crosscountrybroadband calling other users

robfen

Is the company gone bust? My log in to the satellite service no longer works and I can get no reply from phones/emails. Anyone else in the same boat?

cheers!

thebman

From their website:

CROSS COUNTRY BROADBAND LTD. wish to advise all of it's valued customers together with all of it's potential customers that we have ceased taking orders for our one way satellite broadband package.
The reason for this is that our partner SES-ASTRA has now launced a two way satellite broadband system (A2C) which, as well as being affordable is available in every nook and cranny in the entire country. The two way system will not require a telephone line and will in fact have it's own VOIP platform.
Anybody interested in acquiring this new system please send an email to : jw@nationalbroadband.ie and we will reply with all the necessary details.

Sponge Bob

http://www.freelists.org/archives/vicsireland/09-2007/msg00031.html

SES Astra has signed another service provider to its satellite based
broadband service Astra2Connect. The contract partner National Broadband
Services will
specialize in offering Astra2Connect in Ireland.

Astra2Connect is a fully satellite-based two-way service solution for
broadband access that can deliver dual- or triple-play services without the
need for
terrestrial support. This satellite solution offers a unique opportunity for
two-way access in remote locations and rural areas.

According to recent official data of the National census of Ireland, 320,000
out of the 1.5 million households in Ireland do not have a fixed telephone
line. Nearly 400,000 of the 780,000 internet-connected households are still
using dial-up connections.

John W O'Brien, Chairman of National Broadband Services Ltd, said "The Irish
rural market has been neglected for so long by broadband providers with
several
hundred exchanges still to be enabled for broadband. Because of the
widespread nature of individual house building in rural Ireland, it has not
been an
economic proposition for individual providers to try to serve the market.
Now with the arrival of Astra2Connect we have the ideal product which can
finally
provide broadband to the long suffering rural areas at a price that the
people can afford."

In Germany, SES Astra has already signed two contracts for the distribution
of Astra2Connect, with the internet and telecommunication providers Filiago
and STAR DSL. Filiago has also started to market Astra2Connect in Austria
and Switzerland.

Its still not a good reason to drop their one way customers in it. With any luck it will be back on today sometime or there may be a transponder fault of some sort.

watty

Certain larger operators declined to sign with astra because South West of a line between Sligo and Waterford the service needs a progressively larger dish. The current service is not suitable for Ireland. A lot of people will lose it when its raining or even thick cloud will drop upload speed from 128K to 20k.


There are established operators offering reliable 2-way satellite in Ireland. It's a shame that Astra does not have the capacity on 19.E as that would be fine for Ireland and allow a second LNB on same dish to work for Sky.

If Astra offered it on 28.2E, then the same dish could only get about 1/4 of the sky channels. The Astra2Connect service uses 23.5E and the beam is only useful for about 1/2 the country as it is intended for mainland Europe.

In Germany you might even be able to use a 50cm dish.

The Astra2Connect Dish for Wales/Dublin is 80/90cm Triax style. Unless you want a 2m dish in Kerry/West Cork, this is not a service for every nook and cranny.

If they are switching off the one-way service (AKA dialup accelerator) that's a sharp method to get people to upgrade.

Micky Finn

Hi Robfen. Just a note to say that CCB is very much still alive. We moved offices some months ago so perhaps you are using an old number. We can be contacted at john@crosscountrybroadband.ie or at 086 8254972.
If you refer to the note that we put on the site we said that we were no longer taking orders for the one way system. We did not say that we were shutting it down merely that we were not taking any new orders.
The reason for this is that the new system is so much better and it would not be fair to take orders for the one way system and then come out with a new two way system a couple of weeks later. WE will be keeping the one way system going for as long as our customers want it although I expect that quite a large number of them will migrate to the two way system.
Watty you are off the wall with your assessment on this one mate ! The A2C system has no problem west of the Shannon with a standard 78cm. dish either in rain or shine. We have a number of installations in Mayo and Galway and several more in Donegal for quite some time now all of which are working perfectly in all weathers !
The Astra A2C product has been under test for the past eighteen months (6 months here in Ireland) and is a cracker! It does exactly what it says on the tin.
There are three speeds available : 256down 64 up. 512down 96 up and 1024 down and 128 up. It is designed specifically for residential and very small business use. It is no use for gaming nor for heavy video downloading but for normal everyday residential use it brings broadband to rural areas who have had to live with dial up. There is no download cap but there is a fair usage policy.
Astra have cracked the VOIP latency problem as the phone calls on the system are highly acceptable. The price of the basic product will be €29.95 per month as part of a triple play bundle which will include broadband, voip and satellite television. Anybody interested in receiving more information should contact admin@nationalbroadband.ie.

zugvogel

Hi have you any figures for latency on this product. You say its no good for gaming, but would it support VNC or citrix over https. Some delay would be acceptable if the service was consistent? For instance I've used citrix over 3G mobile broadband and it was OK part from the sheer unreliability of the service - up and down like a frxnch whoxes knickers

Cheers,
Zugvogel

Sponge Bob

Many 2 way satellite services have cracked the oul laws of physics on nailing up a VPN or an SSH or even VoIP.

I remember Aramiska and Ildana claiming victory in the past . Ildana were being punted for the Nobel Prize on this very board if you will recall Zugvogel .

Sadly those groundbreaking operators are no longer with us and them shaggin laws of physics are with us still.

Until someone sends up a Wideband LEO constellation like a 21st century Iridium or even a Teledesic ...but with way more bandwidth .....we will always have them shaggin laws right in our faces where we simply do not want them . Bastards!:(

watty

@Micky Finn
I have the Astra2Connect just south ot the Shannon, west of Limerick. As an qualified communcation engineer of 30 years experience, using the system in rain and examining Astra's official Coverage map I stand by my claims.

If it was reliable nationwide on a 78cm dish a few companies a lot bigger than yours would be installing it. The fact that after inability of Astra to promise this service on a more suitable beam they are not.

However it is much better than the one way dialup accelerators which I have tested too.

Latency as measured here is MINIMUM of about 860ms. Some protocols will be twice this if they handshake the entire path.

watty

The system (which is very nice).
http://www.astra.lu/corpSite/site_en/02_solutions/02_enterprise/A2C/service_overview/index.php

Footprint (unless they have added a new satellite in secret)


This matches measurements done in Sligo, Dundalk and Limerick
Note 50 contour from Sligo to Wexford roughly.

So yes a 78cm dish will work everywhere except extremes of West Cork/SW Kerry, OR when we get a spot of Rain in South, MidWest, West or South West.

watty

The alternate beam on 23.5E is worse:
I can hardly pick it up on a 110cm dish:


Visit Lyngsat to see services on 23.5E
http://www.lyngsat.com/astra23.html

When/If Astra offers this service on 19E or 28.2E it will be brilliant for those with no other terrestrial option. As explained the 19E is preferable for Ireland.

watty

VOIP on Satellite:
Yes it works, but the delay is significant. It is a little like two way radio, OVER.

VNC on Satellite:
Yes it works but you need to move the mouse slowly and stop for 1/2 a second before you click or you may be clicking wrong thing.

VPN on Satellite:
Should work. If anyone wants I can test it on Astra2connect

zugvogel

Errrr that’s a pretty comprehensive set of posts there Mr. Watty. Thanks for the info on the latency and VNC. I guess there’s nothing like a bit of hands on use to evaluate this type of set up

Cheers,
Zug

Micky Finn

As this discussion concerns Astra A2C and not necessarily Cross Country Broadband I am not sure if I am supposed to start a new thread or continue with this one but here goes anyway.
I am not doing a "John Murphy" and trying to re write the laws of physics as Sponge Bob would seem to indicate. I said that what Astra had achieved with regard to VOIP was "highly acceptable". I have had it on test for the past six months and it will certainly be going into my house on a permanent basis.

My sainted mother ,God rest her, used to say that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing". and having read Watty's dissertation on A2C I am beginning to think that she was right.
In the first instance Watty I believe that you are being somewhat disingenuous in this instance by not making clear who your employer is (or who you were testing A2C for)! Would it not be fair to say that you might have a small bit of bias towards A2C and it's obvious success in rural areas ?
Nonetheless let us take your obviously erroneous statements and make the necessary corrections.

If it was reliable nationwide on a 78cm dish a few companies a lot bigger than yours would be installing it. The fact that after inability of Astra to promise this service on a more suitable beam they are not.

Right up to the day that Astra signed with us they were receiving representations from the Big Three here in Ireland not to give us an exclusive contract. Even at this moment contact is still being made with Astra in this regard. So your suggestion to the contrary is a load of tosh!

Your next erroneous statement refers to coverage west of the Shannon but if I read you right this statement was retracted when I pointed out that we would be using 78cm. dishes. You still threw in the hoary old chestnut about rain and possibly a "secret satellite" !
You don't know how near the truth you were !
Quite some time ago I was privy to certain technical facts which I am sure the senior people in The Big Three were also aware of and that was the following :
In July Astra launched Astra 1L. It's purpose was to replace 1E at 19.2E
Astra 1D (the one you gave us all of the footprints for) has come to the end of it's serviceable life and has been put out to grass. It was replaced on October 16th. by Astra 1E . As all the senior people in Astra knew the new orbital position for 1E would give more than adequate coverage for the whole of Ireland.
I trust that you will now be big enough to accept that you were wrong and stop bad mouthing a system which is the only chance that most people will have of getting broadband in rural areas for at lest the next three years and in some cases for ever !
I don't wish to fall out with you as there must be some good in a guy who appreciates Stookey, Yarrow and Travers.


BETZDORF, Luxembourg - (BUSINESS WIRE) - SES ASTRA, an SES company (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG), announced today that it has moved its satellite ASTRA 1E from the orbital position 19.2° East to 23.5° East to replace the satellite ASTRA 1D which is approaching the end of its design life.

At its new position, ASTRA 1E joins ASTRA 3A and will become operational by the end of this month. The move of ASTRA 1E was made possible by the successful launch of ASTRA 1L, which started its services at 19.2° East in July. To further enhance the 23.5° East position, another new satellite, ASTRA 3B, is scheduled to be launched by the end of 2009, adding 19 transponders to the 37 transponders available on ASTRA 3A and ASTRA 1E at this orbital position today.

SES ASTRA is building 23.5° East into a new prime orbital slot for Direct-to-Home (DTH) reception, focusing specifically on the dynamic Benelux and Central and Eastern European markets. Today, more than 330 TV and radio channels are available from 23.5° East, including the satellite platform operators Sky Link from Slovakia and CS Link from the Czech Republic. CS Link now disposes of 250,000 activated smart cards in the market; the Czech broadcaster Nova TV launches its new first Czech High Definition (HD) pilot channel on CS Link.

23.5° East also transmits the Dutch regional broadcasters and the Netherlands’ satellite TV provider Canal Digitaal. SES ASTRA has recently concluded an agreement with Canal Digitaal to use further capacity on 23.5° East for the launch of a new thematic bouquet at the end of this month and for a new HD bouquet next year. The successful introduction of satellite dish devices for the simultaneous reception of signals from 19.2° and 23.5° East with Duo LNBs allows satellite homes to receive nearly 1,500 digital free- and pay-TV and radio programs and services from these two orbital slots of SES ASTRA.

The innovative satellite broadband service ASTRA2Connect is transmitted from 23.5° East and will be further developed. The change of satellites at 23.5° East will have no impact on customer services as the two satellites are using the same frequencies.

“The move of ASTRA 1E is an important step for SES ASTRA to further extend our DTH services for broadcasters across Europe at our orbital position 23.5° East”, said Alexander Oudendijk, Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA. “It builds a basis for additional growth in the DTH and two-way broadband business. With ASTRA 1E and the launch of ASTRA 3B, we will continue to develop our satellite fleet significantly and increase the attractiveness and the high quality of our services to customers.”

Sponge Bob

http://www.astra.lu/business/en/satellite-fleet/satellite-list/astra1e/index.php

astra 1e is a bit of a banger ...or is A2C coming off Astra 3a once 1e gets to the 23e position ???

I dunno anymore. That press release did not mention A2C services at all Mickey , merely that 1l was in 19e and that 1e was buggering off to the 23e position .???

I do see that 1L , now live and staying at 19e has an RX spot beam focused on Ireland / UK while none of the sats at 23e or on their way there have an rx spot .

http://www.astra.lu/business/en/satellite-fleet/satellite-list/astra1l/index.php

and especially the bottom graphic

watty

80cm in Blue... But rain is VERY heavy in Mayo/Donegal. Up to 6 times total rainfall of Dublin or London. So maybe you would want 90cm there.

Progressively bigger to Huge as you go South West to West Cork/ SW Kerry. But are those 1E or 1D uplinks?

Even browsing Web pages getting 10Kbps upstream in Rain is not exciting when doing forms.

1E reports
http://en.kingofsat.net/beams.php?b=8&s=5

Beams here

http://www.ses-astra.com/business/uk/satellite-fleet/satellite-list/astra1e/index.php

Anyone like to say which downlink beam the A2C is on?
Are these the 19.2E coverage maps or updated yet for 23.5E?
Downlink does seem to be better on all beams.
For VSAT though the uplink is the more critical.

I trust that you will now be big enough to accept that you were wrong and stop bad mouthing a system which is the only chance that most people will have of getting broadband in rural areas for at lest the next three years and in some cases for ever !

Several companies have been selling reliable 2 way Sat for quite a while. Almost 45% of the "broadband for Schools" originally used 2-way sat.
I have agreed it is a good well priced system. My only scepticism is that you can do 100% nationwide on 78cm dish. But A2C is not the only option for Rural Ireland.

MushyPeas

After trying 3 for 9 months and now back with dial-up .. I'd love to give this a go , I am in Kerry though so will i get it ? even better if we can ditch eircon's line , looking forward to hearing from national broadband

watty

There is no Money for The National Broadband Scheme. Greens are aiding wood pellet stoves instead.

There are 2 Way sat solutions relable in Kerry.

Micky Finn

Hi MushyPeas,

Please drop me a note to jw@nationalbroadband.ie and I will arrange for you to have a broadband connection in kerry within the next two weeks.

Sponge Bob

still absolutely no comment on any of the beams in Kerry and the west I see !

what size dish are you giving mushy so ??

watty

Castleisland not as bad as Dingle...

MushyPeas

Thanks Micky Finn sent you an email , look forward to putting a good write up on here !

Micky Finn

Sorry for the lateness of the info guys I have been out of town for a while.

still absolutely no comment on any of the beams in Kerry and the west I see !

The new location for 1E will give the following beams http://www.ses-astra.com/business/en/satellite-fleet/satellite-list/astra1e/index.php
No 1 is the home transponder and no 3 is the forward transponder.
As you will see coverage is more than adequate.
As far as rainfall is concerned Astra, when doing their link budgets took into account that the areas in question had possibly the worst rainfall record in the whole of Europe. What more can I say ?
The product is now available for anybody that wants it. (anywhere in Ireland) !

MushyPeas

well the 14 days are well and truly gone , and still not heard a thing ! ere we go again springs to mind , I suppose your very busy , but why say you will have something in 14 days when you can't ? Help i want BROADBAND :mad:

Elephant Man

Check Yer Mail !

Aaron-oc

i have emailed them because i got a new broadbandbut they wont email me back im still payin 60 euro a month!! whats happened to them?

derry

wow
I might be moving to back of beyond mayo

hope this service would work if i do as hate eircon BT and mast all the other evil operaters who just piggyback on crappy rotten 1920s copper wire network and wont make fibre optic solutions to all Ireland like France does

Why cant we have france telecom here to do broadband instead of the low life brits withBT who just keeep milking us for suckers

Derry

Sponge Bob

much of back of beyond Mayo has wireless from q or similar.

watty

derry wrote: »

Why cant we have france telecom here to do broadband instead of the low life brits withBT who just keeep milking us for suckers

Derry

In the UK "France Telecom" is called "orange"

admol

Any info on pricing including monthly and setup costs??

watty

All the established 2 way providers have that on their web sites.

MushyPeas

The silence is deafening from crosscountry/nationalbroadband ! emailed astra to ask if i could get it from the German co. waiting 4 a reply , but got a reply from www.filiago.de after only 30 minutes ...... we could learn a lot from that here , anyway they are not allowed to sell it here , probably because the price here will be more , surprise surprise . :mad: