Direcway Satellite Internet

J

Jeeprs69

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
Messages
314
Sorry if this is in the wrong spot or forum.
But I'm out int he country and can't get anything but satellite. I've been looking for options,
and this seems doable. Anyone have it or know someone that does? I'm on dialup now, so anything faster would be a plus but is it worth $40 a month more?
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Ray
 
It's been a long time since I had my setup, but I know a couple of people that still have it. If you play games at all your pings will easly be 300ms+. It's not good for gaming.

They also limit the ammount you can download. Download throughput is good, but they will cut you back to dialup modem speeds after you have downloaded a certin ammount in a certin time period.

If you want to use it to connect to work via VPN you may also experiance issues.
 
moetop said:
They also limit the ammount you can download. Download throughput is good, but they will cut you back to dialup modem speeds after you have downloaded a certin ammount in a certin time period.
Click to expand...
THAT'S WHY THAT KEEPS HAPPENING TO ME AT MY DAD'S HOUSE. :mad: Makes me so made when I can't download a game within atleast a few hours. And no, it's not good for gaming. But I guess I'm so use to the cable internet at my house I set my expectations too high.
 
Ya when I bougth my house that was a requirement (cable internet access).

Bill at one time thought it was a good idea, 5 years ago

"The most radical and most exciting development is the so-called low earth orbit satellite. There are a number of companies that are pursuing this, and these systems will probably be launched in three to five years." Bill Gates (2001)
 
Directway, Starband, etc, generally have a 500+ ms ping with no other traffic. Under traffic, be prepared for 1400ms ping times.

If you have no option, its ok. Check into the cell phone services in your area, some are actually getting decent speeds.
 
0ldman said:
Directway, Starband, etc, generally have a 500+ ms ping with no other traffic. Under traffic, be prepared for 1400ms ping times.

If you have no option, its ok. Check into the cell phone services in your area, some are actually getting decent speeds.
Click to expand...
I've got a Tmobile cell phone, it barely gets service, if it gets any at all.
 
A friend of mine moved off Directway to a local provider that serves WiMax. It's an 800 dollar radio, but he swears by it now.

This is probably a shameless plug(sorry!), but here's a link to his podcast showing a picture of his antenna and a link to NHWISP, the provider. If you can find a provider in your area, this seems to be a nice alternative to wired broadband.
 
WiMax is the perfect answer for a lot of rural areas, but first problem is it requires line of sight. Back a few years ago everyone still had TV antennas on poles, but they've since taken the poles down.

Second problem, everyone wants to make a profit right from the start, so rural areas are not the target for a lot of wireless tech that is perfect for the rural market.
 
0ldman said:
Directway, Starband, etc, generally have a 500+ ms ping with no other traffic. Under traffic, be prepared for 1400ms ping times.

If you have no option, its ok. Check into the cell phone services in your area, some are actually getting decent speeds.
Click to expand...

I would kill for 500ms ping times my avg right now.. to google.com

Pinging google.com [64.233.187.99] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=1384ms TTL=244
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ok i admit its raining lightly outside :)

Ive been a user for 3-4 years now.. my advice stay far away from it unless its the only available right now id be willing to pay upto $3000 to have fiber run if i had to. There are download limits somthing like 160mb/4hours its kinda funky how it works but if your not out there trying to leech movies and stuff you probably shouldn't it will work fine. You do need a clear line of sight into the southern sky. Also, generally you sign a 1 year contract with them when u start so consider looking into some other providers that might be in the area might be able to talk them into somthing.

Overall: stay away from it if there are other options hell id take my shotgun dialup over this if i didn't download a bit.

If you got other questions let me know.

Where can i find listings of providors for WiMax? Wish my cell phone company offered broadband.. i can see the tower out where i live =D
 
For the record, I did drop satellite based internet and went back to dial up.
 
It's the only option I got besides dialup. The cable company doesn't even respond to my emails asking about service! All the major stuff- SBC,ATT,Verizon, none here. Just REALLY tired of dialup, get bumped offline alot, slow, slow, slow. I would love for them to update our lines so I could get DSL or something. Who do I need to bitch at in the phone companies? :D
 
Its worth a shot. Part of my problem was the idiot installer told me to cut down some trees, I did, he told me the wrong ones and told me I didn't cut what he told me to.
 
Thats nothin man, you've got to hear my story.. Ok, here it goes.

For the past 10 years, yes 10 years, I lived in a rual area with no dsl or cable. Each summer, I would ask comcast or any other isp if they were planning to put high speed internet in. Each summer, still no high speed.. So when my family wanted to move, I was happy..We moved into a gated community, which at the time, didnt have high speed.. I was gonna die! Havin a fast computer only to bottleneck at the net. So I was gettin pretty upset over the whole thing. So about a week before we move, I get a call from comcast sayin they are layin cable in my old place!!!! 10 YEARS OF HELL! and this is what I get? Anyway, I have whats called High speed Internet... Yawn.. Not. It uses an indoor antenna thats pointed to another antenna ontop of a tower. And ontop of that, whenever it snows, I ussually get about 500+ ping whatever I do. But comcast just laid lines in so i think we will switch. I swear, theres a conspiricy against me about having TRUELY high speed internet.



jk

Thats my $0.02
 
well, if you want to get into comparisons, I've been trying to get broadband out here since about 97-98. I've been trying to get DSL/Cable/wireless going here for 3 solid years, with a brick wall in the face for every option.

I've finally had enough of dealing with anyone else, I'm doing my own long range wireless shot.
 
We use it for a mobile setup (with VPN), and it's so-so. if you're only going to surf, or mayble download a few games or ftp down, I think it would be a lot better than Dial-Up. you just have to get used to the latency. You have to click......................wait...........WHAM..whole page is there :D
 
Right n ow it's click --- wait ---- wait--- some of the page----wait -----wait -----wait ----- wait---
Darn it disconnected. Redial wait - wait -wait, then we get the page. It's all over if the page has pictures.
Just found out there is a Wildblue dealer right here in town. Been selling for 2 months and already sold 28-30 of em. Only drawback- $299 for the equipment upfront+ install fee.Right now $179 with a $100 discount. They will have a Wildblue trailer/demo this weekend so I'll get to check it out first hand before buying.
:D
 
If you can't get anything else, DirecWay is better than dialup for most things. You can't play FPS games, but RTS games aren't bad.

We were on DWay for years, but a few weeks ago, we got WiMAX, and it is a beautiful thing! We have less signal drop-out problems than we did with DWay, and we're right on the edge too. All for $40/mo, no install fee (yay coupon!). :)
 
Dont get WildBlue they have some HUGE bandwidth limitations I think its somthing like 8-10gb/mo
 
davef139 said:
Dont get WildBlue they have some HUGE bandwidth limitations I think its somthing like 8-10gb/mo
Click to expand...
LOL! dude, with airspeed ( which im useing) I only get 3 gigs of traffic a month, and im an avid gamer!
 
We don't really game alot. My GF play java(?) based games on Pogo.com
Would that present problems for us? I mostly surf Jeep sites and computer stuff/ebay?
 
You shouldn't have any problem, my wife used to play Yahoo pool on our satellite connection.

Those games are not really affected by ping too much, but it does depend on the game a bit. Certain games may not work as well, I've never fooled with Pogo.com.

Basically, the more fast paced the game, the more likely of a problem. Turned based games seem to work fine.
 
what would be the best way to hook 2 computers to it?
Each one has a gigabit NIC, right now hooked by crossover cable and then one on the motherboard. Do I need to get a router? The gigabit ones I've seen so far are kind of $$ for me. Would a regular one do ok? Do I need a router/switch or just a router?
Time to play 20 questions :D
 
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