Posted by REK1138 (anonymous) on January 5, 2009 at 5:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Do they realize that broadband internet is available in all parts of the state now? Have they never heard of satellite ISP's? I assume this is an effort to make internet access in rural areas more affordable.

Posted by KatherineReece (anonymous) on January 5, 2009 at 11:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

We just left being on satellite for our broadband since DSL finally became available in our area. If other satellite ISP's were like the company we were with its not only overpriced, but also prone to not work in bad weather. The DSL we got is not only cheaper, but its also faster, and it doesn't go down when it rains or gets cloudy.

Also, the satellite company we were with had really restrictive caps on downloads which caused us a lot of problems attempting to do back ups of website databases and download them in case of a site crash. If we exceeded our bandwidth cap they terminated our service for 24 hours!

Posted by heathermc (anonymous) on January 5, 2009 at 11:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I hope so b/c i am planning to upgrade to satellite soon but that will require 250 deposit and 50 or 60 a month but i'll change to vonage whose service is great and only 25 a month so it will balance out maybe even save me money plus no more aggravating dial up

Posted by Paradise (anonymous) on January 6, 2009 at 12:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Best check with whoever you are considering for your satellite dsl service. You can't do Vonage or similar services on satellite dsl because of the latency and speed. Satellite dsl is a shared bandwidth service and the fine print will say something like "no speed guaranteed" which translates to if you think you are buying 1.0M download, you'll need to be up at 3:00 to come close to getting that speed and then it will need to be clear skies. During peak times expect your shared bandwidth to drop your speed down to about 1/4 to 1/3 of what you think you are buying. But that is a download/upload problem. The real biggie with trying to use Vonage and the like over satellite is that you have a lag time latency delay that makes it unusable for that purpose. In other words, with satellite dsl, you make a call for a web site with the www call up. The call up is transmitted by a 1 or 2 watt radio up to the satellite about 36,000 miles away, then is rebroadcast back down to an earth station receiver another 36,0000 miles away, where the site look up call goes out over a land line. The site is located and process is reversed for another 72,000 mile trip up and back down. The delay is similar to what you hear when NASA talks to the astronauts, only doubled. You see this would drive you nuts in a hurry. Also, this latency delay effect makes typical web pages load as slow as dial up. The only place you will notice true speed increases is when you are making large downloads, such as when some friend emails you some pictures and they are a couple of meg in size. Dial up would take half a day if you could stay connected and the satellite will do it in 20-90 seconds. Ditto being great for Windows and program updates that are just too large for dialup, but work lickity split downloading by satellite. Be sure you read the fine print and know what to expect before ordering satellite service. I had it for until dsl finally came by after requesting it for 15+ years. It served my purpose much better than dial up, but I used it for work purposes quite a bit. If you are in a served area, www.tridigitalbroadband.com would serve you much better in everyway over satellite in my opinion. I have no affiliation with tridigital or any other broadband provider. Just trying to pass on my experience and opinion hoping it might be helpful in your decision making.

Posted by carol (anonymous) on January 6, 2009 at 6:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Man...........I don't understand all that but it sure sounded good :). Thank goodness I already have DSL.

Posted by TheDude (Michael Wells) on January 6, 2009 at 7:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Hey Paradise, I could use your advise! If you don't know what you're talking about, you sure got me fooled. I live in an area where I've been trying to get DSL through several different companies, ie. AT&T, Hiwaay Internet Services (my ISP), Charter, etc. I am not in their "coverage" area. All I can get is dial-up and it is as useless as it gets. I am usually running about 21.6 to 36 kbps and I quit downloading files sent to me via e-mail (1000 kb) cuz it takes 30 minutes or more. What would be your suggestion? I have Charter cable for tv.

Posted by kwsrgraves (anonymous) on January 6, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Did ya'll git runnin water yet? Cause we want to was our hands out in tha privvy. Pullin tha bukit up brings yaller water with brown chunks. And them thar nets you is talkin bout, can you ketch shad in um?

Posted by eagle1 (anonymous) on January 6, 2009 at 9:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

You all right, kw? Having them dreams again?

Posted by Phoneguy (anonymous) on January 6, 2009 at 9:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Like Paradise I too have some knowledge of broadband as I have had all that is available in Chilton County. Everything he/she said is correct. Use their advice when considering a provider. As my username states I work in that industry and for the Chilton County area I too reccomend for home use Tridigital or DSL (where available)The satellite service is expensive (up front) and Monthly and the FAP (Fair Access Policy) will cause you headaches. This is what KatherineReece was talking about. If you go over an alloted download/upload threshhold they will scale your speed back for a 24hour period that is not much better than dialup. You may say I don't do web based backup's or maintain a web site...Well do you have kids? or you yourself use Myspace, facebook or online gaming? These sites eat up bandwidth and WILL go over your threshold. Not to mention if you online game or have a child that does you can forget it with satellite becaust of the latency that Paradise described.

Posted by kwsrgraves (anonymous) on January 6, 2009 at 9:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Seriously, we can't get cable 1 mile outside of Clanton's city limits. An the DSL "station" for AT&T/BELLSOUTH is in my front yard. Foley Group gets the DSL exclusively. In 1995 fiber optic cable was installed from this hub to our house. Still, 14 years later no DSL. We use alltel's wireless plan on my smartphone and my wife's laptop. But, eventually Chilton County sevices will come in line with the last century.

Posted by KatherineReece (anonymous) on January 6, 2009 at 11:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)

The latency they're talking about is the time it takes for the signal to go from your house to the satellite or down. PhoneGuy mentioned some ways you can exceed your download limits... you can also exceed them just going to youtube.

What REALLY made me mad at the satellite company is that they changed the threshold limits on our account (and we were paying extra for a "business" account to get more bandwidth) and they're service tech LIED to me on the phone about what was wrong with our service. He told me it was a glitch and we'd have to turn off our service for 24 hours. We found out a month or so later the problem was that they'd changed the limit (without telling us) and that was why our speed was so slow. All of their customer service goes to India too. PhilBurnette is another one who had a LOT of trouble with the satellite.

If you have cable (someone mentioned Charter) check about getting a cable modem with them.

We live between Clanton and Thorsby and are on CenturyTel for phone service. DSL is now available through them in my area so we dumped the satellite for the DSL and its MUCH MUCH better.

Posted by bobbyb (anonymous) on January 6, 2009 at 12:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Alabama selected an Ohio company to provide broadband service to the state. I wonder if an Alabama company even got the chance to bid on this job.
Come on Governer Riley, There are many companies in Alabama that are qualified to do this work. Lets support our own people first. There is to much tax money being spent out of state when we should be trying to support Alabama people and companies.
Things are about the same in Chilton county. Many tax dollars go out of the county when there are business locally that can provide the goods or services needed. As a retired business man I encourage everyone to support your local people and keep jobs at home.

Posted by gkeys (anonymous) on January 6, 2009 at 8:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Ugh, nightmares from years ago and dial up....I can still hear that screeching....Cable modem is awesome! We got a wireless router, put wireless cards in my Husband’s desktop, and in each of our Children’s desktops. My laptop, I can go outside and work when it is nice. 4 computers, 0 problems, super fast speed. If you do get a wireless network, just be sure to LOCK it! You would be amazed at the number of people that leave their wireless network wide open for the picking.