Preparing for Satellite Broadband

Satellite broadband will be installed by qualified technicians but there are some steps you can take to make their, and your, life a bit easier. From making sure there's a suitable site for the dish to having your home network pre-configured, you can do many things to make the installation process fast and easy.

Satellite dishes require a clear view of the southern sky. This is usually accomplished by mounting the dish on the roof but, depending on terrain features, it may require that the dish be mounted in another location. Satellite technicians have no shortage of creativity to bring to bear toward this task, so don't fret too much if your house happens to be surrounded by trees or other obstructions. Oftentimes, the dish will be mounted to an outbuilding in those cases. Satellite dishes are sometimes even seen mounted on locations that seem a bit exotic, such as fence posts and light poles. Survey your yard in advance and see where you'd like the satellite dish to be situated. If the location is serviceable from a technical standpoint, the technicians will likely be more than willing to work with you.

Your dish and modem will be handled by the techs but your internal networking will be your responsibility. You can make certain your Internet is ready to be enjoyed as soon as it's hooked up by configuring your home network in advance. Generally, you'll need a router to sit behind the modem and distribute connectivity to the house. These devices are very inexpensive at present-a good one is usually around $50-and easy to set up. Plug your router into your main computer using an Ethernet cable, even if it's going to eventually be wireless, and follow the manufacturer's instructions for setting the device to the right configuration. If you have a wireless router and wireless cards in your computer, this will be all the setup that's required. If not, you'll need to run Ethernet cable to each individual computer. Be sure to set a password for your wireless network, even if you're far from any neighbors. Where network security is concerned, it's always best to err on the side of caution.

Your modem will plug into your router and provide access to all the computers in the house. Satellite broadband is a continuously-live connection so there won't be any need to dial-in to a server to get access to the Internet. Simply start your browser or email program to contact a server. This carries with it a greater need for anti-virus and firewall software, so be certain that you have such programs installed. Many popular operating systems come with a built-in firewall, check yours to see if this is the case.

Once your home network is set up and you have a couple of spots picked out for the dish, all you have to do is wait for the technicians to come and hook up your satellite broadband. It's well-worth the wait!

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HughesNet offers speeds up to 50x faster than dial-up. With free standard installation, getting Hughes internet is simple and cost-effective, and there is no better time to start than now.