Web-Sat release their Prices for Satellite Internet ...

LegacyUser

The first time I emailed Web-Sat, they told me that the service would be available in July/August to Irish Customers ... and prices would be released in June .....

Well, I got back to them 2 days ago asking if the prices were realeased yet ? The answer they gave me was:

The product will be available with download speeds of 2Mb/s and upload of 64Kb/s in July .... for a installation price of £2000................ yes, you heard me ..... TWO THOUSAND POUNDS ....

and also a montly charge of £150 .........

hmm, maybe I should have a think about it ..... yeah right !! LOL

I think I better start buying Lotto tickets L !!

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We plan to offer our system in July/August 2001 to Irish customers.

Download speeds up to 2mb depending on source of data, internet congestion
etc. upload speed 64Kbit/s.

Budgetary price for hardware and software £2,000 + VAT
Monthly subscription £150 + VAT

Our service is intended for small companies etc. not private users in areas
where local cable etc is available.

Regards,

Douglas Armstrong
Managing Director
Web-Sat Limited

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www.EFtraining.com

http://www.thealexandriaclan.barrysworld.net

LegacyUser

Sorry to sound cynical here but since Europe is going down the cable modem/xDSL route, satelite internet becomes very much a niche product for remote rural parts of Europe. Hence the pricing. For companies in the middle of nowhere this is a reasonable price to pay to get the office wired up.

dahamsta

Absolutely true, but the price for installation is scandalous, and I think anyone in IT with a glimmer of sense will see that? I mean, what's involved? You bung a dish on the wall outside, a card in the machine, hit Setup.exe, do a little configuration and you're done. It's not rocket science.

adam

LegacyUser

this might work well as the gateway for a WWAN though.

6 people, £24/month, £300 installation if i have my calculations right.

add to that the cost of the WWAN equipment, u still get around 6x 56k speeds (if everyone is using it at the same time), its always on, and all for slightly more than u pay for esat limits.

the big cost is the initial investment tho.

LegacyUser

A German company called Freenet.de will start offering two-way satellite Internet beginning in a few months. Speeds will be 152kbps upload, 3mbps download.

If you convert their prices to Irish pounds, you end up with £300 installation, plus £70 per month. Sounds very reasonable, doesn't it?

One thing however: Althought it will technically work fine in Ireland (you just need a bigger dish), they will not sell it to anybody outside Germany. Seeing as I'm originally from Germany though, I'll try and convince 'em. Wish me luck.

LegacyUser

Just in case you were wondering, there will be no upload or download limits. Die Eircon, die (no pun intended)!

[This message has been edited by Urban Weigl (edited 17-06-2001).]

LegacyUser

very reasonable indeed.

6 people on that would be just over a tenner a month with £50 installation

please look into it more (i dont speak german)

LegacyUser

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by dahamsta:
Absolutely true, but the price for installation is scandalous, and I think anyone in IT with a glimmer of sense will see that? I mean, what's involved? You bung a dish on the wall outside, a card in the machine, hit Setup.exe, do a little configuration and you're done.</font>

It depends on the system being used. Two way via satellite (Otherwise known as VSAT to those of us actually familiar with rocket science ) is a pure two-way RF system that transmits to and receives from the satellite. Most of the solutions I have seen are based on using an ISP as the up-channel. Some work on queued downloads in that you connect to the ISP using an ordinary modem/TA, request the file to be downloaded, log off, and receive the file via the satellite down-link.

The costs for the ISP/satellite combo installation is about STG £154 from Trac for a dish, LNB and card. What Web-Sat is doing, I think, is a pure two-way operation and that requires an RF transmitter as well as a receive LNB. That is why the cost is so high.

If they can maintain those costs/figures, I definitely will be signing up.

Regards...jmcc

bkehoe

Ahh but companies such as Starband who offer 2 way in the US subsidise the equipment so that people will buy it. Websat seem to be selling it at cost price or for a profit, and obviously don't care about home users.

Brendan.

jd

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by bkehoe:
Ahh but companies such as Starband who offer 2 way in the US subsidise the equipment so that people will buy it. Websat seem to be selling it at cost price or for a profit, and obviously don't care about home users.

Brendan.</font>

saw an article about the company in some magazine or newspaper...I think they said they don't have the financial resources yet to subsidise the equipment and wait for monthly revenue to pay for it..
jd

LegacyUser

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by dahamsta:
but the price for installation is scandalous, and I think anyone in IT with a glimmer of sense will see that? I mean, what's involved? You bung a dish on the wall outside, a card in the machine, hit Setup.exe, do a little configuration and you're done. It's not rocket science.

adam</font>

Obviously you dont follow satellite access too much?
The dish alone is probably worth £1000.
The RX (Reciever card) is worth about £200
The TX (Transmitter card) is worth anything from £400 to £6000 (most likely the cheaper because the slow send speed).
Aliging a two way satellite system is many hours work.
The £2G is easily justified.

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