Posted on 02/06/2006 3:05:20 PM PST by alnick
I've moved to an area where neither DSL nor cable internet is available. It appears that my only high speed options are DirectWay or Wild Blue, both satellite.
I'd love to hear some feedback from users or former users of these services.
Thanks.
I would get it installed professionally so they can zero in on the signal and get the antenna adjusted right, but don't expect a lot of support from either end once the system is in place. And if you intend to use a router expect bandwidth sharing delays.
I have had two different installations for business purposes - and this is the God's honest truth - both times the installer did not even have the 800 number for DirecWay available, even though you can look it up on your system status page at any time. Make sure you learn how to get to that page if you use satellite - it will give you signal status and strength so you can tell if you are linked before you start calling people.
And then, when you call DircWay all you will get after waiting on hold for 30 mins is - power down and power up in the correct order, wait 10 mins, and call us back if that doesn't work.
Again, it's better than dial-up if you are out in the boonies, but it's nowhere near DSL/Cable.
The thumbnail sketch:
Direcway and Wildblue have serious download limitation policies that can be a real nasty gotcha for a lot of users. StarBand does not.
ALL consumer-grade satellite products suck. StarBand sucks least.
Your experience will vary according to the quality of the installation. Most the complaints seen on places like www.broadbandreports.com are a function of crummy instllations. A small but significant portion of my business comes from remediation of crappy installations performed by satellite TV nerf-heads who do a piss-poor job and use cheap components, wire and connectors. Almost without exception, they are clueless about network integration. Most of them won't even do a site eval before they come with the gear.
Bottom line: Starband for the cheap seats, Sky Vista for a real data-grade business-class setup.
Can't you self-install from your home out to the road? Coax cable costs almost nothing and you could rent a Ditch Witch or just use one of those 25lb rototillers. If you want to protect it, Schedule 40 PVC would do the job and doesn't cost a fortune. You might have to amplify it, depending on signal strength at the road.
Wild Blue! Startup costs was 313 plus 50 installation. I have the cheapest (least expensive) package which advertises and delivers 500 kpbs download. This package costs 50/month whioh is a lot less than Directway. My brother had Directway in Texas and had nothing but problems.
Not so in the case of Sky Vista. They offer a true data-grade network with one third the latency of the others. Ping times are in the 500-600 msec range as oposed to the 1400-2400 msec range for Direcway, Starband and others.
Just did a VPN test over the Sky Vista system for the CFO of Buck Knives - the takeaway: "It's just like being there" according to the CFO. Citrix Metaframe also operates smoothly and with virtualy no detectable lag.
Check out my website for a good read on this stuff.
SAVE & BTTT
StarBand residential comes in at $49.99 / month for 500kbps down and 100 kbps up. No FAP, either.
I've got some used gear for cheap if you're interested. Special Freeper neighbor discount on the install, too.
The link does`nt work for me.
We are in the same situation. Cable will not be in our area for some time. About 5 months ago we got the DirectWay service. It works well for PCs but Macs are a different animal (at least to me. My wife is an Editor and swears by her Ibook).
At first it went well and then trouble started. Numerous calls and visits by the technician. very frustrating to get connected to India and work through the language barrier. (I know they speak English but sometimes the accent is difficult) For advanced problems you are switched back to a US rep.
Long story made a bit longer, the problem was tracked to the dish itself. Water intrusion. Now it is working well.
Prepare to spend about $100 a month but maybe you can ease that a bit by signing up for a longer term. All in all, worth the hassle. Good Luck
I share Direcway with my neighbor through a wireless network. Works pretty fair - much better than the alternative - dialup.
It does have it's problems:
Flakey connections - sometimes requires cycling the power off and on to get it back up (about once or twice a week). Direcway folks cannot seem to figure out the problem.
Tech support that isn't always so supportive.
Their own main equipment is prone to flakey behavior as well - particularly their DNS server.
Sometimes slow response time to fix problems.
Suffers rain fade like the original DirecTV - signal goes WAY down with a moderate rain. A light rain will knock service out if it's foggy too.
We are scheduled to be upgraded to the DW7000 and the faster speed in the next week or so - will see if there is any real difference.
As far as WildBlue - they like to cut off your bandwidth with relatively moderate useage - and unlike DirecWAy that resets after a few hours - WildBlue keeps you throttled back for the remainder of the billing cycle.
try www.starlancs.com
I saw that Motorola Caqnopy wireless has been recommended. I work for an ISP and we use Canopy equipment exclusively.
Our farthest service to a user is 13 miles. Our system hops from node to node are about 20 miles. My connection can get about 3.5 Mbps down and up. No latency..
It is very possible that there is a provider in your area.
"Clearwire" is a cellular provider that uses cell phone technology to operate fixed base modems. It can be quite good, too.
The reviews I've read say Verizon is the best
You must have missed the part in the start of the thread about DSL and cable not being available (out in the country).
Interesting experience there....
What sort of problem are you/did you experience that is "Mac" related? The DirecWay we share with out neighbor (and landlord) has had zero computer-related problems. IN fact, my PowerMac is more reliable on the system than my landlord's newer PC.
I have DirecWay in Ohio. It fails when there is significant snowfall, which means climbing up on the roof with a broom and sweeping off the dish. Or a thick fog, or heavy rainy overcast, for which there is apparently no cure except to do something else until the weather clears. The satellite operations center also seems touchy, as sometimes the service fails for no observable reason--maybe overload, IDK. On the whole I give DWay about a D for reliability. Sorry I bought it because I coulda had a DSL, which I have in my office, and which has been excellent and never failed yet in months.
Get your sattellite feed and share with your neighbors by setting up a wireless lan. If a neighbor already has a sattelite feed, see if he'll share with a wireless setup.
Of course it would depend on the terrain and whether you can set up a line of sight antenna.
Howdy, Noumenon! I opted out of satellite due to the cost and the VPN issue but I may be opting back in if this little ploy doesn't work.
Up until about 3 years ago, I couldn't get cable Internet and still can't get DSL. The max I could get on dialup was 21.6Kbps.
Even though Verizon couldn't get DSL to my house, they could get ISDN here. It was slower and more expensive than DSL, but better then dialup and fairly reliable, and it could also be used for voice.
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