wolstie

OK, so, in a month we are moving from Ottawa out to Lanark County.

We currently have everything with Rogers, so it is going to be quite a leap with regards to internet provision as where we are moving to, doesn't have access to Cable / ADSL. Our internet options are either Xplornet Satellite (upto 5mbps), Storm Wireless (upto 10mbps) or Rogers Rocket Hub (upto 25mbps). All very expensive, ranging from $70 - $100.

I'm leaning towards Storm for the internet as it's meant to be more reliable for things like Vonage and not as prone to outages, and the data cap is better than the others (100gb compared to 20gb with Rogers).

Anyway, would anyone have any experience with regards to these types of internet connection? These are completely new to me and I'd be interested to know the first hand advantages / disadvantages .

Thanks

dbd33

"Xplornet Satellite (upto 5mbps), Storm Wireless (upto 10mbps) or Rogers Rocket Hub (upto 25mbps). All very expensive, ranging from $70 - $100."

We currently have xplornet line-of-sight and, when it works, it's as good as Bell provided as an ADSL connection in our last house. It's about fifty bucks a month. xplornet will come and see whether or not line-of-sight is an option at your location, if not then they fall back to satellite. I say "when it works" as we've recently moved and don't yet have a generator so no power = no internet. The power supply is, as ever in rural Ontario, whimsical.

I haven't tried xplornet's satellite but, at a previous house, had satellite from Bruce Telecomm. It was expensive both in set up cost and monthly charges ($800/$150 iirc) and very weather prone. It was fast when downloading but suffered from terrible latency issues, so it was totally unsuited to streaming. When trees grew in the way of the signal they had to be trimmed. One curious feature was that the satellite used belonged to the Hughes Corporation (the company not, AFAIK, related to the soft soul band), they're in Chicago and so was my ip address. I could get services intended for the US but not those intended only for Canada.

I don't think "reliable" and "satellite" is a probable combination. We use the internet constantly so, if we had satellite, I'd want a stick connection as a back up (assuming it'll work, it depends on cell phone towers so getting service in the country is far from certain).

Good luck!

R I C H

My sole Internet choice is Xplornot satellite. I pay $100 per month for 'up to 5mbps'. In reality it's generally closer to 2. Weather has very rarely affected it, so in that respect it's reliable. The cost vs speed is appalling if you're used to cable speeds in more urban areas.

wolstie

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

I'm loathed to pay Bell (our only phone option) more than necessary for a phone line. They want $80 inc tax for their most basic package with European calling. So, I'm thinking of Vonage but I'm pretty sure that won't work well with Xplornet Satellite due to the latency issues of the space travel involved

Dbd, Xplornet don't do line of sight (Wimax?) in our area. That's provided by Storm nowadays. I think Xplornet sold a load of it off and are agressively pushing the 4G satellite - at least here anyway. I'm increasingly drawn to Storm, I'm just hoping I don't need the 40ft tower @ $800 + tax to receive it!

bats

Whst's cellphone reception like where you are? Some rural peeps use that as their internet log on thingy.

I know there are more technical terms but.??

wolstie

It's not too bad. Rogers could do us a 'Rocket hub' with upto 25mbps download, for $90 + tax. The thing thats pushing me away from that though is the 20gb download limit, and $20 per gb overage charges.

We use on average about 30-35gb per month...

dbd33

In that case I'd invite Storm over, see what they can do. Something I liked about xplornet was that we didn't sign anything or pay any money until we saw it working. Perhaps Storm will do the same.

wolstie

Sounds like a plan. What kind of download speeds do you typically get (compared to what your provider says you should get) ?

dbd33

Using a test on another thread, I saw 3.08b down .49 up. I don't know if that's typical, nor do I know what the provider claims. Having lived in the country before, I was excited at the prospect of having something fast enough to support receiving email!

wolstie

That's not too bad.

I think Rogers cable promise me upto 100mbps down now, and the most I get when tested is 4mbps.

Thanks again!

Atlantic Xpat

Oh you don't have fibre to your door in the boonies? How does one live? I suppose there is always dialup...

dbd33

Dial up? We don't have a phone line.

wolstie

Just an update on this...

We went with Storm (wimax) in the end. It was installed a few days ago. We have a 30ft tower with a 20ft pole on top of that.

So far so good, advertised 3 down and 1 up, getting about 1.5 - 2 down and 1 up, so as you'd expect.

Day to day surfing is fine, Shaw On Demand (SD) is ok. iplayer streaming isn't the best quality but I can download shows to the desktop version in half an hour or so.

Cost of tower install was $750 in the end, but they're letting me spread the cost over 4 months so it's not a massive dent in one go

Monthly cost is $40 + $10 radio rental, with no contract. Although after forking out $750, I don't intend leaving anytime soon.

orly

Stuck with a Bell "Turbo" hub where we are. Annoying name as there is little turbo about it.

Usually tops out about 3-4mbit/s and if we keep ourselves under 10GB it's $70/mth. Up to 15GB it's $90.

We live in Wellington County