Posts Tagged ‘rural satellite internet’

Government Funding for Satellite Internet

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Satellite Internet Companies Get Government FundingWe are all aware of President Obama’s highly publicized $787 billion economic stimulus plan.  Vice President Biden announced last December as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that approximately $2 billion in grants and loans of this act will be aimed specifically at bringing broadband internet services to communities that up until now have been forced to do without because of lack of availability.  President Obama announced just this past week $795 million in Internet projects, saying that these projects would affect more than 685,000 businesses, 900 healthcare facilities, and 2,400 schools.  The President was also confident that that these projects would lead to hundreds of thousands of new jobs.  We know from previous reports that some of the government funding from the rural development package has already gone to the satellite internet industry in the form of grants to help develop better technologies to provide more high-speed internet access to rural citizens.  It is most likely that a good portion of the available funding mentioned last week by President Obama will also go toward the further development of satellite internet technologies.  Another option would be to provide subsidies to rural citizens in a certain income bracket that has no other access to broadband internet other than satellite internet.  Many of the new developing technologies mentioned in previous posts will be a direct solution to providing more rural areas with high-speed internet access.  Any government funding that could be made available to the satellite internet industry would only speed the development and implementation process up and allow customers to get internet access faster.  It only makes sense that the satellite internet industry would be the best place to spend the majority of this funding because of the exponential impact it could have.  Any developments that are made with DSL, cable, or even fiber optics can only be applied to the immediate area in which the developments took place.  Any improvements made to satellite internet will benefit the entire United States network.

WILDBLUE AND NEWSGROUPS

Friday, June 25th, 2010

WildBlue Satellite Internet News GroupsAs the title states, this article relates to Newsgroups. We very rarely hear about newsgroups anymore. There are several reasons for this. I believe that more and more people are getting information from Online Forum groups, helpful web sites and of course Googling.

I would like to make the case that there is still room for the good old fashioned Newsgroup. Using a news reader rather than a browser can make the experience faster for many, depending on the speed of their particular computer.

DISASTER COMMUNICATIONS UTILIZE SATELLITES

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Satellite Internet Helps With Disaster ReliefAs we near the date of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction and the 9th anniversary of 9/11, it is a good time to see how far we have come in correcting severe communication breakdowns in both disasters. We may not be able to prevent all disasters, but we can improve our response. One of the main components of that response is communication.

Satellites are key in planning emergency responses by local, state and the federal government. Everyone seems to have learned the lesson that lack of communication will make a disaster a catastrophy for the individuals that are affected. We have all heard the tapes from 9/11 of firemen and police officers unable to communicate with each other or with other emergency responders. We repeated this scenario again in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Wildblue Gets Up And Running Fast

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Fast Rural Internet With WildBlueOne of the big questions people have about Wildblue Satellite Internet is ‘How long will it take to install and get it running?” Wildblue has said from the start that time to install is a matter of a few hours for most standard installations. Folks who’ve dealt with other satellite dish installations were skeptical, but a look at the various satellite user forums bear out Wildblue’s time frame.

Most people using a standard wall or roof mount installation report that it has taken less than four hours from the time the installer pulled into the driveway till they were surfing the net happily. What can you do to make sure that your install goes that quickly and easily?

Spot Beam Explanation for Real People

Friday, June 18th, 2010

WildBlue Satellite Internet Spot BeamsSo you’ve probably read that Wildblue Satellite uses ’spot beam technology’ so they can reuse transmission frequencies. I mentioned this to a friend who’s been in the IT industry almost since it started, and he commented, “Sounds like sales talk to me.” And you know, he’s right – it DOES sound like the kind of techie sales talk that makes people nod and go ‘uh huh’ while their eyes start glazing over. When I went looking for an easy way to explain spot beam technology and why Wildblue uses it, I ran into lots of talk about ‘footprints’ and ‘wide beams’ and ‘narrow beams’ that didn’t help make it any clearer. What I wanted was an explanation that my mother would understand. So here it is.

WILDBLUE AND YOUR WEB SPACE

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

WildBlue WebSpaceMany of our friends and family are embarking on a great adventure. They have decided to place their presence on the web. They share personal things, such as pictures of the grandkids as they grow, for distant grandparents, their own interests and hobbies, and other items that they feel are either of interest to them or others. I have some friends that are building a home, and they have begun a small web site where they post pictures of the progress as it takes place. They began with pictures of the property and views and have just posted pictures of a cleared driveway and the clearing for their home. They can now stand right in the spot where their back deck will be and post a picture of the view from there. Another good use for this web space is to share your family with your friends and relatives. My nephew and his wife live across the country from my mother and he has two children. They post updated pictures regularly so that my mother can see her grandchildren grow up, regardless of the distances involved. I’m sure you can think of other good uses that you can put your web space to.

WildBlue Enhances Webmail and Mail Filtering FREE!!!!!

Monday, June 7th, 2010

WildBlue Satellite Internet Email FilteringAn Email from WildBlue quietly made it’s way into my inbox this afternoon. Lo and behold, it was trumpeting a new interface for WildBlue Webmail. It appears that WildBlue is very much interested in enhancing your Internet and in particular, your Email experience. Very refreshing!

WildBlue High Speed Internet and E-Mail

Friday, June 4th, 2010

Email Benefits for WildBlue CustomersThere are many benefits that WildBlue High Speed Satellite Internet service provides for your use. One of the least used is the ability to have multiple e-mail accounts. If you have purchased the Value or the Select Pak from WildBlue you have the ability to create 5 e-mail addresses, each one with 25mb of storage available. If you are living large and have the Pro Pak, you have access to 10 e-mail addresses, each with 25mb of storage capacity available.

WildBlue and the Value of Multiple E-mail Accounts

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Getting Organized with Multiple WilBlue Email AccountsAs we discussed in the previous post, WildBlue gives you access to 5 or 10 extra e-mail addresses. At first glance you may seem to see this as redundant, but once you learn how to use these addresses, you will find them to be of great value in keeping your meaningful mail from your worthless mail.

Your ‘Primary Account E-mail’, that was set up when you opened your WildBlue account should just be left alone. I suggest you use this address for e-mail to your family, friends, acquaintances and any one else important in your life. These are also people that usually do not send the dreaded ‘e-mail virus’.

SUMMER, SAFETY AND WILDBLUE SATELLITE INTERNET

Monday, May 31st, 2010

WildBlue Satellite Internet SafetyHere we sit, nice and cozy in the rural portions of this great country of ours. WildBlue has made it possible for us to enjoy high speed internet service by way of their Ka satellite service. Before you go skipping out into the daisies of the WWW, take a few precautions.

There are two new terms to keep in mind and to protect oneself from. One is Wardriving. This is known as drive-by-hacking. A hacker will get into a car with a laptop, an omni-directional antenna and searching software. This person will cruise in a random pattern hoping to detect locations of wireless network access or hotspots. Once this person has mapped these points he/she can return at any time and hack into the network.