Cheap Broadband by satellite

colin300 · 12-07-2003 12:02am #1

If people are looking for cheap broadband unmetered check out www.silvermead.net/satellite

I am going to take this up when I get IOL Anytime cause then I will have broadband for much cheaper than the rip off it is here in Ireland.

I think this is the best offer I've ever seen next to Digiweb which is even more then broadband from eircom (it is possible someone dearer than eircom).

tman · 12-07-2003 12:52am

mmm, seems pretty decent, i keep getting a 404 error when i try to check what kind of dish i'd need tho...

BArra · 12-07-2003 1:36am

looks pretty good, has no download cap either, do they block p2p ports and what not?

im gonna think about this with a "fricao" package, does anybody more wiser to these know if this is reasonable or is their anything better for my money?

setup costs for satellite i know is highly expensive, what are setup costs for Silvermead?

parasite · 12-07-2003 2:21am

mmm seems to work on a standard sky minidish ..depends where you live i guess...it does look good though ...bit of googling found these ...
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/forumdisplay.php?&forumid=192 http://www.silvermead.net/support/live/

/ponders/

colin300 · 12-07-2003 2:39pm

I have asked that question on their support forums www.silvermead.co.uk/forums/frontpage.php
The answer is yes p2p applications work. When it comes to setup costs all you really need to do is get a sky installer preferrably independent to put on a quad on to the front of your minidish and then you can use it as long as you have a PCI card able to recieve data the best one is Technisat SkyStar2. That is what I have just waiting to IOL Anytime then setup everything and I'll be downloading at 256kfor 6 hours a day.

Ruu_Old · 12-07-2003 5:18pm

where does it say anything about the republic of Ireland?

Shamo · 12-07-2003 6:02pm

Just did a search for "Ireland" in the forums and came up with some results.

http://www.silvermead.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=928&highlight=ireland

It is available but they "can't do installations" here yet.

SkepticOne · 12-07-2003 6:12pm

They might be willing to work with a reseller or independent installer however. Worth getting in touch with one if it is your only option.

Nuphor · 12-07-2003 9:29pm

They might be willing to work with a reseller or independent installer however. Worth getting in touch with one if it is your only option.

Or ya could just get the equipment yourself and get a friend or your local satellite to install it. All that really needs to be done by an engineer would be aligning the LNB, and even that will become much easier in a week or two when they change transponder's to a much more powerful one. I seen this thread today and thought "screw it, I'll never have ADSL, I'm gonna get this".

Just got a new DVB card on ebay for £45 and a Quad-LNB for £33. Bit of a saving over buying their own starter pack at £159.

It's off to broadband land I go.

andrew163 · 12-07-2003 10:06pm

http://www.europeonline.com

Their intro package is cheaper then that (i think) but it's capped with a very small cap............... worth considering if you're low on funds though.

colin300 · 12-07-2003 11:42pm

yeah when i was trying to find a cheap place to get it and I asked about Europe online their service seems to be getting worse by the day and so is netsystem's. Europe Online have a cap and Silvermead don't. you have to look at it like that cause you can download 10 gb in a month on silvermead and if you got Europe online you could only download about 3 maybe 4 gb depending on what you get.

Shamo · 13-07-2003 12:08am

I had EuropeOnline last year, still have the dish up and all so I may just order the starter kit again.

Didn't use the fast surf or anything though, just used a 3rd party program called FileFetch that constantly has files coming down at up to 10MB/s (Although when its going at full wack, the hard drive can be under heavy load). All the latest <stuff> is usually "pushed" down in it, along with some useless ****e too.

I think theres a new program now though.

colin300 · 13-07-2003 12:15am

Shamo you probably won't need the starter pack cause the old pc card from Europe online may still work and all you would have to do is get the dish beamed to 28.5east which is the satellite it is right beside Sky's one so all you have to ask an installer is to beam the dish to sky's satellite and you can have bbc's aswell as broadband.

Shamo · 13-07-2003 12:25am

The PCI card would work but I don't think I can just get a subscription without buying the pack which comes with a PCI card anyway.

Not really interested in getting the satellite bb service since dsl is available here. Not really interested in getting broadband at the moment for a number of reasons either

Out of interest, are you going ahead and getting the satellite bb service? Are you getting some local satellite guy to install it or what?

colin300 · 13-07-2003 12:32am

yeah i am going to get it as soon as I get IOL Anytime (account is pending).

I am an installer so I don't need to get anyone to do it.

You don't need to get the starter pack once you have a pci card and plus they don't force you to buy it either.

Shamo · 13-07-2003 12:39am

Well thats pretty handy.

How do I go about getting a subscription without the PCI Card?
I was looking on the site, couldn't find an option like that.

colin300 · 13-07-2003 12:44am

you just go to http://www.silvermead.net/satellite/register.html
and then as it says up the top create an account then it asks you after if you want any starter packs.

This is what it says:

1. Create a Silvermead Account - Complete your details below and choose your login name and password. All fields marked * are required.

2. Add subscriptions, starter kits and installations - You need to add your payment details and choose the services plus any hardware and installations you require to your account. Then you will be ready to connect.

And it is as simple as that.

Shamo · 13-07-2003 12:50am

Ah sorry, I meant the pack with EuropeOnline

Its €69 for the pack and it comes with a DVB Card and you get 1 years subscription, just didn't see anywhere to get it without the DVB Card.
Be so much easier if they just sent me my registration details in an email or something, as I have all the software already.

colin300 · 13-07-2003 12:55am

oh right!!!

You could probably go for their skybooster service that is €9.90 and then the one up from that is €29.90 I think. So that is all you have to do. They even say themselves that it has been tested with various other dvb cards such as the technotrend, one of haupagge's

Shamo · 13-07-2003 1:03am

All I need is the pack which has a username and password, then I put those details into the FileFetch program and let it send <stuff> down at speed

The standard service, without the satellite dsl offerings would be useless without that program.

colin300 · 13-07-2003 1:06am

Ok i get now sorry about that its a bit complicated. Or maybe I'm just a bit slow on the uptake.

Shamo · 13-07-2003 1:15am

Yeah I was lost when I heard about it first.
Sure post back when you get the satellite up and running, see what kinda speeds you're getting

popinfresh · 13-07-2003 1:16pm

Lads, dont forget it's sterling... BUt hmmm, 1 meg uncapped for €57 a month. Not bad, not bad at all... Tis a shame satelite connections are useless for computer gaming

Shamo · 13-07-2003 1:24pm

It sounds very nice saying it like that but with the added factor of it being one way, it's going to cost an extra €30 a month (not sure on friaco prices) along with the satellite cost.

But yeah, if dsl isn't available its not a bad option to have. Better than any other satellite service for that price anyway.

popinfresh · 13-07-2003 1:25pm

Sorry, posted twice by accident..

spongebob · 14-07-2003 12:06am

check Satdrive , website Here . I have not heard any bad stories....yet.

colin300 · 14-07-2003 12:36am

I checked the site their and if you look there lowest subscription and then you have to pay per mb for what you download. The next package up from that is £35 then there are other charges like the levels that different gigabytes cost.

spongebob · 14-07-2003 12:51am

no, £14.99 gives you priority 1

This means that large downloads are queued, they may arrive hours later.

Smaller downloads are instant.

£35 increases your priority level , they arrive sooner

colin300 · 14-07-2003 12:58am

sorry bout that.

Yeah i looked at the costs its a £149 activation fee. Well for this and you need it.

Software only package: (for customers who already have a dish and a DVB PCI card)

£149 inc VAT includes SatDrive CD and first months service fee with unlimited use of priority level 1 for fast browsing and light downloading.

Only an activation fee of £15 on Silvermead. then completely unmetered service for as little as £20 a month. All round cheaper for Silvermead.

spongebob · 14-07-2003 1:06am

cool

these are all one way sats that will require FRIACO type products to to the úpstream leg .

Netsystem is reputedly unusable nowadays

Watty in the sat forum recently mentioned Casablanca
Satatonce which is FREE but with catches........naturally.

You may need a multi LNB dish pointing in all sorts of directions to use all of these, it could be a big 1 - 1.2m dish if it has to cover a large arc to scoop them all up, say from 10 west to 30 east.

Hopefully the choice will widen over the next year or two.

colin300 · 14-07-2003 1:13am

yeah i was going to get sat@once but then IOL Anytime came and then I was talking to someone who recommended Silvermead and I said for a free service that pushes mainly German sites down why not get a cheaper broadband service than eircom.

Fair enough it works out about the same but you aren't capped to 4 or 5 gigs.

Cheap Broadband by satellite

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