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Report: #84894

Complaint Review: Direcway Satellite Provider - Internet

  • Submitted:
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  • Reported By: Berry Alabama
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  • Direcway Satellite Provider www.direcway.net Internet U.S.A.

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Less than 5 months ago we purchased a Direcway Satellite system for our computer. We has just moved to a rural area where Cable and DSL and not provided yet. We watched the Demo on their parent companys Satellite "DirecTV" and it was amazing how fast it worked on the infomercial.

However once installed we learned a fast hard lesson in bait and switch. This system is barely faster than dial up if at all. It is very undependable. If the sun is not shining and clear skys from here to the provider there is no service. We have called many times, we even tried to return the system. They told us we could return it but it would cost us $300.00 for someone to come out and remove it from the roof of our house, and then we would need to hire a roofer to patch the holes left from the bolts that atached the dish to the roof.

Needless to say we were not going to pay them anymore after already giving them $500.00 for the system, plus $150.00 for the so called free instalation. Now they are still billing us. We cannot get them to take our calls at all. I would suggest anyone considering this system or company to stick with your current form of connection. They have even said it is not thier system that is slow it's our computer, yet this is the same computer that was connected to DSL in Florida, and we had lighting fast service and the service was always there and never interupted.

If someone plans to file a class action law suite against them we would certainly Be interested

Jessie
Berry, Alabama
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 03/22/2004 03:21 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/direcway-satellite-provider/internet/direcway-satellite-provider-ripoff-this-unit-is-not-much-faster-than-dail-up-if-the-weathe-84894. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
18Consumer
1Employee/Owner

#19 Consumer Comment

terrible service

AUTHOR: Lee - (Canada)

POSTED: Friday, October 20, 2006

I live in a rural area and unfortunately signed a 2 year contract with direcway thinking the original service I recieved would last the duration of the contract. Yeah.

Well after the first 4 months the trouble started. Slow speeds and constant rebooting to try to maintain mediocre dial up speeds.
Customer service informed me that I needed to upgrade my system to get better service and would provide me with the necessary equipment for free IF I signed on for 2 additional years and paid an extra 10 bucks a month.

My line of thinking is that I should recieve the same service that I signed the contract for with no additional payments on my part or the original contract is null and void. Regardless, my experience has not been a good one and I will no longer be using their highly over priced, over rated service.

There is now high speed service available in my area for less than half the price and god only knows how many times faster than the vertical bird bath that's bolted to my roof for the moment, and I will be happily making the switch regardless of the contract.

Lee
Grahamdale, Manitoba

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#18 Consumer Comment

DirecWay/HughesNet is the worst thing ever...

AUTHOR: Dustin - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, August 18, 2006

Being that I also live in a rural area where nothing BUT dial-up is available, my mom decided to go with DirecWay since we had DirecTv and it seemed like a decent alternative. Little did we know that they don't just stretch the truth in their ads, they pretty much flat out lie.

The weather thing is also true here as well. If there's a cloud in the sky, you're not getting a signal.(BTW: Does everyone else not get anything over 70 signal strength? Seems ignorant that it's built to operate at 70% of capacity...)
I've recently graduated with a with a degree in computer networking and I am a certified in PC Repair, so I know enough to know they know nothing and try to blame their problems on the customer. I've had three years to get all of the kinks out of my network and make sure that the fault is not in my pc's.

I'm unaware of this Fair Access Policy someone mentioned, but it would explain a lot of why I'm downloading at 4kBs and still can't surf the net while it's downloading.

When you call, after an hour of waiting, you get to talk to a foreigner you can barely understand that knows nothing about computers. If you get lucky you get to the advanced tech support they are english speaking but still dumber than a box of rocks. They have insisted for 3 years that is is my router when I'm accessing the DirecWay box and still have all my my networking capabilities through the router and also the same problems whe I don't go through the router. Then they tried to tell me that static electricity was to blame from having the computers on for long periods of time. We have had installers out here three times and the last one "completely replaced all our equipment", even though we still have the same DW6000 and dish...
Just so others can compare, our top problems are:
- Slow download speeds at times (>20kBs)
- Extremely slow surfing speeds
- Loss of Web Acceleration
- Satellite Linkage Outage Errors (Error 506)
- Fair weather loss of signal
- Inexperienced tech support
- Failure to meet customer expectations
(And I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting.)
Along with the high cost of installation, the neverending headaches from calling, and the poor service, there is NO reason to subscribe to this service. You're best alternatives are to wait for something better or move out of the area into one with other broadband options.

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#17 Consumer Comment

Jim from Iowa

AUTHOR: J - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I can still hear the download speed screaming past my third floor window. I'm glad this was posted because I had been considering them as an internet provider.

I moved to the middle of nowhere several years ago and I'm lucky if I get 28.8. Once it tried to sign me on as 14.4.

I've also looked at Blue Sky. Does anyone know anything about them? I swear that there are days I can walk faster than surf via dial-up. I also had a cable internet before I moved. What a downgrade.

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#16 Consumer Comment

non functioning directway scam system

AUTHOR: Jack - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, August 16, 2006

the service is blazing fast at first and then a few months down the road it continues to slow down until you get about ten minutes of internet access in the morning and tem minutes in the evening. It you enjoy surfing the net dont get directway! I am back to dial up, at least i can go online! too many customers and not enough satellite capacity. total ripoff, I just hot carded my debit card and removed the antenna off my building, havent heard anything from those crooks! I am going to put the LNB and modem on e bay. maybe get some of my money back on this scam

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#15 Consumer Comment

985K down

AUTHOR: Jim - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, August 09, 2006

I have to agree with Paul from Calif. If you think you are getting 985K down it is only because that is the speed it obtained when you threw it off the top of the 80 story building you were in.

Apparently you you have tried to run a bulldozer through 8 feet of concrete, fortunately the rest of us are smart enough to not try that.

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#14 Consumer Comment

a matter of overloading the system

AUTHOR: Heidi - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, January 27, 2006

I have spoken to a person who works in the field of Satellite high speed internet and he explained to me that Direcway usually works at a good speed for a short while. Then more and more customers are added to the same frequency and the speed gets slower and slower. So, it's just a matter of overloading the system.

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#13 Consumer Comment

a matter of overloading the system

AUTHOR: Heidi - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, January 27, 2006

I have spoken to a person who works in the field of Satellite high speed internet and he explained to me that Direcway usually works at a good speed for a short while. Then more and more customers are added to the same frequency and the speed gets slower and slower. So, it's just a matter of overloading the system.

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#12 Consumer Comment

a matter of overloading the system

AUTHOR: Heidi - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, January 27, 2006

I have spoken to a person who works in the field of Satellite high speed internet and he explained to me that Direcway usually works at a good speed for a short while. Then more and more customers are added to the same frequency and the speed gets slower and slower. So, it's just a matter of overloading the system.

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#11 Consumer Comment

a matter of overloading the system

AUTHOR: Heidi - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, January 27, 2006

I have spoken to a person who works in the field of Satellite high speed internet and he explained to me that Direcway usually works at a good speed for a short while. Then more and more customers are added to the same frequency and the speed gets slower and slower. So, it's just a matter of overloading the system.

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#10 Consumer Comment

Direcway should have a class action suit brought

AUTHOR: Sheila - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, October 28, 2005

Just like you, I moved to a rural area with no cable or DSL. Since I had DirecTV and it worked fine even during storms, I thought the satellite internet would also. WRONG! I spent more time on the phone to tech support than I did on the internet. I could understand problems if it was raining where I live but it seems if there is a cloud in the sky anywhere between you and Maryland, the reception goes down. There were also numerous web sites that I could not access. Another problem I had was ordering software on the internet. Some places would only allow orders from the United States, but the satellite gives the impression you are from out of the country.

I feel Direcway should be honest and inform customers of the potential problems. Also, I was ripped off on installation. The person came to install the system and refused to continue if I did not pay an extra $150 - he said it was for the additional trouble of having to run wires through my attic. I disputed this with Direcway to no avail.

Now I have a useless huge satellite contraption in my yard blocking my bedroom window. I would be willing to almost give it away just for someone to come and remove it.

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#9 Consumer Suggestion

Update on Direcway

AUTHOR: Kristi - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, October 28, 2005

Ok, so I said they were not getting another dime out of me. Well, they think I should still pay them another $103.00. I have now filed another complaint with the BBB. Let's see if I get their attention again.

You can not advertise one thing, give customers something else and expect to get away with it. I would love to know of any possible class action suit against this company. Not only does their equipment not work, their technical support is a major headache. I have wasted valuable time (sometimes over 3 hours) on the phone with their technical support and their guy unable to fix anything.

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#8 Consumer Comment

Direcway problems

AUTHOR: Kristi - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, September 28, 2005

I reported Direcway to the Better Business Bureau and apparently that got a mild dose of attention. I was contacted by a representative of Direcway and wanted to know how we could work out our differences. I explained I was extremely dissatisfied with Direcway's performance and customer service.
She told me she would have one of her technicians handle my case. Never heard from the guy. A few weeks later a different lady called and said she was replacing the first lady. She told me she'd have one of her guys call me. No call again.
They did give me two months credit. Are they getting another dime out of me? No.

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#7 Consumer Comment

Direcway problems

AUTHOR: Kristi - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, September 28, 2005

I reported Direcway to the Better Business Bureau and apparently that got a mild dose of attention. I was contacted by a representative of Direcway and wanted to know how we could work out our differences. I explained I was extremely dissatisfied with Direcway's performance and customer service.
She told me she would have one of her technicians handle my case. Never heard from the guy. A few weeks later a different lady called and said she was replacing the first lady. She told me she'd have one of her guys call me. No call again.
They did give me two months credit. Are they getting another dime out of me? No.

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#6 Consumer Comment

Direcway problems

AUTHOR: Kristi - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, September 28, 2005

I reported Direcway to the Better Business Bureau and apparently that got a mild dose of attention. I was contacted by a representative of Direcway and wanted to know how we could work out our differences. I explained I was extremely dissatisfied with Direcway's performance and customer service.
She told me she would have one of her technicians handle my case. Never heard from the guy. A few weeks later a different lady called and said she was replacing the first lady. She told me she'd have one of her guys call me. No call again.
They did give me two months credit. Are they getting another dime out of me? No.

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#5 Consumer Comment

Direcway problems

AUTHOR: Kristi - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, September 28, 2005

I reported Direcway to the Better Business Bureau and apparently that got a mild dose of attention. I was contacted by a representative of Direcway and wanted to know how we could work out our differences. I explained I was extremely dissatisfied with Direcway's performance and customer service.
She told me she would have one of her technicians handle my case. Never heard from the guy. A few weeks later a different lady called and said she was replacing the first lady. She told me she'd have one of her guys call me. No call again.
They did give me two months credit. Are they getting another dime out of me? No.

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#4 Consumer Suggestion

I don't give a d**n if the satellite is revolving around Jupiter. The company had an obligation to accurately describe the performance.

AUTHOR: Paul - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, September 18, 2005

I don't care where the satellite is. That's directway's problem.

Tell me what service you have. What's the average speed? And, what interference can I expect. If you describe your service accurately, you won't get sued.

If you don't, the villagers will run you out of town with torches and pitchforks.

26,000 miles. You freakin' moron. I sounds like your brain is 26,000 miles outside of your head.

What if somebody handed you a $5 bill and told you it was really a $20 bill? Are you happy losing fifteen bucks?

It's the same here. Stupid satellite nonsense doesn't work. The complaint was right on the money. If directway told them that, they would never have purchased it in the first place.

And, if you have 985K down, you ain't hooked to a satellite, you're surfing on somebody's WIFI connection.

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#3 Consumer Comment

Nope Robert, speed test is totally inflated

AUTHOR: David - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, September 18, 2005

DIrecways speed test is totally inflated. If you go to DSL reports or any other speed test they will show you the real direway speed results. Which the uploads speeds are more like 28k

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#2 REBUTTAL Individual responds

Court saw things our way.

AUTHOR: Jessie - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, November 20, 2004

Being that Direct way failed to explain all this to us, and failed to get the proper permits in my City. After the judge heard both sides we did win our Case this last January. We were refunded the amount of the system, the cost paid for service, and all legal fees. So much for the 26,000 mile theroy. Bottom line is you have to disclose everything to the comsumer. As the judge saw, Direcway failed to do that.

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#1 Consumer Comment

Sorry...I hate to break it to you, but...

AUTHOR: Robert - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, November 19, 2004

Folks, I hate to tell you this, but NO satellite system, doesn't matter what it is or who it's from, ever works when the weather is bad. You need to cool off and think rationally. Terrestrial satellite systems are communicating from the ground to a satellite in space that is about 26,000 miles away. Do you honestly, under any circumstances believe in your right mind that the path of communication will work when it's obstructed? I think not. Try driving a bulldozer through a concrete wall 8 feet thick. Tell me if you can do it. Filing a lawsuit? Ha! Give me a break. You would never win. No matter what court you took that one to, you would be shot down in an instant by either the judge or the jury. Why? Because they all know exactly the same thing I am telling you now. On a final note, I have Direcway service and I am getting 985K down and about 350K up. If you're having problems, I'd start by checking out what you might be doing wrong, then question them. And I didn't know that there was such a thing as a class-action "suite". What hotel is that in? Learn to spell!

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