Mel, a standard Direcway system even with the Business Edition installed will NOT support VOIP, no way, no how. The delay between speaking on one end and hearing on the other is horrendous.
As for why did I spend so much money on Satellite? The answer is, it's not very reliable. My first Starband installation lasted 4 weeks, it was the old Starband 180 which you were pushing at the time. After 4 months of unsuccessfully trying to get it fixed I had to upgrade, at full cost, to the 360. That lasted 1 year, the modem burnt out, it is not suited to uplink streaming. Starband do make it clear that it is suitable for residential use only...my 10 computers working 13 hours a day wasn't good for it.
As for Direcway..once my Starband 360 blew up and I found out that a quick replacement would cost almost $1500.00US, I thought "bollocks, might as well try Direcway." So, I installed it, and I ran it quite nicely for 9 months....then along came the DSL. And I realised what I had been missing. Yes, I can "keep" Direcway going, but it is tempramental for Internet cafe use...my customers tend to not like 5 minute outages. They also don't like not being able to browse while a large attachement is being uploaded and is blocking the pipeline up. With DSL I avoid all of these problems. It is now firmly relegated to "backup" to the DSL.
Satellite Internet IS fantastic for people in the boonies who can't get cable or DSL. And, who knows, Direcway or Starband might bring out a delay-free standard version that supports VOIP. Let me know if that happens.
AmbergrisCaye.com 
