Internet

Hello


My question is about Wireless internet.


Having spent 4 years popping down to the end of the garden with my arm up in the air to get a mobile signal we now have a mast in the area and I get a full set of signal bars... even inside the house... wooo its so exciting.


This leads me to my Q.


My internet is land line based and I get 2mg download which is bearable (just) but a shocking 0.25 upload (I need much better). I ran a test on my phone number on the Orange site and they said Satellite was my only real option but having done that before and suffered outage in bad weather I don't plan on returning to that option ever.


So now I have a mast in the area belting out a signal I'm thinking I could go the wireless route but have no clue as to the latest wireless service providers and the quality of service etc.


Do you have any ideas of providers I can look into please?


Thank you.


Courtney

Thanks all.

Dave I had Tooway (still got the equipment) when they where just starting back in 2009. Paid I think around £100 pm . Had constant problems with signal loss and bad weather down time. Constantly on the phone to them in UK, nice enough but could sort it for me really. Have they improved since 2009, to your knowledge. My experience = equipment up in loft doing nothing!

Have you had weather interruptions and what upload do you get? 12 mg down is a dream! :)

Currently I get 2.05 download (ok-ish) but its the rubbish upload .25 that's bad (I do sometimes upload docs etc).

Cheers

If you have a full signal on your phone since the installation of the mast then it's a cellular antenna. You'll be able to get 3G internet coverage from it, this isn't a practical replacement for a broadband connection though.

In my opinion you either live with the best broadband speed Orange can offer you via their cable infrastructure (nobody can beat their potential speed as it's all run over the same cable) or go for a satellite solution.

Happy to be corrected on any of that though!

James

Orange via a mast is rubbish, afraid to say my OH still has it and mine (not Orange) is no better, we are just hanging on because things are not hot and we want no big changes until money and luck improve. When we had a big power down, EDF type, the mobiles eventaully gave up unless we walk 400m down the road to the next hamlet and closer to the next mast. First opportunity we are putting up PV cells, power storage cells and Tooway (or whatever happens to be better by then) to be free of erratic power supplies, dodgy masts and so on.

Hi There, we used to have a 2meg deal with orange - this could only ever achieve 1.3meg I was told by orange - it normally ran at 0.645meg - and was pronounced as working fine, by them - with all the charges added-in we were paying around 60€ a month. We changed to SFR and orange cut-off our line. SFR promised 8meg - in the end they couldn't even give us a connection 24/7. I desperation I started looking for alternatives - we now have a satellite deal with TOOWAY - costs us less than we were paying Orange, runs at 12meg, with a 16meg monthly traffic deal. we run a couple of desktops and a couple of lap tops on this, listen to the radio, operate a number of websites.

You can buy a gig of traffic for 10€ which mops-up any overuse in any month.

You can get a deal with OVH - 1€ a month for internet phone - free to 40 countries - if you have the phones you just need an adaptor to plug into your router. I picked the stuff up from John Sidwell - TOOWAYS man in france around mid-day, got home around 1630, including feeding our five dogs and assembling the kit, attaching the dish to the wall etc we were enjoying satellite internet by 2000hrs.

You just need a clear view of the sky to the south of your property - it is simplicity itself to set-up - you just need a 13mm spanner and a 10mm masonary bit.

thanks James,,, WiMax or antenna.... no idea, how would I find out please?

Sorry I have no experience of the Orange service. I do use Tooway though and it's excellent, you can compare their offerings here

For the Wi-Fi, do you have a WiMax antenna nearby or just cellular?

Thanks James. Any clues on the Orange satellite service and quality (that's assuming quality has improved since i last used Tooway). Orange are offering 20mgs down but no details on the upload (which is important for me) at 29 eur pm.

Plus any thoughts on the wiffi route via the mast?

Hi Courtney

I wouldn't dismiss satellite, the technology has greatly improved with the new KaSat band, I wrote about it here http://www.survivefrance.com/profiles/blogs/fast-internet-for-almost-everyone

Thanks

James