DirecDuo Setup - $99 400K Internet download

[IceBlast]

Bohemian I called CS. They said it was the dish only. If it was everything it would be a good deal.

Unclemo I read somewhere that Hughes would sell kits to upgrade to 2-way.

BTW Hughes is beta testing now and all the testers say it's great. Wish I was a tester.

 

[sirhc75]

I have Direcduo with a USB modem and I love it. Going from a lousy 44kps ie 4.4k dl connection to 377Kps ie 37.7k is great, my MP3 collection went from 15 to over 300. The average 3mb Mp3 only took little less then 2mins(varies). Uploads do suck. With living in the boonies forget about cable connection anytime soon, my only solution. I got mine off fleabay for $150. Not bad deal at all if your in the same boat as I am and want Lite Broadband connection.

 

[Unclemo]

hmmm. I wonder hoe expensive their kits would be.. I also wonder if MSN gets into this two-way deal if they will have one of those $400 rebate thingys... Hmmm... I think we have different info on what is exactly included in this deal... Oh, anyone know if there is any contract for this stuff?

 

[Bohemian]

I don't know what "CS" is, but I just got off the phone with OneCall (who I bought it from) and it is everything factory sealed. Dish, modem, mounting, software. Everything. All you need is to get the service after you install the package and YES the $39.99 unlimited deal is still valid. The shipping is high, but it is still a great deal for a DirecDuo.

 

[brab]

where the hell do you see unlimited for $39.99???
the top I see on their pricing page is 200 hours for $109 or smth like that

 

[Bohemian]

Unclemo posted the link:

http://www.direcpc.com/consumer/cost/cost.html

Click Here

Family Surfer UNLIMITED

 

[Rainguy]

Anyone having any problems using it with Win ME? Also, do they really cut you off for awhile if you start downloading a couple hundrd MB's? If so, for how long? I think they have some fair access policy or something.

 

[IceBlast]

I talked to Larry (a salesman) at OneCall. He said this was the dish only. I ask him to double check. The next guy said the same thing, but sent me to a third person (Matt) who said this included a internal card for the computer (no USB). If Matts right, all you need is the cable and this is a good deal.

 

[FalGra]

Ok, this sounds kewl, what happens during a storm or cloudy weather, is the connection slowed or droped? I live in Florida, it rains alot... Also $49.99/unlimited (with the ISP that is!) isn't really unlimited, if you use over 168hrs they say they do something, what is that something? You get kicked off, or just caped for that day? Also, can you leave it online 24/7? Like you can with a dialup, as long as there is activity? Or does it drop after so many hours? Sorry for so many questions, but we don't have DSL/Cable to my street yet, and they have been saying for the past 3 years that we will have it by the end of that year, it's the end of 2000 and we still don't have it. DSL I know we prolly won't have here till they build a new CO, which would be 4-10 years, now cable is just runing the lines, that will prolly be another 2-4 years away. BTW, is there a contract? or can I cancel the service is it sucks when I get it?

 

[Unclemo]

Ditto.... I wish we could find the answers.. but there really is no place to go for them. Onecall has only morons from what I have seen. It is unbelievable how uninformed they are about their products. What you have is basically an individual that wanted to startup an internet store and probably got a third party hired to handle phone calls and crap. No service beyond some monkeys...

 

[craigg]

I would wait for the Gilat2Home service. I am a beta tester now and can say overall it is great. It is a two way so no modem or phone line is needed. Download speed almost always averages over 500k with off peak times going well in excess of 1Mb per second. I have done large downloads that were as fast or faster than a T1. The upload speed will be at 156k. As for rain knocking it out, I am in Florida and it really has to pour hard to lose it. I always manage to keep internet connection longer than the Dish Network connection. I have been told that it is sceduled for commercial roll out in some areas within a month and nationally within two months. Hope this helps

 

[Unclemo]

It matters where you live? I am so excited... I just had an O... I can't wait any longer...

 

[Rainguy]

Cool craigg, I am in FL as well and will wait on this instead. You think 2 months?? Would be a great Christmas present. Do you have any inside connections to get anyone on any earlier??

Thanks

 

[drac747]

You know what I'd like? An upload service provider =)

I'm so tired of this @home 128kbps upload cap its driving me nuts. I can't video conference, internet telephone barely works properly, and if I ever need to send an mp3 or game to a friend, it takes forever.

I even offered them $25/mo more if they'd bump me up to 256kbps but no go.

 

[craigg]

Here is the website address:

http://www.gilat2home.com/index1.html

Go to the FAQ section and you can read about the service plus add yourself to the waiting list.

I heard from an engineer that they were testing rollout I think in Indiana. If all goes well it should be available in every Radio Shack store soon. If you have Dish Network I think they will be talking more about it on their next "Charlie Chat" which is around Oct 2. I have a feeling the national rollout will be announced then...just a guess

 

[Bohemian]

"the GTH system currently consists of a pre-configured desktop PC that includes a satellite receiver card and a satellite transmitter card plugged into two PCI slots..."

No thanks on Gilat!

 

[jdmillikin]

Hello!

I have had this service for about 2 years. All I can say is, if you don't mind paying for something that you can't use have the time, then it is ok! The big problem is, like someone else was pointing out, their FAP policy, (Fair Access) after you download some many meg, the speed just drops off. Also, it is not that great for just surfing either. If you are seriously considering getting one of these, take the time to read the newsgroup, ALT.SATELLITE.DIRECPC , you will get a really good idea of what this co. is all about! I could go on and on about the class action law suit and some other things, but I won't.

Just BEWARE!

Jerry

 

[ExplodingBoy]

Okay all this FAP talk is scary. From the DirecPC site, the peak threshold is 169MB/s for that 34.95 plan. It says thats a "cumulative threshold" whatever that means. If I'm using the old calculator correctly that means you have to keep things under 46KBps. Now that doesn't seem so bad. THe ol v90 barely does 4KBps.

My little download proggie has a speed throttle. If I set that thing to 40KBps for my all night downloads, does anyone see a potential problem with the FAP?

 

[ISH]

Okay here is the real deal about DirecPC. I bought the system and service back in August when DirecPC announced their unlimited hours plan for $39 a month. I purchased my system at Best Buy for $149 and installed it myself. Installation was quite easy for those experienced with installing those 18" DirecTV Dishes. My system worked for 3 days before I lost connectivity, it took me another 5 days to get the system functional. I was pointed to a satellite that I could not get any data down from, 5 zillion calls later to DirecPC Tech Support (which is worse than AOL's tech support) I finally went out an altered my satellite. I somehow got a signal with my system cockeyed and off to the side. According to the installation instructions, there is NO WAY I should be receiving a signal, but it works. That took 5 days. Since then it has been fairly decent. The Fair Access Policy (FAP) actually contridicts the unlimited use plan. If I download anymore than 100MB+ over a 60 minute period then I am usually FAP'd. For me I have been resticted to 2.8 - 6.0Kbps for anywhere from 2-6 hours. During the afternoon and evenings downloads usually are around the 20-30KBps range, and at late night/early morning speeds are 40-60KBps. I use Earthlink as my ISP, and I remain connected to the service 24 hours a day. Earthlink will redial once every 24 hours, but that is my only time I am not connected to the service. Ping rates start at 600ms at best and go up from there. DirecPC does work with ICS, WinRoute Pro, WinGate, NAT32, etc...

Also the modem for the DirecPC service is a USB device. This device will not work with Windows 2000 at all. DirecPC has delayed these drivers since June, and they were to be released in August, then we heard October, now we hear November.... I would not count on these drivers anytime soon since DirecPC has shown how slow they can be releasing drivers for new operating systems. I also believe the PCI card will support NT4, but not Windows 2000. I have heard of a couple people having trouble with Windows ME and the DirecPC software. Mine worked when I tried it out with the exception... that I couln't share the connection... bummer.

Usually just hard rain, snow, and electrical storms will bring down the DirecPC system. It's pretty good about handling fog, and clouds. All in all I have had more down time due to the FAP than I have had with weather.

The FAP varies... don't go with the 169MB's per hour theroy, I have downloaded 13MB's and have been FAP'd. Don't ask me why...

It seems that I can get my best downloading off Napster of all places... at night I can get well over 100KBps, on average between 120-160KBps.

Also with the high latency rate of the DirecPC system, expect to have lot's of half downloaded pages, not all the images showing up on a webpage, or many requests just cancelling.

I would have taken my system back, but since I bought my system at Best Buy and you decide to install the system yourself, it voids your right to return the item and also cancels your warrenty. Really sucks. After I invested this much into the system, I feel kinda forced to stick with it. I would recommend not to go into this service with HIGH expectations. Don't expect cable or dsl performance... those low pings times are nice on those broadband connections.

If anyone has anymore questions on DirecPC, feel free to post a reply and I will try to get to it, or e-mail me at ishino@earthlink.net

Definately take jdmillikin's advice and check out the alt.satellite.direcpc newsgroup... I sure wish I would have before I bought my system, might have saved me a bunch of headaches!!


Later everyone...

ISH

 

[Unclemo]

Does anyone know if there is going to be this FAP stuff with this new two way satelite stuff????? I do not want any part of that communistic crap.

 

[Bohemian]

As bad as all this FAP crap sounds, I am stuck with no hope of cable or DSL. My business partner has been using it for a few months and loves it. I guess I'll let y'all know how it works out in about a week.

 

[ExplodingBoy]

Whatever happened as a result of the lawsuit filed in 1998?

 

[Xzaver]

WARNING:

Thier service Bursts Data! , So if your a gamer your pings will be worse than that of dial up.

Think of it as 400kilobytes every 3-5 seconds , and then another , and another , and another and so on.....

 

[Unclemo]

OK, now is this new two-way service coming out is it related to the current satelite service? Is it a seperate company? Is this new stuff totally different and seperate from the current DirecDuo people?

 

[jonnyfin]

This service sucks, i just recently had sprint broadband put in Here... and it's not as fast as @home, unless you download in the middle of the night... speeds up to 300-400kbps on the way off peak hours , and onpeak is usually 30-70kbps depending on the site... it's only available in limited markets, and the deal is pretty good - $99 for equipment, free install, 2 yr contract @ 39.99/mo , unlimited browsing..earthlink news server..etc. I can't get @home..so this is what I did