NickAdams

iTrader: (5)

As we don't have cable where we live and our local exchange hasn't been upgraded to be able to handle ADSL,I'm looking for some alternatives to ADSL until BT hit the trigger limit to upgrade...
Anybody tried http://www.ipviasat.net/homeint.htm or know of any other alternatives.This is what they're saying....

How does the IPviasat Home Internet work?



The user connects to the Internet in the normal way (via modem / ISDN). A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is then set up with our server and requested downloads are sent directly back to our server. The data is then up-linked from server to Satellite and down to your receive dish and PC.

Speed
The service is configured to allow for download speeds of 512kps for most of the available time. At times of maximum congestion this may fall as low as 256kps but should not normally be less.

Limitations
Because the home service is intended primarily for leisure use, it is restricted to: 5pm - 8am Monday to Friday and 24 Hours, Saturday and Sunday.

A maximum of 1000MB is available for down load each month. Logging on to your IPviasat web account will allow you to monitor data downloaded and available for download in much the same way that you monitor capacity of a Hard Disc.

Hardware & Software requirements

PC - Pentium II or higher, Windows 98 or 2000
DVB Card, 60cm Satellite dish aligned on Sirius (5 degrees East of South)
Modem or ISDN line with subscription to an ISP
Cost

Monthly subscription - £19.98 including VAT, Payable by Credit Card.
No minimum contract period.
Pentamedia DVB Card & 60cm Dish / LNB pack £144.95
Installation not included.
For your reference
IPviasat is a joint venture company owned by Trac Communications and LRN. Our first Internet-via-Satellite project was as UK re-sellers for CBL's Starspeeder service. Starspeeder was the first fully operational service in Europe and offered an excellent opportunity to establish both users needs, and most importantly, what could be realistically offered, given the very high cost of broadband Satellite Bandwidth. (A permanent 512kbs connection would cost around $56,000 per month!)
CBL found to their cost that the concept of unlimited bandwidth for a fixed fee is not viable. It is interesting to note that BT is also "re-assessing" this approach!

IPviasat have negotiated with Xantic to take off-peak capacity from the Sirius Satellite at 5 degrees East. Whilst this limits use to normally accepted leisure times, it allows for a quality of service not normally attainable to the home user.

Xantic are a major Satellite communications provider with 29 offices worldwide. Their European DVB Platform, routing and uplink facility is based in Hilversum, Holland, with a prime connection to the Amsterdam Internet Exchange. Xantic's commercial services are fully operational, currently giving a very high speed and high quality service to corporate users.

I could live with the conditions cos I'm at work during the day and currently pay £12 a month for BT dial up access.Are there any other companies around that offer a similar service to this and at a cheap price? (There's no minimum subscription either so basically you can pull the plug at any time,ie Once BT get their ADSL up and running )

Comments?

Cheers

Nick

NotoriousREV

I don't have experience with this particular company, but of my customers went to Sat Broadband and both ditched it within a month. I don't know who they used, but neither were very happy.

dsmith

IMHO - you've got to be very desperate for raw download bandwidth to go for satellite. The latency (delay) makes it v poor for many intercative things (VPN, Telnet etc etc).

Deano

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

yeh and although prices are dropping for installs and usage now, u still have the problem of having to use dialup for the uplink with your current ISP or the sat providers dialup ISP. So normally u have to pay your sat sub as well as the dialup sub. Which also means the phone line is still tied up. So its not really proper broadband, as most ppl will need the phone line clear, and wont be able to keep the sat connection on 24/7. 2way sat setups are still very expensive 'Broadband Britain' sucks for rural users.

ChrisB

I wouldn't consider any sat solution that still used a dial-up for upstream traffic.

The pricing I have for Satellite broadband starts at £75 per month on approx 512kbps downstream, and that's a two way solution.

Deano has valid points though, the latency is horrible. The kit I've played with was generating pings of at least 700ms, if not 1000ms. Download speeds were nice though, up to 200KB per second.

If you want a just for SMTP / WWW / FTP, then it's fine. Other stuff, perhaps not.

Chris.

Mark Miwurdz

Hi Nick

Trickey one. We live rurally as well and there is no way BT are ever going to ADSL enable our local exchange - 8 people have registered an interest so far. I'm looking at satellite as well and found thisand this.

Cheers
Kav

[Edited by Mark Miwurdz - 11/6/2002 10:48:03 PM]

[Edited by Mark Miwurdz - 11/6/2002 10:48:43 PM]