For a couple of years or so I have been using WildBlue Satellite Internet as my service provider and I have been very pleased with the service. I have consistently experienced over 1500 kbps (according to speakeasy) until last week. On Tuesday I found I was not able to connect to the websites I host. I thought the server was down again until I logged into a remote desktop and discovered I could see the sites from it. So what was going on? Appearently the response from the servers coupled with the decrease in bandwidth made some kind of difference. Tis still a mystery. I contacted WildBlue and spoke with the tech support. Of course the first thing they wanted to know is if my machine was optimized. I use Linux.... so NO I did not run their Windows / Macintosh optimization program.

I fired up my laptop and loaded the optimization, connected the laptop directly to the satellite receiver and checked everything again. The TS lady took me to a speed test site to check the speed and when it came up in the mid 800 kbps she came back and said that looked pretty good. I tried to argue the point and she came back and told me that my plan offers UP TO 1500 kbps service and that IT IS a shared network and that WildBlue DOES NOT guarantee a minimum connection.

I changed out my router and installed a second nic in my machine so that I could connect it straight to the receiver. I just checked the speed and am getting 660 kbps down and 113 kbps up. For some reason bypassing my router makes a difference. I can see my sites from my machine but not from any of the other machines on my network. I am looking at changing my hosting company. (More on that later...)

Life's little irritations... I use to think I was a patient man.... I must be getting old.... Time is just too precious.

UPDATE 11/2/08: My Internet was totally down Friday evening. Saturday morning I was back up at my normal speed of 1500 kbps +. Technology was/is suppose to make our lives easier. Sometimes I wonder. The only thing is there is so much awesome stuff on the Internet. I was just watching a Celtic Woman video on YouTube. The Internet makes the world smaller.