Living In a Mountain Paradise & High Speed Internet Access
 

Last October my little lady and I moved up into the mountains outside of Chico. It's Paradise up here. We have a nice 2 story place on 5 Acres with an incredible view of Mt. Lassen, awesome pines all around, and snow in the winter (I love snow).

I keep an office down in Chico near the University. I have DSL down there and figured I'd stay computer-free at home. But I love being up here so much that the computer-free rule didn't last long. I just don't feel like sitting in my office when I can be home by the fireplace sipping a Sierra Nevada.

No DSL in the forest. And I'm sick of Dial up. So today I ordered DirecWay satellite internet access:

Check it out here

My question:

Does anyone else on the board use DirecWay? I'd like to hear about the speeds you're getting, and if uploads are any good.

Doesn't anyone just plug the computer into the wall Anymore?

What are all these buttons for?

Post a pic of the view you get up there. :glugglug

pics?

How much does that run?

I was thinking about moving to the woods.

Hey. I am in Florida and I have direc way.

For me it SUCKS! I get faster connections on dial up. My download speed is about 13k and up is about 10 to 15k. We have asked then time and again about the speed, and they say that it is within limits. When you call them and they go through the tests with it, they ask you your inofrmation and then once they have you in their computer they go through the tests. Amazingly the speeds are greatly increased. Then after you are done with them, the speeds are back to normal. You have time to cook a meal during a 100k download.

I think that Lensman said that he has it at his house in Tahoe and he gets really good speeds from it. It may be because of the location. I dont know. I would be interested to know what your speeds end up being... Just remember to keep the snow out of the thing.

Was on the waiting list for a while and had one of the first 100 in Florida.

All i can say is it's better than dialup. Downloads can be faster than dsl/cable but if you try and download a huge file (200 MB or larger) it will throttle you down to dialup speed.

Upload speed is about 8KB sec, about twice the speed as dialup.

Also, you have a slight lag time period (1/2 second or so) when clicking on a link, since the satelite is in orbit and so far away.

Once it connects and starts downloading it goes fast though. I've gotten download speeds almost as hi as 500 KBS, thats higher than t1 speeds on download.

The only other thing I can think of is occasional weather outages during heavy cloudy rainy days.

It's not as good as dsl or cable but definately better than dialup.

I moved and have a fast cable now, much better.

You have my deepest sympathy.

Had it. Hated it.

I hope they've changed.

Thanks to everyone for the info. I'm not liking what I hear about upload speeds.

I guess I'll just have to upload from the office.

Can you say hi to my ex girlfriend ..shes in chico womens prison..they have a t-1 in there!

the deal with DirecWay is, it's faster than a phone but slower than cable and DSL ...with DirecWay is they know DSL and cable is faster.. so if you can get either of those get them.. other wise get DirecWay

the thing most people don't realize is you can have I think it was up to 25 connections open at once, and each has full BW.. unlike a cable modem or DSL where your BW splits for each connection you make... this means you can change the windows default of 3 connections to 25 and your pages will D/L almost as fast as a cable and DSL...

Now for the bad news you are limited to how much you can D/L in a certain time frame.. so You won't be able to D/L lots of content from content stores and so on... but for your typical webmastering it should work a lot better than dial-up

btw I'm certified to install them, so if yea get it and want to fly me up to the mountians I can hook yea up :winkwink:

That would be a long flight from Florida. About 3,000 miles. :)

I have direcway in Grass Valley

2004-01-18 22:49:21 EST: 743 / 44
Your download speed : 743763 bps, or 743 kbps.
A 90.7 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 44091 bps, or 44 kbps.
Your upstream result was very slow! .. not good

I tested 3 times. One time upstream was 109kps

from dslreports.com


the following from other direcway customers


Speed
Dwn/up Claimed
ISP User @ ZIP User
Has Day
Hour
(EST) domain
11728/39 direcpc anon @ 10th 03:11PM direcpc.com
10265/38 direcpc twelvestring @ 95464 10th 03:17PM direcpc.com
comment: 'I got this baby tweaked now................. .....not'
3700/10 direcpc anon @ 73036 1000/- 8th 03:43PM direcpc.com
2328/43 direcpc WMLARRY @ 36064 5th 07:38AM direcpc.com
2328/46 direcpc WMLARRY @ 36064 12th 08:03AM direcpc.com
2328/47 direcpc WMLARRY @ 36064 13th 07:22AM direcpc.com
2308/45 direcpc WMLARRY @ 36064 9th 07:43AM direcpc.com
2308/46 direcpc WMLARRY @ 36064 13th 07:23AM direcpc.com
2308/44 direcpc WMLARRY @ 36064 17th 07:51AM direcpc.com
2308/44 direcpc WMLARRY @ 36064 17th 07:59AM direcpc.com
2308/46 direcpc WMLARRY @ 36064 17th 08:04AM direcpc.com
2274/95 direcpc Pilgrim2 @ V0N 3B0 400/128 10th 07:50AM direcpc.com
2265/44 direcpc anon @ 5th 07:27AM direcpc.com
2265/46 direcpc WMLARRY @ 36064 6th 07:35AM direcpc.com
2265/45 direcpc WMLARRY @ 36064 7th 07:29AM direcpc.com
2265/30 direcpc WMLARRY @ 36064 15th 12:57AM direcpc.com
2250/163 direcpc fishinboat @ 85332 8th 05:24AM direcpc.com
2244/2931 direcpc anon @ 15th 11:21AM direcpc.com
2235/92 direcpc bobbin @ 24503 400/128 14th 02:11AM direcpc.com
comment: 'proxy off'
2210/45 direcpc Pilgrim2 @ V0N 3B0 400/128 10th 07:47AM direcpc.com
comment: 'using proxy with port 85'
2198/84 direcpc fishinboat @ 85332 15th 04:36AM direcpc.com
2191/57 direcpc fishinboat @ 85332 13th 02:27AM direcpc.com
2188/46 direcpc fishinboat @ 85332 5th 04:02AM direcpc.com
2187/92 direcpc anon @ 14th 03:28AM direcpc.com
2184/90 direcpc bobbin @ 24503 400/128 14th 02:13AM direcpc.com
comment: 'proxy off'
2181/70 direcpc anon @ 15th 04:59AM direcpc.com
2173/26 direcpc fishinboat @ 85332 7th 04:45AM direcpc.com
2165/80 direcpc pissfir @ 96057 10th 08:19AM direcpc.com
2165/94 direcpc Pilgrim2 @ V0N 3B0 400/128 16th 07:47AM direcpc.com
2163/83 direcpc fishinboat @ 85332 15th 04:33AM direcpc.com
2159/86 direcpc Babob @ 45750 15th 07:52AM direcpc.com
2156/84 direcpc fishinboat @ 85332 9th 03:17AM direcpc.com
2149/52 direcpc fishinboat @ 85332 9th 03:15AM direcpc.com
2149/86 direcpc pissfir @ 96057 16th 07:40AM direcpc.com
2146/77 direcpc fishinboat @ 85332 17th 03:17AM direcpc.com
2133/41 direcpc peat @ 21620 11th 08:17AM direcpc.com
2133/90 direcpc pissfir @ 96057 16th 07:39AM direcpc.com
2125/98 direcpc fishinboat @ 85332 17th 02:05AM direcpc.com
2122/90 direcpc peat @ 21620 5th 07:19AM direcpc.com
2122/98 direcpc peat @ 21620 8th 07:30AM direcpc.com
2121/296 direcpc anon @ 39555 400/128 17th 08:43AM direcpc.com
2119/56 direcpc aRebel @ 65605 18th 07:07AM direcpc.com
2102/139 direcpc sputty @ 97439 400/184 16th 01:40AM direcpc.com
2096/82 direcpc pissfir @ 96057 10th 08:17AM direcpc.com
2089/78 direcpc Cadink @ 06437 6th 08:37AM direcpc.com
2086/92 direcpc Hawkmtnman @ 19529 800/120 5th 09:17AM direcpc.com
2082/78 direcpc CarolinaBlue @ 15th 05:07AM direcpc.com
2076/70 direcpc peat @ 21620 16th 08:10AM direcpc.com
2063/82 direcpc Babob @ 45750 13th 05:56AM direcpc.com
2057/68 direcpc w64 @ 98671 15th 06:08AM direcpc.com
2056/38 direcpc peat @ 21620 12th 07:53AM direcpc.com
2054/76 direcpc fishinboat @ 85332 17th 01:45AM direcpc.com
2053/36 direcpc Babob @ 45750 400/128 14th 06:33AM direcpc.com
2051/86 direcpc peat @ 21620 7th 07:44AM direcpc.com
2041/25 direcpc tamyw @ 77469 18th 12:39AM direcpc.com
2027/302 direcpc jphhock @ 85086 600/100 7th 07:57AM direcpc.com
comment: 'First time I broke the 2 meg line'
2019/75 direcpc Babob @ 45750 18th 04:41AM direcpc.com
2013/27 direcpc Babob @ 45750 9th 06:20AM direcpc.com
2008/91 Skycasters anon @ 19529 800/120 14th 10:47AM direcpc.com
2008/48 direcpc pissfir @ 96057 18th 12:53AM direcpc.com
1990/41 direcpc peat @ 21620 6th 07:24AM direcpc.com
1985/63 direcpc peat @ 21620 9th 07:44AM direcpc.com
1967/39 (unknown) anon @ 56273 400/- 16th 12:21AM direcpc.com
1966/59 direcpc peat @ 21620 15th 07:36AM direcpc.com
1921/60 direcpc Cadink @ 06437 18th 12:17PM direcpc.com
1907/267 direcpc cujo_topdog @ 63501 17th 08:29AM direcpc.com
1889/130 direcpc cujo_topdog @ 63501 6th 08:29AM direcpc.com
1883/23 direcpc hokieboy @ 22701 14th 08:08PM direcpc.com
1883/51 direcpc Babob @ 45750 14th 09:36PM direcpc.com
1881/80 direcpc peat @ 21620 14th 07:41AM direcpc.com
1865/271 direcpc cujo_topdog @ 63501 15th 10:45PM direcpc.com
1865/271 direcpc cujo_topdog @ 63501 15th 10:47PM direcpc.com
1857/272 direcpc cujo_topdog @ 63501 8th 11:38AM direcpc.com
1847/409 direcpc cujo_topdog @ 63501 15th 10:11AM direcpc.com
1845/24 direcpc hokieboy @ 22701 9th 07:01PM direcpc.com
1840/82 direcpc cujo_topdog @ 63501 8th 11:34AM direcpc.com
1837/259 direcpc anon @ 65717 11th 01:14PM direcpc.com
1837/23 direcpc hokieboy @ 22701 17th 11:25AM direcpc.com
1830/81 direcpc flipper913 @ 30576 8th 06:40AM direcpc.com
1822/73 direcpc anectine17 @ 83647 750/128 18th 07:46PM direcpc.com
comment: 'Great !!! I did the tweak and it really helped the upload !! That's not suppos'
1812/91 direcpc TexasBill @ 75785 13th 10:18AM direcpc.com