Broadband By Satellite

finnpark

I sthis available to home users in Ireland? How much would it cost?

Thanks for any help. finn:)

bpmurray

There are two possible solutions:
1)using the satellite for up & downloads: expensive
2)using the satellite for downloads and a dial-up for uploads.

I had 2 until I got wireless broadband (I live out in the sticks), and it worked well. I used Netsystem in Italy, but there are plenty of suppliers. This used the old Sky Astra satellites at 19.2, so I already had the dish & connection. I'm pretty certain that it's available on 28.2 now too, so if you have Sky, you should be able to use your existing installation, perhaps with some tweaks.

Since my downloads were much larger than uploads (web pages & mails down & urls and occasional mails up), the very asynchronous nature of this worked fine.

One thing, though: if you want to play games, it's not much good because latency is so big.

finnpark

bpmurray wrote:

There are two possible solutions:
1)using the satellite for up & downloads: expensive
2)using the satellite for downloads and a dial-up for uploads.

I had 2 until I got wireless broadband (I live out in the sticks), and it worked well. I used Netsystem in Italy, but there are plenty of suppliers. This used the old Sky Astra satellites at 19.2, so I already had the dish & connection. I'm pretty certain that it's available on 28.2 now too, so if you have Sky, you should be able to use your existing installation, perhaps with some tweaks.

Since my downloads were much larger than uploads (web pages & mails down & urls and occasional mails up), the very asynchronous nature of this worked fine.

One thing, though: if you want to play games, it's not much good because latency is so big.

Thanks for info.

I seen the prices for uploads and downloads, something like 2000 euro for installation and equipment and 90 euro per month from then on - far too expensive for everyone apart from business.

I would be really interested in getting a broadband signal from 19.2 or 28.2 degrees east. My parents have Sky Digital so I have a 28.2 degrees east connection. Also, I have a dish (digital LNB) pointed at 19.2 degrees east so I could use either .

Can you give me any other info on how to get this up and running and how much does it cost. I would be happy with just general web site usuage ie Web Browsing and I could use the diall up connection for uploads.

This sounds good, any more info would be appreciated.

Thanks, Dermot.

unkel

bpmurray wrote:

There are two possible solutions:
1)using the satellite for up & downloads: expensive
2)using the satellite for downloads and a dial-up for uploads.

I had 2

So did I back in the day there was no other broadband available in Ireland - no cable, no DSL, no wireless :rolleyes:

Back then 2-way was available but very, very expensive. It is much cheaper now but I'd only recommend going satellite if you don't do any on-line gaming and if there is no other broadband solution available

finnpark wrote:

something like 2000 euro for installation and equipment and 90 euro per month from then on

Monthly rate is always going to be a good bit higher than other broadband, but those installation costs are exorbitant, although it would probably set you back the guts of a grand

One way is much cheaper as you can install and buy the dish yourself (or have a cheap local company do it for you) and buy a compatible PCI satellite receiver for your PC (total costs maybe €200)

finnpark wrote:

I would be happy with just general web site usuage ie Web Browsing and I could use the diall up connection for uploads

Doesn't work like that. Even while just browsing, you need to be dialled in too. Think about it. You are on a website and you click on a link. This piece of data needs to be uploaded to the website so it knows which page to show you next

netwhizkid

finnpark wrote:

Thanks for info.

I seen the prices for uploads and downloads, something like 2000 euro for installation and equipment and 90 euro per month from then on - far too expensive for everyone apart from business.

I would be really interested in getting a broadband signal from 19.2 or 28.2 degrees east. My parents have Sky Digital so I have a 28.2 degrees east connection. Also, I have a dish (digital LNB) pointed at 19.2 degrees east so I could use either .

Can you give me any other info on how to get this up and running and how much does it cost. I would be happy with just general web site usuage ie Web Browsing and I could use the diall up connection for uploads.

This sounds good, any more info would be appreciated.

Thanks, Dermot.

Hi finn,
Satellite broadband is available all over Ireland and from several companies, E3 and Mediasat offer it, Eircom even offer it but don’t do it themselves only outsource it to Mediasat. Digiweb are involved in Satellite Broadband too but only Two-way afaik. The Government website lists all the providers anyway, however none are as cheap or as fast as the company I’m with. I have Satellite broadband (one-way) from Skydsl It works very good, and the best part is that it is super cheap costing me €16.90 a month with a 1GB download allowance. There is several packages available with speeds ranging from 1mbps (the one I’m on) all the ways up to 16mbps. There is also unlimited packages for those who’d be downloading loads and loads that starts as €29.90 per month. At the moment they are giving the PCI card free all you pay is the postage; I think they also set up the account free. When I joined last March, I had to stump up almost €150 for the equipment alone. As far as I know they are sending out a Satellite dish, although one guy told me that they sent him out a dish (whether it cost him or not I don’t know) anyway the dish he got from Skydsl was to small in diameter and he had to buy another one. I am using an 80cms Dish aligned to Telecom 2D @ 8° west. A few of the providers listed above work on the Astra satellite Dish system and could be picked up on your Sky Digital TV Satellite Dish. You mentioned you had a Dish aligned to 19.2° East, A lot of them Dishes are 80cms dating from the old Sky Analogue system, If my analogy of your Dish is correct you should be able to re-align it to pick up Skydsl on Telecom 2D @ 8° west, Although you may have to change the LNB though. If you are not too happy at losing the FTA TV channels you get on this then www.satellite.ie is a great place to pick up another dish. The user Tony here is associated with that website and should be able to sort you out if necessary.

If you do decide to get this service, before you get it ask around your local Sky digital and satellite installers if they can install a satellite dish to Telecom 2d @ 8° west. It is available also via E-bird 2A but this is extremely hard to pick up over Ireland and generally I’d advise strongly against this, I myself tried this and to get it working I had to move the Satellite dish to another gable of the wall, this really was a pain as I had to get more cable and anchor bolts, I then also had to chisel around the old anchor bolts and grind them down to below the surface of the wall and then apply polly-filla to the hole before re-painting. I tried several Satellite installers and none of them could install a sat dish to Telecom 2D, ( I even got one out and left him try align it with an analogue meter for two hours to no avail ). If you can’t get an installer to align and maybe install the dish in your case too, then you will have to try and get a Satellite meter with the Telecom 2D satellite @ 8° west, this is what I’d to do, I got one for €165 second hand off e-bay and I had it aligned for me in 3mins no joking, Make sure it has this satellite on it or your goose is cooked. NB. You must really have a meter if you can’t get an installer to do it, or you will waste weekends on end.

Skydsl works on Pentium 4 and but I think it also works on Pentium 3 but not very well afaik, It is not compatible with Apple Mac systems.

Skydsl service is not compatible with the following, VOIP, Online gaming because of the relatively slow ping rate and the lack of the upload speed, I find it ideal for browsing etc.

Sorry for the long drawn out reply but I said I’d fill you in on the story anyway. I didn’t have a clue regarding this when I went about getting it and no-one here on boards knew much either. A few other boards users have gone down the Skydsl line since I started “spilling the beans” on the whole thing! Before you go down any Satellite line yet are you sure that there is no wireless services available where you live? A rather un-proportionally high amount of Donegal has Group broadband schemese set up. And have you got onto Eircom they have plans to roll out a lot more broadband this year and who knows you area might be included. I’d say get your local TD to write to Eircom and confirm if your area is to ADSL enabled. I did it and got an answer as good as stating that I’ll have ADSL by the time I’m eighty, I’m still a teenager. :mad:

finnpark

netwhizkid wrote:

Hi finn,
Satellite broadband is available all over Ireland and from several companies, E3 and Mediasat offer it, Eircom even offer it but don’t do it themselves only outsource it to Mediasat. Digiweb are involved in Satellite Broadband too but only Two-way afaik. The Government website lists all the providers anyway, however none are as cheap or as fast as the company I’m with. I have Satellite broadband (one-way) from Skydsl It works very good, and the best part is that it is super cheap costing me €16.90 a month with a 1GB download allowance. There is several packages available with speeds ranging from 1mbps (the one I’m on) all the ways up to 16mbps. There is also unlimited packages for those who’d be downloading loads and loads that starts as €29.90 per month. At the moment they are giving the PCI card free all you pay is the postage; I think they also set up the account free. When I joined last March, I had to stump up almost €150 for the equipment alone. As far as I know they are sending out a Satellite dish, although one guy told me that they sent him out a dish (whether it cost him or not I don’t know) anyway the dish he got from Skydsl was to small in diameter and he had to buy another one. I am using an 80cms Dish aligned to Telecom 2D @ 8° west. A few of the providers listed above work on the Astra satellite Dish system and could be picked up on your Sky Digital TV Satellite Dish. You mentioned you had a Dish aligned to 19.2° East, A lot of them Dishes are 80cms dating from the old Sky Analogue system, If my analogy of your Dish is correct you should be able to re-align it to pick up Skydsl on Telecom 2D @ 8° west, Although you may have to change the LNB though. If you are not too happy at losing the FTA TV channels you get on this then www.satellite.ie is a great place to pick up another dish. The user Tony here is associated with that website and should be able to sort you out if necessary.

If you do decide to get this service, before you get it ask around your local Sky digital and satellite installers if they can install a satellite dish to Telecom 2d @ 8° west. It is available also via E-bird 2A but this is extremely hard to pick up over Ireland and generally I’d advise strongly against this, I myself tried this and to get it working I had to move the Satellite dish to another gable of the wall, this really was a pain as I had to get more cable and anchor bolts, I then also had to chisel around the old anchor bolts and grind them down to below the surface of the wall and then apply polly-filla to the hole before re-painting. I tried several Satellite installers and none of them could install a sat dish to Telecom 2D, ( I even got one out and left him try align it with an analogue meter for two hours to no avail ). If you can’t get an installer to align and maybe install the dish in your case too, then you will have to try and get a Satellite meter with the Telecom 2D satellite @ 8° west, this is what I’d to do, I got one for €165 second hand off e-bay and I had it aligned for me in 3mins no joking, Make sure it has this satellite on it or your goose is cooked. NB. You must really have a meter if you can’t get an installer to do it, or you will waste weekends on end.

Skydsl works on Pentium 4 and but I think it also works on Pentium 3 but not very well afaik, It is not compatible with Apple Mac systems.

Skydsl service is not compatible with the following, VOIP, Online gaming because of the relatively slow ping rate and the lack of the upload speed, I find it ideal for browsing etc.

Sorry for the long drawn out reply but I said I’d fill you in on the story anyway. I didn’t have a clue regarding this when I went about getting it and no-one here on boards knew much either. A few other boards users have gone down the Skydsl line since I started “spilling the beans” on the whole thing! Before you go down any Satellite line yet are you sure that there is no wireless services available where you live? A rather un-proportionally high amount of Donegal has Group broadband schemese set up. And have you got onto Eircom they have plans to roll out a lot more broadband this year and who knows you area might be included. I’d say get your local TD to write to Eircom and confirm if your area is to ADSL enabled. I did it and got an answer as good as stating that I’ll have ADSL by the time I’m eighty, I’m still a teenager. :mad:

Thanks for information.:) . I will probably invest after making a few enquiries.

Will I able to web browse at broadband speed with this or will I have to use a diall up to browse the web.?

So. I have a satellite dish (80cm) with a digital LNB so that should be ok. I have a satellite finder too but it is only a power indicator. I will have to align it roughly 1st before the power metre indicates max strength. Not as good as what you have.

No brodband where I am - I don't even have a mobile phone signal for any company.:mad: I am 5 miles from nearest eircom exchange and even that exchange doesn't have broadband anyway.! In fact a mile up the road from me Eircom refused to install an ordinary phone for a pensioner living alone because it was costing them too much.

So, this crowd give me a "receiver" yoke to decode etc the satellite signal and outputs to a monitor. Correct? Is it easy to set up once dish is aligned and can I browse the web with it as normal but much faster?:cool:

Thanks for all the info finn

transylman

I got skydsl too based on netwhizkids reviews and have been pretty happy with the service.

Setting up was pretty easy. I ordered the pieces from satellite.ie and attached them to a south facing wall of the house. I then pointed it roughly with a compass using the elevation and direction given (almost dead on south). Locking on to the correct satellite was a matter of me moving the satellite a fraction at a time and telling my brother to check to see if the computer was picking up anything. Got it after about five minutes.

Initially I was very happy with the service. Downloading and browsing the web were comparable to broadband with some slowdown in the evenings but good speeds nonetheless. I also had the 30 euro unlimited option so I could download as much as I wanted.

This is where I ran in to my first problem. I was doing some pretty heavy downloading (12GB one month, 10 the next) when I noticed my speeds begin to drop quite significantly. I did some checking and found that skydsl operates a fair use policy where heavy users have their speeds slashed. The bad thing about this is there is no mention of what volumes are likely to result in a cutting of your speeds and it is all pretty arbitrary. See the graphs for yourself at https://service.skydsl.de/monitor/fair.html

One other megative is I lose my satellite connection from time to time. This may be due to a software conflict on my computer but it seems to be happening more and more recently. The accompanying software was finicky enough to begin with so this is pretty annoying.

Overall I would say I am still happy with the service and if you live in a rural area it will almost definitely be your only affordable option until technology is able to compensate for the extreme levels of incompetence of our politicians. Just be aware of the negatives.

SeanW

Satellite is a technology of final resort.

For anyone intending to use satellite - I suggest two possible alternatives:

1: Wired ADSL: Don't just assume you don't have it - check your line and be sure - I should know I assumed I'd never get broadband where I am - until I checked it.
2: Wireless broadband: There are various independent wireless broadband providers out there, some community broadband schemes, many of them are either highly developed or expanding aggressively. Again, check them out.

netwhizkid

finnpark wrote:

Thanks for information.:) . I will probably invest after making a few enquiries.

Will I able to web browse at broadband speed with this or will I have to use a diall up to browse the web.?

So. I have a satellite dish (80cm) with a digital LNB so that should be ok. I have a satellite finder too but it is only a power indicator. I will have to align it roughly 1st before the power metre indicates max strength. Not as good as what you have.

No brodband where I am - I don't even have a mobile phone signal for any company.:mad: I am 5 miles from nearest eircom exchange and even that exchange doesn't have broadband anyway.! In fact a mile up the road from me Eircom refused to install an ordinary phone for a pensioner living alone because it was costing them too much.

So, this crowd give me a "receiver" yoke to decode etc the satellite signal and outputs to a monitor. Correct? Is it easy to set up once dish is aligned and can I browse the web with it as normal but much faster?:cool:

Thanks for all the info finn

Hi Finn, Yes Skydsl give you the PCI Card receiver or USB box which ever you choose, If you are handy at computers the PCI is the best however if you aren't the USB would better only costlier. Once you have the Hardware either USB or PCI installed, you can then go ahead and install the dish to Telecom 2D at 8 Degrees west. There is a built in satellite finder in the software and and it will tell you when you are locked on the correct Satellite. Also if you have your latitude & Longitude you can enter these into it and will give you the Dish Coordinates for to align it. When you get it up and running you will experience broadband speeds for downloads and whatever you upload is sent via the dial-up. You must dial-up to use skydsl

transylman wrote:

One other negative is I lose my satellite connection from time to time. This may be due to a software conflict on my computer but it seems to be happening more and more recently. The accompanying software was finicky enough to begin with so this is pretty annoying.

That also used to happen to me and it is quite annoying :mad: I had to reinstall the software a few times and had to email skydsl and they rang me back the following day and we got it fixed by reinstalling again! I discovered a much easier way to fix it by accident and this is how it goes.

Just go into your connections list and you will see your dial-up and the "Local Connection 2" which is what I've named my Skydsl but in the submenu you will see "skydsl/PCI adapter" or as applicable, anyway right click it and you will see "DISABLE" "STATUS" and "REPAIR" hit repair and it should fix it.

If anyone needs info or help on it just PM and I'll try help the best I can:)

Tauruz

Ive just installed my SkyDSL on Saturday. After a few hours of aligning (read netwhizkid's advice) finally got it working. Managed to download about 1.5gigs worth between yesterday and today and now im recieving nothing from the satellite (still have full signal quality & strength)...has this ever happened to ye and if so when does it start recieving again?
Ive a unlimited 1mbps account.
also can u get the digital tv thingy to work?
thanks in advance:)

Gandalf23

I'm really interested in this thread as I'm moving to the sticks in a few weeks time. Looks like it'll be skyDSL for me.

However, there should be no need for satellite BB in a "first" world "developed" economy like Ireland is supposed to have. It is an utter disgrace that Eircom have refused to enable all exchanges.

--- rant over (for now...) ---

netwhizkid

Tauruz wrote:

Ive just installed my SkyDSL on Saturday. After a few hours of aligning (read netwhizkid's advice) finally got it working. Managed to download about 1.5gigs worth between yesterday and today and now im recieving nothing from the satellite (still have full signal quality & strength)...has this ever happened to ye and if so when does it start recieving again?
Ive a unlimited 1mbps account.
also can u get the digital tv thingy to work?
thanks in advance:)

Yeah it was out this evening for about half an hour but got it working after a titanic struggle. System restore and a prayer later worked It does that sometimes and it is woeful annoying. I'd say the fair usage amy have limited you slightly but it should be fine again I'd say.

Yeah I have the Digital TV skydsl PCI working. The down side is that the only Free to Air Channel (FTA) I can pick up is "SYRIA" an arabic channel. It seems to be the only FTA channel on the Telecom 2D satellite @ 8° west. Earlier before I installed the dish last spring I picked up loads of FTA channels off Eurobird and of the Sky Digital Dish. They all worked fine on it. Some of the European TV channels were shocking TBH. A bit adult.... get my drift :rolleyes: Going into the the Digital TV is a handy way of resetting the DVBDATA if it showing the RED Smiley face.

Tauruz

Yeah working again now thanks. All in all its a really good system and id recommend it to anyone in rural ireland such as myself...however i dont think anything will ever be fast enough for me. lets hope some company gets interested in wimax in this country...54mbps

netwhizkid

Tauruz wrote:

Yeah working again now thanks. All in all its a really good system and id recommend it to anyone in rural Ireland such as myself...however I don’t think anything will ever be fast enough for me. Lets hope some company gets interested in wimax in this country...54mbps

Yeah its good alright. Dude I recommend you go to Hong Kong and experience 1gbps Yes One-Gigabyte per second, that’s about 20 thousand times faster than Dial-Up. Just shows how far lagging behind we are Broadband wise.