Anyone with QSat?

pat13wx

Evil_little_me wrote: »

I'm living seven miles between Cashel and Thurles, so I'm basically as rural as could be. Eircom keep telling us year after year that we'll have broadband soon, but to no avail.

So, I'm really excited by the prospect of having a fast, and more importantly reliable connection. And although they didn't call me back when they said they would, every operator I've spoken to have been helpful and genuine.

We live close to each other in that case and, by the sounds of it in the same boat. I am in the Jockey:)

pat13wx

bealtine wrote: »

Have you looked into Munster Broadband?

http://www.munsterbroadband.ie/

I tried them but they don't extend to the Jockey, which is a pity as they seem to be on the ball....but they are available for those living closer to Cashel.

Evil_little_me

bealtine wrote: »

Have you looked into Munster Broadband?

http://www.munsterbroadband.ie/

I didn't even know such a thing exsisted. I'll look into it, thanks for that.

pat13wx wrote: »

We live close to each other in that case and, by the sounds of it in the same boat. I am in the Jockey:)

Small world

What makes me so mad is that I go to college in Thurles, and the internet there is just amazing and I'm just a few miles away with nothing but a stick and a dream.

pat13wx

Evil_little_me wrote: »

I didn't even know such a thing exsisted. I'll look into it, thanks for that.



Small world

What makes me so mad is that I go to college in Thurles, and the internet there is just amazing and I'm just a few miles away with nothing but a stick and a dream.

A kindred spirit:)

I have friends and family in Thurles and they too have amazing BB speeds and when I once told them of what I was getting they didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

On a serious note, many people who live in areas where respectable speed are the norm will never fully appreciate what some of us rural dwellers have to tolerate and how we'll try anything if it helps us get something close to decent.

watty

T42 wrote: »

Would you test a satellite broadband system if was provided to you and give an honest report on your findings.

I have extensively tested a wide range of Satellite systems and given honest report. As a Communications engineer with considerable Network expertise I also understand how the TCP/IP spoofing works, how the caching works, limitations inherent to ANY fixed satellite platform etc.

I don't need to try any more, ever. The only thing that can improve really is cap, and only if there are more customers or a huge amount more satellites are added.

Since Avanti/Hughes with Hylas-1 and Viasat/Eutelsat are now trying desperately to re-purpose their Ka capacity as Digital Cinema feeds and Regional TV, the Hylas-2 and the SES-Astra "birds" already booked and launching in the next year or two will be the peak of European & Irish Satellite Capacity for Internet.

http://www.lyngsat.com/launches/ka.html

Internet using Geostationary satellites will always be for a tiny user base and inherently absolutely inferior to other technologies. Mobile 3G/HSPA/LTE can be worse or better, it is never going to have the consistency nor true "always on" of real Broadband.

There are simply broadband applications that can never work on using Geostationary satellites .

watty

T42 wrote: »

Not directly, I'm a user of different services and would like a good evaluation of the satellite broadband, I'm very interested in it and think it is the way forward for rural areas which let's be honest will never see a high speed reliable service from any of the larger ISP. This could be a ready made solution without costing an arm and a leg to put in infrastructure, like we have spent on Fiber networks, and only 10% usage, huge waste.

It's not the way forward, unless the Government and Civil Service is corrupt or stupid.

Fibre can be got to anywhere ESB gets too. Not really any more expensively than ESB.

Fixed wireless is the way to do people that can't get DSL, Fibre or UPC cable. It can deliver true broadband, and while install cost is x4 that of Mobile (due to labour) the install cost is cheaper than Satellite Terminals. The Infrastructure cost is about 1/2 of mobile per base and can be 1/10th of Mobile per Mbps of traffic.

Really no-one in Ireland should have to get expensive Satellite (where virtually all the revenue leaves Ireland). You might decide to give the last 100 sites Satellite in a Universal Broadband rollout, but actually there is likely no need if those 100 people subsidized by the 1.5 million Urban and Suburban users.

But having 2,000 to 6,000 users is criminal stupidity.

P.S.
I currently don't work for ANY ISP or Radio company.

Evil_little_me

pat13wx wrote: »

On a serious note, many people who live in areas where respectable speed are the norm will never fully appreciate what some of us rural dwellers have to tolerate and how we'll try anything if it helps us get something close to decent.

Exactly. I'm desperate for anything that could download a song faster than what it usually takes me. (20-30 minutes) Or have a youtube video load without having to do the housework just to pass the time!

pat13wx

Evil_little_me wrote: »

Exactly. I'm desperate for anything that could download a song faster than what it usually takes me. (20-30 minutes) Or have a youtube video load without having to do the housework just to pass the time!

Oh yeah! This all sounds so familiar:D

I hope your BB worries are soon over.

T42

How many wireless companies have gone out of business, ICE were going to deliver broadband to rural ireland, but due to huge infra structure cost they failed and this was during the height of our economical growth. Ripplecom have taken on the mantle but they too are struggling.

Do you live in rural Ireland, if you do then you would understand the frustration We suffer from our non existent network. Fiber as a solution is not cost effective and will not reach rural areas, Fiber to home will not happen here, only in the large cities and towns. The ESB have invested heavily in their network, who will invest in the broadband network.

It might be worth looking at Satellite Broadband as a solution the meets our needs, NOW, no more waiting and the Speeds are real, not the headline speeds being touted by the ISPs and never delivering.
Maybe Eamon Ryan should have considered investing in a Satellite, rather than his cock and bull with 3, 99% of the country now have broadband





QUOTE=watty;73879890]It's not the way forward, unless the Government and Civil Service is corrupt or stupid.

Fibre can be got to anywhere ESB gets too. Not really any more expensively than ESB.

Fixed wireless is the way to do people that can't get DSL, Fibre or UPC cable. It can deliver true broadband, and while install cost is x4 that of Mobile (due to labour) the install cost is cheaper than Satellite Terminals. The Infrastructure cost is about 1/2 of mobile per base and can be 1/10th of Mobile per Mbps of traffic.

Really no-one in Ireland should have to get expensive Satellite (where virtually all the revenue leaves Ireland). You might decide to give the last 100 sites Satellite in a Universal Broadband rollout, but actually there is likely no need if those 100 people subsidized by the 1.5 million Urban and Suburban users.

But having 2,000 to 6,000 users is criminal stupidity.

P.S.
I currently don't work for ANY ISP or Radio company.[/QUOTE]

watty

Satellite isn't Broadband.

The cap is abysmal.

The latency is minimum 650ms, typical 800ms

Many applications won't work: Cloud/Ajax, most VPNs, Gaming...

Fibre is cheaper than mobile LTE rollout for Fixed use, giving over 100x speed even with just FTTC. It's perfectly economical and Fixed wireless for groups that are not feasible for fibre. One Fixed Wireless mast can have the same capacity as ALL satellite for ALL of Ireland together.

The 3G in the past and Satellite mantra now just hands Government and civil servants an excuse to do nothing. Convince them that 3G, LTE and Satellite are NOT solutions and then we will get action.

T42

Watty, I agree totally with your view on the government action, but how long more have the people in rural ireland got to wait. Can you tell me, honestly now, when a decent BB Service will be available to us.

You as a tecki have your opinion on the technology and I agree with most of it, but me as a consumer needs the answers now and we will never be served by our inept governments, so if a service provides us with high speed BB Now then we will are entitled to it, why should we be used as a stick to beat the powers that be. We don't need VPNs or Gaming, I'm working on a cloud app and it's perfect. In actual fact iv witnessed live streaming of video content on the Tooway platform, UPLOAD of 2.5mb, and it blows Eircom and other ISP out of the water. If you know of another solution then let us know.

Satellite Broadband might be worth another look, don't rule it out.

watty wrote: »

Satellite isn't Broadband.

The cap is abysmal.

The latency is minimum 650ms, typical 800ms

Many applications won't work: Cloud/Ajax, most VPNs, Gaming...

Fibre is cheaper than mobile LTE rollout for Fixed use, giving over 100x speed even with just FTTC. It's perfectly economical and Fixed wireless for groups that are not feasible for fibre. One Fixed Wireless mast can have the same capacity as ALL satellite for ALL of Ireland together.

The 3G in the past and Satellite mantra now just hands Government and civil servants an excuse to do nothing. Convince them that 3G, LTE and Satellite are NOT solutions and then we will get action.

dc27

Hi does anyone know what direction and angle the Qsat dish needs to be pointed towards? Thanks very much.

Cabaal

T42, just to reiterate jor el's previous query which you appear to have missed

Then how are you proposing to arrange trials and evaluations, if you have no connection to the suppliers? It seems a little strange to me.

T42

Cabaal wrote: »

T42, just to reiterate jor el's previous query which you appear to have missed

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It would be nice to get a service tested properly before it is slated here on the boards, that's all I proposing. Most people on here have used Eircom, UPC, Vodafone, etc, and are well positioned to make a comment, very few if any have used Satellite Broadband. If you red this months What Satellite they give it an 86% rating, which is good, does it deserve this rating?

pat13wx

Cabaal wrote: »

T42, just to reiterate jor el's previous query which you appear to have missed

I suspect T-4 works for some Satellite BB company or other and is more involved than he's mentioned. I have no problem with this. I feel he is disappointed with the negative stuff being posted here so want to defend something he believes in. Again, I have no problem with that.

The problem for me is the pitiful download allowances currently being offered for the more basic Satellite packages. I could handle the latency issues, but would not put up with the derisory download limits I have read about. If Satellite BB providers were to be more generous in what they allow and reduce the price until they’re in line with more conventional BB providers, then they’d receive less complaints and far more support and (more importantly for them) attract far more customers.

Regardless of what some on this forum would have us believe I know Satellite BB works and works well enough for many of us who live in rural Ireland, but while the allowance and pricing issues remain the Satellite approach to a BB type service will not be as attractive as it could be. I am sure in time Satellite companies will change and offer more realistic download allowances and prices, but I fear by then it may be too little too late.

Sponge Bob

Listen, we covered this a long time ago around here from first principles. Every year we get another snakeoil outburst on Boards from the VSAT selling classes and this years one is worse than usual with Hylas and Ka Sat having gone live.

None of the new generation of satellites, individually, have the backhaul and throughput capability..deliverable to Ireland, of a SMALL RURAL TELEPHONE EXCHANGE and the older sats used up to 2010 are even worse....Hotbird 6 shared 4 Ka transponders for Tooway...around 250-300mbits for the whole of Europe and Astra2connect share 10 smaller Ku band transponders for around 300mbits across the whole of Europe as well.

Speeds should still be good on the new sats, they have no customers yet! Wait till christmas though.

watty

T42 wrote: »

It would be nice to get a service tested properly before it is slated here on the boards, that's all I proposing. Most people on here have used Eircom, UPC, Vodafone, etc, and are well positioned to make a comment, very few if any have used Satellite Broadband. If you red this months What Satellite they give it an 86% rating, which is good, does it deserve this rating?

It has been tested by many people on Boards, including qualified Network and Communication engineers.

There is nothing new now except some new capacity, the new Irish capacity combining BOTH satellites is STILL ONLY about 1/30th of one fibre in a bundle of fibres, and only equal to fixed wireless capacity at Three Rock. With 50 times worse latency.


What Satellite is barely more than an Advertising brochure. Most Tech Retail Magazine reviews have been meaningless since mid 1980s. Also it's a consumer TV receiver publication, what would they know about networking.

Cloud services in general do not work on Satellite. Some may.

No-one other than the companies selling it should be promoting Satellite at all. The companies selling it are mis-representing it. It can be a backup emergency solution, a disaster emergency communications solution or last ditch connectivity. It's not Broadband.

You are doing no-one a favour promoting it.

I am sure in time Satellite companies will change and offer more realistic download allowances and prices

No, they won't!

They can NOT offer larger download allowances. The totally obnoxious hourly, daily and weekly limits are to reduce congestion as there is about 1/20th to 1/80th of the capacity needed to service the number of customers they plan. They can only be economic by "oversubscribing" by x10 to x100 compared to terrestrial systems (contention). That means that the speed would be 10 times to 100 times slower than an equivalent speed of DSL / Fixed Wireless package if they had the same kind of caps.

pat13wx

watty wrote: »

They can NOT offer larger download allowances. The totally obnoxious hourly, daily and weekly limits are to reduce congestion as there is about 1/20th to 1/80th of the capacity needed to service the number of customers they plan. They can only be economic by "oversubscribing" by x10 to x100 compared to terrestrial systems (contention). That means that the speed would be 10 times to 100 times slower than an equivalent speed of DSL / Fixed Wireless package if they had the same kind of caps.

In that case Satellite may not survive too far into the future. The demands for faster speeds and greater allowances will only increase as time goes on and if Satellite can't compete with providers able to meet such demands - due to the limitations you outlined - then unquestionably they are going to be left behind.

watty

That's why they have changed emphasis of marketing of Ka-Sat from Internet only to Digital Cinema, OBs, Regional Tv.

RTE will be using nearly 1/4 of the Irish capacity for Saorsat. Satellite does broadcasting and ad-hoc temporary links well.

pat13wx

watty wrote: »

That's why they have changed emphasis of marketing of Ka-Sat from Internet only to Digital Cinema, OBs, Regional Tv.

RTE will be using nearly 1/4 of the Irish capacity for Saorsat. Satellite does broadcasting and ad-hoc temporary links well.

I see what you mean. It really is looking quite ominous for Satellite ISPs, then. Too bad if they can't continue as Satellite seems an alternative for rural dwellers without other means of getting connected.

bealtine

pat13wx wrote: »

I see what you mean. It really is looking quite ominous for Satellite ISPs, then. Too bad if they can't continue as Satellite seems an alternative for rural dwellers without other means of getting connected.

That's what the marketing types would like you to believe but in reality sat is not an alternative to anything decent

Sponge Bob

Satellites once carried around 50% of international telephone traffic ( 25 years ago) and more than 50% of transatlantic and transpacific. Now they carry 5% of traffic at most. Fibre replaced them.

TV ( broadcast and outside broadcast) took up the slack left when telecommunications abandoned satellite for fibre.

There are exceptions like the middle of the Sahara or the south atlantic, a citizen of a developed country should not be forced to rely on this technology all the same.

watty

pat13wx wrote: »

I see what you mean. It really is looking quite ominous for Satellite ISPs, then. Too bad if they can't continue as Satellite seems an alternative for rural dwellers without other means of getting connected.

Satellite ISPs?
All the companies here except one are just resellers. The one that isn't a reseller has Fixed & Mobile Wireless, DSL and Fibre. Even they only resell Satellite capacity. There is no real Satellite ISP in Ireland at all the sense of having full network and control of the Satellite.

Some talk of Elfordstown being used by Ka-Sat, but that will not be for Irish users.

pat13wx

watty wrote: »

Satellite ISPs?
All the companies here except one are just resellers. The one that isn't a reseller has Fixed & Mobile Wireless, DSL and Fibre. Even they only resell Satellite capacity. There is no real Satellite ISP in Ireland at all the sense of having full network and control of the Satellite.

Some talk of Elfordstown being used by Ka-Sat, but that will not be for Irish users.

Kind of like those ISPs that use Eircom's existing telephone lines and resell essentially the same product or variations thereof under a different name and with different pricing structures.

pat13wx

dc27 wrote: »

Hi does anyone know what direction and angle the Qsat dish needs to be pointed towards? Thanks very much.

I am sure if you were to give them a call they'd be able to help you.

Evil_little_me

dc27 wrote: »

Hi does anyone know what direction and angle the Qsat dish needs to be pointed towards? Thanks very much.

The engineer will install everything for you, he'll know which way it should be pointed.

petronius

The dish needs to be pointed at the Astra 28.5 satellite... the same one used by Freesat (which seems to be the qsat tv offer) and Sky

irishpancake

petronius wrote: »

The dish needs to be pointed at the Astra 28.5 satellite... the same one used by Freesat (which seems to be the qsat tv offer) and Sky

Yeah, I think it goes sometin like this:

Can you see the Sky:



Apologies to PressTheButton....hope you don't mind me re-using your image.

irishpancake

D1stant wrote: »

Satelite Broadband is an oxymoron

I'd like to see Ireland do something like this

http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/2010/12/vodafone-germany-intros-lte-service-and-pricing/

In Germany the Goverment gave VF cheap LTE spectrum under the condition that they service rural areas with it. 7/21/50Mb services all over Germany

just a warning from Chrome, on that URL above...something not right.

corkfella101

fergus1001 wrote: »

2 gigs is crazy i smoke through 15 gigs in a month with three i really wish they were leanient with the limits

im with 3 and im getting 25gb a month for 19.99
i can only get that under the national broadband scheme
look into it and you might get more than 15 gb

pat13wx

I see Q-Sat are still only offering 1 gig per month download allowance with their basic package and 5 gig with their most expensive one. Is this the least decent allowance out there from any Satellite BB provider anywhere in Europe? Sure seems that way.

Heefy

Evil_little_me wrote: »

Rang vodafone to see if I could cancel my contract for the slow as feck mobile broadband and found out it was up anyway so I bit the bullet and ordered Q-Sat a few hours ago.

€99 up front for installation, then €59.95 per month for the Gold package (8mb down / 2mb up), sounds alright. Anything's gotta be better than that bloody mobile broadband :mad:

The only downside is I'll be waiting 4-6 weeks for installation thanks to the waiting list.

Have you had this installed yet? Lots on contention at the moment on this thread. I have imagine broadband at the moment WiMAX based the atcual rates measured on an alleged 4MB service are typically 0.4 MB when I use speedtest.net ... Have you run speed test. I am so unhappy with imagine that I am thinking of trying this on a 14 day basis.

Evil_little_me

So, my QSAT got installed today and honestly, I can't speak highly enough of it.

Tidy job, the dish is quite large, but it's on the back of the house so that's okay. Incredible speed, seriously, I can't believe how fast it is. Especially considering the speed of the mobile broadband I had, it's just an astonishing difference.

I can do anything online now, whereas before, I couldn't even view a video on YouTube that ran longer than four minutes because it just simple took too long to load.

I definitely recommend it. I know the 1 gig download allowance is stiff but I couldn't care less.

daveoc16

Anyone using Qsat with Eircom Phonewatch or other alarm system as a monitoring medium.
I'm trying to decide what type house alarm to get as i want to get txt msg to my mobile if alarm is activated. Also want to remotely monitor cameras on exterior using internet/smartphone.
In tech terms is sat broadband looked on as "fixed line" as opposed to wireless 3G? e.g. Phonewatch does not work using 3G wireless broadband but does work using fixed landline/GSM.
Any info appreciated.

PogMoThoin

Evil_little_me wrote: »

I can do anything online now,

Eh, Sorry, but no you can't. It's not broadband and never will be. You can't do anything in real time, like gaming, VoIP doesn't work well, VPN will never work. Highly optimised browsing is all you got and an hour watching Youtube will eat that monthly limit.

S55AMG

hellboy99 wrote: »

Has anyone got the new QSat service, what is their broadband like?

I had QSat installed 2 weeks ago and am dreadfully dissapointed, frustrated and angry :mad::mad:

I am signed up for the 4 meg BB package with Nightsaver. Since day one I have had issues with the connection speed. 90% of the 20 odd speed tests I have done have all come in under 1 meg, a couple at 1.5 and one at 3. The speeds are completely inconsistent.

I thought I was getting the issue resolved when I had a ticket opened and was getting some response from Tech support. Unfortunately for me, QSat have decided that getting less than one meg is acceptable on my package and they do not intend on doing anything further about it. How is this possible? How can they consider this an acceptable connection speed for 40 quid a month? If I was paying for the 2 meg line I might understand a bit more, but I am not willing to accept those speeds on a 4 meg line. QSat's entire web site and FAQ's section is simply a load of spoofing to get you to sign up. I will be getting onto ComReg about their false advertising. Have you read their 'FAQ' about contention and waffling about airline seats and overbooking? Then they conveniently forgot to mention what their contention ratio is!

Are there any more disgruntled QSat customers out there? I would say there are but they just can't get online to complain about it

PogMoThoin

S55AMG wrote: »

I had QSat installed 2 weeks ago and am dreadfully dissapointed, frustrated and angry :mad::mad:

I am signed up for the 4 meg BB package with Nightsaver. Since day one I have had issues with the connection speed. 90% of the 20 odd speed tests I have done have all come in under 1 meg, a couple at 1.5 and one at 3. The speeds are completely inconsistent.

I thought I was getting the issue resolved when I had a ticket opened and was getting some response from Tech support. Unfortunately for me, QSat have decided that getting less than one meg is acceptable on my package and they do not intend on doing anything further about it. How is this possible? How can they consider this an acceptable connection speed for 40 quid a month? If I was paying for the 2 meg line I might understand a bit more, but I am not willing to accept those speeds on a 4 meg line. QSat's entire web site and FAQ's section is simply a load of spoofing to get you to sign up. I will be getting onto ComReg about their false advertising. Have you read their 'FAQ' about contention and waffling about airline seats and overbooking? Then they conveniently forgot to mention what their contention ratio is!

Are there any more disgruntled QSat customers out there? I would say there are but they just can't get online to complain about it

Contention. LOL, You share a single link to the satellite with the whole of Europe

Watty will come back with the figures of exactly what size link that is, but it's about the equivalent backhaul to a dsl exchange in a rural village, and you share that with the whole of Europe

Feebs10

Anyone know a wireless BB that can be got without a phone line and reasonably priced or with a phone line???? It's for my son's xbox (xbox live). I'm based in Leitrim. Thanks

bealtine

Feebs10 wrote: »

Anyone know a wireless BB that can be got without a phone line and reasonably priced or with a phone line???? It's for my son's xbox (xbox live). I'm based in Leitrim. Thanks

Try these links:

http://www.ardenbroadband.ie
http://www.ciaracom.ie

Feebs10

Thanks

connie147

Hi lads,
Im no computer genius I'm afraid, so i could do with ye're help. I live 4 miles outside Killarney in Co Kerry, and we have no access to broadband. I use a 3g mobile broadband stick and it works reasonably ok.

I play quite a bit of online poker (have up to 4-6 tables opened at any one time). The only other thing I use the laptop for is emails, reading boards and using skype.

My 3g stick, though ok is not ideal as it is sometimes too slow and my poker tables time-out.

Am I right in presuming that getting one of the satellite broadband providers must be an improvement in what I have? I have no intention of downloading music/movies etc etc.I want to set up a room at home specifically for playing the poker, so advice from the guys here who know a bit about it would be appretiated.

Connie

PogMoThoin

connie147 wrote: »

Hi lads,
Im no computer genius I'm afraid, so i could do with ye're help. I live 4 miles outside Killarney in Co Kerry, and we have no access to broadband. I use a 3g mobile broadband stick and it works reasonably ok.

I play quite a bit of online poker (have up to 4-6 tables opened at any one time). The only other thing I use the laptop for is emails, reading boards and using skype.

My 3g stick, though ok is not ideal as it is sometimes too slow and my poker tables time-out.

Am I right in presuming that getting one of the satellite broadband providers must be an improvement in what I have? I have no intention of downloading music/movies etc etc.I want to set up a room at home specifically for playing the poker, so advice from the guys here who know a bit about it would be appretiated.

Connie

You could rule out Skype, it will now work well at such high latency.
Do you realise how little 4GB is to a user per month? it's pittance.
24 month contract and de-installation fee, are you sure you are willing to take a risk on being stuck with something that may not work for you?

pat13wx

connie147 wrote: »

Hi lads,
Im no computer genius I'm afraid, so i could do with ye're help. I live 4 miles outside Killarney in Co Kerry, and we have no access to broadband. I use a 3g mobile broadband stick and it works reasonably ok.

I play quite a bit of online poker (have up to 4-6 tables opened at any one time). The only other thing I use the laptop for is emails, reading boards and using skype.

My 3g stick, though ok is not ideal as it is sometimes too slow and my poker tables time-out.

Am I right in presuming that getting one of the satellite broadband providers must be an improvement in what I have? I have no intention of downloading music/movies etc etc.I want to set up a room at home specifically for playing the poker, so advice from the guys here who know a bit about it would be appretiated.

Connie

To put it simply, Q-Sat is only good enough for browsing the net, sending and receiving emails. If you use it for anything else the meagre amount of a monthly download allowance (2 gigs a month for basic package) you will find you’ve gone over within a few days. Remember, even viewing a you tube video will soon eat up any allowance you might have. Q-Sat is ideal for people who wish to browse and little else.

Cantona's Collars

Permanet service the Killarney area,might be a better option than Q-Sat.

http://www.permanet.ie/New/map.html

Lennoxschips

In Sweden, Tele2 offers the following mobile broadband packages:

25 euros/month: 25 Mb speed with 30 GB data limit. After limit is reached it still works, but the speed is drastically reduced for the rest of the month (To 0.2 Mb)

40 euros/month: 80 Mb speed with 80 GB data limit. Same story with speed reduction after limit is reached.

Now, why can't these services be offered in Ireland? What's the deal? Licensing of spectrum?

bealtine

Lennoxschips wrote: »

40 euros/month: 80 Mb speed with 80 GB data limit. Same story with speed reduction after limit is reached.

Now, why can't these services be offered in Ireland? What's the deal? Licensing of spectrum?

Because we have no real competition here, as all the mobile operators are acting as an oligarchy and dare not undercut each other by too much for fear of cutting their ARPU. Ever wonder why the ARPU for Vodafone customers is the highest in Europe, or thereabouts?
It's a holdover from the Celtic Tiger period, the period of gouging the customers as much as possible (extracting maximum ARPU), the period of greed that the operators have become accustomed to and they dare not change it.

Ratzo Rizzo

Q-Sat is a nasty ploy to raise enough money to buy Sunderland a decent striker and keep them in the premiership...

Herbert West

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Eh, Sorry, but no you can't. It's not broadband and never will be. You can't do anything in real time, like gaming, VoIP doesn't work well, VPN will never work. Highly optimised browsing is all you got and an hour watching Youtube will eat that monthly limit.

How do you think it could handle Netflix? Would it be fast enough for that? (under the Rural Broadband scheme they give you a 11gig cap - so you could watch a few films at least).

Why would VPN not work?

Thanks...

bealtine

Herbert West wrote: »

How do you think it could handle Netflix? Would it be fast enough for that? (under the Rural Broadband scheme they give you a 11gig cap - so you could watch a few films at least).

Why would VPN not work?

Thanks...

The caps are by hour on satellite and are tiny so probably not able to watch more than one or two movie a month.

See here for typical sat limits : http://www.onwave.ie/fair_usage_policy

VPN require low latency connections and sat cannot be called low latency. typical ping times can be 800ms or more

Herbert West

Thanks for that...

Qsat do mention in their brochure that 'VPN should work' on their connection. I imagine that means 'at the best of times' and can't be relied on. So VPN is always very unreliable over satellite?

I couldn't find any mention of caps are by hour on Qsat but thats not to say they don't exist. Can any one clarify this?