Scott Dier wrote: >Hell, even fairbalt(sp?) has cable modems now. > >And, if you can see the 'southern sky' you can get a really fat latent >pipe from starband. :) > >If you want connectivity you can allways get it. It just costs more >because the economy of scale doesnt exist out there. If I wanted to >live in the middle of nowhere and had cash, I would get a fractional t1 >frame back to the nearest major city... Not cheap, but resell dialups >on it and try to recoup the cost. > Well, Forest Lake is just now starting to get "wired" by both US Cable and Qwest for cable modem and DSL. Both of them have said it won't be complete before Sept/Oct. Other cities such as Wyoming, Ham Lake, etc in NE part of the cities are slow to get this. As to Starband, couple of problems: 1) Can't do anything interactively such as games because of the 6 second delay 2) They don't allow web hosting period. As you've pointed out, the costs aren't cheap, but they are there. I personally had a problem with paying $150 a month for ISDN speed connection (115/128). Not worth it. Shawn