Nordnet: does it do what it says on the tin?

I was dazzled by the replies I received to my recent post regarding the installation of internet in an out-of-the-way house I was hoping to buy. Now, the expert installer from Cluny has looked at all the angles, etc and pronounced Nordnet the way to go.
Looking at the website it looks as though I will be able to sit happily talking on my landline, watching TV and browsing the net. But will I? My prospective neighbours, whose houses are even more sheltered, are sceptical. Who’s right?

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We will have to have look at this Henry. By the way, who is the expert in Cluny?

I’m not sure of the relevance of this. If you can site a dish to see the satellite required then there is no issue. BTW Nordnet TV reception is enabled by using a separate LNB on the same dish but this would use a separate receiver too i.e. it has 'nowt to do with your internet connection. Nordnet works just fine but you can’t get around the latency involved in any satellite connection (the time it takes for signals to go to/from a satellite in high earth orbit).

Hi Henry
We are not remote but had expensive quotes for an old line to be re-connected. We have been with Nordnet for 18months, our downside is the internet is limited to 15g with option to replenish if you run out but it does not carry over if you do. We have skyped family &friends in uk & australia with no problems. Landline can become expensive if you phn uk a lot as it is another add on. Basic cost for us is 40€. Storms occasionally effect our connection. Hope this helps

Sebastien Lepin: shop next door (ash) to Atac

Fabulous: just what I wanted to hear…and I understood it all.

Many thanks. I _think_that I can subscribe to 25GB but it would seem that Nordnet is the (only) way to go.

Henry - just double checking…no 4G right?

Sadly, no.

Hi Henry,

Having been with Nordnet for nearly 2 years now, my experience is as follows:

  • the monthly data volume of 15Gb is paltry in comparison to common usage today, any household with more than 3 connected devices will easily consume its monthly cap within about 15 days (if not sooner);

  • the system is bidirectional, in other words the data that is counted as part of your monthly volume quota isn’t just any files you might upload/share/store on a remote system (e.g. Google Drive, etc), but also receipt packets for data that you also download…you need to remember this as it quickly mounts up;

  • the latency in the system on average is somewhere in the region of 800ms - this means that you can rule out being able to play any online games - it also means that software updates stall frequently, forcing you to reload / restart the update, thereby consuming more data from your quota…;

  • they don’t guarantee 20Mbps download, which you rarely, if ever get, and you only get at best 1Mbps upload - at best, I get 11Mbps if I am lucky in the middle of the day - in the evenings, weekends and holidays, that drops down to an average of 5-6Mbps;

  • they are heavily oversubscribed, as are all internet-via-satellite services, and for some reason they don’t publish their contention rates - allegedly these are supposed to be in the 1:50 range, but experience of testing bandwidth over time shows that this is necessarily untrue;

  • their account management interface sucks big time - in order to know how much data you have consumed at any given time, you have to connect to their website (via a browser or phone app) - these connections are not secure, in other words, your login credentials appear to be sent through the air unencrypted leaving you open to MITM attacks sniffing on your network - granted this is less likely in a remote place in the hills, but still a poor excuse for protecting their clients’ data;

  • if you take out the phone option in addition to the basic internet package, our experience is that the sound over the line is particularly poor, takes ages to establish, and a distinct lag (thanks to the inherent latency), which leads to epic conversations, even assuming you can actually be heard - and ringing mobile numbers outside of France quickly adds to the monthly bill, as these are not included;

  • Nordnet is a subsidiary of Orange - their “service client” just as bad;

Personally, I find them a poor, rip-off alternative to ADSL/WiMax, and am itching to ditch them, but currently don’t have any other valid alternative (no DSL, no 4G, etc).

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I would also add that the French speaking satellite internet forums are replete with people’s connection / speed woes at the hands of all of the satellite internet provides, SkyDSL being seemingly the worst, with Nordnet being at least the most stable…your mileage may vary, as they say…

Oh and forget the blurb that they all give you about downloading data streams, baccking up your data to a remote server, and other such things for free (as in, not counted in the monthly volume quota) between the hours of midnight and 6am - if you can actually get a stable connection during those hours, then good luck to you !

Thank you so much for such a detailed response…even if it is a tale of woe. Plenty of food for thought, though.

We’ve been with Europasat for three years now, 100gb a month, 100 euros a month. A uk IP address so can get iPlayer etc. Expensive. But so worth it after our nightmares with Orange and Sfr customer service. We are just beyond the 5km zone and never had much of an internet connection.

No 4G Cathy? 100 € / month for only 100GB? Heck!!! I guess you must have excellent speeds?

Not sure, but we can stream TV, we have nowhere for a big satellite dish in the garden so rely on the Tooway dish on the roof for TV and internet

Cathy just check if you have a good 4G mobile network - specifically Bouygues, just use a mobile phone to check out your available networks. If not use this link.

https://www.bouyguestelecom.fr/offres-internet/4g-box?%3Fxtor=SEC-30010-GOO-[SEARCH_Box]-[]-[]-[%20bouygues%20%20box%20%204g]

Great speeds, low cost - brilliant!

No 4g here. An Sfr mast on the hill opposite which currently only gives 3G.
Waiting hopefully, it’d be good to save 100 euros a month!