RV users of Starband satellite Internet in miff

Keeping a solid Internet connection will RVing can be a challenge, particularly for those who boondock in the less populated areas of the country. We know, we've been Quartzsite denizens for years, and getting onto the web can be a major challenge in this land of nebulous connectivity.

A few years ago we made the jump and signed up for satellite Internet service. In Quartzsite, your choices are most decidedly few: Dial up, or trusting in the local wifi purveyor, who makes many claims, but sad to say, the coverage is spotty at best. It wasn't the easy road to travel, but we eventually had a satellite connection. Faster than dial up, Starband seemed like the answer to our Internet problem. We upgraded our system a couple of years ago, meaning new equipment, but with the new system came the opportunity to set up a "home network," which allows both of us to work on the web at the same time.

A couple of months ago Starband announced it was moving its customers from one satellite to another. We complied, and after a day's worth of grumbling and sweating, we finally got connected up on the new bird. We thought the tough part was over: Silly us.

Our dealer said most customers were singing the Hosannas of faster downloads. Within 24 hours we were on the phone trying to get an explanation of why it took five minutes or longer to simply download the Yahoo home page--when it would download. Trying to reach technical support was a major laugher--can you say hanging around on hold while your cell phone time ticks away like the sand in the hourglass?

We finally got the dealer on the horn. His explanation was that since so many Starband customers were being switched to the new satellite, it was tying up system bandwidth. After we suggested we were considering going to a broadband card through Verizon, he pleaded that we'd stick it out through another week, and to sweeten the deal, he'd see to it we got paid for a month's worth of satellite service.

We write this post from the Quartzsite library. We can't even log in to update posts using the satellite system; e-mail downloads like a slug in wet cement. We know of other RVers with Starband service--one of them sold us on it to start with. But don't ask us how things are going for them--we simply can't reach them.