Anybody have experience with directPC?

[golfcart]

I know its not the best option out but i live in a remote area where all phone switches are still analog and my telco has told me they dont plan on upgrading til they actually stop working. Cable co is too far from the backbone to justify purchasing the lines to offer cable service...so they say.

Anyways i stumbled across a deal to pick up a directpc dish and modem at dealer cost. i just dont want to go through the hassle of
setting it all up only to be disappointed. If ya got any pros or cons lemme know.

[bdog]

I was looking at thing thing as well. I cant say how good it works, but they do charge you by the hour, so if you are online a lot it could really rack up the charges.

[phecky]

No experience but I've read that those sat. connections will drop your download speeds the more you download. In other words, they monitor your activity and adjust your connection speeds accordingly. They apparently have higher $rates for heavy users (as in businesses). Do some more research for sure b/c this article I read turned me off of it.

[ktwebb]

The plans vary, but you only pay hourly charges after a certain amount of hours determined by the plan you choose. 20, 35 and 110 bucks a month get you 25, 100, and 200 hours respectively. Two bucks an hour after that. The 100 hours deal is not too bad unless you are online a bunch. OVer 3 hours a day. IT would be nice if they had an in-between for like 150 hours. Download speeds are very impressive. Faster than advertised by a wide margin at times. 400kbps should get you 50 KBps maximum. We would regularly get 100KBps downloads. Uploading through your modem sucks and virtually wipes you out of quick multiplayer gaming but it is better than a dialup alone at that. If it is your only option, it is something to look at. If you spend 5 hours a day online it will be expensive. Also factor in a dialup account into the pricing. Extra 20 bucks a month above your DirecPC bill.

[jad1097]

The problem with the dish is when the weather is bad it goes out! At least that is how direct tv was for me. If it rained or snowed I was SOL and watching regular TV.
I would think it is the same for directpc as they are both digital signals.

[yammahoppy]

i tried that dish for a week and sent it back. my main problem with it was the tech support at the time was horrible. i had a prob after installing the card and software, called directpc tech support. they said they couldnt help me. they told me to contact my pc manufacturer. it would seem to me if the pc was working before i put their stuff in then quit, directpc tech support would have been the one to call not the pc manuf. granted this occured in the early stages of directpc so they might have gotten better. i wont buy another.best of luck to you

[LittleMikeGetty]

As for satelite upload (vs current modem upload), I friend of mine that works on directPC at Hughes Network Systems claims that they should have it within a year and 1/2 half. No more modem - not sure what the upstream speed would be and he said the user would have to buy a new dish.

[wyvrn]

get a freewwweb account for your ISP and you only have to pay satellite costs.

[Lord of Shadows]

hmm i doubt that any one will be able to afford a tranmiting satilite dont know what your frend told you but that would be as much as a top of the line computer then came out with a way to use internet through powerlines wait a few years =o) my cousin has direct pc it will work fine i live in texas so i dont know if snow bothers it to much but it has to be one killer storm to knock out the signal and it doesnt last but minutes and if you are a gamer the upload by modem would slow you down greatly compared to cable or dsl check out www.freexdsl.com (http://www.freexdsl.com) that will be worth it when its in your area

[ktwebb]

Bi-directional Satellite will be here sometime in early 2002. MikeGettys friend was correct on all counts. New dish, but will cost about the same as the current dish. I believe the upload speed will match or come close to downstream traffic. Tech support was terrible for DirecPC and DirecTV. It has improved significantly however. Wait times on the TV dish are now nil. When I cancelled about 6 months ago, you could not get a human on the phone. I just reactivated the dish. Called a total of three times at peak hours and got right through. Very helpful phone support. Lovely change.