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Another new year and also for us its a year since we took on a Hughesnet satellite service. We have used a tripod and an F1 with it and the hardware has performed perfectly well.
For us the only thing that has been consistently bad is the Hughes part itself. So for 2008 having proved to ourselves that this kind of communication works for us we would like to upgrade to a supplier who can best supply our needs.
We need a system that will support VOIP as well as browsing, email etc. and can do it reliably and consistently.
The budget is not unlimited so any suggestions on an economic solution would be welcomed.
Thanks Ian
-------------------- Ian Davis G4LPL on tour in the USA F1 2W/D2/HN7000S/117W/1050/MBR1000/Sierra 597 Sprint EVDO |Tripod backup system | Current Location Posts: 134 | From: Florida | Registered: Apr 2007
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Assuming that you want to stay with a tripod I would suggest that you look to either the Starband service. The Starband service does support VoIP but you can expect about the same overall service as you would see with Hughes. The Hughes service is excellent for those of us who have the ability to change satellite should our particular gateway get overloaded or not functioning properly. I don't know if this is an option with Starband so I am not sure how similar problems are dealt with. All of the satellite services have about the same percentage of happy and unhappy customers so don't expect any miracles by simply finding a new provider. To move to a higher level of service you really need to move to a larger dish and a pay the much higher monthly fees. Due to the size of these dishes I cannot recommend that this be attempted with a tripod mounted system.
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15677 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Qui-gon: We have used a tripod and an F1 with it and the hardware has performed perfectly well. ...we would like to upgrade to a supplier who can best supply our needs....We need a system that will support VOIP as well as browsing, email etc. and can do it reliably and consistently. Thanks Ian
You have a situation not too unlike what many thousand F1 users are faced with in 2008. A big problem for the F1 mount is it's limitation to Hughes services. The dish on a F1 is proprietary to HughesNet....so no other provider's service can be "legally" sold to you with that setup.
That is one of the reasons MotoSAT has introduced the G75 mount (a .75 meter dish that can be set up with several different providers - including three that can handle voip). Additionally, MotoSAT has introduced the G74 dish/mount that will handle Hughes service (both Ku band and the future ka band). These mounts can be bought from many of the dealers who frequent this forum.
As far as your tripod backup.....it might get a bit tricky to utilize it with the new "G" series dishes.
-------------------- Randy Scott | www.vsatus.com 1.2M | 4W | 123W- atContact 20:1 | iDirect 3100 |TrailManor 2720SL | Winegard Traveler HD | Posts: 606 | From: Monument, CO | Registered: Mar 2005
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Starband and VOIP seem to work OK however as Bill pointed out good this week does not imply good next week.
In order to get consistent, reliable, carrier grade VOIP over satellite you must be willing to pay.
You can get Spacenet commercial service with a VOIP dedicated channel on a .75 meter dish with a 2 watt TX for $399.99 per month the plan is a 512Kbps X 1024Kbps service. calls if purchased in 1000 min bundles are 5 cents per min. A La Carte calls are 12 cents per min.
Service would be on AMC-6.
Starbands 1500 service seems to work remarkably well with vonage or skype and is as low as $99 per month for 256kbps X 1512kbps. I have a new modem I just commissioned connected to vonage right now if you wanted to try and call me as a test. i will have it on for the next 24 hours before I deliver to the customer. 1-919-341-3849
Posts: 439 | From: Elias Calle B.C.S. Mexico/Raleigh, NC | Registered: Dec 2004
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Has something changed with using the F1 with VOIP in the form of Skype? I used Skype for many hours of calls this past summer over the F1 with no problems (other than more basic problems getting on the net). I haven't been online with the dish for 5 months now, and I'm very interested to hear if VOIP has been blocked or something.
-Noel
Posts: 199 | From: South Florida | Registered: Jan 2007
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-------------------- Don Marr WWW.OREGONRV.NET 541-683-5361 See where I am Country Coach Concept 40' F1 - D3|7000s|99W|LinkSys wireless with 1000mw WiFi amp & Ext. antenna Posts: 3364 | From: Eugene, OR | Registered: Jun 2004
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Hughes does not support Vonage, Vonage is one VoIP service and as it happens thanks to their Wo-Woo-Hoo advertisement campaign I don't support them either.
Now Skype, a competing service, does work over Hughes, I've used it, There is Magic Jack, don't know if it works over Hughes, and Intel-Phone which I will test in a couple of months (I "Sell" intel phone but can not recommend it here till I test it)
Of course any 2-way sat internet will be plagued by the 1/2 second turn over delay (like talking to the moon) but you can not get away from that.
Try SKYPE for free, My user ID is wa8yxm IIRC but you will have to set up a sked. This computer does not SKYPE well even when hooked up hard wire (DNS)
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