How does satellite internet access (via Direcway or equivalent)
compare to DSL through phone line or cable TV?  I am mainly interested
in speed.  Also, any information on Direcway system and company
reliability would be helpful.

Hello, durangoskier-ga.

(Interesting nickname, BTW. :)

There are two basic types of satellite connection: one-way and
two-way.  In a one-way connection, you send data over a normal
land line, and receive data via the satellite.  Two-way satellite
can send and receive data over the satellite link.

When comparing speed, satellite internet comes in third (being the
slowest), then DSL, and cable is the fastest.  Max speeds for
cable, DSL, and satellite are 3 Mbps, 1.5 Mbps, and 1 Mbps,
respectively.  Average speeds are quite a bit lower at 708 Kbps,
467 Kbps, and 400 Kbps for cable, DSL, and satellite,
respectively.  Note that upload speeds (for two-way satellite) are
slower than download speeds--approximately 1/10th of the download
speed.  The speeds above are taken from

"High Speed Internet Access - Overview"
http://www.high-speed-internet-access-guide.com/overview.html

The above site also has other figures for comparison, including
average prices.

The main advantage of satellite is simply availability: if you
live in the woods, like me, DSL and cable are not an option--it's
either low-bandwidth dialup or satellite.

Broadband Reports.com (note that their URL is dslreports.com, but
their logo is Broadband Reports.com) has 306 reviews of DirecWay:

http://www.dslreports.com/comments/1678

I must say that the general consensus is not too good.  My
experience with rating systems like this is that you have to read
through some of the reviews and try to determine for yourself
whether the problems reported might be problems for you.  In other
words, a bad rating is not always an indication of bad service.
It also seems that, in many cases, people are more willing to
complain than praise.  For every bad review written, there may be
several happy customers who didn't bother to write a review.
That's just my personal opinion formed from using the web to
review products and services in the past.  I am in no way
affiliated with DirecWay, nor do I mean to sway your opinion of
DirecWay in one way or the other.

More information on DirecWay can be found on Satellite Internet
Access.net ( http://www.satellite-internet-access.net/ ).
Specifically:

"service highlights"
http://www.satellite-internet-access.net/DirecWay_Consumer/

The DirecWay F.A.Q.
http://www.satellite-internet-access.net/DirecWay_Consumer/dw_faq.htm

"DirecWay Consumer Pricing"
http://www.satellite-internet-access.net/DirecWay_Consumer/dw_pricing.htm


Additional Links:

Howstuffworks has an interesting article for the curious on how
satellite internet works:
"How does satellite Internet operate?"
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question606.htm

"broadband 101 - Satellite Internet Frequently Asked Questions"
http://www.ibuybroadband.com/ibb2/know-satellite.asp


Search Strategy:

Google Search:
satellite internet access
://www.google.com/search?q=satellite+internet+access

Google Search:
comparison satellite dsl internet access
://www.google.com/search?q=comparison+satellite+dsl+internet+access&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1

Howstuffworks.com search:
satellite
(Search uses POST data--no URL available.)

Google Search:
direcway reviews
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=direcway+reviews


I hope this information helps.  Please let me know if you need
clarification.

Best Regards,
bikerman

This is very helpful and exactly what I needed.  I also appreciate the
comment from tutuzdad-ga which was very encouraging.  I live out in
the boonies where DSL and cable won't be available for at least 100
years but I have a clear (very!!!) view of the southern sky so I think
I will give satellite a try.  Steve

I live in a rural area and I switched from dial-up modem (which
achieved only 26.4k max) to Direcpc one-way satellite (aka Direcway)
about a year ago. I went from the World Wide Wait to flipping through
pages like changing channels on a TV. I can download 10 megs of data
in about 45 seconds whereas before it took almost an hour or so. I
average speed of about 500k but it has been known to exceed 900k on a
good clear day when traffic is relatively low. I also got 5 email
addresses (which I can change at my discretion) in the deal. I pay $59
a month for my satellite service and $15 a month to my same old
dial-up service (you have to keep your dial-up service as your uplink
in some places if you use the one-way system - this might not apply to
you though). Frankly, I couldn't be more delighted. Their technical
support is wonderful, the technicians are very helpful and attentive
and I've never gotten a busy signal when I called them. NOTE - I never
had to call them again though after I got acquainted with my system
because it's been 100% trouble free once I became familiar with how it
worked.

I bought my system during a promotional spepcial from
www.priceshock.com for $68 - yes, you read that right - but now I
think they are roughly $89 (when they can keep them in stock). It
arrived via UPS in 3 days and installed it myself. After few glasses
of iced tea, a "little" sweat and a couple of phone calls (you have to
call them during part of the setup), I went from 26.4k to 500k.

Time spent - 45 minutes. 
Setup cost - $68. 
Results - priceless!

As internet provider decisions go, it's the best choice I've ever
made.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

Satellite connections can have fast download speeds, however they
suffer from extremely high latency (the amount of time for the
data/signal to travel from your pc to the satelite, back down to
earth, and make the trip yet again) which rules out many internet
services that rely on a quick response.

Thanks Scott for your comment.  Could you give me an example of the
type of service that you are referring to?  Thanks, Steve

Steve,

One of the types of service that can be problematic is online gaming. 
I remember reading about it while I researched your question.  Don't
expect to play xpilot over the web with one of these connections! :-)

FTP, HTTP, and SCP shouldn't be a problem, of course.  However, I can
see an interactive SSH/Telnet client being very annoying...though I
could be wrong about that.

Regards,
bikerman