Satellite broadband

Smurphy

Hey,

Broadband is not available in my area and won't be for about another year.

Is anyone out there using Satellite Broadband?

How much is it?

How are you finding it? Would you recommend it?

Any restrictions on getting it?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

bla

i would also be interested in peoples thoughts on speed etc

ozmo

I bought an Lidl dish (70 euros) - and got a Satelite DVB card and subscription from www.europeonline.com (70 euros plus 8 euros per month).

This is used for the downlink.
You use your existing telephone modem for the uplink - therefore pings and gaming speeds dont change.

Download speed was anything from 200kbs up to about 750kbs (kilo bits per second). Mostly the higher speeds.

Downloads in Internet Explorer shoed about 80 KBs (kilo bytes per second)

But it was anoying having to still dialup using the modem and there was a slight delay (about 1 to 3 seconds) when you were using the web when you click a link, before it would start to load - then it all loaded almost instantly at once.

But it was fun and not too expensive to get it together. Also you get email notification even when you are not dialled in.

Faster than DSL, but not as convienent. But much better than dialup alone.
However it can be a tad tricky to install (finding satelite and the software is a b!tch to get working correctly)

- there is a two-way satelite system that costs 1000's of euro and a satelite and wireless that costs slightly more than dsl/cable - I havent tried these two.

[edit - oh - looks like EOL have gone to nearly 10 euros per month since december when I tried it - still 10 euros for 750kbs aint bad]

Smurphy

Cheers for that great info. Ozmo

I need a fast internet connection so I can work from home 1/2 days a week.
The work I do is application support so I would be accessing test PC's remotely.

Do you think the satellite broadband would be OK for working from home.

Another option I was looking at is I've heard of a company in the UK(www.cpsat.co.uk) who offer satellite broadband through your Sky satellite dish(which I have)....you just have to buy a PC card and a cable. The company says that they have a large customer base in Ireland.

You know of anyone using this?

Ripwave

Originally posted by Smurphy
Cheers for that great info. Ozmo

I need a fast internet connection so I can work from home 1/2 days a week.
The work I do is application support so I would be accessing test PC's remotely.

Do you think the satellite broadband would be OK for working from home.

Another option I was looking at is I've heard of a company in the UK(www.cpsat.co.uk) who offer satellite broadband through your Sky satellite dish(which I have)....you just have to buy a PC card and a cable. The company says that they have a large customer base in Ireland.

You know of anyone using this?

I haven't tried it, but I'd be surprised if VPN or any sortof "remote desktop" work would be practical over any sort of satellite link. The latencies are too high for anything other than straightforward downloads.

Remote access would be next to impossible. You'd hit a key on your dekstop, and wait for over a second before you'd see the letter appear on your screen.

ozmo

Originally posted by Ripwave
I haven't tried it, but I'd be surprised if VPN or any sortof "remote desktop" work would be practical over any sort of satellite link. The latencies are too high for anything other than straightforward downloads.

Remote access would be next to impossible. You'd hit a key on your dekstop, and wait for over a second before you'd see the letter appear on your screen.

Yeah - Satelite is not suitable for anything other than straight downloading. Great for offline ftp type access.

I think your only option is ISDN.
ISDN is actually very good for remote desktop (WinXP Home/Pro to WinXP Pro)
even on one 64K channel.
- but I found the free VPN and PCAnywere are just too slow over ISDN to be usable for anything other than emergencies.

Smurphy

Thanks to Ozmo and Ripwave for their advice.

OK, looks like if I want to work from home and can't get broadband then I need to get ISDN

Pity coz I think ISDN costs too much....

ozmo

Originally posted by Smurphy
Thanks to Ozmo and Ripwave for their advice.

OK, looks like if I want to work from home and can't get broadband then I need to get ISDN

Pity coz I think ISDN costs too much....

If you do get ISDN, before DSL is available, To get the cost down:

Make sure you ask for it as "HighSpeed". Its technically the same thing -
but thecost to go from ISDN to DSL is 130 to 180 Euros (depending on who makes out the bill) and the cost from "HighSpeed" to "IStream" is 25 euros. Unbelievable - but there you go.

Use only one channel (you get two 64K lines) - its fast enough for general use. Use 128 and you pay for two simuteous calls.

Set your modem to hang up after 5 mins of inactivity (or less) as the dial up only takes 2.5 seconds to reconnect.

Be careful about automatic dialing routers/software- a lot of software nowadays tend to cause constant internet traffic - eg some Media players and Altavistas main page used to keep refreshing and if left open would keep the line dialed in permanently. Very easy to run up a grand in phone calls without knowing it - I've seen it happen :dunno:

Smurphy

Cheers Ozmo,

Just so I get this straight in my head...

When I check Eircom's web-site, they refer to High-Speed and ISDN as the same thing.

AFAIK, Eircom are the only people you can get an ISDN line...
ISDN connection fee is 119.99
ISDN modem(cheapest I could find) is 80 Euro
So that's 200 Euro just to get set-up

Then my monthly fees are 37.50 to Eircom for ISDN line rental.
Plus a flat rate package. Best I could find was IOL, 180 hours for 29.99

So ISDN will cost me 200 to get set-up, and then 67.50 every month after that.

Do I have this right?
Do you think I can do any of this cheaper?

Would really appreciate if you had any advice on this

ozmo

Originally posted by Smurphy
Cheers Ozmo,

Just so I get this straight in my head...

When I check Eircom's web-site, they refer to High-Speed and ISDN as the same thing.

AFAIK, Eircom are the only people you can get an ISDN line...
ISDN connection fee is 119.99
ISDN modem(cheapest I could find) is 80 Euro
So that's 200 Euro just to get set-up

Then my monthly fees are 37.50 to Eircom for ISDN line rental.
Plus a flat rate package. Best I could find was IOL, 180 hours for 29.99

So ISDN will cost me 200 to get set-up, and then 67.50 every month after that.

Do I have this right?
Do you think I can do any of this cheaper?

Would really appreciate if you had any advice on this

Maybe drop the IOL flat rate to bulk buy less hours - 180 hours is an awful lot.

or what about getting an Eircom or indigo subscription account instead maybe?- that way you get very cheap internet calls. I used an Indigo account to get a good low call rate. Dont use 'free' accounts.


For the setup - From when I had ISDN, I've got a Divia internal ISDN modem (a very good isdn card) you can have for 30 euros if you collect.
I've also got an Eircom HomeLink ISDN PABX €35
http://www.lakecommunications.com/home/products/homelink.htm

pm me if you are interested.

Linoge

Dodgy, dodgy question......

If you had satelite broadband would it work well with erm.... Kazaa? Would you have to connect via a phone line constantly aswell (for downloading on Kazaa)?

BArra

yes u can, but most if not all have tiny caps, lower than even eircom

and thats LOW, so not worth ur while

ai ing

Utvip will give you 180 hours for 25 euro .


Hey I saved you a fiver a month:D

Spawn

I have 56k eircom 150hrs anytime at the moment but hopefully getting ISDN soon myself

With esat if you use there internet package of 180hrs you must use there telephone as well, Is this the same for UTVip and IOL?

My parents wont let me change from eircom as they think UTVip is a scam and more expensive with house calls :dunno:

Eurorunner

My parents wont let me change from eircom as they think UTVip is a scam and more expensive with house calls

Now where have we heard this before...theres a certain irony in there somewhere...

Yes, if you go with utv, telephony must also go through them. Whilst the difference isnt as great as it was, they are still cheaper than €ircon.

Ripwave

Originally posted by Spawn
With esat if you use there internet package of 180hrs you must use there telephone as well,

Nope - "And switching to IOL is easy - there's no line testing or complicated set up. It's simple, quick and cost effective way to get on the net. There are no hidden charges and no obligation to take more than one of our services (unlike our competitors)"

You can sign up for
IOL Anytime without switching to ESAT, though it isn't any cheaper, it just gives you more hours online.

As for your parents evaluation of scams, you'd think they'd be experts after being with oreillycom all this time, but unless they think scam is Swedish for "better value", then they've got the wrong end of the stick.

CivilServant

Ozmo, according to the europeonline website. You only get 1Gig a month for surfing and the rest is for filefetch. How has that worked out for you?

ozmo

Originally posted by CivilServant
Ozmo, according to the europeonline website. You only get 1Gig a month for surfing and the rest is for filefetch. How has that worked out for you?

I only used it for a few weeks - ordered it when it looked like I couldnt getdsl- then I finally got dsl approved. So I didnt get to use a months quota.

But what you do get for your 9 euros or so per month:

1Gig (actually - my status page showed 2G allowance I think) - after that it just goes
slower - I didnt reach 1G, but other users reported it was still an acceptable speed. You can pay extra to get a higher cap.

2Gig filefetch

Unlimited Digital channel viewing (this is streaming video played into Microsoft Media player in a browser) - I was getting 8Mbs here (8 Megabit per second!!).
Channels arent great - A Black and white 1920's films channel, A Music Channel, a betting on horses channel, and a soft porn channel.

Unlimited downloads from their selected download software- This gets streamed all day and anyone can just grab whats being broadcast
(usually a set of linux/redhat cdsor two etc per day and lots of Manga film cartoons and demo games and some shareware stuff) downloads very quite quick and you dont need to be dialled in - very easy to fill hardisk

Eurorunner

Well i signed up a couple of days ago and have already clocked up a fifth of my 1 Gb limit. You can buy an additional 5 Gb for €45 and initially i understood from this that this was an extra 5Gb per month....but that was just wishful thinking - its just 5Gb to be used as and when one wishes. However, at that price, they will not see any additional purchase from me.

There doesnt seem to be any difference in speed with regard to general web page surfing but i suppose this is as a result of the latency of satellite connections.
Downloads are very fast and i just find it tragic that they cant offer a bigger cap - whilst in terms of other means of dsl provision, satellite broadband customers are isolated, the nature of sat dsl means that if the right product was out there, they could get considerable volume business that wouldnt be restricted by national borders either.
Tragic that the nature of the technology itself leaves it uneconomic. Can anyone ever see this changing.

As for their digital dsl library and 'download' centre, i am never a fan of such things - there is no way that these type of things can cater for an individual. ie. most of this stuff i simply wouldnt want to download so theres no point in doing it just for the sake of it.

My particular download needs involve software demos - with a motorised sat setup, movies, etc. is not an issue. They are only charging €99/year so it may still be worthwhile to keep it going seeing as there is (and probably wont be for years) no other option where i'm located. Its great to see downloads come in that would normally take hours on dialup.

I will just have to be very very sensible with that 1 gig - will be interesting to see what speed they offer once i hit the limit - which clearly will happen before my first months service is up.

Thats my initial findings for those who may be curious - will post back an update sometime to show how its going.

CivilServant

Maybe you guys should try netsystem. I was with them last year for a few months. Back then you could get nice speeds of upto 1megabit/sec during the dead of night. Something like from 12am to 8am.

.... just dropped by their webpage. The cap is a measly 1.5 gb a month for €16.50. Not much better than europeonline. Another company is silvermead, but I haven't researched them at all.

Eurorunner

Well, i had considered using cpsat at one stage - as the guy had made a genuine effort to put together an all-in deal ie. dialup & sat broadband, for us lot over here. Their service record looked good but when you add it all up pricewise and look at the caps, i couldnt justify it:

Heres the sums -

128k service = €156.67/year (1.5Gb cap per month)
256k service = €287.59/year (3Gb cap per month)


When you factor in ALL telecoms costs, and then realise that you still dont have an always on service/that the service is still capped...i cant justify it financially.


There have been comments on netsystem both on this forum and others which have been both positive and negative. The impression i get is that it isnt any better than EON.

Seapoint

EOL File Fetch Manager

here is a link to let you use a client to download HUNDREDS of gigs free......

basically lets you download EVERYBODYs files with europeonline

I used it for a year

it's free

but you'd better be prepared to invest in some hard disks!

crawler

Also have a look at http://broadband.digiweb.ie/

NB Sat good for browsing , downloads etc - NOT good for gaming or time dependant applications because of latency!

ozmo

Originally posted by Seapoint
EOL File Fetch Manager

here is a link to let you use a client to download HUNDREDS of gigs free......
basically lets you download EVERYBODYs files with europeonline
I used it for a year it's free
but you'd better be prepared to invest in some hard disks!

Oohh - they said all the downloads were encrypted and no-one could intercept them.

Dont have the dish anymore -

What kind of stuff do you get?