[ale] OT: How fast is your connection, and how much do you pay?

[Jeff Hubbs]

Geoffrey wrote:
3C9FB590.40605 at 3times25.net">Charles Marcus
wrote: 
  
    From: Jim Popovitch [mailto:jimpop at rocketship.com] 
      
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 9:41 PM 
To: Chris Fowler; Geoffrey; Atlanta Linux User Group (E-mail) 
Subject: RE: [ale] OT: How fast is your connection, and how  much do you 
pay? 
      
Well, not everything is for everyone.  I was just countering  the claim that
Starband wasn't right for Linux.  I have seen 
Starband work and work well for the majority of folks that use 
it.  As with all things, ymmv. 
      
      
      
On that note, for people like my parents whose only other option is dial
up, 
it is a very good option.  Now if someone would come up with a 
DSL/Cable/Satellite Router that worked with a USB modem... 
      
      
Maybe I'm missing something here.  DSL/Cable have their own connection  device,
so you wouldn't use a modem, right.  You'd have a dsl modem,  cable modem
and they'd either plug into your nic, or they'd reside in  your box. 
      
As I understand satellite, you receive via satellite, send via analog,  so
is this what you're looking for? 
      
      
Maybe three years ago, Scientific American said that in two years,
satellite would become the primary mechanism for broadband Internet access.
 Hasn't happened.  
      
What occurs to me is that not only is there a built-in latency associated
with satellite broadband due to the distance of the satellites' orbits from
the Earth, but that also due to the fact that you and however many other
people have their dishes pointed at the same "bird," you are sharing the
connection bigtime in the same way that a cable modem "neighborhood"
is shared. Â Well, except for the fact that, with satellite, your "neighbors"
could be in Poughkeepsie, Igor, Knoxville, and pretty much anywhere on your
side of the Third Stone. Â 
      
There will also be two times a year, I think, where your Internet service
is going to go toes for a few minutes a day at roughly the same time of day
for a few consecutive days. Â This will be during the periods when your bird
feebly tries to eclipse the Sun. Â 
      
Does anyone know how (or if) satellite broadband is encrypted on the downlink?
      
- Jeff