Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Cure for an icy satellite dish

My husband rocks!!!

We can't get high speed internet at our house and my husband needs a connection that is faster than dial up for when he needs to log into work.  Our only other option was satellite internet.  Satellite internet, though fast sometimes, is a pain in the butt.  I complain about it constantly.

Reason #35 satellite internet sucks:  During a snowstorm or ice storm, anything that accumulates on the satellite dish makes the satellite go out.  Major suckage.  Especially since we are in the middle of a really bad ice storm.

Quick fix...take a few gallons of hot water and pour it over the satellite dish to melt all the ice/snow.  Chip off anything that won't come off.  Dry the dish as best you can while being pelted by sleet.  Then...brilliant...spray with cooking spray.  The oil will hopefully repel the water freezing on the dish, or at least make it easier to clean off.

Now, we only did it about 10 minutes ago, but obviously we have our internet back since I'm typing a blog.  I will keep you all up to date on how well it works long term.

3 comments:

  1. The PAM didn't work great, but it did keep the ice off a little longer. Best solution is to get DSL. Can't wait for that day...

    Anyone considering satellite should know that VPN connections are actually better over dial up due to the constant back and forth chatter of VPN connections and the long round trip delay of satellite.

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  2. Cooking spray also works well on metal saucers too, I hear.
    Heather V

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  3. Heather...maybe I should do some research and post a blog for all the uses for cooking spray. I even have a little pampered chef gadget that you can use to make your own cooking spray. Yep, I think you gave me a blog idea.

    Joe...what is a VPN connector?

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