Internet Satellite My Experiences

After researching broadband internet choices, I found that because of where I live, the only broadband solution I can hope for in the mid-term is a satellite internet connection. I decided that a 2-way system was going to be the choice for me.

Currently, there are two manufacturers of 2-way satellite. DirecWay by Hughes Networking and Starband. Although pricing was competitive between these two systems there were two reasons I decided to utilize DirecWay. First, they allowed connection sharing which Starband strictly forbids in their User Agreement. Secondly, since I am planning on getting satellite TV in a few months, DirecTv offers better programming choices than Dish Network. Once this decision was made I realized the next decision was to consider how affordable this option was. There are two sets of costs that needed to be considered for the purchase of this system. The monthly fees and the equipment cost. Monthly fees vary depending on who you use as the provider of the service. Although you own the equipment, you have to pay for the privilege to use it. The cheapest way to connect is directly through Hughes Networking (DirecWay) which costs $60/month. The slightly more expensive ways were through various ISP's, called partners : AOL, Pegasus, and Earthlink. These were roughly $10-20/month more, but offered ISP features (like web page creation and storage, larger number of e-mail addresses, dial-up service in case of service interruption (more on this later), etc.). Since I was at the edge of my budget and have other ways to handle the features that were being offered I decided to go with the basic plan with Hughes. Finally, I needed to know how much it would cost me to purchase the equipment. The purchase price of one of these systems can be quite prohibitive right now. A 2-way system runs between $550-900 (+ a required $200 installation fee) depending on the options you want and these prices generally include a $300 subsidy.

Having made the decision to purchase, and who I was going to connect through, the next step was finding a place to buy one without getting into an argument over who was going to provide my service. Most brick and mortar stores in the Triad area of North Carolina seemed clueless about this new technology. If I found someone selling satellite systems, they were the one way design. Some of them even had the nerve to require me to buy a computer. Those retailers that had the 2-way system would only sell it to me if I chose one of the assigned partners (AOL, Pegasus, or Earthlink). So I grabbed my charge card and hit the web. I found a number of places that sold the equipment quite quickly. Having looked at a number of different retailers, I decided on using American Satellite and Entertainment. The salespeople were honest, knowledgeable, and the company has a large selection of satellites and satellite accessories. They are also extremely careful to make sure you understand the warrantee's and fees associated with satellite ownership and usage. So I plunked my money down over the phone on the Friday before Easter week and was promised that the delivery would occur within 3-5 working days from the day they shipped my system. Monday I received an e-mail containing the UPS code for the shipment enabling me to track its progress using the UPS tracker site. I received the equipment on Thursday of the same week, 4 days before Easter. I called American Satellite to ask how I was going to contact the installer, and was told that they would contact me shortly. I didn't understand what shortly meant. I went out for 45 minutes and by the time I got home they had called. Oh, well! Due to Good Friday and Easter it was first thing Monday morning before I could make an appointment for them to come to my house for the installation. I made the appointment for that Wednesday, and promptly at 9 a.m. the installer showed up. The installer was professional, had done satellite installations for more than 10 years, and told me he dreaded doing 2-way system installs. The problem does not lie in the setup, it's fairly straightforward. He assembles the dish and points it at the sky at the right elevation and azimuth, and finds the satellite. After that he runs cable to the room where your computer is setup, then he hooks up his satellite modem and calls in to activate and fine tune the direction of the dish. This is where life gets tedious. The technician on the phone has to tell the installer to move the dish up, down, left, right, clockwise or counterclockwise, in order to create a large enough difference between the send and receive signals so the system works the way it's supposed to. Please help these guys out, have a cordless phone available, even if you have to borrow it for the day. So after 10 or 15 minutes of jiggling, jostling, and general cussing, a good connection is made and the installer locks everything down. Now we set up my equipment. We inserted the install disk (which was supposed to be included, but wasn't) and began the installation. The program installed the drivers for the modem ok, asked for the modem to be plugged into the USB port on my machine and installed that properly, it registered my user and payment information ok, but locked up my machine when I went to register for my new e-mail addresses. I rebooted, re-ran the installation program, and everything went fine this time. I was online. The installer gave me the number to tech support at Hughes and told me to have a nice day. It took him about 4 hours to start and finish the job...since I paid $200 for this, $50/hour seems reasonable for the work performed.

At this point I have very few complaints, but quite a few warnings. The installer warned me that Hughes was shipping these satellite dishes and forgetting the software. If the installer hadn't had an extra copy of the software, the installation could have been delayed until I was shipped another copy. The manufacturer needs to address this problem. The installer also warned me of the spotty quality of installers overall. Although they have to be certified to do this type of installation, just like doctors, there's a huge difference in one that got straight A's and one that made C's. So if there's a weak link in this chain it's here, and unfortunately your at their mercy. The installation crash of the software was also a little disconcerting, especially if it had made a mess of the rest of the installation. So I ordered the system, and in less than 2 weeks I have an operational broadband connection. Onwards to how the thing works, and what problems I've had during use.

In my research on broadband and what I might be able to use in my area, I couldn't find much on satellite other than it's only to be used in cases of no other possibe connectivity, and then don't expect much. So I didn't. In actuality I think that the capabilities of 2-way satellite internet connections are excellent, when compared to dial-up, and hold their own against DSL and cable, with some important exceptions. You will NEVER play a first person shooter on a satellite connection (sorry all you Quake and Unreal Tournament guys and gals). Believe this if you believe nothing else. The signal has to go from your dish, to the satellite, to the 'call center', to the internet, to the game server and return by the same route. Times up to and down from the satellite make anything but the most basic gaming untenable. You will never run a web server off one of these connections either. The company has a fair use policy, so that if you try to download or upload to much information they can significantly cut your bandwidth until you log off for 6-8 hours. (Note: I have downloaded 100+ meg files and 40 or 50 mp3's at a time and haven't had any problems with my bandwidth, so these rules must apply to some real intense bandwidth hogs). Also, your connection is completely at the hands of the weather. If it rains or snows hard you will not have an internet connection (Cloud cover and normal rainfall doesn't seem to affect my connection, just real bad thunderstorms). If there is a radiation burst from the sun, Hughes engineers might have to do something to the satellite to protect it. Hughes even has a clause in the user agreement that states they are not required to provide you with any connectivity. (This is why the 'partners' offer a limited number of dial-up minutes with their packages, if uninterrupted service is important then you will need to check into secondary dial-up possibilities, or other broadband possibilities.) Finally, the software only supports Windows operating systems. You must use a Windows machine to hook to it, using the Windows machine as a gateway for any other machine on your netwok.

In some of the reviews I've read there was discussion of streaming not working very well, I have not observed this to be true. I love my streaming video, music, and radio now. It takes a few seconds to start the connection, but I have listened all day to online radio stations and haven't had any interruptions, even when sharing the connection with another user on another machine. I also love the speed in which I can download large files. Generally I can download 10 meg files in under 4 minutes, mp3's coming through Limewire from a good server take 1 or 2 minutes. I've downloaded two files adding up to 97 megs in under 15 minutes. Your mileage may vary.

Initially, I was disappointed with browsing speed since it was not much faster than a 56K connection. This was related to a proxy not being set up properly and was corrected quickly by a tech support call. Once set properly, the pages load in a minimum amount of time, just marginally slower than DSL or cable.

Speaking of Technical Support, Hughes has it down. I work in the computer industry, and spend a lot of time waiting for someone to answer phones, e-mail, etc. Hughes has a number of ways to get in touch with people at their help centers. First, you can e-mail them, I haven't tried this option since I think it's slow no matter who the company is. Secondly, you can call them. I have done this a few times and have gotten to a human voice in under 10 minutes every time, with five minutes being closer to the average. My favorite way to get help is to go to their support web page and pull up a chat with either a tech support person or run through an automated chat 'bot for billing questions. Very nice and very fast. All problems I've run through the chat programs were answered in under 2-3 minutes.

Even though I was well informed on the limitations of internet connections via satellite, I have had a few extraneous problems which I think are understandable, since this is a leading edge technology. The biggest problem I've had is with the software that runs the modem and the internet connection itself. Once installed the newest version of DirecWay (version 4.0 build 128) would occasionally do one of three things. It would uninstall the modem, lock up the machine, or just shut off the machine. After a simultaneous combination of two of these, I couldn't get on the internet at all. I called the tech support line, and after a half hour or so (including hold time!), we had it back up (The problem was being caused by some programming they did for XP, which was interfering with my version of 95/98/ME). I was told there was a new service patch for the software and that I should download it as soon as I was able to do so. Once I got this installed I haven't had any problems since. A part of this discussion was the technicians information that there is a web page for owners of DirecWay systems, that has news dealing with things like patches, testing upload and download speeds, tech support links, etc. (www.mydirecway.com) I asked him how I was supposed to find out about this, and he wasn't sure. Since then, the home page listed above has pointed this information out.

Overall, I have been quite impressed with this option for internet access. If you have a clear view of the south/southwest sky you can have a broadband connection to the internet. I am quite impressed with the manufacturers approach to customer service, although I would like to see general communications improved to new users and a way to setup a host to the satellite modem using operating systems other than Windows. I currently agree with the general opinion, due to pricing and the current limitations of the technology, if there is another option for broadband in your area they are a better deal. However, if you live in an area where there will not be cable or phone upgrades for a year or more I would highly consider a move to a satellite internet connection.