What questions should I ask a prospective satellite ISP before a 1yr sign up

jasperok

Am looking in to satellite broadbad down here in the lahinch co.clare area, have found a satellite company but before i sign up for 1year and 200 euros installation i want to make sure its o.k can anyone suggest some questions regarding the service -

1) Is it proper 2 way sat broadband ?(ie: is a dialup isp needed for upload of requests?)
2)what are up and down speeds?
3)what if any are the times you may may not avail of the service.?
4)is the service dependant on good weather? (have heard of people with mediasat having bad weather affect their service)
5)what is downlad cap?
6)what is price (per mb) for going over cap?
7)Is throttling used to punsh excessive use based on customers package?


if anyone who knows a bit more about sat setups culd recomend some more questions i should ask the isp i'd really appreciate it
cheers
jasper

Creamy Goodness

if you play games or anything that involves you to have a good ping then don't get satellite as ping times are atrocious

spongebob

1. At that price it is one way sat . See discussions on boards on any or all of of cpsat and silvermead and netsystem, its one of them I'd say
2. Variable (highly)
3. None,
4. No as long as the telly works .
5. Low , see 1.
6. N/a usually, you just get throttled.
7. Its used to punish everyone which is a prob with all busy sats

What ISP ?

jasperok

radiowave.ie it actually seems quite good- i just want to make sure i i ask all the right questions before i sign up,
ta
jasper0k

oh yeah, no time for online gaming (baby on the way) so no concerns with ping - however i do like to download alot of large files. basically i know the answer to the questios i asked i was looking to see is there anything else i should ask! ta
jasper

1) Is it proper 2 way sat broadband ?(ie: is a dialup isp needed for upload of requests?) proper2way
2)what are up and down speeds?600/200 ish
3)what if any are the times you may may not avail of the service.?none
4)is the service dependant on good weather? (have heard of people with mediasat having bad weather affect their service)not sure
5)what is downlad cap?5gb for 60euro mth
6)what is price (per mb) for going over cap?18cent!!!
7)Is throttling used to punsh excessive use based on customers package?not sure

jasperok

ok have more info,
it is actually WAN.
1-2MB download 512k / 1mb upload (target is 4:1 contention).
only affected by severe wind.
no throttling (but bill for each mb over) if repeated over then user gets moved to a more fitting package.
i must say i really have no alternative other than one way sat- i'm very tempted- nothing else only dial up here, can anyone say if it looks like a giood option?

jbkenn

jasperok wrote:

ok have more info,
it is actually WAN.
1-2MB download 512k / 1mb upload (target is 4:1 contention).
only affected by severe wind.
no throttling (but bill for each mb over) if repeated over then user gets moved to a more fitting package.
i must say i really have no alternative other than one way sat- i'm very tempted- nothing else only dial up here, can anyone say if it looks like a giood option?

No, giddyup satellite, of any description, is a ripoff

jbkenn

Capt'n Midnight

questions
what contention ratio
how many clients on how many tansponders ?
at what point will they rent another transponder ( all companies have plans to so don't be fobbed off with that )
cap
cap
cap

best thing is to thrawl through the forums and try and find more than two people who don't work for satellite internet companies who have used satellite and haven't bitched about it.

jasperok

you may be right about trawling the forums midnight but unfortunately i really am stuck- my dial up is pitiful even by dialup standards, can anyone reccomend a real alternative?

Fobia

Now that you know the connection is through a WAN the questions you need to ask change, the most important (imo) would now be:

1. How many hops would the actual connection be away from my client?
2. What equipment would you be using to hook me up?
3. The rest of the one's you've already thought off etc etc

Fobia.

spongebob

Radiowave are a 2.4ghz or 5.8Ghz Wireless ISP all right . Worth a punt over Sat I'd say.

Ask them for a reference client locally that can tell you what they're like.

Base package 1500,1500 1.5Gb Cap €40
Next package 5000,5000 5Gb Cap €60

18c per Mb for every Mb over the Cap ,OOOOH OUCH , throttling is less indecent . So no downloading or torrents for you at those prices dude . Pricing OKish compared to Sats though .

See about MidWestWan here http://www.irishwan.org/board/forumdisplay.php?f=11 .

jbkenn

alkjdflkajf wrote:

Radiowave are a 2.4ghz or 5.8Ghz Wireless ISP all right . Worth a punt over Sat I'd say.

Unless things have changed recently, they were using satellite as their feed.

jbkenn

TheDoc

ok havnt read the posts but I'll tell you what i know.

Satellite aint worth the money. Not only do you get very poor dl caps but you get ridiculous pings. "I dont play games" you might say. Fact is you ping everywhere. If you dl a file from a normal BB line you have to hop onto numerous servers before reaching your destination. The faster your ping the faster you get there and the faster you download.

Sateillite has very inconsistant dl speeds, they cover it up by saying they are super fast but in reality its only being tested and not worth the money yet, but in the future it might be the way. If you are able to get BB in your area get it on the lines and save yourself the bother of crappy speeds etc.

As a matter of interest. I have eircom dsl, running on two computers and I dl at 50k/s. Anyone get faster then this?

jasperok

i appreciate the replies i really do but to be honest I know how good broadband is as i have had it when living in dublin dl at 50 perfect lovely supa dupa, but fact rermains is i now live far far away in aplace time has forgot or at least broadband isp, my only option is satelite or wan i was just wondering what questions to ask an isp so i can pick the best of a bad lot -
anyhows i think i have em now