The problem with satellite Internet connections is that the incoming stream
is at high speed and the outgoing connection is a dial-up.  This would be
something like an ADSL, but very slow on the outgoing side for uploads,
etc..

Anyway, if you had a regular DSL or cable broadband you could use a
firewall with VPN capability at both ends.  (You could also use a software
VPN client, but I much prefer the hardware solution for several reasons.)
With this you would be connected to your shop through a secure "tunnel"
where data is encrypted and decrypted automatically.  Several types of
encryption are possible with fixed or dynamic rolling keys.  It is just
like being plugged into your data center network locally  --  but from
anywhere in the world.  Thus, you could access anything that you can access
at the office.  We use it to connect dozens of offices in 3 states to our
central data center.

Normally VPN requires (and works best with) a static IP.  However, this is
not a strict requirement if you are willing to live with some
restrictions.  In particular, the static IP is required to initiate a
connection.  So if you have a static IP at your office, but a DHCP at home,
you could still use VPN from home to office (but not from office to home to
work with your home PC).  You only need a single IP address, if you have
the firewall use NAT, which can then be fanned out to many internal
connections.

I have been using such a setup with DHCP from my home for quite sometime
and it is wonderful.  Just like being at the office.  Of course, a typical
DSL connection is slower than even a 10 Mb network, but still quite nice
and much faster than dialup.  My system modems are now just used for HP
support.

By the way, Earthlink does ofer static IP addresses, but for business level
service only (just more money).  Their home services are only DHCP as far
as I know.  We use Earthlink in several places and at my home.

Hope this helps.

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *