Satellite Broadband

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Stuart_D

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I'm one of those unfortunate people that has NTL for TV and phone services but cannot get broadband in my area and no date has been annouced for it to be available. I don't want to switch back to BT as I have a good deal with NTL and the additional cost of a single BT line with broadband only on it is a bit too much to justify.

Yesterday I finally found a possible solution - which is Satellite Broadband. As far as I can tell the upload/email sending speeds remain the same as a dialup 56k modem but the download and web browsing speeds are at high speed. It also provides hundreds of TV channels and recording capabilities on your computer. All this for £99 per year.

Has anyone heard of this and if it is any good?

One of the companies offering it is: http://www.broadspeed.tv


[img=left]http://www.a2forum.net/stuart.gif[/img=left]Stuart Diamond: A2OC Founder | Forum Administrator

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My former employers - after a lot of pressure from their remote worker (me) - installed satellite broadband when they moved to new premises earlier this year. They went with Aramiska (http://www.aramiska.net) and I was very impressed both with the performance and with the service from the company but it's ££££££. This, however, is a true two-way satellite link up. Many systems you'll see on the market are like broadspeed.tv and will still be using your NTL phone connection for the return path - so your assumption about upload/emailing speeds (and web page requests) is correct. http://www.silvermead.net/ are another company that provide the same service.

I must confess to having an uneasy feeling about broadspeed - they appear to have yet to start operation, £99/year is peanuts in broadband terms and I wonder about their longterm viability. It's cheaper than "unmetered" dial-up access with a conventional ISP, even. Silvermead look a better bet, albeit slower and more costly - but their data transfer is uncapped and you're not limited to the times of day you can use it. I think that these systems are worthwhile if there's no alternative - but I daresay that, as with everything else, you get what you pay for.

What would be interesting would to find out how much bandwith the various providers have secured on the carrying satellite's transponders. I'll have a nose around if I get time this afternoon :)

Hope this helps...

(A good source on broadband in general is www.adslguide.org which, despite its name, covers other broadband technologies like NTL and satellite as well - particularly in its forums which are useful for judging the performance of various ISPs.

[img=left]http://www.santorini.dsl.pipex.com/a2_avatar.gif[/img=left]Mark.
2003 Azure Blue 1.6 FSI SE

OpenSky | Climate Control | DIS | Isofix + brat | Space-Floor-Box | Satellite Cloth
Electric Rear Windows | Symphony II | Winter Pack | Auto-Dimming Rear View Mirror
 
Oh, I would be very careful with that one.

For starters: the concept (as it looks to me)

- you ONLY get download via satellite, meaning you still need to be online/dialled up to have a full connection
- a low upload (your dialup) always limits your download, so don't expect too much above 512kbit (which isn't very special anyway, for broadband)
- the two options with non-24h usage are crap. I think you need internet at all times. You hardly know in advance. So that would mean 150 pa tariff anyway.

Then the 'fair use of bandwidth' is way to vague to make sense. (I assume you saw http://www.broadspeed.tv/begin.htm
They are probably going to bill the hell out of you if you download too much. And what the hell are 'webvisits'? A usage policy should be in kilo/mega/giga bytes!

I dislike the way they present this. Nor do I like that lack of satellite uplink. But that also explains the (basic) price: you get close to nothing for that. And the rest still costs plenty.

Get more details from them directly if you plan to pursue this.
Or make a scheme to estimate REAL costs. Do the same for you other options. I think it is hard to beat an ADSL or cable connection, especially at these speeds.

So consider yourself warned ;) Didn't want to be to harsh, but I think it is suitable.

Take care,

Edo

--
Edo
(2003 Silver 1.4 Tdi Exclusive(SE), black interior, sport seats, heated mirrors, JVC KD-SH909RB cd-receiver, Infinity Kappa 63.1 + Vifa on-dash tweeters, 12" Subwoofer on 300w Amp)
 
quote:Originally posted by swiv

A usage policy should be in kilo/mega/giga bytes!
Click to expand...
The downloadable .doc file reveals that it's 250Mb/month for the off-peak packages and 500Mb/month for the unlimited package. Are you able to get ADSL over BT in your area, Stuart? - or is it just the NTL broadband you can't get?

[img=left]http://www.santorini.dsl.pipex.com/a2_avatar.gif[/img=left]Mark.
2003 Azure Blue 1.6 FSI SE

OpenSky | Climate Control | DIS | Isofix + brat | Space-Floor-Box | Satellite Cloth
Electric Rear Windows | Symphony II | Winter Pack | Auto-Dimming Rear View Mirror
 
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