Other Satellite → Spacenet acquisition the end for StarBand?

Gilat is selling Spacenet to SageNet. Although Starband is not mentioned anywhere in the press release, Spacenet and StarBand operations were merged together so they are presumably being sold together. It does not look like SageNet has any existing presence in the residential broadband market. Who knows what that will mean for existing Starband users, but it looks like any slight chance of Gilat launching a next gen service for Starband like they have done in Europe just vanished. My guess... StarBand is dead. Although I will be honest, I don't know of anyone who uses Starband anymore. The nearest dealer from me is hundreds of miles away. I doubt they have many customers left in the continental US since both Exede and HughesNet's new satellites blow them out of the water.

»www.spacenet.com/news/re ··· 013.html

Starband still has quite a few customers in HI...they got many of them with the rural subsidies and the free installation and low monthly charge. The prospect of a 2 year contract and a big installation charge if they change keeps the customers sucking on that low-bandwidth sow. My neighbor and good friend is a dealer/installer for them and he is still doing a few installations and dealing with a lot of complaints of low speeds. I jumped ship when Exede came on line here and I am still a happy camper in the second year of my contract.