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Bi Directional broadband

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  • 02-12-2008 10:11am
    #1
    Turbury
    Closed Accounts Posts: 144 ✭✭


    Hi, Can anyone tell me what bi-directional satellite broadband means?


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    #2
    watty
    Registered Users Posts: 32,417 ✭✭✭✭watty


    It uses a transmitter back to the satellite, not just a receiver. No phone line needed.

    The cheaper ones use 0.5W and thus very slow especially in rain for the Uplink. The more expensive ones use 2W and thus work much better and you can upgrade to higher speed.

    A larger dish than TV satellite is needed as none of the satellites are ideal for Ireland (more aimed at Europe mainland) and the uplink power is limited. Dish size is 90cm to 1.2m depending on speed and provider.

    latency is a minimum of about 800ms (ping) as the satellites are all at least 22,500 miles away, a ping has to travel thus 89,000 miles. This makes it poor for VOIP (voice calls) and useless for real time games.

    VPN only works properly if the particular VPN is supported by the indoor Modem and by the Provider. Otherwise VPN can be deadly slow.


    There are cheap "micky mouse" Satellite services that are really just a PC satellite TV card or external USB Satellite TV receiver. These are bad value as you must be online via dialup and only "accelerate" certain download traffic. They are no use at all for VOIP, games or VPNs. If you use more than 5hrs dialup a day and cancelled the phone line, the cost of 2 way (bi-directional or VSAT= Very small aperture terminal) will be much less!

    Install costs vary from €250 for low speed non-upgradeable that may drop out in rain to about €950 for a better system that has potential for speed upgrade and still works OK in rain. Monthly cost is €40 for basic to €95 for speed similar to entry level DSL to €500 for business speeds. Providers are not regulated by Comreg as the services are often from Germany or Italy so your connection may have 75:1 ro 400:1 contention compared to max of 48:1 allowed for irish terrestrial services. Some providers use the same shared connection for the whole of Europe.


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