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Review by graneri 
Posted: 5.6 years ago
member for 5.6 years, 2 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
 Saint Charles,Kane,IL
 $69 per month (15 month contract)
 about 7 days
 "Fast Downloads when it works"
 "Terrible Reliability, Download Fails, Latency >5 seconds. High Cost"
 "DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT SAT BROADBAND. STAY W/ DIALUP"
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1. Expensive Hardware approx. $700.00
2. Expensive Service $69.00/Month
3. High Latency(Delay in receiving your data) approx. 3 - 10 seconds.
4. Some Requests(Clicked Links) to the server never return.
5. Online gaming is impossible. Not Fun!
6. Simutaneous downloads are slow.
7. Large files are slow to download.
8. Small files MAY download fast.
9. SAT modem can get confused at times, which requires power cycling.
10. Security is nonexistent. No username or password required to connect to service.
11. The dish is large and obtrusive.
12. The early termination is expensive being around $250.00
OVERALL: Don't get sucked into SAT Broadband. Dialup overall OUTPERFORMS SAT.
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Review by archangelcom
Posted: 5.7 years ago
member for 5.7 years, 8 visits, last login: 2.7 years ago
Searsport,Waldo,ME
$70 per month (12 month contract)
"Fast downloads....when it works"
"Upload is murder"
"Only option that was available to me..."
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I've had Direcway for over a year now. The installation was okay...except for the fact that the technician didnt know how to install the software, so I had to get it working myself. I've had numerous connection problems, due to weather, and other supernatural forces :-P. When it works I've had decent download speeds, but it varies. The upload speed is complete murder, it's been rated on a speed test as 2-4 kbs. Online gaming, which is what I've always wanted to do, is completely out of the question. This was the only option available for "high speed", and still is. Overall, this is a very sad excuse for high speed internet. But it may just be me....who knows. All I can say is I cant wait for Verizon or Adelphia to get their act together and provide service here :-P!
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 Review by ironleg
Posted: 5.8 years ago
member for 7 years, 1541 visits, last login: 12 days ago
Wilburton,Latimer,OK
Contract price not specified.
"Only broadband in the rural America"
"unstable at times"
"If you have & can get DSL or cable, go for it over satellite"
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I have had Earthlink Satellite installed since 2002. I picked Earthlink due to it is the only broadband service in my area & the extra dail-up additional time each month as this helps for when I travel I only have to use one ISP service. When my system was installed the installer had only installed one unit prior to mine. He did not get mine setup for the highest signal that I could have as I found out later at what others are getting. One day I guess I will need to have someone come back and set the dish again to get a better signal($$$). I have four computers networked with the satellite internet and it works very good. All my family have their own e-mail. We had some down time at first but with all the help in the satillite forum on this site we have been able to aways get up and running again. For the last six months everything is running very well. I am not touching anything while it is working. I would reccomend this service of you can not get any other broadband and all you have is dail-up.
Since 12/30/05 I no longer go through Earthlink for this service. I have changed to Direcway (Hughes) and have dropped Earthlink due to the higher cost.
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Review by parkerbrooks
Posted: 5.9 years ago
member for 8 years, 62 visits, last login: 2 years ago
High Hill,Montgomery,MO
$70 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
"as the saying goes... if your only other option is dial up, then... grab your ankles"
"fap, very technical to understand and tweak. thank god for the direcway sat. forum!"
"i hope it gets better than the installer left it. i miss my dsl"
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moved from the city into the woods. had been with mindspring (earthlink) and decided to see what their sat. option was like, since no other broadband was available for my location. fast setup, installer didn't look too specific (alarm installer by day, dish installer by night maybe??). got it up and running. i will say my connections have been bullet proof, or rather the dish's ability to keep connected through storms, wind, etc.
i'm in no means trying to sound like i'm completely finished with my setup. i just have it for conveniance now, until i'm completely moved out here. then i'll get the network and other tweak headaches. 
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Review by rsanders101
Posted: 5.9 years ago
member for 5.9 years, 3 visits, last login: 2 years ago
Cynthiana,Harrison,KY
$69 per month (12 month contract)
"Good hi-speed always-on alternative when cable/dsl are unavailable"
"slow uplink, FAP restrictions on how much you can download"
"Very stable, once you get it working right"
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The Earthlink/DirecWay system is very reliable and stable but it took three months, long hours of frustrating calls to tech support, and a return visit by the installer to finally get it that way.
The first hint of problems began immediately after installation. The link would drop once to several times an hour, generating TX and RX error codes. The folks at Earthlink satellite tech support obviously have a script to follow, which can drive you mad with slow and often absurd troubleshooting, like reversing the cable between the TX and RX modems. Which makes the process that much more frustrating. Nevertheless I played their game and endured several weeks of phone calls, a replacement TX modem, and a replacement transmitter. The last item had to be installed by their installer, and it was then that he discovered the dish was simply not aimed right. Anyway, after he re-aimed the dish the service became rock solid and it has remained that way for 4 months now. Alot depends on the server you connect to, but I regularly clock above 1mb download speeds and often exceed 1.5.
The system stays up through all sorts of adverse weather. Only once during a sever rainstorm did it go down, only for a minute or two.
Uplink speeds and latency are a different story though, making satellite internet all but useless for gaming, video conferencing, voice over ip, and other applications that rely on high-speed data in both directions. The Fair Access Policy (FAP) enforced by Hughes in order to limit bandwidth hogging could also be an issue if you need to regularlry download large amounts of data. This bit me when I tried to dowload a cd image (650mb) of a linux distribtion. After the first 100mb the FAP kicked in and my download speed dropped into the sub dial-up range, making it impossible to download the rest of this file. But for typical internet usage like email, browsing, banking, even watching an occasional video clip, it's definitely lightyears ahead of dial-up.
Bottom line, I'm satisfied with Earthlink/DirecWay and would recommend them. There are more cost effective providers and I believe you can get better prices on DirecWay hardware and service through Tigerdirect.com. So until DSL comes to my neck of the woods, I'll stay with Earthlink/DirecWay satellite,
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Review by devinf7
Posted: 6 years ago
member for 7.3 years, 23 visits, last login: 5.6 years ago
Saint Joseph,Buchanan,MO
$45 per month (month by month)
about 30 days
"When it works fairly low ping on most games."
"During Peak times it will totally shut down."
"If I could I would get DSL. I hate Saint Joe CableVision"
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Saint Joesph CableVision is terrible About every night at 10 oclock the service shuts down with 60% + packet loss. I call them and they tell me to powercycle it. Which means shut it off for 5 mins then trun it back on. Sometimes it works most of the time it doesn't. They have 24/7 tech support but unless you like waiting on the phone for 30 min until you get an idiot that hangs up on ya, its worthless.
Just my 2 cents
Devin Ferguson
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 6 years ago
(review was emailed from domain bitsmail.com)
Lake Bluff,Lake,IL
$79 per month (12 month contract)
"Internet Mafia = Earthlink = Extortionists"
"Run, Run AWAY"
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Several months after I cancelled my Earthlink Satellite account (becasue it never worked), this is where I am: Recently, after ten days of mysterious hangup phone calls with a caller ID of "CCS" we received a letter from "CCR" informing us that Earthlink was going to sue us for $400 if we didn't pay it immediately. I called them, and they admitted to the calls---"we have to do everything we can to collect for our clients. Actually, they are legally obligated to let their victims know who they are....but that's another story. Now, I'd been on the phone with EL numerous times already. This is my response to the creditor. So far, they've quite bugging me. We'll see what happens....
November 6, 2003
Lisa Gates
23220 Chagrin Blvd #400
Cleveland. OH 44122
Dear Ms. Gates:
Thank you for your letter regarding the Earthlink account# 5150835. As
you have suggested, Earthlink is of the invalid opinion that I owe them
this money for an "early contract termination fee." I would like to
take this opportunity to inform you (as I have already informed
Earthlink) that I fully dispute this debt and it is not valid--- After
paying almost $900 for setup and then ~$90 a month for the service, I
discontinued my subscription for the following reasons:
Earthlink failed to provide services sold because:
a.. The service continuously caused my computer to crash (BSoD
Errors!) to the point where it (the service) was unusable.
b.. Technical support was unable to resolve the difficulty despite my
repeated calls.
c.. In the brief moments (for the 15 minutes before my computer would
crash) when it did work, it was unreliable and intermittent, and it
never worked at the 300kbs speeds the sales representative promised.
d.. 100% of the time---when the internet connection did work, my email
did not work.
e.. 100% of the time---when my email did work, the internet connection
did work. Proxy settings requireed continuous change in order to get
anything to work correctly.
f.. My local network did not work with this service installed on my
computer and never worked until after the service was completely removed
from my computer and I had uninstalled and reinstalled my network card.
After 3 months of attempts to resolve through Earthlink tech support, I
discontinued the subscription. This "early contract termination
charge," since they are in breach of contract (failure to provide
service), is invalid. I have attempted to return the product to them
for the reason that it never worked, and they have refused. Please bear
in mind---I paid in full for the setup and equipment, and I paid my
monthly payments on time---even when it wasn't working---with the
expectation that they would be able to resolve the difficulties. 3
months is more than enough time for them to figure it out and fix it,
but they made no attempt to do so.
Furthermore, I have no recollection of ever signing any sort of a
contract that would require my payment of a $400 cancellation fee, even
should service be cancelled due to non-service of account. Please
forward a copy of any such signed contract that you may have to me. If
Earthlink suggests that I am bound to any sort of agreement that was
agreed to during the installation process of their software on my
computer, please be advised that it was a direcway technician who
completed the installation and that I was not present at all times
during the installation, nor did the technician notify me of any
cancellation fee at any time during the installation, or of any
agreement that needed to be read by me before continuing. Such a
contract is not valid! It is also important to note that at no time did
Earthlink ever send me the software in disk form, nor did the technician
leave any software with me.
I understand that under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act you must
stop contacting me if I ask you to do so. Consider this my request that
you stop all contact with me immediately until such time as you can
PROVE that the service provided to me by Earthlink actually worked, that
there is a SIGNED contract agreeing to this cancellation fee, and that I
did not have a valid reason for exiting the contract (if such a contract
actually EXISTS). Furthermore, your "ring and hangup" calls to me under
the name "CCR" (so far I have recorded a number of these calls) must
also cease.
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 Review by Stooges Fan
UPDATED: 6 years ago
member for 7.1 years, 3970 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Stoogeville
Contract price not specified.
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.
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Review by JPSandi
Posted: 6.4 years ago
member for 6.4 years, 10 visits, last login: 6.3 years ago
Tehachapi,Kern,CA
$69 per month (12 month contract)
about 6 days
"Few..."
"Everything!"
"Stay away!"
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>>>>> June 17, 2003
Okay…
I’ve had this system for a little over two full weeks and I have quickly realized it was almost certainly a mistake.
So far I’ve had error codes out my ying-yang, I’ve had to uninstall and reinstall the software four times each time having to run a web setup that requires a dial up connection to talk to a server somewhere. I’ve had problems with the physical modem, which required me to monkey with the cables and power supply.
And today I finally had my signal just drop off the face of the earth, called tech support, on the phone for over four hrs only to hear “sorry can’t help you we need to kick this up to Network Relations and have them call you.”
They never called…
Problem was my dish was slipping/leaning forward on it’s pole mount.
I have had more trouble in the past five to six days with my internet connection than I have had in the past five or six years with all my previous services combined.
I firmly believe we have been sucked into becoming paying BETA testers for a system that should never see the light of day. The amount of tweaking and prodding one must do to maintain a constant and smooth signal is absurd, if you are not a techno-nerd, degreed computer engineer with a minor in orbital physics or just a downright masochist stay the hell away from satellite internet service.
In the past five days I have spent at least one hour on the phone with technical support each day and today I have spent nearly four hrs only to be told they could not help me and I would need an installer/technician to come back out to my house and recheck everything.
Out of frustration I began tinkering with my dish only to find that it was beginning to lean forward causing my drop in signal.
Someday this service might be good or even great but for now it’s sub par and most definitely not worth the $799.99+$160.00 for install…
And lets not even get started on the FAP (Fair Access Policy) and if you have to ask what the FAP is YOU deffinately need to stay away from Satellite Internet svc.
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Review by henrybowman
UPDATED: 6.6 years ago
member for 6.9 years, 46 visits, last login: 153 days ago
Morristown,Maricopa,AZ
Contract price not specified.
"When it's up, it cruises."
"When it's down, it's like waiting for Earthlink to raise the Titanic."
"If you have no other choice but satellite, use Hughes and eliminate the middleman."
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I live in the desert outback. No DSL, no cable, phone lines that deliver 24Kb on a good day. Satellite was my only choice.
I was one of the first adopters of DirecWay 2-way through Earthlink. It took them while to get it installed, but once they did, it ran with only minor problems... until August of 2002, when it all hit the fan. Product ignorance at Earthlink plus a labyrinthine support relationship with Hughes combined to keep me off the air for most of the next three months.
The autopsy of the entire three-month exercise is available for viewing at »home.earthlink.net/~henrybowmanaz -- "A Horror Story about Earthlink DirecWay Customer Service."
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Earthlink Satellite powered by DIRECWAY
