Satellite Internet providers help please. (1 Viewer)

[OldAgeTravellers]

Hi All,
I have been using a Satellite dish for internet for some time both on the Moho and on my house in rural France.
My provider so far has been Beyond DSL (SatelliteInternet.co.uk) I pay for up to 10meg download speed but rarely get more than 1 sometimes less, even in the middle of the night. I had a long phone email exchange with them a while back which ended in them saying if you don't like it go elsewhere.
So I am looking at doing just that after the last week when it has been off more than it has been on. with the speed being about 0.1 meg down and up. The modem figures seem ok when it does come on and I have checked skew and position has not changed.
I know @eddievanbitz who fits systems recommends Broadband Everywhere. They have the Go3 package which only offers up to 3meg for £40.99pm but is "Unlimited" and has the overnight option for £4 which I presume removes the usage cap and throttling. So a total cost of £45 the same as I am paying now and if I get close to 3meg (say2meg) I will be better off than I am now.
I tried phoning this afternoon and got a very bad line and somebody who didn't seem to know the system properly.
So has anybody got any real world experience of using them or know of another supplier of Ku Band satellite internet.
I know I am going to get people saying use a MiFi but I do roam a great deal and do not spend the major part of my time in the UK so have not found a package that would suit and I have the large investment sitting on my roof already.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Steve

 

[Dazzlin]

Good luck Steve.
Try moving to Spain?

 

[Robert Clark]

@Jim uses satellite internet I believe

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[OldAgeTravellers]

Good luck Steve.
Try moving to Spain?

Good idea Daz, want to buy my houses. It's the only thing holding us back.
Steve

 

[Dazzlin]

Good idea Daz, want to buy my houses. It's the only thing holding us back.
Steve

Not had a house for 4 years now.
Sorry, but no intention of changing that anytime soon.

Good luck with the sale and happy travels in the meantime.

 

[awg]

I did use Broadband Everywhere and had the same performance issues as you. A bit of digging around shows that all (I think) UK based ISP's are actually just retailing a service from SES https://www.ses.com/ so the only thing that separates the offering is cost and customer service. I've just moved to Beyond DSl as they seem to have the best prices...

The speed is no different from Broadband Everywhere. I did try the Broadband Everywhere unlimited packages but the speed is even worse. They have a sliding scale of speed restriction based on how much data you use. It goes from very slow to almost not there. It then resets each billing month.

Allan

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[OldAgeTravellers]

Hi Allan,
Just what I wanted to know. So moving to Broadband Everywhere would just be jumping from Frying Pan into the fire.
I think they just sell too many for the bandwidth they have available.
Looks like I have to stick with the terrible but oh so convenient provider I have.
@Jim seems happy with Broadband Everywhere but I think he has the top very expensive package which his business can (presumably) afford. £45 per month for me is as much as I want to afford. But the MiFi alternative is just not convenient when constantly moving from country to country.
If I were based in the UK then I think the "3" feel at home package for the MiFi would be the best.
Oh well, back to the drawing board. I have spent the afternoon sitting on the roof tweaking the dish a milimeter at a time to see how high I can get the signal, but this is about the best I can get on this very hot sunny day.

The TV signal from a 1 meter dish has been struggling recently here in the south of France so there may be atmospheric limitations as well because I used to get an Es/N0: of 15 dB,

What signal strength figures do you get? I get the same on the Camper dish as the fixed dish at home.
Steve

 

[Alistair33]

As said above, there are not many satellites up there providing coverage but may retailers offering packages, so it essential that if you change, you first find out which satellite you are using then look for a package on a different one. Another thing to consider would be size of dish and 'skew' I thank its called

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

As said above, there are not many satellites up there providing coverage but may retailers offering packages, so it essential that if you change, you first find out which satellite you are using then look for a package on a different one. Another thing to consider would be size of dish and 'skew' I thank its called

I think SES at 23.5 deg is the only satellite offering the Ku band to the whole of Europe which is retailed by Broadband Everywhere and BeyondDSL in the UK, there may be others but I haven't found them yet. Perhaps a German company would be more honest with their offering. Rather than "up to 10meg" speed but delivering less than 1meg. They may actually deliver what they advertise.
The more modern and better system on the Ka band as offered by TooWay is for fixed installations not mobile use as they have a number of very small footprints which would be useless for us. Also the iLNB is about 300mm long.
An 80cm dish is really the biggest for comfortable mobile use which is what I have got.
Steve

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[Alistair33]

This page appears to list the different satellite options

 

[awg]

Hi Allan,
Just what I wanted to know. So moving to Broadband Everywhere would just be jumping from Frying Pan into the fire.
I think they just sell too many for the bandwidth they have available.
Looks like I have to stick with the terrible but oh so convenient provider I have.
@Jim seems happy with Broadband Everywhere but I think he has the top very expensive package which his business can (presumably) afford. £45 per month for me is as much as I want to afford. But the MiFi alternative is just not convenient when constantly moving from country to country.
If I were based in the UK then I think the "3" feel at home package for the MiFi would be the best.
Oh well, back to the drawing board. I have spent the afternoon sitting on the roof tweaking the dish a milimeter at a time to see how high I can get the signal, but this is about the best I can get on this very hot sunny day.
View attachment 168727

The TV signal from a 1 meter dish has been struggling recently here in the south of France so there may be atmospheric limitations as well because I used to get an Es/N0: of 15 dB,

What signal strength figures do you get? I get the same on the Camper dish as the fixed dish at home.
Steve

I used to have the same top end expensive package as Jim. Not really any faster and slows down the more data you use. I then changed package to the 10gb package which was only a few pounds cheaper but was meant to maintain the same speed for the complete 10gb. It wasn't really any faster so I've just accepted the speed is what it is and moved to the cheapest 10gb package. I found a couple of other uk based companies which would offer the same ses 10gb package but beyond dsl were slightly cheaper. Not used it much since I moved isp but basic speed tests were around the same as broadband everywhere (which is what I expected).

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

I used to have the same top end expensive package as Jim. Not really any faster and slows down the more data you use. I then changed package to the 10gb package which was only a few pounds cheaper but was meant to maintain the same speed for the complete 10gb. It wasn't really any faster so I've just accepted the speed is what it is and moved to the cheapest 10gb package. I found a couple of other uk based companies which would offer the same ses 10gb package but beyond dsl were slightly cheaper. Not used it much since I moved isp but basic speed tests were around the same as broadband everywhere (which is what I expected).

Thanks @awg looks as if they are all about as bad as one another whatever price you pay, so not worth moving as I can just about manage with what I have for simple surfing and email. I wonder about all the people in Wales they are advertising to, who can get a grant to pay for the installation.
I did meet somebody who just gets their minimum package but ads the £7 for unlimited overnight use and does all his downloading overnight but daytime use with a MiFi. Now roaming is abolished that may become a better solution.
I just wish they would be honest, I pay for 10meg but have never had even 3 in the middle of the night and much less than 1 during the day.
Thanks to everyone for their contributions.
Steve

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