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Thomas, If you take the iDirect problems out of the equations would you still have problems recommending satellite internet? There are only a very, very small group of RV type users that would have any need of any kind for the iDirect service. I believe that you had and used the Hughes service with great reliability for at least a short period of time before you got hooked into this iDirect "upgrade". Would you still have problems recommending the consumer service as a Hughes customer? I don't consider the iDirect service as a consumer level of service but rather a business user level and the current service does not begin to meet any part of that requirement with the F1/G74 modifications. The interesting part is that despite the fact that this "upgrade" is not working anywhere near what a user would expect, MotoSAT tried to sell this "upgrade" to one of my customers who called yesterday to have MotoSAT replace a defective Hughes modem.
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15684 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Originally posted by thomasinnv: It seems they are having issues with the antenna at the hub, and they are working toward fixing it. said they lost 10 db this morning.
I can vouch for that. My Rx SNR and SQ are lower today - SNR around 11, SQ 80
posted
Thomas ...You and others that are testing this (upgrade?)system are surely taking a beating. I have had a few customers want to jump on it and I have talked them out of it so far. I would not blame you if you jumped ship and returned to Hughesnet. IT is guys like you that pave the way for the rest of us. Bleeding edge and all. Thanks for sharing with us your experiences with this system.
-------------------- Steve O'Bosky Dealer/Installer Datastorm/MotoSat TV 559-901-9044 sro54 at yahoo.com F1 DataStorm |D4|7000S|99W/1370|Linksys WRT54GC Windows 7 premiumSee our location Posts: 1082 | From: Visalia, CA | Registered: May 2003
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This has been one of the BIGGEST self inflicted gunshot wounds I think I have ever seen (in my history as a Hub administrator). Folks, the problem is not with the iDirect hardware...nor the satellite hub technology. It is strictly the implementation of that hub technology that has soured your user experience. I dont blame you for being livid. You guys pay a considerable amount of money and you are getting very poor service. Are there any other iDirect service providers that you can migrate to? Maybe a company who follows best practices....RF and IP.
-------------------- Mike Posts: 567 | From: North Carolina | Registered: May 2007
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posted
Since the Ethersat engineers have been tweaking the hub I have seen nothing but degradation of service on the "upgrade".
To digress, in my experience in the R&D days of late 50's thru mid 70's, we seldom moved backwards. The slipstick ruled, tho' some computers from 4k to the super-computers of that era w/ 256k of memory were rarely available.
I guess we were advanced, since we ran parallel testing/tweaking, not exposing the customer to our "oops" factor. I have a reasonably good remainder of a once photographic memory. I don't recall ever experiencing an operation failure of this magnitude.
MotoSat seems to be caught in a vise between us, not very happy customers, and inept service providers.
I have no ax to grind. The concept of the "upgrade" is solid. The technology is not groundbreaking & has been around for decades. The execution of the implementation could have been better handled by my JR. high school science class.
In a nutshell, I am at the point of disgust!
My Hughes service, w/ it's shortcomings, is still, by far, more reliable.
For my lifestyle and circumstance satellite is really the only way to go.
I really am getting cramps sitting on this fence between the two services,
John
PS Still not on Net tho' SNR 13.+ & SQ 87+ indicating no problems. It's now been more than 24 hrs since connection. Yuck!
[ August 26, 2009, 06:07 AM: Message edited by: GMC_jon ]
Posts: 142 | From: Powhatan, VA | Registered: May 2006
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The problem I see is that I do not believe that any of these folks signed up for this service with the assumption that they were going to be beta testers. Instead MotoSAT sold the service and sent an e-mail to every Datastorm owner of record stating that they could upgrade (that means improve) there service by spending about $2000 plus at least another $20/month. MotoSAT knows today that this service in not working properly and yet they are still pushing this upgrade to every customer they talk to (again leaving the beta testing part out). I understand that this is technically not a MotoSAT problem but it appears that MotoSAT had not properly tested this system prior to the sales push and I do blame MotoSAT for that. I have wasted many hours on the phone with dozens of customers who got the e-mail (most of whom who never need this type of service) and the few I can't convince that it does not work as advertised I just refer to this site and that pretty much takes care of it.
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15684 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
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posted
The sites that have been moved back to 7.1.1 are working well. The upload speed issues have been resolved with the move. So I need to get you guys updated. Also the browsing issues with some websites have also been resolved. We can move all the F1 sites now.
Thanks.
Franco DeMelo MotoSAT.
Posts: 64 | From: Salt Lake City | Registered: Jun 2007
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quote:Originally posted by TDMAMike: This has been one of the BIGGEST self inflicted gunshot wounds I think I have ever seen .... Folks, the problem is not with the iDirect hardware...nor the satellite hub technology. It is strictly the implementation of that hub technology
Why are folks giving Motosat a "pass" on responsibility with this ongoing mess? Ethersat bandwidth IS MotoSat in-house...they've been bragging about it being under their control from the beginning. I never cease to be amazed by the amount of slack DataStormusers give to MotoSat...
The solution is to abandon the .75 meter program with iDirect equipment....plain and simple - it has never been worth a tinkers damn and in my opinion, never will. There are too many "holes" in coverage, too little dish surface to work with and too much interference created by the small dish/ big BUC setup that will repeatedly cause users to complain. The challange of making this setup work properly has been known for over 2 years, but the lure of additional revenues/profits from iDirect billing has seemingly won the day....
[ August 26, 2009, 03:24 PM: Message edited by: Randy VSAT U.S. ]
-------------------- Randy Scott | www.vsatus.com 1.2M | 4W | 123W- atContact 20:1 | iDirect 3100 |TrailManor 2720SL | Winegard Traveler HD | Posts: 606 | From: Monument, CO | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by thomasinnv: I still have faith that they will get the bugs worked out, and that eventually i will be happy with the service.
Man, I have been biting my tongue and sitting on my hands trying to stay out of this one - surely everyone (including MS) has long since tired of my lamenting. Believe me, I am tired of having something to be displeased about. Thomas, I have been stoking the embers of the faith you mention above for 20 months - just so you have the right expectations. I think I am stuck somewhere between denial and acceptance. I do keep hoping, but then I buy lottery tickets too!
posted
Randy, I wasnt really giving anyone a pass.
The laundry list of issues is lengthy - the initial hub move, the lack of line cards after the move, the Antenna issues that are ongoing, and the browsing issues. I know I have forgotten a few others.
I am honestly surprised that a customer base even EXISTS at this point. I am not in tune with commercial providers that offer iDIrect service, but I am assuming that there are very few of them (based on the the fact that users are putting up with the pain)? Educate me, because I honestly dont know.
With regards to the .75m (75cm).....I use them daily. Granted, the ones I use have 25W Xicom SSPAs on them, so needless to say, it makes them much more usable! :-)
-------------------- Mike Posts: 567 | From: North Carolina | Registered: May 2007
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quote:Originally posted by TDMAMike: ...The laundry list of issues is lengthy - the initial hub move, the lack of line cards after the move, the Antenna issues that are ongoing, and the browsing issues. I know I have forgotten a few others....
I am honestly surprised that a customer base even EXISTS at this point. I am not in tune with commercial providers that offer iDIrect service....
Mike: I was making reference to Datastorm owners giving the cupcake treatment to MotoSat...not just on this issue...it's as if the members fear some sort of retaliation? I don't get it.
There are many iDirect commercial providers out there (over 50 in the U.S. alone)...but the rub is getting the provider to take on a self-pointing dish assembly. The other issue is cost per month - many of the converts from HughesNet are used to paying less than $90 per mo - most hubs don't want to fool with anything less than $300 mo.
Additionally, satellite owners have to certify the assembly and many of the iDirect hub owners just don't want the aggravation, so they refuse to take on mobile iDirect users (especially .75 meter deals), regardless of the manufacturer. MotoSat currently has at least two options for iDirect mobile: atContact, EtherSat and possibly LBiSat. atContact and EtherSat will do .75 dishes; however, neither has had great success with EtherSat catching the most criticism this year, as you have seen.
[ August 26, 2009, 05:34 PM: Message edited by: Randy VSAT U.S. ]
-------------------- Randy Scott | www.vsatus.com 1.2M | 4W | 123W- atContact 20:1 | iDirect 3100 |TrailManor 2720SL | Winegard Traveler HD | Posts: 606 | From: Monument, CO | Registered: Mar 2005
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Randy, You may also have noticed that not everyone here is giving MotoSAT a "pass" and at the very least, MotoSAT is "trying" to make their currently unsatisfactory service better. I am personally hopeful that the G75 and the iDirect service will work as advertised but I will continue to not recommend that anyone "upgrade" and F1.
[ August 28, 2009, 07:03 AM: Message edited by: Bill Adams ]
-------------------- Bill Adams Winegard Company Posts: 15684 | From: Traveling the Western US | Registered: May 2003
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