An offshoot of
DirecTV that allows people to get high-speed internet over a
satellite dish. It is one of the only
broadband options available to people in rural areas.
I don't use the service...every time I've thought about it, I've read opinions that it sucks. It has several drawbacks:
- Download Only - You can only receive data from the satellite link. Therefore you must use (and pay for) a dial-up ISP to upload data, and therefore it's not an always-on connection.
- Hardware - You must buy special hardware including a dish that doesn't match the DirecTV dish. They have a combo dish called DirecDuo that does the TV and PC for more $. The hardware is not very cheap.
- Pricing - They charge by the number of hours you use...which could get expensive for heavy use.
- Bandwidth throttling - I've heard that DirecPC cuts back on the bandwidth of heavy users...sort of defeating the purpose of using the dish for big downloads in the first place.
- Geosynchronous Orbit - Data must be beamed up to the satellite and then down to you, taking a long trip through space. This means that while bulk data transfers can be quick, response to your click on a link won't be.
Not too impressive. I guess we who don't live in the big cities will just have to wait for
DSL or
Cable Modems to trickle down.
Another option might be
Starband which is a 2-way satellite connection...expensive too.