Beam Solutions - Flat Rate in Weeks

JTMan

I have just spoken to some head of Beam Solutions who told me a lot about their flat rate wireless service that they are about to launch in Ireland.

* The service will cost €29 a month
* It will be completly flat rate, always-on
* It will be 100k/sec
* They need 20 people to contact them from a certain radius saying they want the service and then they will put it in the area.
* The equipment will cost €230. 80% of people are expected to choose self-install.
* It will be based on 802.11b
* It will be focused on the consumer market
* They have been in talks with the ODTR, IDA, Department of Finance and have got a licence from the ODTR.
* They are currently setting up their offices here
* He is convinced that Esat, Eircom and NTL will not offer any competing product.

Their website is at www.beamsolutions.net .

(Sorry, I know this has been partically mentioned in other threads)

BoneCollector

So we can all give ercom back there phones!!!

They need 20 people to contact them from a certain radius saying they want the service and then they will put it in the area

okay so can we check out how many here live within that radius of each other and then build a map for the most likely location of hub installations?

aidan_dunne

I hope tons of people sign up for this because, if they do, Eircom will hopefully loose a $hitload of customers and then they might finally realise that they shot themselves firmly in the foot by not making a flat-rate product available.

Dustaz

from another thread:

Originally posted by Moriarty
Beam are a 2-way satellite provider, they arent using 802.11b. As such, latency will be massive, and either the connection will be sky-high, or there will be very restrictive caps on it. Ho hum. :rolleyes:

Moriarty

Let me clarify

They appear to be using 802.11b to link a number of customers to one local hybrid Network Operations Centre / node. From this NOC, they use a 2-way satellite system to link the customers into their network, and the internet. This will lead to latency issues when using the net.

Now, saying this, its an entirely workable solution for some people - it looks like a decent offering for the general net user. Just be aware that its not going to give you a connection you can play games over, and that things such as SSH/IRC sessions will be lagged.. Just be aware that your internet connection will (indirectly) be over satellite, so you get the issues that come with satellite internet access.

BoneCollector

Personaly...
i will be looking forward to combining this with netsystem which gives me upto 1mb download @ 24/7 using beam
Im already paying around €50 a month between errcom and nolimits for just off peak, and thats just rental.

TomF

I'd love to dump Eircom as the company I am paying a bundle to every month for Internet access via IOL. (I use Esat already for voice calls, and wouldn't use Eircom even if they lowered their prices.)

bkehoe

Also, I suspect that 100K(byte) (i assume 1MBit, as its the most practical speed that can be delivered from the satellite) would be shared with the 20 people connected into each node.

m1ke

i smell a download cap

eire_insane

You say 20 people are need to be in a certain radius well what is the distance ? And does it have to be exactly 20 people as if it a small radius then it would be hard to get 20 people.

Also is this a satellite connection and what is the uploads speeds ?
Should we start looking for people now or is it to ealier.Any how if you are in Mayo and intrested them post here!

longword

Originally posted by Moriarty
They appear to be using 802.11b to link a number of customers to one local hybrid Network Operations Centre / node. From this NOC, they use a 2-way satellite system

Wow. All of the disadvantages of satellite plus all of the disadvantages of 802.11 networks. That has to hurt!

Still, at least individual users won't be hit for a government license to run the satellite uplink.

that things such as SSH/IRC sessions will be lagged..

I doubt you'd notice it much on IRC since it transmits and receives line-by-line and even with a high speed connection, the latency across an IRC network will often be worse than the satellite hit.

It hurts a lot on SSH/telnet because each individual keypress has to make it all the way up then all the way back before you see it on the screen. Same goes for VNC, Citrix, PC Anywhere and similiar applications.

I wonder if the users within a node might be able to communicate without going through the satellite. Good for a small game of Quake at least if they're like-minded souls.

longword

Originally posted by Dustaz
from another thread:
Beam are a 2-way satellite provider, they arent using 802.11b

If they're looking for "20 people to contact them from a certain radius" then at least part of their network must be based on some form of terrestrial wireless solution - and 802.11b is a good bet.

I'd say Moriarty has it right. Wireless providers anywhere else would use an E1 or T1 line for the basestation->internet link (I have a friend in the US on such a service), but those things cost silly money in this country. A satellite uplink sounds plausible for so cheap a service.

Arboration

Anyone know what the radius is?

longword

Originally posted by Arboration
Anyone know what the radius is?

It will need line-of-sight to the uplink node, but so long as that's available they should be able to service users in a 10km radius.

MarkR

Oops, i had a question about the pricing on the site, so if any one it, just ignore it! Seems it's not been publicised yet. Fingies crossed folks..

BoneCollector

i smell a download cap

Even with a cap, at that price its always on 24/7 and if you combine with netsystem which has no cap, since your download is through netsystem and you only ping with beam then you shouldl never expire your cap

bkehoe

BoneCollector, you're talking of a 1.5 - 2 second lag though, and VPN doesn't work well, if at all, over certain kinds of 2 way sat. 700-1000ms is bad enough without doubling it. 10KM would be a bit too much if they're strictly keeping their equipment below 100mW, and as the signal drops, it'd get more unreliable. I'd be guessing that they'll try 7KM or so. In the US, setups like this, though using land based backbones are very popular, and perform extremely well, though they have the advantage of much higher power limits for 802.11b, meaning a well placed tower can get people from over 40KM away.

BoneCollector

I have spoke to beam and they indicate they are rolling out within a week in the dublin area. They say they will be putting in upto 60 base stations with line of sight and non-line of sight with a radius of 3 miles. Initial roll out will be 100 users, they would also like as many people to register there interest so as to get an idea of how best to tap its potential.
GO REGISTER NOW
http://www.beamsolutions.ie/register.html

mayhem#

Originally posted by BoneCollector
okay so can we check out how many here live within that radius of each other and then build a map for the most likely location of hub installations? [/B]

Don't want to be a stick in the mud but IrishWAN has been trying to do something very similar for some time now and it's been hard enough to find two people who live within said radius and LOS to each other.
It all sounds like another solution that will only work in urban areas...

bkehoe

Didn't Beam claim in their last thread that they weren't going to do Dublin, but instead focus on villages around the country, or something like that?

MarkR

And i'm sure you all worked very hard, this service has money behind it though, along with no worries about where to get the connection. I'm in clare, and i've checked out the clare forum, not much going on i'm afraid! With my luck the transmission will cause interferance with the air traffic controll and i'll wind up with a 747 in my driveway!

Someone mentioned areas where transmissions like this may not be allowed. What kind of palces? Blasting sites? Secret nuclear bunkers? Near berties house?

dahamsta

Posts by Mark Braxton on Boards.ie:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/search.php?action=finduser&userid=6781

adam

phoenix2181

eh guys? correct me if I'm wrong but this is priced at 109 euro + vat......I know theres no cap but even still its still madly overpriced & is comparative to the istream solo with 3gb cap

mayhem#

Originally posted by Legbreaker
And i'm sure you all worked very hard, this service has money behind it though, along with no worries about where to get the connection. I'm in clare, and i've checked out the clare forum, not much going on i'm afraid!

Money has feck all to do with it.
If you do not have enough interested people living within radius and LOS to each other you can forget about it, clear and simple. I have two guys beside myself living within a 6 mile radius all with broadband satellite connections and no-one to share it with! That's the reality you're dealing with.....

gurramok

Originally posted by phoenix2181
eh guys? correct me if I'm wrong but this is priced at 109 euro + vat......I know theres no cap but even still its still madly overpriced & is comparative to the istream solo with 3gb cap

That price according to the website is for their existing satellite service.
The 29 E/mnth reported by Fungus is for their unreleased wireless service. Guess its just wait and see on what they offer.

the_corpo

i *really* need this to work out

MarkR

Originally posted by mayhem#


Money has feck all to do with it.
If you do not have enough interested people living within radius and LOS to each other you can forget about it, clear and simple. I have two guys beside myself living within a 6 mile radius all with broadband satellite connections and no-one to share it with! That's the reality you're dealing with.....

Ok, maybe a little to do with money,and a lot to do with apathy and lack of knowledge?

mayhem#

Care to elaborate on that?

Cork

I THINK THAT WE MAY BE IN FOR A DOMINO EFFECT IF BEAM COME THRU.
This does more for Internet usage in Ireland than any Eircom mouse. Internet usage in Ireland is expensive. It is not a luxury. The Internet is used by children, visually impaired & the house bound.

I met a rep from Chorus the other day – he acknowledged that rates in Ireland were crazy. He was told that Chorus will be introducing a package within the next 3 weeks.

FF will no doubt be holding meetings pushing the NICE treaty. I will go and find out about the basis Mary O Rourke used during the passing of the communications bill.

We have witnessed many false dawns. The war has not been won. The Eircom mouse is alive and well. There has just been mention of a mousetrap.

dahamsta

Care to elaborate on that?

The IrishWAN and CorkWAN projects are community efforts, for the most part developed by geeks and nerds in their spare time, with spare cash. The networks are all in trial phases, and all advertising and marketing has been by word of mouth, and will continue to do so. For now, it's only people like us who are even vaguely aware of the projects, however when networks are actually up and running, word will spread like wildfire about the networks, and people will be clambering over each other to get set up. It's actually one of the hardest parts of planning for the networks.

So, like Legbreaker implies, it's not really down to a lack of interest, it's down to a lack of awareness; awareness of the existance of the projects. Apathy certainly comes into it, and money to a degree too, but awareness is the problem now. Except it's not a problem, we don't want people clambering all over us for access now, because we have nothing to give them.

By the way, I discussed Beam's services with Mark Braxton last year, and at the time, he intended using the exact same marketing scheme to sell the service, i.e. little or none. He believed that the pace of word-of-mouth would have them under enough pressure on it's own, and would negate the need for a substantial investment in marketing. He attributed the low costs at least in part to this.

adam

Dustaz

Originally posted by Cork

I met a rep from Chorus the other day – he acknowledged that rates in Ireland were crazy. He was told that Chorus will be introducing a package within the next 3 weeks.

roflmao