Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[chrisgixer]

Any good?

https://www.satelliteinternet.co.uk/news/103-free-equipment-offer-on-selected-subscriptions

[Mr.OmegaMan]

Looks costly on the face of it 60 something a month for unlimited not forgetting the 50 odd activation cost.

Nice to have the option though if you have slow wired broadband in your area and you are relying on fast net for business.

[Lazydocker]

Last time I enquires they weren't promising anything blisteringly quick... Plus the danger of weather related interference.

[chrisgixer]

Hmmm. Data caps are disappointing. Tooway reviews suggest £19.99 for a piffling 2gb a month. Up to "unlimited" at £79.99 a month. with speeds at no more than 20mbps and down to 6mbps at peak times. upload is good though at a constant 5mbps constant. Good for H's work. ....according to the review that is.

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/web/satellite-broadband-is-it-now-a-serious-choice--1171534

Seems expensive. Especially given we'd still need a phone line and its line rental.

[Varche]

We use Bentley Walker Tooway Home here in Spain. We are over three miles to the nearest copper and no WiMax service . Tried 3G and it is rubbish due to being at least ten miles from a mast and the huge demands made by schoolkids 4 times a day meant it was worse than useless.

Sat Internet for us is great. We have the 20GB a month package and pay about £43 and we have a UK IP address. They have withdrawn the unlimited option for us expats - probably cripple the system with people watching soaps every day.

Speed. We get the claimed speeds of not far off 20MB and 5 up but the latency is high. In practice it doesn't affect us too much. On Skype it is best to talk and then verbally or mentally say over     We haven't noticed any bad weather degradation.

Here are test results while typing this.

Last Result:
Download Speed: 17776 kbps (2222 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 5935 kbps (741.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 720 ms
Jitter: 31 ms
Packet Loss: -1%
19/07/2015 10:47:14

In terms of kit. DIY install is easy enough. You get a dish (about 80cm in size and wall bracket). Ours points approx SE. On BW website there is a tool for determining the way to point it depending on where in the world you are and the device beeps when you have got it right. Cable back to the modem and then you attach your router to that. Quite easy.In twelve months or so of usage we have had no down time and no need to contact their service desk. 

I believe the actual satellite is managed from Italy and is used by numerous resellers all with similar pricing .

[chrisgixer]

Good info V thank you.


Given her Work pay for Internet, or some of it possibly in this case, it's an option for us if needed. Data cap is disappointing given fibre is charged by speed. But if only 1 or 2 Mbps is available from a land line ....

[Gaffers]

Yup, Satelite will always give you high latency plus the connection may drop out any time the cloud cover gets thick enough.  Also, make sure that anything imprtant that you do online is encrypted as Sat comms are notoriously easy to intercept - if you see the little padlock in the address bar/bottom of the page then you are fine

That said I understand you are in a bit of a pickle with your tinternet so if you can handle those elements.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Sat based data packages can be very hit and miss, we use them a lot due to being an offshore business (usually Inmarsat based tech for us).

Latency is very high and data rates can take a real hammering with high packet loss in bad weather.

Plus, if your in an area with many users the through put can really take a dive at peak periods so consider it very much a 'last option'

[chrisgixer]

Sat based data packages can be very hit and miss, we use them a lot due to being an offshore business (usually Inmarsat based tech for us).

Latency is very high and data rates can take a real hammering with high packet loss in bad weather.

Plus, if your in an area with many users the through put can really take a dive at peak periods so consider it very much a 'last option'

How bad/slow would a land line need to be, before considering a sat based provider Mark, would you say? I'm guessing the site in question will be less than 1.0meg down and less than 0.5 up.

Concerning given the vpn is ropey at the other end as well

[Marks DTM Calib]

500kBs I would say, which is what the likes of the big providers guarantee (at huge cost though!)

[Lazydocker]

Sat based data packages can be very hit and miss, we use them a lot due to being an offshore business (usually Inmarsat based tech for us).

Latency is very high and data rates can take a real hammering with high packet loss in bad weather.

Plus, if your in an area with many users the through put can really take a dive at peak periods so consider it very much a 'last option'

How bad/slow would a land line need to be, before considering a sat based provider Mark, would you say? I'm guessing the site in question will be less than 1.0meg down and less than 0.5 up.

Concerning given the vpn is ropey at the other end as well

We're a very long way from the exchange (some 5km+) and still get close to 2 meg Chris

[TheBoy]

Mr Gixer, if this is for Mrs G to use for work, don't even go there.  The piss poor latency (and varying latency, causing the endpoints to fail to optimise their windows) and usually very, very weak upload will make it very poor for any kind of usable VPN.

[chrisgixer]

Mr Gixer, if this is for Mrs G to use for work, don't even go there.  The piss poor latency (and varying latency, causing the endpoints to fail to optimise their windows) and usually very, very weak upload will make it very poor for any kind of usable VPN.

....I get the feeling I've asked this before. I have haven't I.