I know that DirecPC is now the only Satelite internet provider at this time, but I have heard that a new Satelite service is in the works. Does anyone know what company is going to offer satelite web connections?
The problem with current systems is that they are one-way. They use a 56k modem for the uplink, this means that it is not always on, you can get kicked off if you have bad phone lines. They can get download speeds up around 1.5 Mebits per second though. In the year 2002 affordable 2-way systems are supposed to come out and be priced about the same as cable modem and have 500k up/ 3MB down. the company andvertising this is http://www.isky.net. This system should be as fast as cable modem for both up and down, but ti will probably have higher latency which may affect some online games.
Also there is a partnership betweem AOL and DirecPC in the works, but I think that will be one-way also, and anything AOL pretty much sucks anyway, IMHO.
There is also http://www.gosat.net, which I think is about the same as DirecPC with a more expensive dish to buy.
The problem with satellite internet is the latency really sucks. Imagine trying to play Quake with a 1.5 second ping time. 
If you have an ISP, you can use hughes satellite at $20/month is another one. Also, try ebay for a dish.
http://www.hughes.com ?
Go to http://www.glat2home or http://www.starband.com
Dish network is partnered in this project to be available in Nov.2000 satellite to satellite internet. $399 + $199 install. ($25 to $39 month is in works)seems as fast as DSL
around 500bps. Hughes Direct PC is going to introduce the same sat.to sat. system in 2001.(not to be confused with current sat.download only system, which uses phone lines to internet and satellite realtime from internet)