Direcway satelite broadband

[rubberneck]

Any body using this? How do you like it. How is the service? Do you have problems losing signal or slow times? I previously had cable, and just can not stand the idea of going back to dial up. My new house is in a rural area, so DSL and cable are not available. The initial install on the direcway is spendy, but the monthly payment is about what i was paying for my cable. Dont mind spending the money, if the product is good. You know how that goes. thanks Phil

 

[klenger]

I've heard some bad reports about it. The consensus seems to be not to use it unless there is no other alternative. One of the issues is data latency because of the time delay to the satellite. I've also heard about issues regarding the quality of the service and down time. Sounds like you may not have any other choice. Hope it works out for you.

 

[rubberneck]

I've heard some bad reports about it. The consensus seems to be not to use it unless there is no other alternative. One of the issues is data latency because of the time delay to the satellite. I've also heard about issues regarding the quality of the service and down time. Sounds like you may not have any other choice. Hope it works out for you.

Data latency. Hmmm so to put it in TDR language, my computer would have turbo lag. LOL bummer.

 

[TPCDrafting]

We have it at work and I'm not impressed compared to the wireless RF I have at home. Check around your area, there might be a provider with an antenna you could reach. I'm about 5 miles from my antenna and connect at 1. 5 to 2 meg both up and down. The satelite is only 56k up (in good weather), not sure what download is, but it's slow enough I don't use it unless I have to.

 

[klenger]

Have you checked into Verizon? They have broadband over cellular in many areas, and almost their whole network supports 150k connection. Another benefit is that you can go mobile when on the road.

 

[Rams-n-Hogs]

Had it 4-5 years ago. It was my only option at the time. Way better than dial-up. "Turbo lag" wasn't that bad. Storms, really cloudy weather, or trying to shoot through trees during the summer caused problems, until I moved and readjusted the antenna. Then I very seldom had issues. Had 56K up, and around 300-400k down. I would use it again, if dial-up was my only other option.



Jim

 

[dodgenstein]

I have been on Direcway for 1. 5 yrs now. I too am out in the country. I have seen as high as 812 download and 85 upload. Very few outages (maybe three times, one due to an ice storm). Mine is a 6000 model bought new on Ebay. There is a new 7000 series that is supposed to be much faster.

 

[Stranger]

Take a look at www.wildblue.com. Cheaper than Directway. And, if you cancel you keep the dish.

 

[PToombs]

I'm just reading the september Consumer Reports, I just read this this morning; " the worst provider in our survey is DirecWay, which offers relatively low satisfaction at a very high price-$600 and up for equipment and installation, and $57 a month thereafter for for service. "

This was under "Internet Service, cable vs. DSL vs. dial-up".

I understand your options are limited, I hate dial-up also. Good luck on your search.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

If Verizon has coverage in your area give it a try. Satellite is an ok option if you have no other choice - but that's the only time I recommend it for clients. It works good for large downloads compared to dsl/cable but is not as good on browsing. The reason is that there is a lag when your initially requesting pages and then it streams pretty quick. I use Verizon's cellular internet on my Treo 650 and on my laptop tethered to the Treo. You can get a cellular card to hook right up to your PC and it's way faster than dialup although still slower than dsl or cable. I get about 128k on my cell phone.

 

[TX Gooseneck]

Good luck. I have wi-fi in the area we just moved, just haven't been in town long enough to do anything on it. Going from fast cable to dialup is miserable. I find myself staying later at work because of the surf speed.

 

[rubberneck]

We have it at work and I'm not impressed compared to the wireless RF I have at home. Check around your area, there might be a provider with an antenna you could reach. I'm about 5 miles from my antenna and connect at 1. 5 to 2 meg both up and down. The satelite is only 56k up (in good weather), not sure what download is, but it's slow enough I don't use it unless I have to.

Found out today, that there is a company called fire2wire that i probably can get. Problem is it is over 300 to do the basic install. I explained to the lady that My house is a new construct custom home, and no running of any wires will be necesarry as everything is already prewired. All they need to do is mount the antenna and plug in the receiver. She said it didn't matter what needed to be done, they charge the same Fine whatever i said, then she tells me I might need an amplifier to the tune of 250 depending on the signal. They were terrible at answering my questions, and would not commit to anything untill they did the site survey to determine signal strength. I understand the reasoning for that. However, they would not do the site survey untill i signed an install contract. WTF? To top it off, it was $59/month for 170k, and the fastest they offered was 3xxk/sec at a nice price of $100/month. I think I might pass.



Verison is my land line provider, they didn't mention anything about their cellular internet. Just said i couldn't get DSL. I will call them back and check into the cellular.



Steve, I understand what you are saying about browsing vs. large downloads. That makes sense, but what kind of a "lag" time are we talking. Dang, wish i knew somebody that had it so i could try before i buy.



Something else maybe somebody here can explain, why the drastic difference between upload/download with the satelite? i think the package i was looking at claimed 120K up and 800-1meg down. Dang, i dont know what to do. might just suffer with a dial up for a little while. :{

 

[rubberneck]

Good luck. I have wi-fi in the area we just moved, just haven't been in town long enough to do anything on it. Going from fast cable to dialup is miserable. I find myself staying later at work because of the surf speed.

I hear ya. If you notice, i only post in the middle of the night, cause thats when i work. T1 baby. gotta love it

 

[WDaniels]

Rubberneck,

look into Starband. That is what I use up here in Alaska. I too lose signal when the weather is bad but then again the satellite is only 17 degrees off of the horizon and it has alot of atmosphere to go through. I'm pretty pleased with starband. Their service for me has been outstanding and like someone said, it's almost half of a T1 on download. Uploading isn't so hot but as I don't upload alot of stuff it's not so bad. Starband also has several speed options. I have the slowest which is the 360. Give it a look

WD

 

[rubberneck]

Thank you, i will check into starband also. Phil

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I believe the lag is about a second and a half to a few seconds - that's before anything starts being sent. I'm not sure the reason for the slow upload speeds other than you have a pretty small dish on your end - the other end is a much bigger dish. I would guess it has something to do with that. I've had several clients use satellite service when nothing else was available (one still does) - they all switch to dsl as soon as it becomes available. It used to be that you did the upload over a dial up connection and only the downloads came through the satellite. You'll want to contact http://www.verizonwireless.com for the cellular net connection - I believe they are pretty seperate entities from their landline service.

 

[rubberneck]

Steve, thanks for the info. Time to do more research. Phil

 

[rubberneck]

It appears that I am outside verizon's wireless broadband access area, and could only get the standard wireless. It says it runs at 60-80 with bursts up to 140k. Is this really any faster than a dial up service? I keep seeing the comercial for netzero, I think it is with the web accelerator. At least I think that is what they call it. What is that all about? My options keep shrinking

 

[klenger]

It appears that I am outside verizon's wireless broadband access area, and could only get the standard wireless. It says it runs at 60-80 with bursts up to 140k. Is this really any faster than a dial up service? I keep seeing the comercial for netzero, I think it is with the web accelerator. At least I think that is what they call it. What is that all about? My options keep shrinking

I think the Verizon 1X speeds (non broadband) are better than dial-up. Verizon's cell technology uses compression in addition to the quoted speeds. You can try the Verizon service for 14 days and return it for a full refund if you are not happy with it. We use it on our office laptops and it's not too bad, especially if you travel at all.

 

[Rams-n-Hogs]

It used to be that you did the upload over a dial up connection and only the downloads came through the satellite.

That's how my setup worked. That's why it was only 56K up. That also allowed for me to do my own installation, since I wasn't installing any satellite transmitting equipment, (which requires a license. ) That was back when I first joined TDR.



Jim