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 Review by shawnyboy 
UPDATED: 1.5 years ago
member for 7.5 years, 178 visits, last login: 193 days ago
 Waller,Harris,TX
 Contract price not specified.
 "Better than average speed. DW6000 now allows networking with ease!"
 "Latency is terrible, as expected. Not for use with VPN."
 "Good service if you have no other alternative."
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(ratings above consensus)
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Update: February 2007: I finally got around to selling my DW6000/dish/tripod roof mount on eBay last week. It sold for $51.00 along with $70.00 shipping. Too bad it cost around $100 to actually ship the thing! Oh well! The point is that if you still don't have another option, go the eBay route for your equipment. The DW7000 is out now, so you can get great deals on the DW6000! ( half price).
Update: December 2005 - Well, it is finally here! SWB put DSL (and the Pro package, mind you, not just basic service!) in the Fields Store area! So it is at this time that I say goodbye to Direcway/HughesNet. All in all, I've been happy with my experience, except for the fact that I had no chance of VPNing into work with it. Speed was usually around 800Kbps, and since I never got FAP'ed (my Napster/LimeWire/BitTorrent days long since passed). If you don't have another choice, I would recommend them.
Living out in the sticks, I have no other broadband option available, with no relief in sight. After much deliberation, I bit the bullet and ordered DW on 6/4.
I did all my research prior to calling DW sales, so I really didn't benefit much from a salesperson. Basically, they took my order and informed me of the installation scheduling process. I was on the phone with the guy for no longer than 15 minutes. The process was quick and painless. I ordered the DW equipment up front, avoiding the 15 month contract. My hope is that other broadband options will open up within those 15 months, allowing me to eBay the equipment and recoup most of the charges. I also won't be saddled with a monster early term fee.
There is a DW installer approximately 12 miles from my house, but he has quite a reputaion for being difficult to deal with. Fortunately for me, he wasn't assigned my order. Unfortunately for me, my installer was based out of Katy, which probably added 2 or 3 days to my lead time.
I was told to expect a call from an installer in three to five business days, but I jumped the gun and called the installer on 6/6. He scheduled my installation for 9:00 AM on 6/17 and showed up as promised. The installation took about about two hours and according to my wife, the installer (Blue Star Satellite out of Katy) was very nice. He installed the dish, ran the coaxial, installed the DW6000 and plugged my wife's PC in. Again, very painless.
I am signed up for DW Home service for $59.95 a month. Since it's been installed, my area has suffered sever thunderstorms every day. However, only once have I suffered a loss of service (lasted about a minute). Signal strength hovers between 45-50 (very low due to cloud coverage), but my speed ranges from about 450-700 kbps. folks, I've been on dial up for two agonizing years. It ain't the 3Mbps that RoadRunner provides in greater Houston, but I have no complaints on the speed compared to what I've had to suffer through. Although I can't use VPN due to the latency, I can use my company's Citrix MetaFrame connection to check e-mail and remotely access servers at work, with just a little latency between mouse clicks. Again, compared to dial-up, this is much better!
I have not had the pleasure (or displeasure, depending on the dslr forum post) of dealing with customer support. I have my website and e-mail hosted elsewhere, and have no need for DW e-mail.
All in all, I've had a very pleasant experience so far with DirecWay. The only issue I had was ponying up $600 for the equipment. Other than that, if you have no other options, I would recommend it. ANYTHING is better than dial up!
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