On Fri, Dec 05, 2003 at 01:45:55PM -0600, Becker, Rob wrote:
> This doesn't answer your question exactly, 

No, but it does give me alternatives to consider - alternatives that are
more viable and affordable than direct satellite service.

> and it may not be entirely legal, 

Neither would be satellite service. If I don't go through the government
provider here, I'm pirating some signal from somewhere, regardless. It's
a real pain. No competition = no incentive for infrastructure
development.

> but could you make use of wireless technologies and a willing partner in an area that does have 
broadband?  What I mean is could you get someone who is in an area that has broadband to subscribe 
to it and have you reimburse them?  Once that piece is done you could put a wireless access point 
in at their end and at yours.

That's what this thread has me thinking about right now. I have a friend
that is going to be installing my structured cabling in the house we're
building (cat5e with RJ-45 jacks in every room and on the covered
terrace, all cables in tubes in the walls running up to my rack in my
SOHO; sweet!), and he lives right directly below me in an area which I
believe has cable modumb. That may be my point of access.

> With a decent set of antennas, this may be workable.

I checked out those links in the previous post, and it looks like I have
a little bit of reading to do to learn about what antenna would work in
my situation. 

> There has been discussion of this recently on the list.  Look back through recent posts for 
links.  I realize this doesn't solve the problem the way you were asking about, but it may solve 
the problem.

I'll do that. You guys have given a ton of links and alternatives just
in this thread. I appreciate it a lot! You have no idea how traumatized
I am with the thought of losing connection to the world... Dial-up
(sorry to those of you still on it) seems so danged ancient, you know?

> Good luck.

Thanks!

-Greg

-- 
Mutt 1.4i on Red Hat 8.0 Linux
Curridabat, San Jose, Costa Rica
http://www.greg-and-sue.com/screenshot.jpg
Yahoo Instant Messenger ID: gregkedro