i'm thinking of shooting down a satellite

[jwaterdawg]

Okay, not really. (warning: rant follows)

LOML and moved into this house about 10 months ago. We love the house but our ISP (Direcway satellite) completely SUCKS. The service is spotty at best, and so slow I'd swear dialup was faster. Over the past couple of months it has gotten much, much worse. I've been on the phone with tech support for probably a cumulative total of 10-15 hours now. First they said they were having trouble with the satellite. Then they said it was fixed and that they would get their engineering group to contact me to help with my inability to use the net. After waiting several days I called them back. "Oh, our satellite is out again" ARRRRRRGGGGGH. Then 10 days later I called again. "Oh, our satellite was fixed yesterday. You should definitely have no problems now. You still do? Let me transfer you to advanced tech support." Finally after about the 10th call, they agreed to send someone out. He claimed that we did not have good line of sight on the satellite (BS methinks, considering that for 8 months we did at least get service, now we have absolutely nothing). So he moves the dish and resights it. "It's all fixed now." NOPE, still don't work. Exact same problems continue. At least they have credited us back for not having service for the past month. I'd be happy to have them just agree that we cannot get service so that I can break my contract without penalty. Then we are going back to the dark ages of dialup. Unfortunately there is nothing else available out here (no ISDN, no DSL, no ADSL, no cable modem, nothing). But maybe that will mean I spend more time in shop, which is a good thing....

(rant off)

Thanks for listening and if any of you consider getting DIRECWAY (now Hughesnet) seriously consider how much crappy customer service you can put up with for $60/month.

(okay, now rant really off)

Deep breath, release, sawdust waiting to be made..........

[just4funsies]

Get the tech back out there, chain him to your computer, hold a rusty saw blade to his throat, and don't let him loose until you're happy.

[LCHIEN]

I had to use direcway satellite in a remote oilfield installation for access to a computer.

The service was very much just fair. it was not unreliable but it was very slow. Due to the delay to the satellite and back and the result was then beamed to the satellite and back to me, each keystroke or mouse click took about 2 seconds to register. I'd type a line, it would take 2 or three seconds to come back and display, then I'd backspace to fix it and type a new character, another 4 seconds. Then I'd click GO or Apply and another 3 seconds would go by and the application would begin. Well, it was certainly better than nothing but it was very frustrating. Only had to use it for two months.

[gerti]

Man that blows. I have looked into DIRECWAY a few years ago, didn't have great reviews back then either. If you can get some neighbors together a frame relay circuit could be shared. Or maybe the upcoming WiMAX wireless long distance could bridge the gap from the next larger city (or friend with cable). But none of that helps you now...

Good luck!

[cgallery]

Unfortunately there is nothing else available out here (no ISDN, no DSL, no ADSL, no cable modem, nothing).

What about cellular? You can get PC Card adapters that allow you to use cellular adapters in your desktop PC. They are about as good or better than ISDN. And you can get unlimited ($40 to $45/month) plans. And if you ever go on vacation with a laptop, you can take the service with you.

Some of the touring music groups (Willie Nelson, for example) use special routers that allow them to gang three to four of these together for outstanding performance anywhere they can get a cellular signal.

Thanks,
Phil

[jwaterdawg]

What about cellular? You can get PC Card adapters that allow you to use cellular adapters in your desktop PC. They are about as good or better than ISDN. And you can get unlimited ($40 to $45/month) plans. And if you ever go on vacation with a laptop, you can take the service with you.

Now that is something I hadn't thought of, thanks for the idea. I'll have to do some investigating.

[Ken Massingale]

If you can get out of the DW contract, check into Wildblue, wildblue.com.
DW folks are switching to it like crazy. I've had it for several months and overall am happy with it. 3 plans, 500k, 1meg and 1.5
Latency isn't a problem, some are even using VoIp with it. I'd rather gave DSL or Cable, but they aren't available.
k

[crokett]

I was in tech support for several years.

If you want to get the problem fixed by Direcway, make it their problem. If the person you are talking to on the phone can't fix it, ask to be transferred to someone who can. Keep going up the chain and you will either get someone who can a) move enough people to get it fixed or b)tell you it can't be fixed. In either case you have the issue resolved and can move on.

[scorrpio]

I think there was an issue of ShopNotes a couple years back with plans for an anti-satellite missile powered by a modified plunge-base router, and made from mostly 3/4" plywood and hardware available at any home improvement store.

[just4funsies]

I think there was an issue of ShopNotes a couple years back with plans for an anti-satellite missile powered by a modified plunge-base router, and made from mostly 3/4" plywood and hardware available at any home improvement store.

Must need a pretty long extension cord...

[jwaterdawg]

I think there was an issue of ShopNotes a couple years back with plans for an anti-satellite missile powered by a modified plunge-base router, and made from mostly 3/4" plywood and hardware available at any home improvement store.

If someone can find that issue, I'd love to get a copy.

PS: I'm sure carnivore is eating this stuff up.....

[Kristofor]

If you can get out of the DW contract, check into Wildblue, wildblue.com.
DW folks are switching to it like crazy. I've had it for several months and overall am happy with it. 3 plans, 500k, 1meg and 1.5
Latency isn't a problem, some are even using VoIp with it. I'd rather gave DSL or Cable, but they aren't available.
k

I have also heard from a number of people who have switched and like the new service much better.

However, latency is still a problem with any geosynch sat based solution... That pesky lightspeed delay hasn't been worked out yet (can't you engineers in the audience get working on that) .

500-700ms latency may not seem terrible for some things (almost no impact on large file downloads, annoying but workable for web browsing, etc.) However, for 2-way communication it can significantly impact a system designed for use in a "fast" response network environment (games, many older client/server corporate apps, some older desktop sharing systems that were optimized to minimize throughput required at the expense of frequent back and forth communication, etc).

Personally, I think the pause would be very annoying if it was my only voice communication method. If I was using VoIP of some flavor to save on international/long distance I may be more willing to live with it.

Just my $0.02

Kristofor.

[vanguard]

I had to use direcway satellite in a remote oilfield installation for access to a computer.

The service was very much just fair. it was not unreliable but it was very slow. Due to the delay to the satellite and back and the result was then beamed to the satellite and back to me, each keystroke or mouse click took about 2 seconds to register. I'd type a line, it would take 2 or three seconds to come back and display, then I'd backspace to fix it and type a new character, another 4 seconds. Then I'd click GO or Apply and another 3 seconds would go by and the application would begin. Well, it was certainly better than nothing but it was very frustrating. Only had to use it for two months.

As a former satellite network field engineer (not direcway), you can have a wide range of issues with any satellite based system. As lchein says, you're subject to a 500 ms delay due to the distance of the link (~44K miles). Your antenna pointing and weather can have a big impact - especially on the higher frequency systems. IIRC, Direcway is a Ka-Band system which is more sensitive that other band types. The trade-off is a smaller antenna.

During troubleshooting, they should have attempted to determine whether the problem was RF (radio-link) related or IP computer network related. If they find the problem RF related than the next step should be to work to isolate it to the transmit or recieve path.

So check your antenna point. Check your connectors, make sure they are dry and free of corrosion. Outside connectors should be weatherproofed by wrapping with linerless rubber tape (ask at the BORG), sometimes this is called self-vulcanizing electrical tape.

The Direcway NOC should be able to check your both your recieve and transmit power, if those look good, then your issue is probably computer network (IP) related. If the powerlevels are bad then you'll need to replace some portion of your equipment.

In general, nothing normally goes wrong with the satellite itself and if it does, well then Direcway is SOL. Typically, problems are with the network control software or equipment. The satellite is nothing more than a radio relay in space.

Other problems can typically be found with the NOC earth station and their software/equipment. But problems here would effect all system users.

Did you want to know more?

[rbfunk]

If it used to work and it's not alignment, Dollars to doughnuts it's in the cable and fittings. It's not too tough to test yourself but if you are uncomfortable Dtv "should" fix it. ( thhis will also work for satellite tv)
First disconnect the cable from the dish (transponder) and look very very carefully at both ends of the connector. Any water or discoloration and you have found your problem. You can get a new transponder a couple of places on the net.
If thats ok go to the next connector open it up. If at all possible, connect the modem/ receiver there and see if the signal improves. Keep going along the cable and see if you get an improvement. If you need to replace the cable, make sure you get the right type.
Also, you may want to check out http://www.dslreports.com/forum/sat
Good luck
Bob

[ExYankee]

We've had DW with a 6000 'modem' for most of a year now, and all and all I'm happy, I've had a few outages and the winded moved the small shed it was on so I had to get it reaimed,but no other hardware issues, I agree the standard support, (from India it seems) is just ok, but if you asked to get to advanced the folks I've talked to are sharp. Cant give real speed numbers, but I use Firefox and there are times I am simultaniously DL'ing several tabs of large binary image files that it will bog down but it keeps chugging along. We are too far for DSL (6 miles)but I stopped and chatted with a BellSouth tech and he said put in a request anyway,seems the 15000 ft limit from a CO Central Office is only 'sorta' a rule, they have subpanels here and there thatare wired to them and then they go nowhere if demands warrents it they can fire them up.
I do miss my Comcast though. I was getting 3-4 mbs