Satelite Broadband

[sidepod]

Anybody using this or have any intel?

S.

 

[Retiredron]

This one looks good S, TV as well www.satelliteinternet.co.uk
Ron.

 

[sidepod]

Nice.

What I'm wondering i,s if it's going to be possible to have the dish mounted at home but removable so I could pop it in the van and take it along on trips. Once pitched up, pop the dish on a pole (caravaner style) and tune it in. Hey presto, WiFi in the van.

S.

 

[Tayls]

Have you considerded one of the mobile wifi routers - we've used one for a few years now and get good coverage most places - connect up to 5 devices at once.

We pay monthly for 15GB, but you can get payg - we use one from Three - I used to have 1GB a month but went over occasionally, for example, if you went a GB over your limit in 30 days it would cost £100 extra, so we went for 15GB!

Looking at the latest one, you can connect up to 10 devices

http://store.three.co.uk/view/product/q ... 339D3DF15A

They're great, we take it with us wherever we go so we can always get online with our tablets, laptops, etc - we leave it plugged into one of the 12v sockets all the time.

Ian

 

[sidepod]

That looks interesting. Download speed? But you still need a mobile signal? All you're doing is creating a local WiFi network inside the van?

What I want is a signal when there is no signal.....if that makes sense?

The domestic Satelite packages are quoting up to 20M download speed.

S.

 

[TwentyOneThirtyFive]

Have you considerded one of the mobile wifi routers - we've used one for a few years now and get good coverage most places - connect up to 5 devices at once.

http://store.three.co.uk/view/product/q ... 339D3DF15A

We have one of these and it works very well, but yes - you need a sim and a 3G signal.

The advantage it has over tethering to a phone is that it has an external aerial socket, so you can connect something like this:

http://www.motorhomewifi.com/product/weatherproof-5-5-db-3g-antenna/

for much better coverage.

Possibly a bit cheaper than mounting a sat dish on the roof?

 

[sidepod]

Ah, we could be getting closer.

So, with one of those will you get 3G even if your phone says there is no 3G available?

S.

 

[TwentyOneThirtyFive]

Possibly. You certainly stand a much better chance of getting a signal.

 

[TwentyOneThirtyFive]

As an aside, on my travels around the UK, I've found the 3 Sim in our wifi router to offer better 3G coverage than my phone on O2. I don't know if others have found similar? Or maybe the built in antenna in the router is better than the one in the phone.

 

[teeboy]

In the old days of satellite broadband you needed a phone line as well.

The phone line was to send the information from you PC to the internet (normally you upload less than you download). Then all of the downloads come over the dish.

I see the new solutions use the dish for upload and download, but as you have to send your data to space and back I imagine that it will require quite a bit of power( 60W)- so will probably chew through your battery life.

It also looks like these dishes are a bit more sophisticated than your sky dish so might not like being bashed around in the back of a van.

I tend to go the 3G route, and if I am in europe just use it sparingly - I am with T-Mobile and they are pretty good at just letting you purchase chunks of data allowance in Europe so you can accidentally run up massive bills.

T

 

[Californiaman]

I've looked at mobile sat solutions for work and whilst the technology improved massively over time, I found that the difference between upload and download speeds and the variability was a problem. The cost of airtime was also huge - not too bad from a business perspective but it would certainly put me off as an individual. They also tended to be quite limited as to the coverage (UK would be OK as would some of Europe but not all - although this may have changed now)

Some of the companies that I've spoken too were pretty advanced and may have some better (smaller and more portable solutions) I can't remember the details now but I'll have a dig around when I am next in the office.

The things I looked at last (probably 4-5 years ago now) were much like this http://www.groundcontrol.com/flyaway-mobile.htm and I'm sure things will have moved on.

In fact, I think this lot are one that we talked to way back when - they now have a leisure offering so the cost vs tech must have improved significantly. I think you would probably need deep pockets to want to use it though! http://www.kvh.com/Leisure/Marine-Systems/Phone-and-Internet.aspx

 

[Victor]

I like this one

 

[briwy]

Not satellite but free 3G data in the UK.

http://www.sambamobile.com/Home/Samba

We've been using it for a while and it seems OK, coverage is a bit iffy but seeing as it's free I'm not complaining.
I work from home about half the time so while I'm working I have the adverts on another PC and don't actually watch them, just let them run.
The card is in an old HTC phone which we tether to the laptop or tablet.

 

[Tayls]

What I want is a signal when there is no signal.....if that makes sense?

The domestic Satelite packages are quoting up to 20M download speed.

S.

It does make sense, definitely.

The speed is pretty good on the mifi (as they are known) and for a while was better than our home broadband - usually 2-3mbps or better. We have Infinity at home now and have an upload of 16meg and a download of 60meg+ - very happy with that.

Anyhow, just be aware that coverage is getting better all the time (especially now $G is being rolled out) so you don't want to sign up for a long, relatively costly satellite service when other options are cheaper and easier..

Much easier to stick a small modem router in the van than a whopping great satellite dish!

Cheers
Ian

 

[Fatb10ke]

MiFi routers from 3 networks have worked for me. Their coverage everywhere we've been has been much better than other networks, I have no idea why. The added bonus with 3 is they now do international roaming for free so you can use data for nothing in the countries they have participating. I know Italy and Austria are two of them, we used it on our recent 6 week trip.

Download speeds can be very good, we've seen 14MB with uploads at 2MB, both of these are faster than my home broadband.

I've used my Cali as a mobile office. Drive to somewhere with a nice view and log onto the corporate network through the MiFi. Bandwidth is sufficient to take calls over the internet and no one is any the wiser you're not stuck behind a desk.

 

[Fatb10ke]

Oh and when 3 roll out 4G over the next 18 months you'll get that for no additional charge unlike other operators.

 

[Andy]

I have used 3 sim in huawei mifi modem for the last year. Can get very good speeds or bad, depends where you are & how many others are using same mast.

3gb sim

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003Z0T3X2/?tag=unique09f-21

Huiwei modem

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008ESL0PE/?tag=unique09f-21

I now have samsung S3 on 3 unlimited data contract so I tether laptop to it.