DirecTV Finally Realizes Satellite Internet Isn't So Good

from the took-'em-long-enough dept

Mon, Oct 25th 2004 9:17am — Mike Masnick

It only cost them a $1.6 billion write-off, but despite years of evidence, it looks like DirecTV has just now realized that they're better off offering TV programming over satellites than trying to cram internet access over satellites. For years, the satellite providers keep trying to do internet access, but the latency issue and other problems have proven to be too big -- as other alternatives have made the need for satellite based internet mostly disappear.

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6 Comments

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Mike Schell, 25 Oct 2004 @ 7:59pm

aw crap
I moved out here into the country 3 and a half years ago and it looked then as if satellite internet was going to be my saviour, once the prices came down. Prices always come down with this stuff right? Guess not. I suppose the 8% of Canadians (and their American counterparts) who live in the boonies were all waiting for the same thing. Not enough early adopters to pay for the satellite companies' mammoth investments.
So it's 26.4 Kbps bandwidth for me, until I figure out how to build and launch my own satellite.
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- Rhelic, 26 Oct 2004 @ 9:18am
  
  Re: aw crap
  Even out in the country I would think you could get a faster than 26.4k connection. Are you using some crappy stock 56k or something really high quality? Back when I was on dial-up (1999 or so) US Robotics were unquestionably the best and would boost my signal quality at least 30%-50% better than other brands.
  
  I know 3Com purchased US Robotics a long time ago and by now have probably gutted/changed all their hardware. So I'm sure the new modems aren't as good as the old ones.
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StuckWithADish, 26 Oct 2004 @ 8:36am

Yeah so many alternatives
"as other alternatives have made the need for satellite based internet mostly disappear"
Uh huh. My alternatives here where I live (22 miles from the phone company CO):
Satellite
Piss-poor (9600 baud or less) dialup
Yeah those alternatives sure are wonderful.
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Rhelic, 26 Oct 2004 @ 9:22am

No Subject Given
It's sad to whine about country grade internet access. Assuming your an adult, you have choosen to live in that area and expect your level of quality to be directly related to the customer density and DON'T expect that level of quality to change anytime soon.

Although you never know, it took Time Warner buying out our local cable provider to get cable TV on my parent's road back in 1995. Then they upgraded the lines only a few years later to lay the way for next gen technologies being digital cable & Road Runner.

Maybe somebody will buy out Time Warner and be even more aggressive with low density areas.
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2shane, 3 Jul 2006 @ 6:22am

CRAP INTERNET CONNECTIONS????
CRAP INTERNET CONNECTIONS????

You should come live in Australia, with a crooked monopolising company called Telstra, being privatised, for dirty deals by our crooked politicians, with most of the country full of rotten electrics, even in the big cities.....

And the country....

Forget it.

The USA is not the only country that has a corrupt imbeciel running it.
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mahip, 29 Mar 2007 @ 1:23am

link exchange
please add my link on your site
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