Anyone use internet via a Satellite service?

TTony

We're looking at moving house.

As we've sold our current one, we're looking fairly actively.

I work from home when I can, and my current contract is based at home, so I'm here 3-4 days/wk.  Which is great apart from when I try to do anything online.  Internet speed via copper wire is 2mbps.  On a good day.

However, some of the places we're looking at have an even worse service, and are excluded from any near-term rollout plan for any better service level from BT.

So, alternatives.

I already use a mobile dongle & data contract because I get better speed through that at home than I do via the landline.  But it's still limited to c5mbps and again, the mobile service is unlikely to be any better in these other locations.

The other alternative would seem to be a satellite-based service provider?  I'm not an online gamer, so lag isn't going to be an issue.  I'm aware that it's expensive, but it'll be a business cost, so I can live with that.  

Any other experiences of satellite based internet access services?

octatonic

Not recently and not in this country- we had it in the holiday house in Australia- it was a PITA but things might have moved on.

Decent internet was absolutely essential to us choosing our current house- we ruled out a couple of houses chiefly because they only had sub 5meg broadband.
I wasn't prepared to compromise on that because it gets used so much.
IMHO these days decent broadband is as important as running water or electricity.
YMMV of course.

TimmyO

Not satellite but the office I used to work in had microwave gigabit internet - it was a line of sight service from a point of presence elsewhere in London. I mention it only to show that good performance is at least possible over the air.

Just because your contract is home based doesn't mean you can't GOYA and go somewhere with decent connectivity ;-) 

Is there a serviced office nearby you could use? 

TTony

TimmyO said:

Just because your contract is home based doesn't mean you can't GOYA and go somewhere with decent connectivity ;-) 

That is true, but then I wouldn't have the conveniences of being home-based.  I'd have to get dressed if I was heading off to a serviced office!

I can survive with the mobile service, but it's not ideal, hence looking at what other alternatives there might be ...

octatonic said:

IMHO these days decent broadband is as important as running water or electricity.

Pretty much agree with that.

Although the place that's currently top of the list only has running water if you've switched the pump on to pump it out of the borehole.

Seriously.

sev112

You have my sympathy - up until a year ago I thought YouTube was a photo album 

octatonic

TTony said:

TimmyO said:

Just because your contract is home based doesn't mean you can't GOYA and go somewhere with decent connectivity ;-) 

That is true, but then I wouldn't have the conveniences of being home-based.  I'd have to get dressed if I was heading off to a serviced office!

I can survive with the mobile service, but it's not ideal, hence looking at what other alternatives there might be ...

octatonic said:

IMHO these days decent broadband is as important as running water or electricity.

Pretty much agree with that.

Although the place that's currently top of the list only has running water if you've switched the pump on to pump it out of the borehole.

Seriously.

Well done for finding a house from the 1840's California Gold Rush period.

TTony

octatonic said

Well done for finding a house from the 1840's California Gold Rush period.

None of that new-fangled fancy-dan modern stuff here thank-you-very-much.

Built circa 1550 apparently.

(and no, that doesn't mean ten-to-four)

monquixote

I looked at it myself for similar reasons and generally it's expensive and slow.

Richardj

Our wired service is dire at best and satellite is an option, but like Satellite TV it is compromised by atmospheric conditions. Expect it to drop out when it rains or when it's hot or when there is a lot of solar activity.

oaf

Latency can be an issue as you've said. It is relatively expensive and will feel very expensive if you have high setup costs then don't stick with it. Many products are metered so consider usage. I've heard quite a few complaints of overselling (and significant throttling) so would pick carefully. Find out if any ports/services are blocked.

Deijavoo

I presume you're not looking at Cumbria, but Solway Communications up here are fantastic.

octatonic

TTony said:

octatonic said

Well done for finding a house from the 1840's California Gold Rush period.

None of that new-fangled fancy-dan modern stuff here thank-you-very-much.

Built circa 1550 apparently.

(and no, that doesn't mean ten-to-four)

Wow, even older than ours.
We are mid 1600's for main part, 1700's for another part, some from the 1830's and some from 2009.
It is quite.... eclectic.

TimmyO

Well if you want contractor rates, and the idyll of affordable (ok, all things are relative) country living then something has to give. 

TTony

TimmyO said:

Well if you want contractor rates, and the idyll of affordable (ok, all things are relative) country living then something has to give. 

It's all about compromises.

I'm happy to accept non-availability of a decent broadband service and pay the cost of a satellite-based service for my connectivity if it's reasonably reliable.  I can accept lag.  Reliability is more of a concern though as I'd not considered the impact of atmospheric conditions that @richardj mentioned.  Not being a Sky subscriber, I've no real experience of satellite service interferences.

TimmyO

Yep the high transmission frequency of satellite signals suffer horribly in very heavy rain (either where you are of somewhere along the signal - could be miles from you) and heavy snow or hail. Circular polarisation is the only way to cut through it at those frequencies - air intercept radars use it, sky, not so much :-) 

mcsdan

We use EE 4G home broadband. Our landline gets 5Mbps. EE gets around 20-25Mbps. Could be worth checking out coverage in your area.

TimmyO

If there's bad line speed, the chances of there being 4 (or even 3) G are slim. Subscriber density innit.

Jalapeno

TimmyO said:

If there's bad line speed, the chances of there being 4 (or even 3) G are slim. Subscriber density innit.

Was just about to say the same ...... (although I'd say variable, if at all)

TTony

TimmyO said:

If there's bad line speed, the chances of there being 4 (or even 3) G are slim. Subscriber density innit.

'zackly.

There's no 4G.  A quick onsite test of mobile speed gave c5mb for both EE and three.  I use those currently.  If current experience is anything to go by, onsite outdoors (the 5mb) is the best possible, and will be lower indoors.

TimmyO

We were going to move to the village of Wing last year - but it turns out average line speed is 2Meg and there is no 3G... 

so we didn't. 

exocet

Might be worth investigating the use of a high gain directional aerial for mobile broadband.  Mounting such an aerial up high like a traditional TV aerial may get you reasonable 4G service?