Which is the best Satellite BB provider?

s_wrenn

I’m looking for a good two-way Satellite BB provider. One that doesn’t have a traffic allowance (or else one that doesn’t have a very strict traffic allowance) And something that is less than €60.
I’ve come across a few companies that fit the description here: http://www.broadband.gov.ie/List+all++Services/

I’ll be using it for regular video uploads (file size roughly 100mb-200mb) and regular game downloads ( sometimes larger than 800mb)
I’d like to use it for online gaming too, but the FAQ’s i’ve read say it may not work right due to latency, although it depends on the server.

Which is the best for me?

Or is there any alternative to satellite in the country? (besides 3g)

Urban Weigl

There may be a wireless service provider in your area. It would help to know where you're based.

Capt'n Midnight

~260 ms = time it takes for signal go up to the satellite and back again
this doesn't take into account any ping time down here on earth

3G is cheaper than satellite - no idea of the contention

satellite is over subscribed in most cases too, there are only a finite number of transponders for Europe and with a signaling rate of 22Mb per bouquait (SP) it just isn't the same as broadband over wires.

where are you based ?
ADSL / cable is the way to go if you can get it , otherwise look at wireless, otherwise look into setting up a community wireless scheme or something


2 way satellite the way you describe for less than €60 and you being happy with the service - LOL

s_wrenn

i'm living in Grange, in Limerick. My phone exchange is in Bruff where dsl is enabled, but i'm living to far from the exchange to access it. There is no wireless service provider in my area (I'm 99.9% sure of that. If there is one in my area, then they are doing a very bad job of adertising it)

thebman

s_wrenn wrote:

i'm living in Grange, in Limerick. My phone exchange is in Bruff where dsl is enabled, but i'm living to far from the exchange to access it. There is no wireless service provider in my area (I'm 99.9% sure of that. If there is one in my area, then they are doing a very bad job of adertising it)

The local wireless operator in our area I had never heard of until they actually bothered to put their name on the governments website a while ago.

Also despite signing up, we are here 2 months later with no broadband and after 3 calls where they said we should have it by now and they are coming out, nothing has happened.

Despite all that they are supposed to be able to provide the service they offer once you manage to get connected.

Satellite broadband will be no use for what you want to do. You'll need two way for a start and gaming will be out. For FPS and the like, 3G data cards latency is poor as well. Its good wireless or landline that you need.

smellslikeshoes

Upload is usually pretty bad with 2 way Satellite so wont be much good for your uploading needs. Satellite pings in real the real world can be close to 1000ms so whatever server you try play on won't make much of a difference.

watty

720ms typical is what I measured.
Ripwave (IBB) from 45ms to 1850ms
HSDPA/3G/GPRS seems to be 170ms typical
Metro Wireless and DSL are 24ms typical
(all to Irish sites, you can get 800ms+ even on DSL to some far off sites)

Altreab

smellslikeshoes wrote:

Upload is usually pretty bad with 2 way Satellite so wont be much good for your uploading needs. Satellite pings in real the real world can be close to 1000ms so whatever server you try play on won't make much of a difference.

The latency will kill you eveytime if you are uploading lots of files ...in particular small files. I had Satellite in the past and when uploading websites i found it was a lot faster to use 32K dial-up than the 128K satellite connection due to latency. Typical figures would be 800-1200 ms ...... In heavy rain expect loads of disconnections as well.
Also bandwidth limits tends to be a LOT lower than on ADSL or Wireless. typically around 3 Gig before restrictions kick in.

lucernarian

Are you absolutely certain it's because the line is too long? An eircom salesperson will make up whatever reason if your line is connected to a DSL exchange. With the line distance extensions for broadband, I think the majority of these lines fail because of pairgains.

If you are less than 4 miles from the exchange [centre of village if you can't find the exchange], then I'd suspect a pairgain is to blame and I'd get emailing eircom and comreg. How fast does your modem connect to the internet at?

s_wrenn

I’m around 4.5 miles (6-8km?) from the exchange. My dial-up speed is a constant 40k (although it went up to a head-spinning 42.6k once last week)

Capt'n Midnight

if any of your friends / relations have broad band and you have line of sight to them....

s_wrenn

nope, no one has bb near me.
There is a mobile phone pylon about a mile or 2 from me that would be perfect for setting up wimax.

lucernarian

A constant 40kbps is pretty bad news. That, coupled with your estimated distance to the exchange, means you will be waiting a while for DSL...

I know Digiweb do two-way satellite, though it's pricey enough.

You live near a mobile phone mast. Is there a 3G signal in or around your house?

uncle_sam_ie

Before I got DSL I was considering getting an external aerial for a 3G data card. I'm living about 6 miles from the nearest 3G mast. I don't know if it would of even worked, but I was so desperate I had to try it anyway. Satellite is like driving around in a tank. It costs too much and you can't do anything practical with it.

Urban Weigl

I'd even take ISDN over satellite Internet. If you only need to use the internet for 5 hours a day, get BT Ireland's "flat rate" dialup, which gives you 180 hours. Get an ISDN router that disconnects you automatically after 60 seconds of inactivity, and switch it off completely when you aren't using it at all, in case things like Windows Update and various programs try to connect to the internet.

watty

We should of course have REAL flat rate (24x7x365) analogue or ISDN x2, cheaper than Broadband.