DirecPC vs. DirecWay

[Jason]

I currently have the old style grey DirecPC dish. I received an upgrade offer from Hughes where I can get a new white dish DirecWay system free of charge. I wanted to know if anyone has done the upgrade yet and if DirecWay provides the same download quality or better than DirecPC.

Does anyone see any downsides to this upgrade?

Will I still be able to use the same cable that I am currently using on my DirecPC?

[Neil Derryberry]

Two-way satellite for free? sounds like a deal to me, unless cable modem or dsl is an option for you. If not, take it!

[Jason]

No, it is NOT the 2-way version...it is still the 1-way version. The only difference I know of is that the new dish is white instead of grey and they use a different modem and software. I think it also uses a different satellite but I'm not 100% sure.

[lba02]

The DirecWAY DW1000 system is the one-way system that requires a modem. The DirecWAY DW2000 is the two-way system. The DW1000 and DW2000 appear to be the enterprise editions (the dish is round). The consumer ones are the DirecWAY 3000, which is one-way and the DirecWAY 4000, which is a two-way system (the dish is elliptical). The DirecWAY systems are like the next generation of the DirecPC system. They started out as the DirecPC Enterprise Edition but evolved into DirecWAY. Does the offer tell you which one they are offering?

[Jason]

I'm not sure what the model number of the system is? I just e-mailed tech support to get more imformation on that. I will post a followup once I get the reply back from them.

I installed my current DirecPC dish without any problems finding a good signal. I am under the impression that the DirecWay dish uses totally different satellites and that it is much harder to point it and find a good signal. Can anyone confirm that?

Also, will my existing cable work or will I need to do brand new cable runs? I just have the old standard cable currently run.

[lba02]

It appears that DirecWAY transmits on several transponders on several satellites. I found listings for DirecWAY on the following satellites: Galaxy 11 @ 91.0 West, Galaxy 3C @ 95.0 West, Galaxy 4R @ 99.0 West, AMC 1 @ 103.0 West and SatMex 5 @ 116.8 West. The only listing I found for DirecPC was DirecPC Canada on Nimiq 1 @ 91.0 West. Since DirecPC and DirecWAY are basically the same service, they may just list transmissions as DirecWAY.

If you get the two-way system (DW4000) you will not be able to install the dish/system yourself, it will have to be professionally installed. The FCC requires that two-way satellite system be installed by a professional installer. The one-way DW3000 system can be self-installed.

[lba02]

It also appears that Hughes is doing away with the DirecPC equipment in favor of the DirecWAY equipment. When you go to the DirecPC web site (www.direcpc.com) they have an offer listed on the front page for current DirecPC to upgrade to the DirecWAY two-way system. Also when you click on the link labeled as "DirecPC System" or "I Want It" and then click on the link to get DirecPC you are taken to the DirecWAY web site.

[PSB]

You will be able to use the cable that you use now, unless its a two way system then you will need an extra cable run, they seem to change satellite often, so if you go two way or just one way they may need to re- aim your dish to a different satellite, but they are flexable if you have no line of sight to the preffered satellite in your region!

[Jason]

Does anyone know if you can use the "old-style" DirecPC dish for one-way DirecWay?

On my upgrade letter notice it states that "Upgrade equipment supplied to DirecPC Data-only customers consist of software and an Internal Receive Unit (IRU)."

This sounds to me like I will be able to use my existing DirecPC dish for the free DirecWay upgrade.

Can anyone confirm this? I think I will just have to repoint my existing dish to a new satellite location.