Various questions about Sat stuff in Hurricane Katrina zone.

[Katrinasucks]

OK so the subject is non-descriptive but I could not do any better.

As many of you know, we had hurricane in New Orleans that has screwed up nearly every bit of infrastructure we have. Installation/repair times are insane. You can count on a 3 month wait for a phone line or DirectTV etc. We won't even mention getting a cable modem down here. I had one friend who got quoted November and he thought that was good until they said 2006! (no joke)

SO I'm looking for better ways to do things. I read this forum for about an hour and I think many of you might be able to fill is some blanks in my knowledge. (and not all questions are exactly about FTA but I figure I'll put them all in one place)

1) We have plenty of people with no broadband access. I'm considering getting some direcway dishes off ebay and setting them up. (Any better options?) Did I read PSB say he uses the same dish and LNB to get FTA? Data is the primary need but getting some TV from the same rig would be cool. (I understand the need for a rotor to be effective.) Most people are more interested in internet but watching a few random shows when they are not on the net would be a bonus.

2) We have about 10,000 or more DirectTV and DishNetwork dishes that will be bulldozed with their hoses. From what I've read on the thread "What will I get with an 18" Dish?" there is basically no value in them anyway. -- But I can get an unlimited supply. Short of flooding ebay, do I want one? A guy gave me a Dishnetwork dish that, so far, I have not figured a use for. (I am a DirectTV subscriber)

3) Has anyone tried Voip over a Direcway? We have people who will not have phones for months.

4) I started reading about Direcway but got interested in FTA in the same way I listened to shortwave as a kid. I have DirecTV and 2 Tivo's so I have more TV than I can watch, but as a low end hobbiest, is there any real reason to get more than a ~$100 FTA receiver? -- I'm thinking about getting a 30" dish to use for DSB, FTA and Directway... Am I insane? 3LNBS?

Sorry to pummel you guys with questions. I've read all the FAQ's and such and some of what I'm asking is just to confirm I don't have any holes in my knowledge. Basically I have 20 different people with 20 different needs. The more I understand what I can do and what I can't, the better I can help get the right technology to the right people.

thanks

Paul

 

[digiblur]

Hey Paul... only an hour away from ya!


1. As far as I know you have to be an approved Direcway vendor to provision the modem since you are transmitting data up into the sky. I believe the same stands true with WildBlue. You might check around about some of the fixed wireless solutions in the N.O. area. Why not just install the DBS system yourself instead of waiting?

2. Some DishNet dishs/lnb's are interchangeable with DirecTV stuff.

3. VoIP over DirecWay doesn't work too well since you have around 1000ms pings. Not sure about WildBlue but I've seen users with 600ms pings, still not good for VoIP but it might work fair.

4. Keep your dishes separate.

 

[Mr Tony]

1) We have plenty of people with no broadband access. I'm considering getting some direcway dishes off ebay and setting them up. (Any better options?) Did I read PSB say he uses the same dish and LNB to get FTA? Data is the primary need but getting some TV from the same rig would be cool. (I understand the need for a rotor to be effective.) Most people are more interested in internet but watching a few random shows when they are not on the net would be a bonus.

Directway would work for internet. But if you want FTA, you would need a motor

2) We have about 10,000 or more DirectTV and DishNetwork dishes that will be bulldozed with their hoses. From what I've read on the thread "What will I get with an 18" Dish?" there is basically no value in them anyway. -- But I can get an unlimited supply. Short of flooding ebay, do I want one? A guy gave me a Dishnetwork dish that, so far, I have not figured a use for. (I am a DirectTV subscriber)

Dish and Direct use different LNB’s (the “eye” part) so they relay aren’t interchangable. You can use a Direct LNB on a Dish dish
They work fine for audio but there really isn’t much FTA to get with a 18” dish/LNB.

3) Has anyone tried Voip over a Direcway? We have people who will not have phones for months.

Don’t know

4) I started reading about Direcway but got interested in FTA in the same way I listened to shortwave as a kid. I have DirecTV and 2 Tivo's so I have more TV than I can watch, but as a low end hobbiest, is there any real reason to get more than a ~$100 FTA receiver? -- I'm thinking about getting a 30" dish to use for DSB, FTA and Directway... Am I insane? 3LNBS?

Most decent receivers will put you back a couple hundred bucks. The elcheapo ones are under $100. Directway and FTA use the same LNB. DBS is different but there are a few of us who have both. They even have a LNB that does both

Sorry to pummel you guys with questions. I've read all the FAQ's and such and some of what I'm asking is just to confirm I don't have any holes in my knowledge. Basically I have 20 different people with 20 different needs. The more I understand what I can do and what I can't, the better I can help get the right technology to the right people.

That’s what we’re here for. Glad everyone is safe. Living at the beginning of the Mississippi and seeing it on TV was bad enough. No way in hell I’d want to live through that. (we’ve lived through tornados here in MN)

 

[Tron]

Hi guys! Scanning the messages some tonight and saw this thread that contains the dreaded 'K' word

I've been away from the forum for some weeks now, mainly due to a lack of time to do much reading on the 'net. Hopefully I will be able to pop in and at least scan the board from time to time

Anyway, depending on what part of the city you live in, you might not have cable service back for more than a year. I drove through Lakeview last week on one of my visits back. The word 'warzone' doesn't begin to describe it. The houses, trees (the ones left standing), cars, streets, grass, etc. are all covered in grey muck. Windows are all gone. Cars are thrown around (and on top of each other) like matchbox toys. There is a stench that is almost unbearable. The talk is that many entire neighborhoods will get bulldozed. I'm sure its more of the same in areas like the Lower 9th Ward and New Orleans East, not to mention Chalmette, Arabi, and points southeast of there.

Not sure of the feasibility of satellite internet (it never has really caught on here in the states), but you can certainly pull down some interesting and different TV with a decent size (30" or more) dish and motor. I'd definitely go for a FTA system if you can get power. But that's another story.

I live in Metairie, near the Bucktown area, just across the 17th Street Canal from 'The Breach'. Our neighborhood has electricity, phone service, and cable service back on. However, since my home took on about 18 inches of water, I cannot use any of those services until we get the interior gutted. They are supposed to re-connect electricity tomorrow, but the phone wires are corroded. We will probably re-connect cable internet service to the lone computer that survived once we get a FEMA trailer installed in front of the house.

 

[anik]

1) We have plenty of people with no broadband access. I'm considering getting some direcway dishes off ebay and setting them up. (Any better options?) Did I read PSB say he uses the same dish and LNB to get FTA? Data is the primary need but getting some TV from the same rig would be cool. (I understand the need for a rotor to be effective.) Most people are more interested in internet but watching a few random shows when they are not on the net would be a bonus.

First of all, I'm not trying to discourage you on the idea of satellite broadband, but it can be expensive to set up (as someone else mentioned, professional installation is required because you are transmitting, and you may have to buy the satellite modem). I'd personally try WildBlue; it's a newer service that's supposed to work much better. The biggest problem with satellite broadband (at least in my opinion) is the usage caps - download too much and you may suddenly find your download speed cut to about that of a 56K modem. Also, most of the companies will try to lock you into at least a one-year contract. And there is a problem with rain fade - during heavy rain you may lose your Internet connection completely. Oh, and the fact that satellite broadband can cost about twice as much as terrestrial broadband (depending on the competition) is no small consideration.

A better option might be to try and find out if any wireless ISP's have set up operation. The equipment is generally less expensive and you get better bandwidth and far less latency (which is REALLY important for VoIP). A good forum to ask questions about wireless ISP's is at http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/dslalt - use the forum search function and search on various keywords such as "New Orleans", just by doing a search there I came up with this thread: http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,14271600

2) We have about 10,000 or more DirectTV and DishNetwork dishes that will be bulldozed with their hoses. From what I've read on the thread "What will I get with an 18" Dish?" there is basically no value in them anyway. -- But I can get an unlimited supply. Short of flooding ebay, do I want one? A guy gave me a Dishnetwork dish that, so far, I have not figured a use for. (I am a DirectTV subscriber)

Be on the lookout for old PrimeStar dishes, especially the larger ones. These are generally oval shape, or LARGE round (around 3 feet). These are great for setting up a FTA system - you can point one of these puppies at a single Ku satellite such as G10R and get a bunch of channels. Or you can sell them on eBay. Or you could send me a couple (especially if you find any with the LNB that has the single coax connector rather than the dual one).

Was I the only one who, while watching the coverage of the destruction in New Orleans, kept seeing all those dishes on roofs and thinking "just give me 24 hours, a boat and a socket wrench set"? No, of course that wasn't my only thought, but every time I saw a picture of a perfectly good looking dish I couldn't help thinking it's a real shame that so many of those are going to get bulldozed. I know, what a thing to think about when seeing all the destruction and loss of life, but I'll bet some others in this group had the same thoughts, if only for a moment.

3) Has anyone tried Voip over a Direcway? We have people who will not have phones for months.

As others have mentioned, the problem you will have when trying to use VoIP over satellite is excessive latency, which will make conversation extremely uncomfortable. WildBlue is said to be a bit more VoIP friendly than the others, but even they cannot exceed the speed of light. I would again strongly suggest that you beat the bushes to find a wireless ISP in the area before you even think about satellite broadband.

4) I started reading about Direcway but got interested in FTA in the same way I listened to shortwave as a kid. I have DirecTV and 2 Tivo's so I have more TV than I can watch, but as a low end hobbiest, is there any real reason to get more than a ~$100 FTA receiver? -- I'm thinking about getting a 30" dish to use for DSB, FTA and Directway... Am I insane? 3LNBS?

I will just say that in your situation, the best reason for getting and setting up an FTA receiver might be to learn how so you can do it for others. I would keep the FTA receiver on a separate dish from satellite broadband, in part because some folks may want to put a motor on the dish so it will track the arc and receive more satellites. Obviously you don't want your broadband dish turning.

Another thing is, once you've set up one or two FTA systems, you will hopefully have enough confidence to start setting up Dish Network or DirecTV dishes for close friends and family. There is no reason anyone has to wait for a professional installation if they know how to do it themselves, and for someone that has the basic technical understanding of how to hook everything up, the biggest challenge can be setting up the dish and finding the satellites. An FTA receiver can be used to find the Dish Network birds and do an initial signal peak, but of course you'd then have to connect a real Dish Network receiver with an active subscription to pick up any of the desirable programming. Anyway, finding the first satellite is the hardest (don't be fooled by the offset of the dish and keep looking much higher in the sky than where the satellites are actually located) and once you've done it two or three times, you can almost certainly cobble together a working Dish Network or DirecTV system without waiting a year for a professional installer to show up. Of course you'd only want to do this for family members or very close friends, who presumably won't sue you if you make a mistake or damage their roof or something.

Hope this helps.