# Could someone recomend comparison site for Satellite Internet Access



## Guest (Jul 18, 2002)

I am moving to a rural area and only option for fast Internet connection is a satellite based technology. I have read about the basic requirements to support the deployment of a system, but I have not been able to find good resources for actual customer's reviews, comparisons, and comments. 

Any resources that others have found useful in evaluating or making a selection among competing solutions would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks in advance.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I dont know of any websites, but PC World did a broadband comparison a few months ago.

*DirecWay*
-1 email account
-$199 for Installation Cost
-$399 forEquiptment Cost
-$0 for Activation Cost
-$70 Monthly Fee
-60 kbps Up/500 kbps Down
-10MB Web Site Storage
-DirecPC one way service offered for $50/month

*Starband*
-10 email accounts
-$199 for Installation Cost
-$549 for Equiptment Cost
-$5/month for Activation Cost
-$70 Monthly Fee
-40-60 kbps Up/600 kbps Down-Website Storage
-10MB Web Site Storage
-Starband and AT150 combined is $99/month

Not very detailed but it was the best I could come up with


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## Lightnin1 (Apr 23, 2002)

You might want to check out this link: http://www.dslreports.com/isplist?t=satellite

This will take you to the main review page where you can skim through the reviews for Starband and DirecPc.

Good luck,


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## jrjcd (Apr 23, 2002)

Steve, starbum and E* have gone to the divorce courts and i don't think that the combined price is applicable anymore(at least for new users)-also, starbum is on the verge of bancruptcy(they may have already done so-i am so disinterested in starbum and their shoddy service that i don't check up on them much these days)


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Re: Starband:
$5 fee was only charged if you had no Dish services on the same account. This is gone now since Dish and Starband divorced and all billing is now done through Starband for new accounts.

Download speeds are closer to 400-500 than 600, although 600 is certainly possible on an occassional basis.

Combo pricing deal is gone.

POSTED USING STARBAND, which works fine for me when I don't have Gecko Fade....


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## jrjcd (Apr 23, 2002)

what about gator fade???


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## Claude Greiner (Apr 24, 2002)

I got both systems at work, the reason for it is that if one system goes down I still have access to the internet 

Anyways, I feel that Direcpc has a more stable platform to provide service, and is alot more professional in the way they take care of things. The installation was a breeze!

Starband on the other hand, is alot more of a pain in the butt to install, and they do not handel things as professionally as Direcpc does when it comes to Technical support. However, after compairing both services, It seems like Starband is a little faster on the download speeds, but Direcpc is better on uploads and does a little better job retrieving E-mail. Finally, the Starband 360 Modem does have an eithernet port, which I prefer over USB.

Overall, considering the fact that Starband has filed for Chapter 11, and I believe they do have a modem available with Eithernet, I think Direcpc would be the way to go


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> The installation was a breeze


While it appears that you are speaking of DirecPc (phone up, satellite down), which I haven't installed yet, I have installed one DirectWay (two way satellite) and did not find it to be a breeze simply for the fact that you have to have an internet connection established (a land line) before you can activate the DirectWay system. I thought this was rather odd that they would require a land line internet connection to get the software to activate the system. I have installed about 20 Starband systems so far, and will only install those in the future after informing my prospects of the Chapter 11 situation. I have so far installed one to a fully informed customer after Chapter 11 was declared. I have no idea how many, if any, I may install in the future. The one DirectWay that I installed was USB only, this was about a month ago.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

_" I thought this was rather odd that they would require a land line internet connection to get the software to activate the system."_

Duh. Sounds like a classic catch-22 to me.

Gee, officer, I was speeding to the car lot
so I could hurry up and buy a slower car
so I wouldn't have to be driving around
so fast!


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