SAT TV Internet Over Sat or Telephone network

Technology
21

Ian - Don't get me wrong - Internet by satellite is a solution in a variety of circumstances. Remote location and mobile use, such as caravanning, are the major ones. It's just that the up-front expenses, whether paid at the time or over time, can't readily be avoided. Even if I were to install one on a DIY basis, I don't think anyone is going to lend me the equipment to try out, so I'd have to buy it.

My advice to Patrick is simply to see, on a sans engagement basis, which Orange & most of the ADSL suppliers offer, if an ADSL link is any good in his exact location. Ariase tells me that there are ADSL-equipped exchanges in Glenic, Ajain & Gueret, which seem close enough to Patrick to be able to give the "allegedly good" ADSL service of which he speaks. Should the performance be poor, he can simply cancel the ADSL, having laid out very little, once the satellite service is up & running.

22

Whilst I agree that future performance may degrade as more people sign up to satellite, as yet,four months down the line, we have no complaints. Have to wait and see. I think this problem exists even on ADSL, as was seen in the UK with TalkTalk, when they signed up so many subscribers.

Your comments about substantial up front costs however needn't be correct. Depending on the package you choose the kit can be free. We paid for professional installation and account setup, but that was all (I didn't fancy scaling our rooftop!).

Regards

Ian

23

Patrick, ADSL performance is very dependent on the length of the cable from you to the telephone exchange. If there's a phone in place, simply put your details into ariase.com & see what it comes up with. (If you haven't yet got a phone, perhaps you could put in a phone no. from one of your neighbours.) It may be that you don't want a fixed-line phone, as this costs nearly €17 monthly to rent, but if you do, I'd seriously consider at least trying out a sans engagement ADSL deal. At around an extra €18 - €21 per month, you may find that it gives you what you need, and probably with free phone calls as well. If it doesn't work well enough, you can cancel and still go with the satellite internet solution. That has, as you know, a very substantial up-front cost. What is less well understood about satellite internet technology is that vendors start out with reasonable performance, but that this tends to get worse as they sell more systems, but don't increase the bandwidth. Hopefully, a good service provider won't do this, but past experience has shown that many do. (I know a little about this subject as I've worked on shared satellite systems for part of the UN in over 60 countries, personally installing about 25 of them.)

24

many thanks good information.

regards

paterick

25

Many thanks

26

Sound advice ..many thanks

Patrick

27

I would not have said anything here BUT... We have just delivered a daughter to a friend's birthday party and one of the other parents focussed in... He built this PC, maintains my laptop, ditto my OH's one and will soon be putting another PC together for her. His partner and he are getting more and more into satellite delivered internet. That is why he chatted for a while. He went on a course this week. It seems that in the near future more satellite providers will be moving into the French market. Foreign TV is part of what was trained. It is not just people wanting UK TV but there are all the Dutch, German, increasing numbers of Italians and Belgians, etc who are all increasing demand. It seems that the French themselves are missing a trick because the people providing this training work for a Spanish company and sat TV is about to take some sizeable leaps in the near future. It certainly does seem that the UK TV footprint will be much smaller in a lot of Spain in the near future, however several companies working on both sides of the border will be stepping in. It will all be internet and TV. So he was sounding us out. We didn't get much out of him, it all being a bit new to him and all, but it sounds like Tooway are not going to be the only ball players soon...

28

We have tooway, as the speed over the phone line is almost dial up. We went through Avonline Broadband in the UK. They use a UK fitter based near Bergerac, who is excellent. He will also fit your Free Sat dish if required. PM me for details if interested.

Tooway is a bit dearer, but we also use it for VOIP telephone calls, so no need to pay France Telecom for line rental.

Avonline will supply the VOIP box programmed with any UK std code and number. As we lived for 10 years in Southampton, we chose that STD code, and our friends and family calling us only pay UK local call rate.

I would stress that the calls you make are not free, unlike some of the orange packages, but last months call bill, calling UK and French landlines and UK and French mobiles was £7. (120 + various calls)

We pay about £50 a month, including calls on the package we chose, but there are cheaper ones. Yes a bit dearer, but as we couldn't get broadband or wimax, no other option, and as I look after about 70 websites for UK clients, speed is essential.

When you balance this up, probably about the same price as Orange etc.

Speed is excellent, but if you are going to download films, make sure you get a package with enough data transfer. Most packages give unlimited data after 11 at night, so if you can time the downloads, no problems.

They will invoice a UK bank account.

Hope this helps

Ian

29

I suggest you consider receiving French TV via a traditional aerial and your UK TV Freesat will have to use a dish. Makes the roof a little less cluttered!

30

Freesat/Sky and TNTSat transmit on different satellites so you will need two dishes.

I'll let James tell you how good Tooway is, I personally can't justify the additional cost as I don't need the additional speed.