a little bit of everything

[Hockeyref88]

I spent 20 minutes trying to pick a forum to post this question, it covers a bunch of different areas - so I will try here.

Hello, I am seeking advice from those wiser than I re: internet and such for a business I am opening. It is a hockey training centre located in Ontario, Canada.

I have rogers extreme at home, with bell for my local phone, a palm treo via bell mobility, and rogers cable. hoping to secure a deal on those when combined with my business account.

We do 1on1 session training and I want to videotape the sessions and make them available on a server for the students to download from home. However I am not sure how to accomplish this, and which ISP would provide the best package to make this happen. I am looking to use a high-end mini-dv camera to record 30 minute sessions directly to a laptop and then move that file to a server (at least that is what I think I need to do).

For phone service I am looking at the Vonage package as it appears better versus bell and rogers.

For cable I am leaning towards rogers because they have the super sports pack - however with the hd package (using 32" hd lcd tv's from tigerdirect) the price gets costly.

for my internet service - not sure who to go with, sympatico or rogers for business - guess it will depend on who can do what I need with the video server better.

Also - if I buy a router such as a DLink Wireless N with a USB port can I add a hub to that port and split to connect two printers and two hard drives for access by everyone on the network?

thanks in advance to all who can offer advice - obviously for the services I am hoping to hear from existing business subscribers to see what their thoughts are, and I hope to get some wise thoughts on the best way to setup the video server I am looking to offer my clients.

[hugh]

If you are setting up a website, you need a web hosting company NOT an internet service provider.

Video, especially 30 minutes of good quality video chews up enormous amounts of bandwidth, plus their is conversion issues etc.

My advice is to burn the file to a DVD and mail it to your customers.

[Hockeyref88]

that's what I was afraid of...any different if the file server had a static address and they could download from that server only? 30 minutes of high quality video would be about 50 mb? I think sympatico offers a static ip but not 100% sure. I have some knowledge of this stuff but am no expert...

[hugh]

Do you really want to run your business by trying to cheat the rules?

Webhosting can give you 100GB of downloading a month for $50 to $75 a month so its not that expensive (could be less as I haven't shopped around recently)

[Hockeyref88]

cheat the rules? why would you say that?

as I said I am not an expert - just looking for the cheapest method to provide my students with great value.

[Nemnoch]

using a static ip to host a website is a bit of a no-no, that's why most companies don't offer it.
hugh's idea of buring it to dvd would actually be more cost effective to both you and your students. remember, your students will have to :
a- have a computer that can play the video once they download it.
b-have a highspeed connection that will allow them to get it quickly
c- not have a bandwidth cap on their internet or they may not be able to do anything for the rest of the month

if you burn it to dvd you are paying for the following
a- $0.24 for the dvd
b- $0.70 to mail it or if you drop it off to them it's free.

the bonus for their students is they can then watch it anywhere they have a dvd player.
in their car, their computer, their house, their friends house etc.

That would be the better value for your students.

nem, who is throwing in his $0.02