MotoSat F3 now installed

[lloyd&pamela]

Bob Morgan from Home Energy Electronic and Murice from MotoSat spent the morning on the roof and inside the coach installing the MotoSat F3 satellite.

Now if we run out of fuel we can just deploy the satellite and sail our way home.

Yes, it is big. But I do like the bandwidth.

Ray, Maurice said to say Hi.

[Ray Davis]

Lloyd,

I was gonna send you a note today to see if you got the install done. Did your unit have blue lights on it? If not, Motosat has a retrofit kit, which attaches 8 blue leds (4 each side of the LNB), which illuminates the dish at night (and keeps away bugs ...)

So, how does that bad boy work for you? It takes a little to get used to satellite internet, if you're used to interractive typing on remote machines. But, I'm sure you'll be glad you got it.

Ray

ps: If you happen to talk to Maurice again, tell him "thanks" from me.

[Alek&Lucia]

Hi Lloyd,

Congratulations ! Wow it is a lot bigger than my F1.
Maurice knows his stuff,
How do you compare it to the Cell AirCard ?

Alek

[tdelorme]

"How do you compare it to the Cell AirCard ?"

Yep, thats my question also. We often do Medicare billing on the road and have used an aircard for several years. It works fine if we are close to a metropolitan area, but out in the boonies it ain't so hot.

You ought to be able to watch TV from Mars with that pup. Looks great!

[lloyd&pamela]

Ray it does have the blue light. Have to find my way home at night. Like a homing beacon.

Alek and Ted we have used the Verizon AirCard with great success on the road. It is great on the highway. Pamela is able to surf while we drive.

I have not had the opportunity to do a serious comparison. Speed tests www.testmy.net shows the F# much faster. I have the 2.5 MB download and 800KB upload iDirect package. I expect to get 80% of that, though I tend to do most of my serious work late in the evening and speeds should e close to the max then.

I will post more as I have the opportunity to test.

We are making Homemade Peach Ice Cream tonight for a Low Country Boil with our neighbors from the Covered Bridge Sams. A group of Fifth Wheelers from Georgia.

See y'all later...

[Orren Zook]

I see all the wires running to the terminal on top of the bus next to the dish, do the lights in the park dim when you turn it on?

[lloyd&pamela]

No, but I thought I would find a rack and drip tray for roasting a turkey during the holidays.

We will not have to run the heater in the bath room either. The heat from the closet where all the electronics are stored will warm the room.

Anyone know a source for Black Walnut louvered cabinet doors. I now need one.

[lloyd&pamela]

I have finally had the opportunity to test the F3 side by side with the Verizon Express Card and the RV Park's wireless which is pretty good.

If you are only surfing the net the Cellular connection appears faster because you do not have the transmission time from page to page. Where the F3 shines is in large downloads. I am currently getting up to 3MB down and 800K up speeds.

On a satellite connection the speed increases the longer the signal is maintained. Therefore a large download speeds up as it is being sent. surfing different pages never gives the signal time to build up the momentum of the higher speeds.

The big advantage is a connection where there is no cellular signal.

The biggest advantage for me is the VOIP voice over internet protocol, i.e. a free phone. I am paying in think $29 a month and have unlimited calls anywhere in North America with no roaming. The connection with the F3 is land line quality. This is our standing.

Faxing is now possible and easy.

I have not tried video chatting yet but image it too will be high quality.

If you have not need for large downloads, remote location access, easy faxing, VOIP, or video chatting then I would stay with the air card. At $99 a month it is a inexpensive solution.

Remember even with the F3 you still have to purchase the data package. my 2.5dl / 700k ul package is $250/month.

Hope this helps.

[tdelorme]

Thanks, Lloyd, good review and comparison. That was the info I needed. Our stuff is all uploads and I think we will continue using the aircard.
The WIFI here at River Plantation is the best park connection we have ever had.
But, now that I think about it, most folks don't consider WalMart parking lots as parks like we do. :)

[Ray Davis]

surfing different pages never gives the signal time to build up the momentum of the higher speeds.

The reason that initial connections with satellite appear slower, is that on pages with lot's of little graphics, there is a secondary request by the browser, back through the satellite, to the server, and the ultimately the server responds with the data.

Pages with large images, will appear much more quickly, as there is less turn-around (back and forth to the server).

There are different satellite packages, both hardware and software, which may change the equation a bit. Lloyd has an F3, which is capable of very high speed transfers, if needed. You can also purchase an F1 (like Alek and Lucia were selling), and get very reasonable performance for around $79 per month. However, that hardware combo is not capable of the higher speed. It also appears much faster, because the proxy server associated with Hughes net understands that the subscribers are satellite based, and it buffers up the complete page, and sends it, without the need for the back and forth for every graphic.

It comes down to if you NEED to be online, all the time, or not. And if you're online do you NEED speed? If not, aircard, and/or the lower priced satellite packages are attractive alternatives.

Ray