Review by Freegoo Location: Larrabee, Cherokee, IA, USA Cost: $49 per month (12 month contract) Install: about 30 days It's fast till you are Fapped. Fap policy extremely limiting, doesn't lift for 30 days. Not a very good alternative to dialup

*** Final Update 3/21/03 ***

I have removed my original review as it doesn't really pertain to the new service with the "Reasonable Usage Policy". I have talked to IWC and it looks like the RUP is being shoved down their throats by the Satellite company providing the service to IWC (iSat Platform). If you are an IWC customer and don't agree with this new policy I suggest you contact iSat Platform (»www.isatplatform.com/contact.asp). There is nothing IWC can do to get the RUP removed.

As to the R.U.P. I describe that in more detail below, but consider this: on a dialup modem you can go over the day's limit in AN HOUR. And then you don't have to deal with Satellite latency or the proxy (which many programs just don't get along with). It's a stretch to call the service broadband when a dialup modem seems more attractive. If your only option for broadband is satellite I recomend looking at DirecPC, their FAP is more forgiving and lifts much faster.

My dealings with IWC have been mostly positive. Service was very good prior to RUP, and they genuinely wanted to help. My only complaints with IWC directly was that emails rarely got answered unless initiated through phone tech support first and I found myself on hold a lot. When setting up my service they were all pretty patiant and helpful with the problems I was having.

*** UPDATED 3/1/03: ***
Not sure when they updated their policy, but as of March 1st IWC now has a FAP. Im not sure how everything is calculated but their website states that you are alloted up to 16 megs download PER DAY. Thats far worse than DirecPC's which is somewhere in the ballpark of 200 megs in a 4 hour period.

Here are their limits:
Downloaded MB in last 30 day period 
Maximum Service Bandwidth
0 MB  to 500 MB 400 kbps
500 MB   to 1000 MB  300 kbps
1000 + MB  to 1500 MB 200 kbps
1500 + MB  to 2500 MB 100 kbps
2500 + MB 64 kbps

These are LOW limits and already I am at 100 kbps limitation, and the FAP doesn't release for 31 days! It's nice that the ISP implemented a CHANGE in our aggreement without so much as emailing their users a notice of it.

Due to these changes, I would NOT recomend IWC for your broadband access. If your only choice for broadband is satellite DirecWay's FAP policy is at least more forgiving.

Here is website detailing IWC's new "Reasonable Usage Policy":
»home.iwc.net/rup.htm

snipper_cr Premium Member join:2002-01-22 Wheaton, IL snipper_cr Premium Member 2002-Dec-31 12:23 pm Oneway/Twoway? I assume this was one way no SRS? 2002-Dec-31 12:23 pm: · hey mods ·
	Freegoo join:2002-12-11 Larrabee, IA Freegoo Member 2003-Jan-1 1:11 pm Re: Oneway/Twoway? IWC is one-way. The two way options seemed too expensive to me, and based on posts I read in the satellite forums sounded like their upload speeds were underwelming. A dialup ISP is included with the price and they seem to have dealings with other ISP's as my dialup is through a local ISP in town. Sorry I didn't make it clear about it being one way in the review. 2003-Jan-1 1:11 pm: · hey mods ·
RetroMUFC Center Forward join:2003-02-05 Bethel, NC RetroMUFC Member 2003-Mar-1 9:46 am What the hell? I see from their "reasonable use policy" that they drop you to 300kbps if you download more than 16-33MB a day. From their RUP: "Users averaging up to 16 MB per day will receive service at up to 400 Kbps; those averaging between 16 and 33 MB per day will be limited to 300 Kbps speeds. " That is incredibly pathetic! If you can only download that small amount of data each day what is the point of "broadband" satellite? I can sit on a 56K and download 20MB an hour and in two hours I have already downloaded more that they would allow. With a 400kbps connection you would max that out in 15 minutes easy. I'm sorry but that is just plain stupid, you might as well have dialup. I just got the Direcway SRS system and I have to say that it is pretty darn good. Of course it really is no comparison to cable or dsl, but it is better that dialup and even better than my isdn IMHO. I frequently download from newsgroups, usually about 150 to 200 MB a night over a few hour span, and I haven't had any problems so far. Why don't you get out of their service? I'd tell them just how crappy their service is and that they could collect their dish from the bottom of the nearest river. Even if you are locked into some type of contract, I would think that you could find a loophole. With them making such drastic and unreasonable changes to their access policy I don't see how they could uphold that. 2003-Mar-1 9:46 am: · hey mods ·
	Freegoo join:2002-12-11 Larrabee, IA Freegoo Member 2003-Mar-1 9:49 pm Re: What the hell? Indeed. DirecPC looks better and better all the time. Guess it's a good thing I held on to my old dish, although I am considering upgrading to their two way system. 2003-Mar-1 9:49 pm: · hey mods ·
your comment..

Review by lutherberry1 Location: Otway, Scioto, OH, USA Cost: $49 per month (month by month) Install: about 7 days Personal touch, great sales dept., top notch tech support Mistake by hardware provider caused a little confusion If your looking for a One Way connection you can't go wrong

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Mail,DNS,News: Value for money:

After moving to the country and leaving broadband behind for over a year I decided to go with satellite internet. hat a great decission to go with IWC, these guys and gals have been great from the day I called to inquirte about the service to the day I went live. I chose the self install which was quite easy especially if you have installed a Direct TV or Dish satellite, but not overwhelming if you haven't.

I went live just 7 days after placing my order. The only bad experience was rather minor. The company providing the Hardware sent the wrong software cd which caused aboiut a couple of hours of problems authenticating, but tech support was on the ball and had me up and running quickly. In addition it was very refreshing to call tech support and get the same person eliminating the hassle of repeating my problem over and over.

My hats off to Susan, Mike, Dave and Phil at IWC. One happy customer here.

Luther Berry

andrew171 join:2003-09-22 Saline, MI andrew171 Member 2003-Oct-4 11:05 am It's Great! So Far I had IWC Sattelite for almost three weeks, and so far, it's been great. I was going to go with Direcway, but the uploads are terrible and being that I have a website, I needed uploads at least as good as a phone line. I also did not like the latency from the two way services as well. Many of the user reports were from unhappy users, but some were good reports. Anyway after thinking about it for a long time, I went with IWC. The service is fast,reliable and I have not yet been disconnected from the phone line, When you enter a site, there's a short wait for the phone line to send the request,which I barely notice, but once it's sent, the page loads fast and the downloads are fast. They advertise a speed on 400k, but I usually have a speed between 500 and 550k! This sure beats dial-up and I'm really happy with it. I pay $45.95 a month for the service, and the equipment was $120,I choose to install it myself, which is not too hard. The customer support is okay. I used it three times while installing the service. I was on hold for about 20 minutes, which is longer then I should have to wait, but once you get someone,they are a great help! The worse part about Tech support is that they are only open on Weekdays from 10-9 and then Saturdays from 8-12 Because of my scedule, it would be nice if they were open more and the Level two techs were there longer as well. Isatplatform's (Isatplatform powers the sattelite) RUP (Reasonable use policy) is rather limiting. Even thaough I'm not a heavy downloader and don't download much, I would still like to have the freedom to download more then 16mb a day without having them decrease my speed.The More you go over the limit, the more it's decreasted and you have to wait 31 days for the limit to release. If you want a good,quiality and cost effective service go with IWC. For more Info, go to: »www.skysurfer.net 2003-Oct-4 11:05 am: · hey mods ·

your comment..