Direcway Satellite Internet

[sid 1]

I'm venting my angst!
When I decided to spend the summer at FLSD again, I needed to upgrade the Amish dial-up internet access and so I shopped around. The local phone company told me that I could get on a waiting list for DSL in 2007 and Time Warner laughed at me when I asked about Roadrunner.
Then I saw an ad on Directv (I am a very happy directv subscriber) for Direcway Satellite Internet Access. I checked into it and, while it seemed a little pricey at $59.95 a month, I figured that the income from the webdesigning/hosting would cover it. However, when I called them I didn't qualify for the “Easy Payment Option” to purchase the modem and dish, so I had to shell out $800 (although I did get a $100 rebate – woo hoo) and they scheduled the installer to come out in about 2 weeks.
I understand that the satellite is 23,000 miles away, and I anticipated “some” weather outages. It happens with the tv signal in a really bad storm and usually lasts about 30 minutes or so while the worst of the weather passes over.

WRONG!

This piece of shit system fades out at the least provovation. We've had 8 days of in and out rain in the North East and I've had about 2 days of “acceptable” internet access. Acceptable by the slow ass (compared to Roadrunner) standards of this substandard system. Jeesh – for $60 a month it should give me a blow job every time I log on (Okay, every other time) but hell, I'd settle for a reliable internet connection!
The signal response time is too slow to use Skype or Vonage, is slow on secure sites, and the modem needs recycling almost every other day.
If you call the help center they read from a script and assure you “We appreciate you choosing Direcway.... yada yada”. Last time I called them they had me doing shit with the modem that had me looking around for Ashton Kutcher, I was so convinced I was being punk'd.
Finally they agree to send out a tech/installer to check the system out. This jackass cannot call during daylight hours. Now my phone is also the business pohone and it goes to the machine after sunset (because idiots call at 2:30 am to say “Fuck – Yeah – Skydivin' Whuzzup!”) but this guy cannot call during daylight hours because he's busy installing.
Let's get this straight, a company that offers to send internet signals 23,000 miles through space cannot employ an installer with a fucking cell phone, or, apparently, the ability to ask any of his latest victims...er... clients.... “May I use your phone please?”
Fuck Direcway! I'm going back to Amish Dialup, and they can sue me about the 15 months I “agreed” to keep the POS system in operation for!

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[Muenkel 0]

I dumped Directv and went back to Dish Network because it seemed I would lose satellite signal if there was the littlest cloud in the sky. It was extremely rare for me to lose signal with Dish Network even in the worst of storms.

I remember when I had Directv, the chick in the commercials for Directway annoyed the living shit out of me.

Directv is full of shit, IMO. I would definitely dump them and tell them to shove the 15 month commitment. Hey, they're not keeping up their part of the contract.

_________________________________________
Chris

[Cornholio 0]

Before giving up to dial-up - check out these guys...

http://www.wildblue.com/

They have recently launched a few satellites and the reviews on dslreports.com is much better than directway or other satellite providers.

Butthead: Whoa! Burritos for breakfast!
Beavis: Yeah! Yeah! Cool!
bellyflier on the dz.com hybrid record jump

[aerohaga 0]

I'm glad I read your post-my husband has been after me to get Direcway. I've been leery about shelling out the $800 plus monthly fees. I've got the slooooowwwwest dial-up imaginable (26,600 on a good day) but that's a lot of cash to lay out just so I can watch skydivingmovies.com!

For my part, I know nothing with any certainty,
But the sight of the stars makes me dream.
-Vincent Van Gogh

[Remster 30]

Quote

www.wildblue.com

They really, really should have done more research into the name they picked.... I would NEVER sign up with these guys!

Remster

[bisqit999 0]

why did Time Warner laugh at you about Road Runner? Is it available in your area?

[sid 1]

Quote

why did Time Warner laugh at you about Road Runner? Is it available in your area?

We are surrounded by 5 Amish farms and the airport driveway alone is over 1/2 mile long. Cable comes nowhere near us........ To be fair they offered to put a quote together for running cable to us (then I laughed when they started talking in the thousands...)

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[BRYANGOESBOOM 0]

I use direct way for work since im always in some remote area i have had no problems with it .......actually i was a service tec for them for a short period. Did you have someone install it they may have not done a good job resulting in a poor signal

Not only will you look better, feel better, and fuck better; you'll have significantly increased your life expectancy. --Douva

[sid 1]

I've been trying to get a tech here for 10 days...... I can't get any kind of sense (that's not scripted hyperbole) from customer support and I am about at the end of my patience (and I am generally the Buddha of patience). I'm sorry - I think they're done in Sid's world

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[champu 1]

Quote

The signal response time is too slow to use Skype or Vonage, is slow on secure sites, and the modem needs recycling almost every other day.

Low-latency satcom is a bitch, just ask Motorola. And with an application like an internet connection where latency is just as important as bandwidth, it's hard to give your customers what they're going to expect for what you have to charge them.

That said, in this case it sounds like they're doing an exceptionally poor job.

[Bodyflight.Net 0]

Hey Sid..

When I moved out to the country a year ago.. I tried dial up again after being a faithful cable subscriber for years. That lasted about 10 days before I gave up and had guys on my roof installing way to expensive equipment... besides every access number being long distance the connection was UNBEARABLE for working online, as we both do. My biz money covers the price nicely for me so it was a no brainer to try.

DirecWay is awesome here! MOST of the time I'm running above 128kbps and it works well 98% of the time. I guess I could run through my control system to give you all my stats but that probably won't help you... There are mountains & trees in the way, the sky is forever cloudy here in this rainforest I live in, but still great signal almost always.

It sounds like your system is not working right obviously (I'm sorry I know how awful that can be) but if you can get someone out to it, I would definitely try that first. Don't give up... cuz when it finally DOES work for you, you'll be flying through..

ALTHOUGH... it's not great for large uploads... I have had success only with up to say 45mb files.. larger than that it's a pain and may crap out. But mostly I can keep uploads below that size and if it really is that big, I might just have the sender upload it directly. With root access of course I can upload zipped files and unzip directly on the server too.. which helps.

Thanks to DirecWay, I did not have to change careers cuz I bought a house in the country! It's been 1 year since I signed up and I would recommend it to anyone... even though the lights on this sizeable modem nearly blind me, in the dark at night, it's like a darn landing strip!!!

added: I almost never have to restart my modem or router.. even when the power goes out. Although a couple of times it was running awfully slow and so I did unplug it to see if it would reconnect any faster and it did.