What alternative Internet services exist for Muir Beach?
Sigward and Leighton were both users of HughesNet satellite when they started the LAN, and were unhappy with the slow speeds, long latency (repeated pauses each time a link is selected), and storm outages inherent in satellite Internet service. Unfortunately, few services exist for Muir Beach because the costs of running cable or new phone lines to Muir Beach and the relatively few number of households out here. Satellite runs $60 to $90 per month for actual rates of approximately 600 Kbps download / 70 Kbps uploads (they advertise up to 1,000 or 1,200 Kbps but state that actual experience is 600 Kbps). Equipment installation runs approximately $400, and there may be a $400 early termination fee. The repetitive pauses that come from the 45,000 mile distance to the satellite is an important consideration – in other words, latency approximates 400 ms versus the LAN’s approximate 8 ms. Covad Communications provides a low-speed alternative DSL service that provides downloads and uploads of
