I actually sign ppleoe up for Wildblue. I don't know what kind of contract it's on? (ours are 2 yrs., w/ a higher deposit.) It IS faster than dialup (but still slower than dsl) I tell ppleoe to find out if there are PLANS for dsl w/in a certain amount of time, and if there are, to wait for that, but WB is better than dialup. IF you are going to do a lot of downloading/uploading, it takes up bandwidth, and there are courtesy rules about that (taking up bandwidth may inhibit another user's speed.)I hope that helps!