the neighbors here (the only close neighbor)..lol.

He said that the crows come in black clouds to steal pecans, almost 2000 pounds a day.. the crows send out a couple of scouts, then the scouts call the rest of the crows when the coast is clear, then the black cloud just devours the pecan trees, take the pecans behind the ditch here and eat them away from the orchards.

Well, the farmers got these butane tanks that shoot out this noise (I don't know what else to call it) but they sound like gun shots. They set the shooting at a random pattern to make sure the crows don't time each shot. Those crows sure are smart..lol

Guess I won't be planting pecan trees, those crows are too smart for me. It got really cold last night here, the dog's water trough froze solid, got icicles on the water facet outside. I had forgotten what it was like to see those icicles. The winds were something too, lots of tumbleweeds...dust and dirt..

Hope you find a good cable company for your dad. You may have to purchase a dish too.

A.

edited to say: Changed my location, actually live inbetween those two cities there..



This message was edited Nov 30, 2006 1:07 PM

A-

It may be dusty but you will have fresh roasted green Hatch chiles every fall!!

I grew up in the pecan orchards in Roswell and I think that some of the ones that are closest to where you are belong to friend's of my brother (who went to NMSU with him).

One question about Hughes- a lot of the reviews I read were complaints that the customer service people are out of the country and a little difficult to communicate with and Wild Blue is all US based- was that your experience with Hughes?

Thanks!
Daisy

Daisy,
Checking in here again - all of the customer service reps I have talked to w/Wild Blue were very easily understood.

d

Daisy,
Really, I cannot give you any type of referral about that part of the service, we just got it this week and I haven't had to deal with anyone yet, also, Huges is supposed to be faster than the DSL Cable we had, but I do not find that to be true. The other thing is that I was told I have to clean out my computer, i have too many programs running in it that slow it down, but I do not know how, so that will be sometime next month, maybe I'll take it in so they can clean it up for me....

My DH's co-worker said he has had Huges for a couple of years and he is happy with it. With Huges I think you have to sign an 18 mo contract too. Our problem was there were only two choices in this area. I don't remember who the other one was. I'll find out from DH when he gets home.

Dell had their customer service out of the country. Most of the companies must be contracting out the customer service. I do know that when I had problems with the Dell computer, the reps were very courteious and sometimes a little hard to understand, but they would always start over with me.. I think I was the challenge, not knowing much about computers. THey would start with baby steps and did not mind going slow for me.

But, I can see how others that know computers would get frustrated at going so slow.

I'll throw in my 2¢ worth. I have wireless internet. It is provided by our cell phone company. It is never advertised.
Anyway they have sending dishes on water towers in most towns. If you can "see" the thing, you can get the wireless internet. I found out about it from a friend that had it. It costs $34.95 a month, no installation or equipment cost if you sign up for X number of years. I don't remember the number. If we have a problem, we get to talk to a rep that is the main office 35 miles from us. Very nice people.
This is super fast. I don't think you can turn pages in a book as fast as these come up.
The billing is combined with our cell phones, so I end up getting discounts for multiple services.
Might not hurt to check, there might be something like this out there. Never goes down because of rain. Don't know about severe storms, lightning, because I disconnect the computer it lightning is bad.
Good Luck,
Bernie

Thanks, Bernie,

I will have to check on that! One potential issue could be that cellphone service is extremely limited out there and he actually has to use an old school bag phone (more wattage) and that even works sporadically.