IIRC, DirecWay is the new name (name change only) for DirecTV related to it's new two way capability. Yes, local packets are up linked, no phone line is involved in the connection. Original marketing material said things like "400kbps down, 128kpbs up" but now only state "best effort." There are various reasons for latency/bandwidth issues including the physical loop distance. As stated by a previous poster, it's better than nothing. IMHO it's yet another great product sullied by the tendency of marketing departments to be highly optimistic. :) Just my 2¢. The delete key is your friend. -Al Rowland Personal capacity -----Original Message----- From: Barb Dijker [mailto:barb@netrack.net] Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 7:09 PM To: Tim Devries Cc: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: Satellite latency I have a tachyon.net system. 600ms is typical with a good aim. Higher latitudes are more error prone. They don't do tcp/ip over the up/down link. They effectively terminate the tcp/ip session on the local lan (answering handshake and acks), encapsulate, and proxy for you on the other end. It makes a BIG difference in overall performance for typical things like surfing and mail delivery. Doesn't help much for interactive work. Type ahead at 600ms is much better than 2x that. vi is usable. Our unit is available for demos and events. DirecPC (Hughes) now has a business grade service called DirecWay. Haven't tried it. One would expect it would be better than the ones intended for residential only. It claims to go to 1.5M down like Tachyon. Barb Dijker NeTrack