Broadband over satellite

Heres a good one. I'm not technical, so please excuse the 'simple'
description

My friend has a large mobile home which she uses to travel all over the UK.
She wants to be able to hook up to reasonable speed, 512k would be great I'm
told.

does anyone know of how she would go about getting hooked up to a broadband
type service but using an antenna or dish on her mobile home linked to some
sort of receiver/box in her 'van?

Might have other applications too I guess

Helen

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 18:15:40 +0000 (UTC), "helen mccallum"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

(of a mobile home user)
>does anyone know of how she would go about getting hooked up to a broadband
>type service but using an antenna or dish on her mobile home linked to some
>sort of receiver/box in her 'van?

Satellite: Its going to be horribly expensive, and the many of the
services require you to have a fixed phone line as they use the phone
to xmit, and sat to recv.

Wireless: if your friend stays in the Thames Valley area (!) she might
be able to use netvigator or one of the other WISPs. I don't think
anyone has UK-wide coverage tho.


Cheaper to park up each night near an all-night internet cafe....

"helen mccallum" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cl6a0c$dd$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Heres a good one. I'm not technical, so please excuse the 'simple'
> description
>
> My friend has a large mobile home which she uses to travel all over the
> UK.
> She wants to be able to hook up to reasonable speed, 512k would be great
> I'm
> told.
>
> does anyone know of how she would go about getting hooked up to a
> broadband
> type service but using an antenna or dish on her mobile home linked to
> some
> sort of receiver/box in her 'van?

Vodafone 3G data card. Drops to GPRS where 3G is not available.

On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 08:20:49 +0100, "Alastair" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Vodafone 3G data card. Drops to GPRS where 3G is not available.

cost per month for unlimited or cost per GB ?

GPRS tends to be like smoking ten pound notes.

Phil
--
spamcop.net address commissioned 18/06/04
Come on down !

In article <cl6a0c$dd$(E-Mail Removed)>, helen mccallum <helen.mcc
(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Heres a good one. I'm not technical, so please excuse the 'simple'
>description
>
>My friend has a large mobile home which she uses to travel all over the UK.
>She wants to be able to hook up to reasonable speed, 512k would be great I'm
>told.
>
>does anyone know of how she would go about getting hooked up to a broadband
>type service but using an antenna or dish on her mobile home linked to some
>sort of receiver/box in her 'van?
>
>Might have other applications too I guess
>
>Helen
>
>
There are 2 basic types of broadband via satellite.
1. 2 way satellite... horribly expensive.. expect around £150 to £200
per month and a few hundred pounds for equipment. BUT THIS IS NOT
suitable for travelling use due to the complexities of setting it up.
2. single way via satellite, using a normal "sky dish" and a land line
isp for return path... £15 to £55 a month plus "normal" isp charges
depending upon the speed you wish... 256k to 2Mb, capped or uncapped
according to the provider.
Only equipment costs, "sky" dish and lnb.. plenty around secondhand and
a DVB card for the PC at around £44

If used as mobile you will have to align the satellite dish at each
location, (same as if you use Sky TV on a caravan), ensure an
unobstructed "view" to the South East. (if using Astra or Eutelsat) and
of course have access to a land line (or maybe use a mobile phone)!
Contract can be as short as 1 month and set up costs from £15. So a
trial could be ecconomic.

I cannot get normal broadband and use this system.. actually quite
acceptable, except for gaming or VIOP due to latency (the time it takes
for the signal to travel to the satellite and back to you).

If you are not aware, this is how a typical "one way" system works.

The end user connects to the Internet using their normal terrestrial
connection and logs into their service via a web interface.

The operation of the service is transparent to the end user. Internet
requests are routed through the normal dial up connection via the
Satellite Proxy System which, in turn, will feed the request to the
Internet. On receiving the incoming requested information the proxy will
route the content direct to the end user's "dish" via the satellite link
at up to 2 Mbps.

Wally Hayward

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 08:20:49 +0100, "Alastair" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
> >Vodafone 3G data card. Drops to GPRS where 3G is not available.
>
> cost per month for unlimited or cost per GB ?
>
> GPRS tends to be like smoking ten pound notes.

No idea of cost, I'm sure it's on the Vodafone site.
Depending on requirements it may be cheaper than satellite
though, particularly if capital costs are taken into account.

"Phil Thompson" (E-Mail Removed) wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)
> On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 08:20:49 +0100, "Alastair" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>> Vodafone 3G data card. Drops to GPRS where 3G is not available.
>
> cost per month for unlimited or cost per GB ?

Voda and Orange both charge £75+VAT/month for their 'unlimited'* plans.



*subject to a fair use limit of 1000MB/month.

helen mccallum wrote:

> does anyone know of how she would go about getting hooked up to a broadband
> type service but using an antenna or dish on her mobile home linked to some
> sort of receiver/box in her 'van?

I really don't think it would be worth the hassle.

It would involve aligning the dish everytime you wanted to get on the
internet. That isn't a trivial task. For two way satellite, it's a big
dish and it is installed for you by the internet provider. I doubt they
would be happy with a mobile installation. For one way, you would have
to dial in for the uplink through a landline or a mobile. Nearly all of
the satellite services are capped too.

There is a service designed for mobile use, it is called Regional
Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) and uses Inmarsat. It was reviewed
in Novembers Personal Computer World magazine. It uses a laptop sized
transmitter / reciever which integrates a compass and GPS unit for
pointing it, takes a few minutes to calibrate it and get it pointing
north and then you get a 100kbps link up and down at a cost of £10 / MB.
See http://www.pcw.co.uk/products/hardware/1153033 for more information.

Personally I would recommend a Vodafone or Orange 3G data card with the
maximum tariff for normal email and web, and a wifi card for big
downloads when in town and near a free access point.

Steve.

On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 11:30:37 GMT, Steven Sumpter
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>It would involve aligning the dish everytime you wanted to get on the
>internet. That isn't a trivial task. For two way satellite, it's a big
>dish and it is installed for you by the internet provider.

I use 2-way satellite over a 74cm dish in a fringe (SE Spain) area.
Good signal, even in rain.

>I doubt they
>would be happy with a mobile installation

How would they know?

>For one way, you would have
>to dial in for the uplink through a landline or a mobile. Nearly all of
>the satellite services are capped too.

True, but for around 100 GBP a month, or less you can get as much
download as any sane mobile user is likely to want, without the need
for any form of non-sat uplink.
>
>There is a service designed for mobile use, it is called Regional
>Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) and uses Inmarsat. It was reviewed
>in Novembers Personal Computer World magazine. It uses a laptop sized
>transmitter / reciever which integrates a compass and GPS unit for
>pointing it, takes a few minutes to calibrate it and get it pointing
>north and then you get a 100kbps link up and down at a cost of £10 / MB.
>See http://www.pcw.co.uk/products/hardware/1153033 for more information.
>
>Personally I would recommend a Vodafone or Orange 3G data card with the
>maximum tariff for normal email and web, and a wifi card for big
>downloads when in town and near a free access point.
>
You're probably right. However, it is possible to set up your own
2-way satellite, and I guess the more often you do it the quicker you
get! It took me half a day, including securing a permanent mount to
a building.

The kit can be found on Ebay, usually for a low three-figure amount of
money (thanks, Jim and Ellie!).

--
All the best
David Millen
Xativa, Valencia
please reply in group
if you have to email me, remove the obvious:
(E-Mail Removed)

On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 16:04:11 +0200, David Millen
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I doubt they
>>would be happy with a mobile installation
>
>How would they know?

when they drill a hole in the van and discover there isn't any brick
dust coming out.

Phil
--
spamcop.net address commissioned 18/06/04
Come on down !