tonyp56 Posted December 30, 2005 CID Share Posted December 30, 2005 Ok, I've had Direcway for 22 days now, and I've got to say I am fairly happy with it. To begin, and for me at least they've really fixed the upload speeds so that they stay very close to where they are supposed to be (128Kbps for me) instead of dropping like a rock down to 18Kbps like it did when I first got my system installed. OK, for the stats, the fastest I was running on dial up was 40Kbps download, and 25Kbps upload (used dial up connection, came here and tested the speeds, fastest I ever could connect was 46.6 and that was the speed I was connected with when I tested) So I did the math, I'm now at 21+ times the DL speed of my former dial up, and almost 5.5 times faster (5.4 actual) on uploads. (fastest DL speed is now 845 Kbps, and fastest upload is now 135Kbps, average for me is about 700Kbps DL and 105Kbps upload) OK, now for latency: Pinging google.com [64.233.187.99] with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=656ms TTL=243 Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=686ms TTL=243 Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=675ms TTL=243 Reply from 64.233.187.99: bytes=32 time=665ms TTL=243 Ping statistics for 64.233.187.99: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 656ms, Maximum = 686ms, Average = 670ms Which is about what I get on most things that I ping during non-peak hours. During peak hours these numbers get worse, say average of about 1100 or more ms. However, for what I use the net for I don't have much issue with this, i.e. I don't play any online games that latency affects. I think that is not bad, though I know it is a lot slower than DSL, cable, or whatever, I also know I don't have those things available to me, so it is a non issue. I can either go back 21 times on DL and go back to dial up, or I can suck it up and deal with, what? 1 second of delay. I'm on Direcway's consumer plan with the smallest dish (.74m?) it is supposed to be 700Kbps DL and 128Kbps upload. Uploads now stay at 100 or above (most of the time, there is some times that I test and it is below that, though not by much now) which is nice, before, my upload speeds would drop below 20Kbps during peak hours, now it stays up pretty good. Download, for the times that I need to use my computers, stays at or above 800Kbps, though sometimes during 5-10 PM time frame I will drop down in the 200Kbps range, and even sometimes for a little bit 100 Kbps range. That is the biggest issue that I see, I'd like it to stay at 500Kbps or above, but even at the slowest it is still faster than dial up. The satellite that I am pointed at is 89W:1150, I'm in Oklahoma, have signal strength of 70-83, and my cross-pole is 60-72 (both numbers jump around, don't matter if it is cloudy or not, they go up then down. Overall, I'm happy with the system, sure it has it's bugs, but when I add it all up, I like it (it would be liked even more if Direcway would lower their monthly charge by like $10-15) ok, end of thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fikester Posted December 30, 2005 CID Share Posted December 30, 2005 what .....speeds dropping into the 100's during peak hours and your not bouncing off the clouds? Not acceptable practice to me, this is a known problem with dway that needs fixed and should be brought to the engineering departments attention. At the prices we pay, service needs to be 24/7....speeds may drop some during busy hours, but not over 80% ! My theory is either provide the service you sell or don't sell it. It is better than dial up but that don't mean you shouldn't make a complaint to them about peak hour speeds. This is when they will try to persuade you that nothing is wrong, speeds are good. Would you complain if McDonald's only give you half a bigmac or nuggets, and said its busy we had to cut back? Come again during our less busy hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimPrice Posted December 30, 2005 CID Share Posted December 30, 2005 Hey tonyp56, I'm in Oklahoma as well. Also on the consumer plan pointed at 89W:1150 I had a considerably low signal, I think (62-64) with the .74m dish, but always cross-polled at 80 or higher. Trouble is, even a light rain would knock me out, so I upgraded to a 1.2m dish. Now I hold a 90+ signal, cross-poll at 98, and haven't lost my uplink in snow or rain since getting the larger dish. Not that we've had much rain here in the last couple months, but you know that already. I'm just outside of Okmulgee, in the small community of Wilson. What part of the state are you in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyp56 Posted December 30, 2005 Author CID Share Posted December 30, 2005 Stillwater area, kinda north central of the state. How much was the 1.2 dish, did you have them upgrade you or did you do it? Yeah, I dont' get that one, you had lower signal strength but higher cross-pole. I don't know why my signal is so low in the first place (I know, not really low, but still it just seems it should be higher), cuz there is nothing--no trees, buildings, hills, etc. between my dish and the satellite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyp56 Posted December 30, 2005 Author CID Share Posted December 30, 2005 what .....speeds dropping into the 100's during peak hours and your not bouncing off the clouds? Not acceptable practice to me, this is a known problem with dway that needs fixed and should be brought to the engineering departments attention. At the prices we pay, service needs to be 24/7....speeds may drop some during busy hours, but not over 80% ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fikester Posted December 30, 2005 CID Share Posted December 30, 2005 Yes, a monthly rolling FAP as wildblue has may be better? As far a hidden the FAP limits are well defined in the ads....the speed is not advertised that way. Dway advertises "up to" & "typical" the typical definition is where they fall short for many of us, in my opinion its due to overselling the available bandwidth. I am not as thankfull for my sluggish connection, as the price and promise is the moon. Also recall the DW6000 from a year ago when the uploads were at 0-30 for about 3months...also was told many of lies as well during that time. When the ads for the DW7000 came out, thought oh yeah Dway has got the kinks ironed out and ready to improve....sorry didn't happen. It does not seem to matter about problems as people could read 5000 problem posts and still sign up for one....wishing for luck as if a lottery ticket. This was a downgrade for me overall from the DW6000, if they need 3months to get it right .....WB will mount to the same pole in a few mins.(currently not installing in my area or most likely would have already done a physics test on the Dway equipment) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decade Posted December 30, 2005 CID Share Posted December 30, 2005 Hey tonyp, Ive had my Dway System for more than 3 weeks almost a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghostmaster Posted December 30, 2005 CID Share Posted December 30, 2005 Decade Did they put you on the same transponder when you "upgraded"? For some reason or another, im starting to suspect there really was something wrong with your modem, or that the firmware on it was corrupted... Also, did they have you manually decommission the modem? By that, I mean did they have you telnet into the modem on port 1953 and run a "rf" command? They had to do that to mine one time because the tech support guy couldn't make my modem restart remotely. The first time I tried to commission my modem when I upgraded, I kept getting page cannot be found errors on the darn registration pages! Anyways, I hope your speeds stay up to par now..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kol Posted December 30, 2005 CID Share Posted December 30, 2005 Hey tonyp, Ive had my Dway System for more than 3 weeks almost a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimPrice Posted December 31, 2005 CID Share Posted December 31, 2005 TonyP56: I did the original install, and the 1.2m upgrade myself. Got a smokin' deal on eBay. Spent about 400 bucks for the upgrade to the larger dish. Very well worth the $ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyp56 Posted December 31, 2005 Author CID Share Posted December 31, 2005 TonyP56: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyp56 Posted December 31, 2005 Author CID Share Posted December 31, 2005 Decade, Yeah, I've read some of your post where you were having problems, so I know what you are saying. When I first got my stuff installed the installer had everything working, and everything seemed fine. He left, and then all of a sudden, the system light went off. I did what you did, called, talked to some Indian woman, then after about 45 minutes she transfered me to level 2 (American, or at least American sounding) tech support. The guy went through some stuff but nothing happened. Then right before I got of the phone with him the system light came on, and I started surfing again. Though it didn't take as long as yours did, the guy said it was because the modem was updating it's files, and it took me off-line. I was down for a little more than 2 hours, but anyways, I seen that same thing. The tech also gave me the direct line to level 2 tech suport, along with a ticket number. Don't know if I can call that number again (wrote it down) without having to call the other number first or not, he didn't say, he said "if you ever have anymore trouble" he didn't specifically say with that problem, so maybe. So, how much did they charge you to upgrade to the Pro plan? Did you have to get a new dish, or other equipment? Just curious, cause I'd like to do it some day, maybe after my monthly goes down to $59 a month. It is only $10 more a month for the Pro plan, and should be a little faster, and with a little more FAP limit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyp56 Posted December 31, 2005 Author CID Share Posted December 31, 2005 Yes, a monthly rolling FAP as wildblue has may be better? As far a hidden the FAP limits are well defined in the ads....the speed is not advertised that way. Dway advertises "up to" & "typical" the typical definition is where they fall short for many of us, in my opinion its due to overselling the available bandwidth. I am not as thankfull for my sluggish connection, as the price and promise is the moon. Also recall the DW6000 from a year ago when the uploads were at 0-30 for about 3months...also was told many of lies as well during that time. When the ads for the DW7000 came out, thought oh yeah Dway has got the kinks ironed out and ready to improve....sorry didn't happen. It does not seem to matter about problems as people could read 5000 problem posts and still sign up for one....wishing for luck as if a lottery ticket. This was a downgrade for me overall from the DW6000, if they need 3months to get it right .....WB will mount to the same pole in a few mins.(currently not installing in my area or most likely would have already done a physics test on the Dway equipment) Here, https://testmy.net/personal_stats_30d.php?user_name=tonyp56&m=12&d=30&Y=2005 That is my stats since 12-12. I test several times a day, early morning, night, evening, afternoons, etc... I probably test at least 5 times a day, both upload and download. Anyways, I get what you are saying and I won't disagree with you, I'm just saying overall, when everything is said and done, I'm happy with what I got, could it be better, YES of course, but it could also be much, much worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decade Posted December 31, 2005 CID Share Posted December 31, 2005 Ghostmaster, They did leave me on the same tansponder 1150 on IA8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Fan Posted December 31, 2005 CID Share Posted December 31, 2005 Hopefully this 350mb limit would be a little better.... I have yet to hit the FAP since I've done the 7000 upgrade. 350mb is just perfect for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimPrice Posted December 31, 2005 CID Share Posted December 31, 2005 Yeah, I think I'll look into it (not at this time though, need a few weeks after x-mas ). Was it just the dish? or was that with the feed head (or what ever it is called) too? To be honest, I'm kinda scared to even screw with it, cause I am afraid of not being able to get it back in the right spot or something. I've done satellite TV installs several different times( mine, my moms, two of my friends, my brothers, and on top of that, ended up fixing the 1 and only "professional" install I've ever had--and only one I will ever have, since 1997) But I am sure that this is a little different, but don't know how different. Thanks for the info, I keep my eyes open. No, not just the dish. It was the dish, transmitter, and feedhorn. And it's not as difficult as you think. You have more sat experience than I did when I started out. You just need the right equipment and some patience. A good compass, inclinometer, and a BirdDog Sat meter make the job much easier. The larger dishes are much harder to aim and skew correctly, mostly because they seem to give so-so performance and can be forgiving with bad aim, but won't perform at their peak unless they're spot-on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyp56 Posted December 31, 2005 Author CID Share Posted December 31, 2005 Jim, Well, thats good news , I was hoping that $400 wasn't just for the Dish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fikester Posted January 1, 2006 CID Share Posted January 1, 2006 The pro plan itself should bump your upload connection to around 200. I was told by tech support after first upgrading that the smaller .74 was the problem (as my uploads were 12-100). I don't have a problem with rain fade unless dealing with a severe T-storm or monsoon style rain.....don't think I will bother with a .98 unless its real cheap and or faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyp56 Posted January 19, 2006 Author CID Share Posted January 19, 2006 Decade, Just wondering if you ever got charged anything additional after upgrading to Pro? Besides the obvious $10, thinking about doing it, I mean, what's $10 after paying as much as I am. Speeds are doing ok for me, but I'd like to have some more speed. Do you, now that you've upgraded to Pro, think it is worth $10? Or would I just be wasting my time. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fikester Posted January 19, 2006 CID Share Posted January 19, 2006 the pro plan is advertised for up to 1000down/200 up.....the other ad on is the FAP bucket, which increases to 350MB/4hrs instead of the 169MB http://www.getdway.com/HNS/Rooms/DisplayPages/LayoutInitial?Container=com.webridge.entity.Entity%5BOID%5BA88DE5C756665B4FA1951234C6C9B659%5D%5D which as you know most of the sats are not holding those speeds during peak hours....even my pro plan still dips below 200down. In my opinion any plan you get is a rip when it speed drops that low! To my knowledge its just the 10 extra monthly, unless you need a static IP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyp56 Posted January 20, 2006 Author CID Share Posted January 20, 2006 fikester, Thanks, thought that was the way it was, but wanted to make sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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