We're planning a 5 month trip to Alaska in summer of 2008. We currently do not have a satelite system.  To any of you who have done the trip, did you have satelite TV north of Calgary?  What about internet access?  Who is your satelite provider?  If we decide to get satelite, who do you recommend for installation.  (I understand that Hughes doesn't support mobile users and that you should find a good mobile 3rd party provider -- but who?)

I use Verizon as a pc card currently -- any comments on its usefulness on this trip.  In 2006 when we traveled in Alaska (not in an RV) my Verizon Blackberry was useless.

Thanks for any help.

Leslie

We went to Alaska in 2001, so its been a few years.  Our direct TV did not work.  Our Verizon cell phones worked fine in the larger cities.  A friend went this past summer and found that many of the RV parks had WiFi.  On our trip we used internet cafes and libraries a lot.

Mary

For satellite internet you need to be on the Horizons-1 satellite with Hughes.net either with a tripod or a Datastorm. It is both the farthest west satellite and the one with the best coverage of Alaska. It will work in most places though there is a hole in NE British Columbia on the Alaska Highway (Dawson Creek to Watson Lake you will not be on or barely online). A Datastorm works best because Horizons-1 might not be your best choice in parts of the lower 48, plus it is about 10' higher which does help shoot over trees and mountains. (I have a tripod on Horizons-1 and it worked in Alaska quite well.) Starband does not have a satellite that will cover Alaska at this time. Many places have wi-fi, some suck and some were OK. A Verizon aircard will give 1RTT (1-4 times dial-up speed) in much of Alaska proper. Contact Glenn Simpson of http://www.dish-on-a-stick.com/ for an excellent Hughes.net tripod dealer, he is in Yuma, AZ right now.

The Yukon has its own phone company, including cell phones, so even Canadian cell phones from other provinces did not work.

A friend used his Hughes.net dish to get TV and was successful most of the time in Alaska but the parts to add TV are hard to come by. I can't remember if it was Dish or Direct. I do know they did not watch much on the trip, they were too busy. There is cable or satellite TV in many campgrounds, the satellite TV uses a bigger dish. Another friend went up about 5 years ago with a 4' diameter TV dish on a tripod and had TV, he got the dish from a dealer.

The answer, as also indicated by bjoyce above, for sat internet connectivity on a .74m dish in AK (up to a point) is yes. You need to be on 127W (Horizons1) bird with a clear view down to the real horizon as the bird is only some 20 degrees high up there.

This same thread just received substantial affirmation in the Yahoo RVInternetBySatellite group. It is also interesting to see the number of users up there on the DataStorm Users Map the AK map (wait until summer to see them) which further affirms good functionality up there.

PS It is really fun to watch the annual winter migration on the DataStorm Users Map the US map as folks flock south! It is the RV Serengeti!

I would recommend MobilSat for installation and as your ISP. Bud, the owner, personally did my installation last summer which has yet to have any problem of any kind.


-- Edited by RVDude at 14:31, 2007-12-10

Motosat makes it pretty easy to change satellites when you no longer need Horizons 1 or you are in an area where another satellite does a better job.

For the roof mounted Datatorm and Motosat as an ISP, contact Bill Adams, Internet Anywhere. He is a regular poster on this forum. They are great people and he has a cell phone "implant" for support.

Mike