Satellite Internet for Gaming?

SphericalCrusher asks: "I have been using Comcast high-speed internet for the last three years. Before that, I used Bellsouth DSL and then random dial-up services — but I have to say that overall, I love Comcast the best. Now that my parents are moving, to a new house some 12 miles away, and having no money for my own place, I'll have to move with them . The thing is, the road that it is on is pretty far off the highway, and after calling all broadband providers in the area, I've found out that broadband is not available at my new location. Charter Cable Communications covers the entire area of Summerville, Georgia except mine and neither Bellsouth or Alltel offer DSL. Now, I'm forced to either go back to dial-up or try out a satellite broadband service, which is what I want to do. Has anyone here had any success in gaming online with satellite internet?"

"After purchasing the modem and cords off of eBay for DirecWay (now HughesNet), I'm ready to get satellite internet (we had everything else we needed at the new house). However, has anyone here used satellite and actually enjoyed it? I play a good bit of online games, such as World of WarCraft, Quake IV, and F.E.A.R. and I know gaming online with those will not be the same (the satellite is 25,000+ miles from Earth) because of latency issues. Will the high latency seriously affect the overall download and upload speeds?"

Wifi?

[MarkRose]

Nobody has mentioned this so far: why not go with plain old 802.11g? All you need is a friend with broadband with a clear line of sight to your place and a couple Pringles can antennas. Sure, it'll be crap when it's raining, but it's cheap.

Another solution...

[Money for Nothin']

If you're so far out in the sticks that you must resort to satellite instead of Comcast or DSL, then here's my suggestion:

Start a local ISP. Do a little market research on your area; find out what kind of demand there is for fast, low-latency Internet access. If the demand is sufficient to both pay for the service and employ you (and if you're interested), then get a T1, T3, or if possible, fiber run or two to your door. Share it among everybody you can find and run the service yourself.

Then play Quake 4, F.E.A.R., etc. during the down times on your fast line when nobody's calling you for support. :-)

Re:Get a fucking apartment

[loraksus]

People in New York don't pay assloads (~40% income + 7% sales tax) of tax.
Prices for every day goods are also higher in Canada.