SkyWay USA

[toddhawk]

Was wondering if anyone uses this service? I signed up 3 months a go. I've read a lot of horror stories and while I admit that knowing what I know now I would've gone with someone else (Satellite was my only option), with $60 / mo as my limit, SkyWay USA had the best speeds etc. for me so I got it. In spite of all the negative I've read, I have to say I've actually been impressed. Their speeds are consistently what they say they are (768 on the gold plan... abysmally slow compared to everything else I have but not avaiable at my new home) and their dial-up makes latency a non-issue. My son was stunned to see that his online gaming works well and we've had no issues with their customer service. The obvious issue is that uploading files of any size is non-viable at dial-up speeds but you know that going in and I've found ways to work around it. Anyone else have opinions?

[Stargazer]

I have seen SkyWay USA have really good speeds at times while other times have really poor speeds. It also seemed like the signal was weaker from the satellite sometimes than it was other times.

[toddhawk]

I have seen SkyWay USA have really good speeds at times while other times have really poor speeds. It also seemed like the signal was weaker from the satellite sometimes than it was other times.

I agree with the weaker signal during storms. But since it's so dry out here in Indiana, there hasn't been much in the way of clouds :-) Maybe the reason my speeds seem so good is there does not seem to be a lot of usage. I'm guessing the reason my neighbors are so frustrated with HughesNet is that it is saturated versus it's available bandwidth. Hard to say.

I'm just wondering now how much longer before this industry starts seeing some of "the big boys" (whether big cell providers like AT&T or Verizon or satellite TV providers like DISH) either buyout, or takeover these companies (or just establish their own).

[grohgreg]

Satellite was my only option), with $60 / mo as my limit, SkyWay USA had the best speeds etc. for me so I got it.

Something's not right here. Assuming this is a bonafide post and not some Skyway promotion, I don't know how you missed HughesNet. After a $39.99/month promotion period, their Basic plan costs the very same $59.99/month - but for that you get 1000k/200k up. Choosing a 768k/33k over something like that is simply counter-intuitive.

//greg//

[toddhawk]

At the time I signed up (2 months a go) they were not offering that. I wish they had - I spent an hour on the phone with them TRYING to get a better deal but at that time they had "nothing for me in my area". I don't know if it was saturation or not. Yes I know they have that now. It's always timing :-(

[Stargazer]

SkyWay USA raised their prices so they are not that competitive with HughesNet/WildBlue anymore. The phone line can be an advantage/disadvantage. It has better ping and allows for self/easier installation and cheaper hardware. The bad news is it ties up the phone line. A lot of people are going cell service only getting rid of their landlines.

I have seen signals get weak when there were no storms in the area. The satellite is hard to lock onto. I remember the days where Dish Network's SuperDish using 105 had issues locking on. I remember one customer in particular where the signal was just barely holding on enough to remain locked. Thankfully I was able to put up another dish and point them to 129 to resolve the issue. Maybe the lnb lost sensitivity?

[grohgreg]

At the time I signed up (2 months a go) they were not offering that. I wish they had - I spent an hour on the phone with them TRYING to get a better deal but at that time they had "nothing for me in my area". I don't know if it was saturation or not. Yes I know they have that now. It's always timing :-(

"saturation" only relates to the HN9000 Ka-band system. If you actually talked to HughesNet - as opposed to some reseller - they should have offered you HN7000S Ku-band service as an alternative. No spot beam "saturation" problems with Ku-band.

At one time, Skyway used "no service commitment" as one of their major selling points. If that's still the case, dump'em and call HughesNet back. Once you get rid of that dial-return, you'll never regret it. I say that because (a) no more time wasted waiting for the send side to connect, and (b) uploads via dialup can vary wildly with the quality of the phone line. The HN7000S is "always on". And I've seen dialup lag as bad as 280ms or worse. On my HN7000S system, my typical RTT is between 680 and 770ms. That means upload lag is a pretty consistent 340 to 385ms. In all, not too far removed from a bad phoneline connection.

//greg//

[Stargazer]

SkyWay could have been better competition if they stuck at the $30 price point. I think them going to $40 per month is going to kill their business. They either plan on going out of business soon and want to milk the existing customers as much as they can or they do not have enough customers to support their on-going costs.