Internet... via satellite ?????

[JJflyer]

heard from a friend of mine that internet connections via satellite are available.
As my phone company refuses to pull a cable to my house in the hills outside the city and uses a Transreceiver box instead I am in a need of a fast alternative to regular internet.
With the current arrangement I cannot log on.

Oh and this system is supposed to be in conjunction with Sat TV broadcasts ????

I would need this system in Southern Europe next to Gib to be precice.

JJ

[This message has been edited by JJflyer (edited 26 January 2001).]

[Starlight]

Using satellite here in sunny Perth WA

Uplink is 33.3k phone/modem link
Downlink is 128k via satellite (upgradeable to 400k for more money)
Different dish/link to satellite TV.

Same reason - no cable available in this suburb and waiting for ADSL.

It's quick, but not as good as you might think. Upload is modem (33.3k), so no gain there. There is a perceptible hesitation before download (probably due due system latency), but from there on it's great. So, browsing is a bit better, particularly with graphics intensive pages, and downloading is excellent. Also, there is occasionally a distinct momentary freeze, but then that may be my ISP.
:)

It was a pain to setup with NT, but that's life!

Good luck if you try it. (and let me know how you go)

[JJflyer]

How much did it cost to get your system installed ????
I am headed back to Spain in a couple of days and will start working on getting a system immediately as I am bored running back and forth to an internet cafe

JJ

[Starlight]

Around A$800 - A$900 for the installation.
Dish plus PCI card

The deal I had was a lot less, but with a high monthly rate which gave unlimited access. It was an introductory offer, don't know if its still available.


p.s. If anyone knows how to make Zone Alarm work with the satellite component, let me know.

[ExSimGuy]

A service I have used, and it works, is "DirecPC". It's done by Hughes and uses their "HotBird" satellites.

The home page is
http://www.direcpc.com/
but this is for their N.American market. However, they do cover Europe (hopefully their agent in UK, who used to be a media company in Brighton and were very little use, has changed) but the system works very well in the Mid-East, so they appear to have relatively global coverage.

I suggest doing a search in your local area (eg, search "DirecPC Spain" or Hotbird Spain) and you should find a source

Remember that you do need a telephone line (or a "wireless local loop" telephone connection (like JJFlyer appears to have), but the downlink works well. I have used ZoneAlarm with it - no probs.

And yes, it works in conjunction with HotBird's TV channels - same dish (if you use hotbird for your TV)

The pricing varies in different regions; here it's about a dollar a download-megabyte (minimum) or less (if you commit to a reasonable download in 12 months) Prices are lower in UK.

Update It looks like they now have a 2-way service, which means you don't need a local telephone line for the uplink. However, I suspect this is going to be much more expensive in capital costs, as you will have to buy a VSAT transmitter instead of just a receiver.

[This message has been edited by ExSimGuy (edited 27 January 2001).]

[JJflyer]

Well looks like this is going to be the way to go.
Fortunately Costa del Sol has lots of Brits providing Sat services so I am sure I will find some info there.
Too bad the local phone companies are sooooo retarded and unable to pull a line as this looks like to be an expensive ordeal... Somehow reminds me of Mexico. On the other hand I have always liked electric gizmos and this should be fun too...Will surely amaze my neighbours

JJ

[shack]

Here in SW France a friend of mine uses Europe on line.It costs 200 euros a year and he gets a download speed of 2Mb/sec. You need a dish aligned on Astra and an ISP connection. You make your request via the ISP with the full IRL and you can then make the download via the satellite link.Have a look at www.europeonline.com. (http://www.europeonline.com.) If you like to email me I'll get any other info you want.

[JJflyer]

I had a look at the ASTRA home page too. looks like this would be my option. A 60cm antenna would do the job well. Europe online seems to be the best way for me to go and price is not all that bad.
Thank you for your help all of you.

JJ