Is satellite broadband worth it?

Blake1412

I'm with Vodafone, and it's complete crap.

I get 5mb down and 0.3 up on a good day, but thats only late at night like 1am or early in the morning like 12pm.

Anytime between 5pm and 11pm i am lucky to get 1.5 down and 0.2 up.

All other ISP's in the area have the same eircom line, and the ones that don't have bad speed.

Eir fibre doesn't look like it's coming out here anytime soon (it says 6 weeks on the coverage map but it's been saying that for way more than 6 weeks now) , so I started looking at the satellite broadband.

They offer me 22 down and 6 up (guaranteed), with 100gb data per month for a $200 installation fee and $99.95 per month.

I know it sounds crazy, but I'm a heavy internet user and can't stand the low speeds much longer.

I'm putting the price aside for the moment and just want to know if it will give me the speeds, and will it be good for gaming and stuff like that.

Satellite is really a last resort. It will probably feel slower than your DSL service during normal usage, due to the increased latency. Only with large downloads would you get a benefit from it.

mass_debater

Blake1412 wrote: »

I'm with Vodafone, and it's complete crap.

I get 5mb down and 0.3 up on a good day, but thats only late at night like 1am or early in the morning like 12pm.

Anytime between 5pm and 11pm i am lucky to get 1.5 down and 0.2 up.

All other ISP's in the area have the same eircom line, and the ones that don't have bad speed.

Eir fibre doesn't look like it's coming out here anytime soon (it says 6 weeks on the coverage map but it's been saying that for way more than 6 weeks now) , so I started looking at the satellite broadband.

They offer me 22 down and 6 up (guaranteed), with 100gb data per month for a $200 installation fee and $99.95 per month.

I know it sounds crazy, but I'm a heavy internet user and can't stand the low speeds much longer.

I'm putting the price aside for the moment and just want to know if it will give me the speeds, and will it be good for gaming and stuff like that.

Not worth it. You are better off with what you have

VincePP

Ring eircom and ask for an update - they've been fairly accurate on roll-out dates so far, so it could be just a week or so away.

Efibre will be an awful lot cheaper and faster than satellite - for €30/month for 12 months and then €92 a month you get efibre, phone, mobile and television.

Blake1412

Okay, thanks guys.

I've rang vodafone 3 times in the past few weeks asking whats wrong with my speed, all times it has been ''There is a fault in the line, we will dispatch a technician to your area, and send a text when the repair is complete.''

I have got confirmation about the repair 3 times now, speed is still low.

I'll ring eircom later and ask them about the roll-out date in my area.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Blake1412 wrote: »

I'm with Vodafone, and it's complete crap.

I get 5mb down and 0.3 up on a good day, but thats only late at night like 1am or early in the morning like 12pm.

Anytime between 5pm and 11pm i am lucky to get 1.5 down and 0.2 up.

All other ISP's in the area have the same eircom line, and the ones that don't have bad speed.

Eir fibre doesn't look like it's coming out here anytime soon (it says 6 weeks on the coverage map but it's been saying that for way more than 6 weeks now) , so I started looking at the satellite broadband.

They offer me 22 down and 6 up (guaranteed), with 100gb data per month for a $200 installation fee and $99.95 per month.

I know it sounds crazy, but I'm a heavy internet user and can't stand the low speeds much longer.

I'm putting the price aside for the moment and just want to know if it will give me the speeds, and will it be good for gaming and stuff like that.

Forget it - Satellite is the worst solution of all. Don't believe the "guaranteed" bit at all, they cannot do that. It's much more flaky than Mobile mid-band. The latency alone would make gaming a total pain-in-the-h0le. Then you go over their crappy limits and they will either throttle the bejaysus out of you, or charge you a kings ransom.

See if you can get a Fixed Wireless service - use this map, drop the marker or click on your location and tick the Wireless ISPs option and see who provides a service in your area. Call them with your GPS coords and they should be able to say whether they can hit you or not.

marno21

Efibre will be with you before the end of the year by the looks of things.

Don't touch satellite unless you absolutely have to. The fact you'll have eFibre soon means you don't need to go near satellite.

editorsean

Based on those figures (22Mbps down, 6Mbps up, 100GB/month), I am fairly sure this service is delivered by Tooway or one of its resellers. .

From what I've heard, their KA spot beam covering Ireland has very heavy contention. Even this post doesn't give a good impression of Tooway's service.

If there's no fixed wireless provider in your area and really need something right now, I would suggest getting a decent 3G/4G router (e.g. Huawei B593 or B315) even second hand, a proper directional antenna and a prepay broadband SIM for Three, Meteor and Vodafone. If you manage to lock on to even a weak 4G signal, I'm sure the throughput will well-outperform any satellite provider available. With a moderate 3G signal on either Meteor or Vodafone, you'll likely get 5Mbps+ even at peak time. If any work out, you can then consider a bill pay broadband plan. Just note that Vodafone's largest plan is 50GB and can't be extended, whereas Meteor's largest 50GB package can be extended with €15/15GB add-ons.

The router, antenna and SIM cards will probably cost around €200 to €300, whereas with a satellite contract, getting stuck in the 24-month contract (which most are) will cost at least €2400 over the contract duration in addition to the installation cost. Unlike fixed line and mobile providers tend to add capacity over time, satellite providers typically cram as many customers as possible on the one satellite which has a fixed capacity over its design life. At least if the 3G/4G equipment doesn't work out, you can recover most of the cost of the router and antenna by selling them.

The Cush

Blake1412 wrote: »

Eir fibre doesn't look like it's coming out here anytime soon (it says 6 weeks on the coverage map but it's been saying that for way more than 6 weeks now)

In Jan our local exchange on the map said availability within 6 weeks but by mid Feb this had moved back to 6 months, they've been laying the fibre cable to the exchange for the past few weeks.

If your exchange is still on the 6 weeks schedule I'd guess availability can't be too far away.

Welshprince

I have a Meteor usb Broadband connection and get between 30 and 40Mbs down and a rock solid 18 to 20 Mbs up. The 30 Gig limit is the only slight drawback. They have a new deal online for 4G with an increased monthly allowance which I will be happy to move to when my current contract finishes. You should investigate all other possibilities before going for Satellite.

Stinicker

Ring Vodafone ask their technical team to put you on "ip Sprint", that should sort your congestion issues. Satellite Broadband is a waste of time and your better off with what you have now than that 3rd world excuse for an Internet service.