Seriously thinking of Satelite Broadband

bbam

Hi guys..
I'm pulling my hair out to get decent broadband coverage..

Fixed line is out as we're too far from the exchange.
O2, vodafine, Meteor mobile broadband - no 3G signal at all.
No fixed wireless operator in our area.

I've been with 3 for a while now but it's going downhill rapidly. 5 of the last 7 days with no signal and the 2 days we only had intermittant.

NBS area starts just in the field next to my property but I'm not in the NBS area so they won't entertain the idea of including me..
Does anyone know if this can be appealed ??

I have a wireless router with my 3 dongle so its positioned as best I can, yet no good signal.. I am waiting on a 17db antenna to arrive to see if this is a solution..
I was looking at a 50db repeater but it's €240 :eek::eek: Anyone done this ?


However..
I'm thinking of going satelite broadband..
I'd like to hear from anyone out there who is on satelite broadband..

How is it fairing out?
What speeds are you getting?
Does wind or rain affect the speeds?

seaniefr

Hi have similar problems to you we have an O2 3G dongle and had the same problems when i had it originally. I got a 2M USB extension lead and hung the 3G dongle out the window which means it has gone from Edge (lowest speed) to 2G (kinda average mid-band) which means its possible to download something before the kettle boils Just a thought it might help or not.

bbam

seaniefr wrote: »

Hi have similar problems to you we have an O2 3G dongle and had the same problems when i had it originally. I got a 2M USB extension lead and hung the 3G dongle out the window which means it has gone from Edge (lowest speed) to 2G (kinda average mid-band) which means its possible to download something before the kettle boils Just a thought it might help or not.

Yep..
Have had it outside and no improvment in signal.. It's like living in the dark ages... and frustrating as the NBS is just over the hedge !

eirator

I struggle with 3 and by placing the dongle in a router a quarter of a mile from the house I get a 22% signal (at best, but goes down to 6%) and a usable connection during the daytime, evenings its rubbish.

Anyway nearest 3 neighbours (2 I can see from where I'm now sitting) have Onwave and have no problems with it. I all 3 cases they would't be big users one I know only uses about a gig a month, none have kids and if they did I suspect the usage caps might cause problems.

Its really down to expectations and how much you'll be using it.

DoesNotCompute

OP, can you get WiMax in your area? Or Broadband over Powerline?

Satellite might give you OK download speeds, but it suffers from latency, so would be less than ideal for VOIP, online gaming, remote desktop, etc.

eirator

DoesNotCompute wrote: »

OP, can you get WiMax in your area? Or Broadband over Powerline?

Satellite might give you OK download speeds, but it suffers from latency, so would be less than ideal for VOIP, online gaming, remote desktop, etc.

Next house up with Onwave use it for Skype calls to the US with no problems.

long_b

DoesNotCompute wrote: »

Or Broadband over Powerline?.

Huh ? Someone supplying this now ?

OP - sounds like you're pretty much an ideal candidate for satellite.

ShiverinEskimo

Can confirm Skype works with Satellite myself on Digiweb's tooway platform:

http://www.digiweb.ie/home/broadband/satellite

bbam

DoesNotCompute wrote: »

OP, can you get WiMax in your area? Or Broadband over Powerline?

Satellite might give you OK download speeds, but it suffers from latency, so would be less than ideal for VOIP, online gaming, remote desktop, etc.

No wimax and I've never heard of broadband over powerline.. Have you any links or details on this??

long_b wrote: »

Huh ? Someone supplying this now ?

OP - sounds like you're pretty much an ideal candidate for satellite.

Obviously if I could get the three to work its only €20 a month..

I'll have to give credit where it's due, I've been working with "Fiona" from three on the "talk to" section of boards and she has been extremly helpful, definitely the most helpful three employee I've come accross..

but it looks like satelite is my only sure bet..

Any feedback from users ?? Thinking of a ~20GB download bundle..
Don't do movies over net at all...

jimmycrackcorm

I think adding a directional antenna for your dongle is the best option.