In my recent newsletter Bandwidth to the Boonies, I discussed advances made by the Hughes corporation and their satellite Internet access services. Many readers chimed in with experiences of their own and wishes for future technology. One problem several readers mentioned with the Hughes satellite Internet has been struggles with VPN (Virtual Private Network) connections. Most said if you can get a VPN to work over a satellite link, you cut your speed down by at least half. That makes it tough to telecommute if your VPN speeds along no faster than rural route snail mail delivery. Hughes spokespeople are working on an in-depth response, but they did say that, “Hughes has made several improvements with the VPN. From a consumer standpoint, they have introduced a VPN Accelerator for individuals who telecommute. On the SMB side, Hughes has introduced a VPN appliance that allows businesses to accelerate their connection. Also, with increased speeds, consumers have a higher upstream that also helps tremendously.” Accessing a Software As A Service Web-based application, like HyperOffice or Google Apps, eliminates the need for a VPN, so that may be an option for some of you.
This illustrates one of my reasons for taking a look at Hughes this month: satellite technology improvements continue, and a service that stunk a few years ago may now smell considerably better. It’s a shame there’s no cheap way to test a satellite link before signing up. My suggestion is to talk a neighbor into signing up and seeing if he got his money worth, but don’t let him know you played him. Other readers took me to task for not saying nicer things about WiMAX, the high speed wireless broadband service. I’d love to say nice things, but I’m tired of waiting for WiMAX to make a major move and support customers outside an urban area. Community wireless projects made news a few years ago, when neighbors got together to share the cost of a wireless Internet access, but I haven’t heard much lately. If you’re in one of those groups, speak up please. And one patient reader brought up Broadband over Power Lines, or BPL. We both agreed that utility companies show the initiative and market savvy of mud, but the hope is new power line technology will make it easy for an Internet Service Provider to handle the data details while riding on existing power line equipment. That would be a nice improvement, so keep your fingers crossed for more technological advances (we’re always waiting for just one more, aren’t we?).
