patrick1853
join:2007-04-18
Flintville, TN | Skyway vs. StarConnect
I'd like to hear from anyone here who has possibly used both. I think a one-way connection may be my best choice and these two seem to be the main ones. |
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firefly
join:2007-10-09
Grantsburg, IL
 ·SkyWay
| Well I've only used Skyway and still use it. Have had it for one month and I'm very happy with it. I posted my review of it in this forum. The only issue I had was the modem firmware seemed to be a little flaky, but that's it. I downloaded the new 700MB Ubuntu 7.10 Linux install cd last night and it went great. Just my two cents...
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Ron Paul 2008 For President
www.ronpaul2008.com |
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rokntroll
join:2007-01-14
Columbus, PA
edit:
October 20th, @08:57AM
| reply to patrick1853
I only have used starconnect but am happy,Ping about 550,downloads run over advertised at 700-1000,they have no contract,I used a primestar dish and picked up a pci card from ebay,ended up with about $120 in system,installed myself.Only thing I am unhappy about is disconnects from landline? I pay $40/mo as was with skyfx,don't really know what brightstar charges..$45 maybe...anything else just ask..... Frank
ps,,They allow 3gb/mo and do allow most p2p |
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phil209
join:2004-09-14
Oakdale, CA
·SkyWay
| reply to patrick1853
I have used both in the last 12 months. I am back with skyway again (I used them before StarConnect and went back to them this summer). The fact I switched form one to the other and not regret it one little bit shows what works best for me, but it is all what works for you, there is no better and worse.
For me the clincher was that Skyway USA supports the self contained modem as their one and only platform. It is not clear whether Starconnect supports the self contained modem and it is not their focus. The modem makes life so much easier if you have more than one computer or want to be wireless within your house. It just works! It does not take long to conect, maybe 20 seconds. Starconnect took 20+ seconds to dial and connect and then another 20 or so to connect the VPN. If the VPN hung up, as it does, it could take a minute to get it up again.
Skyway has a $29.99 plan too, which StarConnect does not have.
If you have trees near you, you could make sure you can hit the respective satellites before you choose.
If you make a mistake, the dishes are the same, so you could switch. Check the commitment part of the contract though.
Phil |
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patrick1853
join:2007-04-18
Flintville, TN
| Phil,
Did you buy a modem for each, or can the same modem be used for both services? I'm almost tempted to order the equipment from Skyway and then sign up with Starconnect, but I doubt that will work.
My big fear is that 4 months after I sign up, Cable will be installed on our road. Thats the main reason I'm tempted by Starconnect's lack of contracts.
Comparing the two, this is what I see so far.
Skyway has better equipment pricing (100 w/ contract, 150 w/o), but they seem to be a little more expensive for regular use when comparing equivalent plans (their unlimited 12:00 - 6:00 usage does help this though). As well as their modem (right now I'm sharing a dial-up connection wirelessly and you lose some functionality by rigging the router that way).
Starconnect's RUP policy seems better as well as no contracts. |
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patrick1853
join:2007-04-18
Flintville, TN
edit:
October 22nd, @04:53PM
| reply to phil209
Double post, but I will add something new.
I just tried contacting Brighstar and only got voicemail. Out of three calls to Skyway over the last few days, I have gotten through to polite, helpful staff everytime. I think that may tip the scales... |
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rokntroll
join:2007-01-14
Columbus, PA | reply to patrick1853
You could try Sue---- stacoy@starconnect.com |
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phil209
join:2004-09-14
Oakdale, CA
·SkyWay
| reply to patrick1853
I bought my modem from another user who had gone to EVDO. If you search you may find someone who will sell you one. But I had a dish too. Without a dish, a modem is not a good deal.
Although it is the same modem on the outside maybe, do not assume it will work for both. They are completely different systems. I used the PCI card for starconnect.
Being able to get hold of someone when you call might be a big factor. Give Skyway a call and say you are thinking about it and do they have any specials or anything see what they say. See if they seem OK to you. Ask them if they have any used modems or anything, try saying phil from CA sent you and instead of his referral he wants you (Patrick) to have the month free. IM me if they need my full name they may not remember me.
Phil |
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Sueatstarconnect
@sbcglobal.net
| reply to rokntroll
just thought I would correct my email you posted  stakoy@starconnect.com also the number to reach me at is 800.610.0174
Thanks
Sue |
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patrick1853
join:2007-04-18
Flintville, TN
| Well I have decided to sign up with Skyway. The two services seem to both be pretty comparable but the lower equipment cost pushed me over to Skyway.
StarConnect's RUP policy looks better, but Skyway's midnight madness time balances that out somewhat. |
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Bamaboy
@bellsouth.net | I too am interested in Skyway. Where can I find their RUP? I've looked all over their website and no luck. |
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Bamaboy
@bellsouth.net | Nevermind, I did some looking and found it myself. I've placed an order, so we'll see if it is good. I had hugenet till August, and they really screwed us one-way users. So, I told them where they could put their system. |
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mwarney
join:2007-12-16 | said by Bamaboy :
Nevermind, I did some looking and found it myself. Where did you find it? |
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mwarney
join:2007-12-16
| I called Skyway and someone emailed the FAP to me. In my opinion, it is totally unacceptable. Am I reading this right? Good grief! If you go over 500mb per month they throttle you down??? Here is what they sent me:
"The current RUP is based on cumulative usage over the previous 30 day period. Please see the chart below for maximum throughputs that can be achieved at each level. The RUP operates on a rolling 30 day basis. The total number of megabytes downloaded in the last thirty days for any given Subscriber is the figure used to calculate the maximum allowed throughput.
The "Kbps" throughput figures listed for each RUP level below are the maximum."
RESIDENTIAL "RUP"
SKYWAY BRONZE PLAN*
0 to 500 MB 256 Kbps
500 to 1000 MB 192 Kbps
1000 to 1500 MB 128 Kbps
1500 to 2500 MB 64 Kbps
2500 + MB 41 Kbps
HOME OFFICE "RUP"
SKYWAY SILVER PLAN*
0 to 500 MB 512 Kbps
500 to 1000 MB 384 Kbps
1000 to 1500 MB 256 Kbps
1500 to 2500 MB 128 Kbps
2500 + MB 64 Kpbs
BUSINESS "RUP"
SKYWAY GOLD PLAN*
0 to 500 MB 768 Kpbs
500 to 1000 MB 576 Kpbs
1000 to 1500 MB 384 Kpbs
1500 to 2500 MB 192 Kpbs
2500 + MB 64 Kpbs |
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firefly
join:2007-10-09
Grantsburg, IL
·SkyWay
| Hi mwarney,
No, your not totally reading that correctly, there's more to it that needs explanation. I have the Gold plan and can do over 500MB in one night easily without affecting my speed or monthly limit. I've had my Skyway since September and use it all the time and I don't think I've ever been throttled. On the Gold plan, what Skyway is telling you is that, you get up to 768Kpbs speed for the first 500MB of usuage without counting the Midnight Madness usage. Then after using between 500 to 1GB of usage your speed is then up to 576Kpbs and so on. In other words you could use 2.5GB of data and then be dropped down to 64Kpbs, which works out to be around 83MB per day of usage "before Midnight Madness usage." Midnight Madness is every night between 12am to 6am your local time and you can download as much as you want without it affecting your speed or monthly limit. That's 6 hours every night! Hughesnet and Wildblue don't give that much free time. You could surf the net for some time each day with that 83MB during the day, and save your major downloads for the nightly Midnight Madness time zone. Sometimes, I get burst rates near 1Mbps during downloads.
Even after surfing the web for several hours a day and then downloading alot of stuff at Midnight Madness night time I've never noticed Skyway throttling my speed. From what I've noticed Skyway uses traffic shaping on your connection which helps manage your speed alot better. I can download a couple of gigabytes of stuff in a couple of nights or so without any problem. Youtube videos play great, etc. And from my experience with them, it would seem that the RUP is more of a loose guideline than a "set-in-stone" policy. I'm very happy with the service, it works great, very nice customer support, easy to install. Click on my Skyway review link under my username for more information. That's my two cents.
--
Ron Paul 2008 For President
www.ronpaul2008.com |
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mwarney
join:2007-12-16
edit:
December 19th, @05:25PM
| I guess I don't really have a good handle on what my usage would be. I've always had cable for my internet so I've never had to keep track. 500mb just seems like a very small number these days. I mean, just about every web page I open has some sort of streaming media coming at me. I'm guessing I would hit that 2500mb withing the first week or so which means that most of the time I would be running slower than dial up (I'm actually getting between 80 and 90 kbps both up and down on my dial up). I do like the pricing, and the easy installation. I guess I should run some kind of monitoring software to see what my traffic is like now for basic email and web surfing. I can always do the software downloads after midnight.
Do you know if I can connect this system directly to a router for a shared connection on my network? How about the satellite... How high is it above the horizon? How would I know if I can "see" it? I have Dish Network for my TV and that is no problem but I've heard some of these satellites are very low on the horizon.
So if you spread this out evenly over 30 days, (83 mb per day) wouldn't you be running at 64kbps all the time? In any case, it looks to me like you will be getting reduced bandwidth the majority of the time. |
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u2builder
join:2007-12-20
Alstead, NH
| Firefly, I have a question. I downloaded Leechget which you mentioned, but can't figure out how to schedule the download. I find the schedule icon, but I set it and then it changes back to current time. This may be impossible to explain, but if you have used this and know, please give me a hint.
Mwarney, I think the Skyway Sat is higher than Wild Blue. I didn't want to try Wild Blue because it was marginal and the installer wanted $100 just to tell me if I could actually get it. Skyway and Direct TV seem to have exactly the same coordinates. I think Skyway is on AMC 4. Somewhere on the Skyway site you can punch in your zip and get the azimuth and elevation. Or if you email them they will tell you. Or call them. Real people answer the phone which also helped sell me. I have always gotten a real person without listening to any messages, pushing any numbers, or waiting.
I have my computer connected to a Linksys G router, which connects to the Skyway modem. It works great. My son and I can both be on our separate computers at the same time. This is a huge advantage over dialup. Years ago I bought a router, only to find out they didn't work with dialup. |
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mwarney
join:2007-12-16 | Thanks... I think I'll gove them a call |
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firefly
join:2007-10-09
Grantsburg, IL
·SkyWay
| reply to patrick1853
Hi mwarney,
I think you're mistaken about your dial-up speeds being 80-90kbps up and down. There is no way dial-up can perform at that speed. Dial-up at best is 4-5kbps. Your numbers would indicate a broadband connection like DSL. Are you sure you're not talking about DSL running through the phone jack? Even a 64Kbps connection would be better than dial-up, since a dial-up connection can't be higher than 53Kbps due to FCC regulations.
Anyway, u2builder is correct, you can use a router with the Skyway modem. I use a Linksys wireless router and it works great. Take u2builder's suggestion and visit the Skyway website and use the zip code satellite finder page to locate your elevation information for your area. You'll need a clear view of the southern sky region. My dish is mounted on the side of a chimney on top of the house.
As far as going through 2.5GB in a week, you would have to be watching alot of videos, downloading alot during the day, before Midnight Madness zone, to use that up. I've used more than 100MB, before the free time zone, several times and not noticed any throttling. Normal web surfing without watching videos doesn't really take that much data. You could watch a few Youtube videos, and still surf the web during the day, but if you're going to be watching alot of videos and downloading alot, save that for the 12am Midnight Madness zone and you should be ok. Since having my Skyway since September and uses it almost everyday and downloading stuff at night, I have never seen or even approached the 64Kbps only speeds that is stated in the RUP. Strange I know, but it's true. I'm thinking that the traffic shaping actually helps alot with this. From what I've noticed, Skyway's systems regulate your connection all the time. If you have the Gold plan, you're not being served webpages at the full 768Kbps speed. You don't need 768Kbps to just surf so the system serves the pages at 300-400Kbps and regulates the left over speed to other users. When you request more data than a webpage, lets say a 200MB video file, then the system notices that you need more speed and will ramp up your speed to your top speed of your Gold plan of 768Kbps until the download is complete. This speed regulation or traffic shaping helps everyone on the Skyway network. Skyway needs to offer alot more detailed explanation on their website along with the RUP to help people understand how the system performs. That's my two cents.
--
Ron Paul 2008 For President
www.ronpaul2008.com |
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firefly
join:2007-10-09
Grantsburg, IL
·SkyWay
| reply to patrick1853
Hi u2builder,
I rarely boot into Windows since I use Linux like 99.9% of the time. It's been a long time since I used Leechget, I just remembered it had a scheduler in it and thought that it would help people who didn't want to stay up all night downloading stuff.
I went to the official Leechget website and they have the free version and a Premium version. I'm wondering if you have to pay for the Premium version in order to get the scheduler?
--
Ron Paul 2008 For President
www.ronpaul2008.com |
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