Internet Satellite on bookmobiles

[Betsy Brooks]

Hi John,

We just had to discontinue bookmobile service for budgetary reasons, but
for the last 7 years or so I have been supporting a satellite dish from
motosat with datastorm service.  It got to be a real headache - I think you
could spend a lot of time fine tuning it and still have problems.  Part of
our issue was that we had very short stops of 1/2 hour to 1 hour at most.
 For a long time we struggled with the dish taking far too long (15 minutes
or more) to find the satellite.  Toward the end of last year there was a
new problem and we couldn't connect at all most of the time.
 Troubleshooting required my going out with the bookmobile to "catch it
misbehaving" and call support from the vehicle - difficult if you don't
have cell service.  We didn't live near any qualified support people
although we did have a very knowledgeable support person we could reach by
phone (Bill Adams of InternetAnywhere - I do recommend him, check the
Datastorm Users forums at http://www.datastormusers.com/).  Even he could
not help us very much because we were always moving.

Yes, buildings may block, but we could usually find a different way to
park. It was the fussiness of the technology that made us crazy.

You need a real techie with some time, or perhaps longer stops, or both, to
do it the way we tried to do it.  Personally I am glad it's over.  Toward
the end we got a mifi from Verizon which worked at many of our stops and it
was great.

Betsy Brooks
Automation Librarian
Clinton Essex Franklin Library System
Plattsburgh, NY

On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 4:36 PM, Chadwick, John, DCA <
john.chadwick at state.nm.us> wrote:

>  We are looking at several different options of installing satellite
> technology on our bookmobiles so they can function as Internet hot spots at
> each stop. Cellular technology is not really an option given some of the
> places our bookmobiles travel throughout the state. ****
>
> ** **
>
> We have looked at dishes and have also considered domes. Some of the stops
> may find a building blocking or partially blocking the dish. ****
>
> ** **
>
> I would appreciate hearing from others who have implemented the technology
> and I would like to hear about your success and limitations.****
>
> ** **
>
> Thanks,****
>
> ** **
>
> John****
>
> ** **
>
> John Chadwick, Ed.D.****
>
> IT Manager****
>
> New Mexico State Library****
>
> 1209 Camino Carlos Rey****
>
> Santa Fe, NM 87507****
>
> 505-476-9740****
>
> John.Chadwick at state.nm.us****
>
> http://www.nmstatelibrary.org****
>
> ** **
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