Satellite Internet: DirecWay

DirecWay offers one way and two way satellite Internet access to residential users nationwide. Resellers of the DirecWay network offer two way satellite Internet service to business users in the absence of a DirecWay branded product for small businesses.

DirecWay, a product of Hughes Network Systems (HNS), is offered via four satellites located over the equator in geosynchronous orbit. Galaxy 11 located at 91 degrees West, SatMex 5 located at 116.8 West, Galaxy 3R at 95 degrees West and GE1 at 103 degrees West. DirecWay utilizes the 11.7 to 12.2 GHz Ku band of frequency to provide two way satellite Internet access.

Equipment required at the service location includes the DirecWay outdoor equipment – dish, transmitter and LNB – as well as the indoor equipment, the IRU (Indoor Receiving Unit) and the ITU (Indoor Transmitting Unit). The required DirecWay equipment is included in all DirecWay satellite Internet packages.

DirecWay’s equipment connects into the PC via a USB cable. The USB connection must go directly into the PC, as the connection will not work properly without the benefit of the satellite Internet access acceleration software installed on the PC. DirecWay is not recommended for applications that require low latency, such as online gaming, PCAnywere or VPN.

DirecWay provides one of the lowest cost satellite Internet connections available in the U.S. today. The DirecWay service is designed for occasional use residential environments that do not download large amounts of data. DirecWay’s service is governed by the FAP (Fair Access Policy) which will automatically throttle a DirecWay customer’s connection back to dialup speed if the user exceeds the amount of bandwidth allotted in a certain period of time.

DirecWay service can be coupled with the DirecTV DBS TV service. With the addition of a DBS kit for DirecWay, the equipment is capable of providing DirecTV service for TV. While the prices for the equipment vary with the current promotions, the price is nominal. Note: The monthly service cost for DirecTV is not included with the DirecWay monthly fee.