Online Poker via Satellite Internet - Input Please

Rooster71 · #1 04-25-2005, 01:28 AM

I am sick and tired of dial-up internet service. I live in a rural area where broadband is not available. I am considering DirecTV's satellite internet service, but I am seeking advice from people who have actually used it. Anyone?

It's not just a speed issue, I would also like to free up my phone line. But speed is probably 75% of my reason for wanting to upgrade. Their website said that satellite service may not work for some (twitch) games. What is a "twitch" game? I assume online poker would not fall into this category. Any ideas?

Any input is appreciated.

-Rob

Nfinity · #2 04-25-2005, 01:57 AM

Satellite Internet is fine for Online poker.

My experience with this type of connenction may be a little biased, (it was relatively new to the provider), but my biggest beef with it was a disconnect problem that required resetting the modem(this happened like, twice a month). It would be problematic for games like FPS where some lag every once in a while would present a problem, but with online poker, it's fine.

brazilio · #3 04-25-2005, 01:59 AM

Satellite blows, end of story. And DirecWay is the worst possible Satellite service you could get. But I use it to play, and it's fine as long as you can deal with weather disconnections and horrific upstream.

Eratosthenes · #4 04-25-2005, 02:00 AM

By twitch games they mean shooters like doom, etc., where reaction time is important. Playing these games on line with a satellite connection would suck.

My brother has the DirecTV satellite internet service and I'm there about 2 months/year. I play my normal amount of poker when I'm there (15k hands/month). I have no problem using party skins through DirecWay--PokerRoom.com is not at all happy with DirecWay. Apparently there are different grades of service through DirecWay. My brother has the best (most expensive) home service and his dish is bigger and more expensive than the regular TV dish. His dish is more ellipitical (sorry don't know equipment numbers, etc.).

One aggravating thing about DirecWay is that when you hit a certain (secret) level of bandwidth usage they will slow your connection for 12 hours or so. This doesn't affect poker, but is a pain in the ass for downloading, etc. If you just do poker, surfing, and email you will probably never hit the cap.

I think he pays about $120/month for TV and internet. The TV service supplies a very high quality signal. I don't think you can get just internet, but don't take my word for it. Look at direcway.com.

brazilio · #5 04-25-2005, 02:05 AM

The secret level is 160MB downloaded in like a 3 hour period. Then they screw you into dialup speeds.

Kevin K. · #6 04-25-2005, 02:10 AM

I had their satellite Internet service back before I could get cable or DSL in my area. I don't remember exactly how long ago that was, maybe 5 years. That was when it was called DirecPC. Download was via satellite but you had to use your phoneline for upload back then, lol. It was still WAY better than dialup.

We had the service for around a year and never had issues with it as far as downtime, etc. Customer service was good and it performed as promised. It's gotta be hella faster now, too, with the upload going satellite instead of phoneline.

I give it a thumbs up. Do anything you can to get away from dialup, hehe.

"Twitch" games are fast reflex games: first person shooters, etc.

*edit* I just saw what Brazilio said about upstream. It could easily be the case. Like I said, 5 years ago and upload was via phonline, so I dunno. Bottom line I guess is, if dialup and satellite are your only options, it's satellite hands down.

brazilio · #7 04-25-2005, 02:15 AM

[ QUOTE ]
That was when it was called DirecPC. Download was via satellite but you had to use your phoneline for upload back then, lol. It was still WAY better than dialup.

[/ QUOTE ]

And this is still true for most satellite systems.

StellarWind · #8 04-25-2005, 08:47 AM

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His dish is more ellipitical

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The elliptical shape allows the antenna to receive two different satellites at the same time. One broadcasts TV and the other provides internet service.

Rooster71 · #9 04-25-2005, 10:49 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I just saw what Brazilio said about upstream. It could easily be the case. Like I said, 5 years ago and upload was via phonline, so I dunno. Bottom line I guess is, if dialup and satellite are your only options, it's satellite hands down.

[/ QUOTE ]
When you guys say "upload", do you mean any data sent from the user's PC? If so, wouldn't the user have to have a phone line tied up?

AncientPC · #10 04-25-2005, 12:28 PM

Yes.