Ramius Posted January 18, 2009 Posted January 18, 2009 Does anyone here have an experience with DirecTV internet? Any comments on reliability, service, etc? For $40 a month, its cheaper than most DSL/cable modems. I'm just taking a cursory look into it at this point. Thanks in advance.
plenzmd1 Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 Does anyone here have an experience with DirecTV internet? Any comments on reliability, service, etc? For $40 a month, its cheaper than most DSL/cable modems. I'm just taking a cursory look into it at this point. Thanks in advance. I thought getting it set up was really expensive. I remember an employee of mine looking into it several years(4-5) ago to work out her house in the country. If I recall, was somethng like $1200 for the equipment, plus at that time the upload speeds were god awful slow as well. As she was a project manager with tons of docs being passeed back and forth all day, it was not an option that was going to work for her.
Fezmid Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 It depends what you're looking at. Some companies (Qwest, I believe) will bundle "DirecTV and Internet," but the internet access is not through the satellite but rather is actually Qwest's DSL. Works great, and based on your $40/month quote I'm guessing that's what you're looking at. It's no different than the cable companies bundling internet and TV. There is an "internet over the sat" service, but that requires a second dish and lots of extra hardware. I believe it's called DirecWay. Here's a link: http://www.satellitefamily.com/Order-Now.asp I have no experience with it, but I've heard latency times are bad (which makes sense, since it's sending everything through space. ). You're probably looking at DSL. I had it for several years and loved it, personally. Mine wasn't bundled though.
\GoBillsInDallas/ Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 Does anyone here have an experience with DirecTV internet? Any comments on reliability, service, etc? For $40 a month, its cheaper than most DSL/cable modems. I'm just taking a cursory look into it at this point. Thanks in advance. I think that you means HughesNet, not Directv. It is now completely separate from Directv - if you do get it, you will need to get a second (HughesNet) dish.
Dan Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 If you're talking satellite internet, don't do it unless it's the only way to get online. It feels only slightly faster than dialup. My sister, my parents, and several friends have had satellite internet in the past and it was painful. As I recall, it still uses your phone line for uploads, so you get a huge bottleneck in speed. This was why I never got it at my house - I have no phone line. I've known several people to get it and they all said it was a huge waste of money.
Beerball Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 This was why I never got it at my house - I have no phone line. Do you know Ted Kaczynski?
Dan Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 Do you know Ted Kaczynski? Yeah, he was one of the friends that tried satellite internet. Actually, my house was moved onto the lot and they never ran a phone line. Not sure why. But we were the first to buy it and I said why get one. We both have cell phones and no one but telemarketers call the house. So no land line. Of course, I can't as easily get pay per view movies, but oh well.
Fezmid Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 If you're talking satellite internet, don't do it unless it's the only way to get online. It feels only slightly faster than dialup. My sister, my parents, and several friends have had satellite internet in the past and it was painful. As I recall, it still uses your phone line for uploads, so you get a huge bottleneck in speed. This was why I never got it at my house - I have no phone line. I've known several people to get it and they all said it was a huge waste of money. It uses the sat for both uploading and downloading nowadays. Much faster than dialup -- but there's still the latency issue. I still think he's being offered DSL though.
Ramius Posted January 19, 2009 Author Posted January 19, 2009 It uses the sat for both uploading and downloading nowadays. Much faster than dialup -- but there's still the latency issue. I still think he's being offered DSL though. I'm not being offered anything. A friend is switching from cable to direcTV, and thus needs to change their internet. They can get DSL in their area, but simply asked me if i had heard anything about this, because at $40 per month, its a little cheaper than phone+DSL. http://www.direcTV.net (at the bottom of the page)
Dan Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 It uses the sat for both uploading and downloading nowadays. Much faster than dialup -- but there's still the latency issue. I still think he's being offered DSL though. Good to know. My sister, just last winter, had to get Satellite internet. She lived in northern Idaho and no DSL or cable option was available. She almost lost her job because the internet was so much slower. I'm not sure of the details of her connection other than she paid extra for the supreme, best available option. Perhaps, its dependent on the area you're in which is highly likely. But, I'm still cautious over satellite internet due to the numerous friends/family poor experiences.
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