Satellite Access a Mixed Bag

Nice, but No Walk in the Park

My tests found the system was definitely faster than a phone modem. Downloading individual files, like movie trailers and hefty software programs, was lightning fast. However, average Web-site surfing speed wasn't quite as breakneck as direct file downloads. And uploading files like large e-mail attachments was as slow as ever.

Because of this harsh disparity between download versus upload speeds, applications like Internet telephony and videoconferencing, and networked games like Quake remain chained to the realities of the narrow-band world of dial-up modems.

The DirecPC installation process can only be described as unwieldy. Not only do you have to futz with a satellite modem and temperamental proprietary DirecPC software, you must install a satellite dish outside your house.

Hughes has made things easier by upgrading its technology to support USB modems, so you don't have to open your computer and install an internal model. But still, you can't get around climbing onto your roof and mounting a satellite dish (or paying a professional about $200 to do it).

Almost Always On

Unlike its cable and DSL broadband rivals, satellite isn't "always on," which is perhaps the one less-desirable feature in my book. This means I need to log on each time I want to check e-mail. Cable and DSL offer persistent Net connections, or always-on connections, removing squealing, temperamental modems from the picture completely.

Because DirecPC is still tethered to phone-line modems for Web page and e-mail requests, I must dial into my regular Internet service provider to get started online.

However, DirecPC tries to deliver the next best thing to a persistent connection by offering a service called an Electronic Program Guide. It works regardless of whether I'm on the Net via a dial-up connection.

In theory, if I leave my computer on, DirecPC will automatically blast down to my computer any one of 26 predefined Web sites and any of 30,000 newsgroups. Once DirecPC knows what sites and newsgroups I frequent, it will update subscriptions on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. I can choose how much hard drive space I want to dedicate to the sites that are saved locally for offline surfing.

But even when I maxed out the Los Angeles Times page to cache 30MB of the site on my hard disk each day, I could surf only about one link deep from the front page. Worse, I found that if DirecPC failed to update the site on my hard disk because of a glitch in its service, or I didn't leave my computer on, the news would be a day old.

The service seemed to work much better with downloading newsgroup messages than it did Web sites.