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Direcwav

Discussion in 'Community Broadband & Computers' started by Genco, Dec 29, 2003.

  1. Genco

    Genco Active Member

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    I would like to hear feedback both positive and negative from current and former users of Direcwav offered by Directv.
     
  2. Mearen

    Mearen New Member

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    We tried to use it for a business application and found it to be extremely slow. I also have a client that uses it for his home and thinks it's horrible. If you truly need high speed internet I would not recommend satellite as an option.
     
  3. WesGurney

    WesGurney New Member

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    I do not have the service, but one problem with Internet access via satellite is latency. Since the satellite is 22,000 miles up, just sending a packet from your PC to the satellite is about half a second. This is a physical limitation - no matter how much they improve the technology, the signal can only travel the speed of light and this half second latency to the satellite will always exist. While this might not matter for some people, certain applications like 3D multiplayer games or real time stock trading apps perform very poorly at best over satellite.

    Anyone who has DirecTV can easily reproduce the latency problem by setting your DirecTV reciever to a local channel and then put another TV hooked up to a standard antenna or cable to the same local channel. You will see about a second or so delay on the DirecTV one - this is the latency it takes for the signal to travel up to the satellite and down to your reciever.

    DirectWay has some information about this problem and other limitations on their FAQ page at http://directv.direcway.com/faqs.html

    Satellite is great when there are no other high speed options available, however if you are wanting to use it in the Ashburn area I would strongly suggest using Adelphia Powerlink. For less than $60 you get 3 Mbit down/ 256Kbit up and consistently <50msec latency to major websites/providers and not have to deal with the half second latency issues.
     
  4. Genco

    Genco Active Member

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    First, thanks for the comments; I was looking at Direcwav because of all the negative feedback that I have been hearing about the service from Adelphia. Since I live up on the hill by the water towers my options are limited and as everyone has expressed very frustrating. Since my usage is not for "business applications" but more general "home" usage I thought that Direcwav might be an option.

    I guess the choice deals with the lesser of two bad options.
     
  5. WesGurney

    WesGurney New Member

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    Genco - I would suggest you try Adelphia for yourself. They have really improved their network the past few months. But don't just take my word for it, be your own judge of how it works. If you are unhappy with it, you can cancel whenever you want without penalty and there is no initial cost for any equipment, no contracts or commitments, plus free installation. DirecWay and Verolan have up front costs and contracts associated with them. Plus you have to install equipment on the outside of your house - with Adelphia its just a little cable modem next to your computer.

    It is *by far* the simpliest and most cost effective solution to getting high speed Internet in our area.
     
  6. Genco

    Genco Active Member

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    Thanks for the feedback. Adelphia is currently offering the service for $35/month for the first 12 months and then it jumps to $55/month thereafter. They are throwing in a Motorola SURFboard SB5100 cable modem which is free after mail-in rebate.

    What about the guy who started broadlandswireless, any feedback on his service.
     
  7. Dwarflord

    Dwarflord New Member

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    The guy who started up the wireless service has been "defaulting" on agreed upon contracts. In addition, the network he has is prone to problems when a single customer has a virus or hardware problem, it tends to affect everyone.
    In my case, I have been accused of having a virus (with no proof to support the accusation) and have been throttled down from my normal service to the lowest it can go. I have been like this for 3 weeks and he still refuses to turn my service back up to normal, again, without any evidence I am the source of the problem. Since I am a die-hard user ( I send/receive a lot of data) we (myself and others who have had the same problems) suspect he is trying to rid his network of power users so that he can keep internet costs down. Yes, you can use our service, but...., dont use our service mentality.
    Anyway, right now I would not recommend the wireless service. Im signing back up with adelphia as well due to the infrastructure changes they have made recently. Recent experiences from others state Adelphia has their act back together. If I were you, Id give adelphia a shot, the startup costs for wireless are very prohibitive.
    Good luck,


    DwArFlOrD
     
  8. chris

    chris New Member

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    Genco: I also recommend that you look into Adelphia. We've had their broadband service for over a year here in the Broadlands, and it has gotten consistently better. I work from home some, and the service is dependable and relatively affordable.
     
  9. MD_boy

    MD_boy New Member

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    Genco
    Does that $35.00 rate apply even if you don't purchase cable TV from them? I have never hooked up the cable to my house (used DirecTV from day one). I wonder if they will charge an arm and a leg to just hook up the house for internet only.
     
  10. GCyr

    GCyr New Member

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    Genco,

    I can't comment on Direcwav but I did have Starband (DISH's version) installed when I first moved into Broadlands 3 years ago. While it was much better than the 24.4K phone line modem connects I was originally getting, I wouldn't recommend satellite Internet to anyone unless it was the last resort for "high-speed" Internet service. Besides the up-front costs being very expensive, I found the service to be totally unreliable, especially after the 1-yr equipment warranty ran out and DISH started blaming the equipment for my problems.

    I switched to Adelphia PowerLink, without the TV service, and I find the service to be very reliable, especially after reading about the OpenBand and VeroLan problems. Adelphia isn't perfect -- they do have outages, but compared to the alternatives, it seems to be a much better value and choice, and more reliable.


     
  11. weshsu

    weshsu New Member

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    Please forgive me if I'm wrong, as I haven't been reading all of these threads carefully, but I thought you were having these problems with Verolan?

    Genco asked about BroadlandsWireless, which was started up by Steven Buxton. Here's my short experience with him.

    As soon as he "opened his doors" for business, I inquired about signing up. He did a visual site survey from his house and thought everything looked good except for a small patch of trees. He then came out to the house, got into the attic, and found that he couldn't get a signal. He said he would try something else within a week or two. He also commented that he got a weak signal down the street from me, so I offered to ask my neighbor (who lives down there) if he would be a repeater for Steven. My neighbor agreed and I notified Steven a few days later. I didn't hear anything back in about 2 months (both via email and phone)? So, I emailed him again and he said he was doing some type of reconfiguration with his network. I asked when I could expect we try again...nothing. That was a few months ago.

    So, I guess he either doesn't want me as a customer or he's decided to cough up the cash for his private T1. :)

    I'm paying too much for too little ($60 a month for a 128k IDSL line). It doesn't seem to have as many problems as Verolan, but when it does go out (like right now...I'm on dialup), it's very frustrating.

    People are saying Adelphis is improving. Can you host servers on Adelphia? What are typical upload speeds?

    Wes
     
  12. weshsu

    weshsu New Member

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    How much do they charge per month without TV service? What about setup fees?

    Wes
     
  13. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    I pay $55/month (ugh!) but I put a splitter and have analog cable for most of my house.... good for watching the caps on News Channel 8, etc.

    No install fees.... I think the first 2 months are like $20.... but you may just want to check their web site.
     
  14. GCyr

    GCyr New Member

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    Wes,

    Without their cable TV, I pay $54.95/month.

    boomertsfx in the previous post says he/she's pay the same with what appears to be basic cable service. It's suppose to be about $10 cheaper if you include TV service at some level greater than basic.


     
  15. weshsu

    weshsu New Member

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    Thanks everyone. Well, it's $5 less than what I currently pay. Maybe it's time to switch. I'm getting tired of my 128k line.

    Wes
     
  16. hornerjo

    hornerjo Senior Member

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    You can not host any server on Adelphia FYI, even with a business account.

    John

    ---------------
    Got Broadband?
     
  17. Genco

    Genco Active Member

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    OP_dude,
    Yes, I checked online and they have a special offer that was for $35 for the 1st 12 months & $55 after that.
    I'm in the same boat in that cable was never run into my house. I called twice and got 2 different answers, the first was that there was no cost to run the line from the street to the house and the second answer was it would cost $75. The second person also never offered the "special" introductory 12-month price.
     
  18. section84

    section84 New Member

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    FYI. The special online offer of $35 is only available if you sign up online. Or at least that's what I was told when I questioned Adelphia's customer service. I had cable at one time, so I don't know if there is a charge for running it to your house.
     
  19. Homer Simpson

    Homer Simpson New Member

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    There are ways around that but if they detect it you may get the boot.
    I don't have any direct experience with it but there is a program that will change the DNS for your name every time your IP changes.
     
  20. Dwarflord

    Dwarflord New Member

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    I think he meant that in order to abide by Adelphia's AUP, one can not run servers off of the connection. There are many easy ways around it like you said, like dynamic dns changing to make it easier to get to your servers. Plus, you can use port forwarding to hide some of the more common ports used by servers, or use a different port altogether. But.....we are still not "supposed" to run servers. I dont want to take the chance on losing my isp so I opted to purchase a dedicated server off network for my needs. The linux ones aren't very expensive these days and easier to manage than in the past with all these new apps.

    DwArFlOrD
     

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