Satellite Broadband from Eircom

Maxwell

I am living near an eircom exchange that will not be upgraded for Broadband for another 2-3 years (AS PER CALL WITH EIRCOM). And as I am living in a country area, I seem to have no choice but to try and get satellite broadband. I was checking with eircom and their offering seems pretty okay, but was wondering whether anyone else on these boards have gone this road and can they advise on whether it has been a good idea?

Or there alternatives - cheaper etc?

Would appreciate any reply, thanks!

Mr_Man

Why would you want to give money to Eircom when they are the source of the problem in the first place. There are a number of Satellite BB providers which are cheaper and who aren't Eircom.

Take a look at Silvermead or Centrepoint

Digiweb also have a satellite offering and there is a company called Ildana (sp?) who are into providing remote communities BB via Satellite backhaul.

Other options are wireless based systems, either through a Group Broadband Scheme, or the Irishwan organization.

Good luck
M.

Maxwell

Excellent, thanks for the advice.

I certainly dont want to be giving any money to eircom, but the ones that I looked into were for huge money.

Thanks again, will check those you recommend out!!

Dcully

Bloody hell ive checked out this silvermead crowd ,entered my number and it says i can get broadband within 3 days.
Anyone else know anything about them?

Creamy Goodness

Dcully wrote:

Bloody hell ive checked out this silvermead crowd ,entered my number and it says i can get broadband within 3 days.
Anyone else know anything about them?

it's one way satellite so you need a phone line for upload

Maxwell

Im waiting for them to get back to me

This is probably a very stupid question, but the dial up costs - are they extra onto your 29.99 per month and are you dialing a UK number - therefore costly?

colin300

You dont have to dial a uk number just best to set up a dialup account here thats all that needed. But to give u a heads up keep the hell away from silvermead they are the worst under the sun for satellite BB they cant run a service to save there lives.

Check out http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/censura.php?tsid=1&csid=4be24a00a4e48fc45d1fa6caaffba6e5&cmd=browse&category_id=5&sortby=&startrec=0 they have loads of reviews on satellite broadband providers but I would never touch silvermead they only want your money they dont care about anything else.

Sponge Bob

Centrepoint have posted on here, username is CPSAT

PM him or her

Maxwell

Thanks for that colin300

I called silvermead before you advised and they told me the following:

1. Purchase Sattelite Router (99 sterling)
2. Purchase Sky dish (unless you already have one) Have installer set up equipment and connect to PC
3. Subscription of GBP£19.99 (256k) GBP£29.99(512k) 2MB&3MB available aswell


You then dial ISP (eircom, esat etc) as normal but it connects to the sattelite and gives speeds as per your subscription (so if you sign up to e.g. 50 free minutes per month with eircom etc)

It sounds good to me - remember Im accessing the web at speeds of an amazing 33.33kps and its driving me crazy!!!

Will look through all the providers and try and get the cheapest one and go from there - thanks for the advice and will see how I get on and advise others.

if anyone else have actually done this and can advise - please let me know

Maxwell

Thanks Spongebob, will do that!!

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Is the fact that you are on dial up the reason why you are not responding to my PM's.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=225260. Throw me a bone here

Gunther_Gloop

Can I ask a dumb question here?
...I assume the fact that you can't upload means you are not "online" all of the time with sattellite, as you would be with 'standard' DSL?

If this is so, sattellite is basically just a "standard dialup connection" with faster downloads but not always on. ?

Or would it be possible to still download eg. emails & newsgroup posts without "connecting" via dialup? (I assume not since your reader would have to request the server-check. ..?

-Slightly confused, but if the above is correct I can't really see the point in sattellite broadband at all (for me at least).

colin300

Yeah you got it what happens is the following.
You set up your pc with all the stuff and software.
Then you dial on an ordinary dial up modem into the internet.
A proxy is set up with the software given by the company and when u hit enter or request anything from the internet in about 2 seconds it sends it via the satellite to your screen.
So if I get what your trying to say satellite broadband is never always on its just called broadband because you can download alot more alot faster.

Also you can upload that is why the connection is needed but you can only upload at the speed of the dialup you are connecting at.

furni

I currently have a two way system from mediasat, www.mediasat.ie. I was in a similar situation to yourself and will not see adsl in my area for years. I looked at the option and one way to me was no good as your phone line was tied up and your charge varies.

I have 4 computers connected to the satellite and find it brilliant for downloading updates, files music etc. the equipment was expensive but I was able to source some second hand, I am selling the equipment as I bought two at the time, for someone else, but they didn't go ahead with it. my email address is brenric@gmail.com if you want further details. Can supply full details.

Ba_barbaraAnne

Maxwell wrote:

I am living near an eircom exchange that will not be upgraded for Broadband for another 2-3 years (AS PER CALL WITH EIRCOM). And as I am living in a country area, I seem to have no choice but to try and get satellite broadband. I was checking with eircom and their offering seems pretty okay, but was wondering whether anyone else on these boards have gone this road and can they advise on whether it has been a good idea?

Or there alternatives - cheaper etc?

Would appreciate any reply, thanks!

You don't say what part of the country you are in, but here in the west we are setting up group broadband schemes using WiFi. I'm the project co-ordinator for our community network which will be launched in a couple of months. A few small, private wireless networks are also being set up not too far away as they are inexpensive and quick to set up.

We chose wireless because of the speed, reliability and need for voice over IP and virtual private networks, which don't run too well with satellite. The technology is surprisingly straightforward and we will be bringing broadband to a rural community for 200 euro set up and 30 euro per month, flat rate, no cap, with speeds of up to 2Mbps when we are fully operational. No dial up costs and no hidden charges.

We aren't the first community to do this, so we are using tried and tested technology as a model. With 55% government grant aid available, it makes sense for the neglected rural areas to get group networks going. We will even be our own BISP as the only companies willing to venture into the area are offering satellite.

PM me if you want to know more

Gunther_Gloop

Ba_barbaraAnne wrote:

We aren't the first community to do this, so we are using tried and tested technology as a model. With 55% government grant aid available, it makes sense for the neglected rural areas to get group networks going. We will even be our own BISP as the only companies willing to venture into the area are offering satellite.

What kind of sign-up, over what size area would be needed in order for a group to be able to set up something like this?
Would it need, say, 300 houses within 2 miles or maybe 100 houses within 10 miles before something like this would be viable?

jbkenn

Gunther_Gloop wrote:

What kind of sign-up, over what size area would be needed in order for a group to be able to set up something like this?
Would it need, say, 300 houses within 2 miles or maybe 100 houses within 10 miles before something like this would be viable?

25 - 30 houses makes it viable.

jbkenn

Gunther_Gloop

jbkenn wrote:

25 - 30 houses makes it viable.

jbkenn

Within what kind of area? 1 mile? 10?

jbkenn

Gunther_Gloop wrote:

Within what kind of area? 1 mile? 10?

2 - 3 miles from A.P. depending on Line of Sight.

jbkenn

oscarBravo

jbkenn wrote:

2 - 3 miles from A.P. depending on Line of Sight.

Of course, you're not limited to one AP. A well-planned network can cover quite a large area with a few APs. The higher the ration of subscribers to access points, the cheaper and easier it is.

furni

I would live to have a wireless network but it was not viable in our case, also there is a lot of effort involved in getting the 20-30 subscribers involved, then the area could become enabled. Would like to find out more though on doing it as several people in the area have become interested since they see that I have a satellite in operation. Satellite is not good for VOIP and VPN but sonce I don't use them it suits me.

Ba_barbaraAnne

furni wrote:

I would live to have a wireless network but it was not viable in our case, also there is a lot of effort involved in getting the 20-30 subscribers involved, then the area could become enabled. Would like to find out more though on doing it as several people in the area have become interested since they see that I have a satellite in operation. Satellite is not good for VOIP and VPN but sonce I don't use them it suits me.

You'd be surprised how quickly people show an interest in getting broadband. When our community association first put a bit in the local paper asking for interested people to attend a meeting, we got 25 within 2 weeks. We are now almost ready to launch a network with a waiting list of customers for phase 2 of the project and plans to expand into nearby areas. It's worth going for.