One more dish and we will have a place setting for four! I installed a dish to send and receive Internet data 22,000 miles above the equator. In terms of Internet connection quality and speed our part of Mexico is a third world county.

We always seem to live in places where the options and the speeds for Internet use are minimal and slow. After more than 25 years as a modem user, the new state-of-the-art speeds are mind boggling.

My son teases me with his 23mb Internet connection. You should know that I started with computers long before the World Wide Web was a reality (circa 1989). I could type much faster than the 300 baud Hayes modem I owned in the early 80’s.

During our recent stay with Anita’s sister in Las Vegas they had a 10 mb connection. And I slowed down to a respectable 1.7 mb in New Mexico. I knew that returning to Mexico was going to bring me down to earth via the Hughes Satellite.

We were optimistic that we might find a faster connection moving into the town of Xico after having lived in two remote locations where Hughes was virtually the only option.

In the city of Xico Telmex is the only option. They have both a cable and wide range wifi connection options. Neither is faster or more reliable than the Hughes Satellite System – which is to say all options are bad.

In Xalapa and Coatpec there is also Megacable that offers faster speeds for less pesos, but I hear discouraging reports of the quality of service.

We started asking around in Xico about a week ago. Several Xiqueños (Xico citizenry) were kind enough to allow me to sit down at their computers and test the speed of their connections. Most had comparable download speeds to Hughes; somewhat faster upload speeds but overall the gain was little.

We have been Hughes Satellite Internet customers/users for about eight years. Without going into details I can write unequivocally that Hughes has the worst customer service of any company I have dealt with in my entire life time. Overall I would rather have half a dozen root canals than deal with Hughes. They make the cell phone companies service look like the friendly folks in the ticket booth at the Magic Kingdom – I mean we are talking BAD!

Hughes banks on the fact that when you do business with them you have no other place to turn – so they can be as incompetent, mean spirited and autonomous as they please. I have often considered altering my life to get away from that only option – but I simply push on figuring one day they will get theirs. By now you have probably gathered I am not a fan.

Whew – those purgative comments aside the reality is our best option is still Hughes – ugh. As stated at the top we have a dish at the Casita and one at Rancho del Cielo. I merely move the book sized modem back and forth. Now the modem will move between three dish fixed locations.

I brought down an additional dish to use in Puerto Escondido or where ever a third location might come up. So after finding that there was zero gain to move to Telmex considering that I can have a connection at all three of our current locations. Plus I actually do have a service for four as I have a Hughes Dish system in New Mexico as well; however I have never needed it because there are many options there including a 1.7 mb connection at the local library that is wifi’d 24/7 in and around the library building. It is two blocks from our ‘garage dwelling’ in Capitan.

The third system here was given to me by my neighbor in Colorado who is a Hughes installer. I had never tested it. So yesterday I lashed a pole up to the south facing balcony of our new townhouse (I am going to find a name for it soon). I used a bunch of motorcycle tie down straps; first leveling and then securing, and finally assembling the dish parts and mounting it atop the pole.

I sighted it in and did the necessary receive and transmit tests and it worked. It works as well as my two other installs. Down the road a bit I will work on doing a nicer looking and sturdier install sans the straps.

In the mean time we have Internet at the new place. An added bonus is I can sit and drink coffee at El Campanario Restaurant while using my laptop – my wifi connection covers the distance. Carlos the head waiter even sits me at a table where I can plug-in to power.

So I am back. Make comments, send email or come and stay at our B&B with free Internet access, or just Stay Tuned! I am back.