sfmacaws
Jun 29, 2004, 12:28 AM
Post #10 of 13
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Safari is mac OSX native and depends on the mac GUI Aqua so it isn't available for other OS. That said, the more I use Opera the better I like it and it has all the functions I like in Safari like tabbed browsing and pop up blockers. Opera is available for Linux as well as other flavors of unix and even cell phones and pda's.
The 2-way sat internet I'm getting is just Directway which is sold generally for fixed mounting. While not technically authorized, dealers have been selling it for moveable mounting (RVs mainly) for many years. It's doubtful that anyone will try to shut them down now. There are a lot of dealers, even some in MX, and the main difference between them is the type of mount or tripod they include, the training they give you in setting it up and the after sale service and tech support they offer.
I got in on a beta test for a tripod mount designed by one of the dealers. This way, it's costing me $800 for the equipment rather than about $1300. The monthly cost is the same, $59 for a basic service. If I hadn't gotten this beta deal I would have just bought the sat and tripod and gotten the same service.
There are 2 companies in current operation offering mobile sat service, starband and direct. Since I want to use this at my condo in Akumal as well as in the RV, I need direct's sat as it has a better footprint in Mexico and Central America. In fact, using their SatMex5 satellite, you can get good 2-way internet as far south as Honduras. Starband reportedly cuts off near Monterey.
There are a couple of sites that have info about Directway and about sats in Mexico. Here's the url for the dealer I'm getting my set from http://www.dustyfoot.com I'm getting The Dustyfoot, the Datastorm is an automatic sat finder that is permanently mounted on an rv roof. This is a forum for a dealer in Houston who has affiliated installers throughout Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. http://www.dbstvforum.com He may have an affiliate in Maz as well. I think I spotted our Tech forum moderator on there so he may have more info about it.
Getting a fast internet connection is really important to me. Using the Telmex dialup has made my life more difficult than it has to be when we are in Mexico... and that's when I'm at home there. Forget trying to get much done when we are traveling elsewhere in MX or in Central America. I still do some database work on the side and I have to be able to move files around and communicate and test. The problem for me with sat internet is that it is FAP'd and I may have to upgrade to a higher priced monthly account to get a larger FAP. -- FAP or Fair Access Policy is in place to keep some users from hogging all the bandwidth. If you use too much, you will get your speed cut to a dribble until a set amount of time has passed. -- The speed in a sat internet connection is all down, upload speeds are slow.
There is also a significant lag that makes some VOIP unworkable. It also makes other types of use difficult, VPN and remote access can have problems. We can't yet beat the old speed of light and these sats are a good distance up in the sky...travel time counts.
Bottom line, if you have other options for broadband they will undoubtably be better. If you don't, sat beats the hell out of dialup.
Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán
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