I'm after a 1mb/2mb line

[Gel]

I tried Telewest but they dont do my area : TN23 postcode.

Does anyone know of any other providers please?
-Gel

[hxbro]

if you can't get cable then adsl is the only cheap way to get a 1/2 mbit line.

Check adslguide.org.uk for prices, I have a plus.net 2 mbit line which costs 110 ex vat/month - probably one of the cheapest (was when I first ordered).

Hx

[wizer]

if you just need download then consider satelite

http://www.satdrive.co.uk

[Gel]

Thanks guys,
I looked at Satdrive but isn't the internet a two way thing? I just started doing the rounds on the news groups and don't I need to send a password to my news server in order to get the download going as well as verifying the files I get? How do I do that on a download only service.

Put me in the HOS though if I'm talking crap

[wizer]

lol sat drive works like this. You connect through a dialup service with a modem that deals with upload... for downloading you get 4mb

Its not ideal but thats why I said if your only interested in download. It would effectively mean you'd need to be on an anytime dialup package aswell. so add that to the monthly fee. I would have thought a 2mb dsl line would be less hassle.

[Gel]

Hmm, now that sounds good.
I could keep Btopenworld and have Satellite for just the setup fee and an extra £15 a month for a 4mb line?

If that's true.....
I'm on the phone right now..... £40 a month for a 4mb line! FCUK!

[wizer]

lol I'm not sure that you can do the uploading via dsl.. give them a ring dude.. let us know what they say

Check out the initial setup cost too.. they're a bit steep

[Gel]

Just got of the phone with them,
They say it is possible to do it but they do not support downloading from news servers except for web based ones

Bollocks!

[wizer]

ye it because you have to use their d/l software. Try the following aswell m8 but these in my opinion are not as good as satdrive.

http://www.everywherebroadband.com/index.html

http://www.silvermead.net/broadband/satellite/

http://www.satellite-adsl.co.uk/

[Gel]

Thanks Wizer, I'll look into it.
-Gel

[Aido]

don't a lot of these satellite internet providers just use a web proxy which is why only stuff that can be proxied within IE is supported?

If that's the case then you could always try one of the socks2http proxy packages...

[joey]

Satellite ISP SatDrive Limits Bandwidth

The UK broadband satellite ISP, SatDrive, has done exactly what we've been warning about in recent news posts and limited the bandwidth (in this case, speed) for customers whom download too much data.

While we've yet to see the official e-mail, one of our readers did quote a line from the message they received: "Some customers who have been using the service for very large downloads for long periods on priority level one will have had their bandwidth reduced thus slowing the download speeds."

[Mav]

2mb then ull want 10mb then 100> 200 then

oc48 >oc 256

then it goes pear shaped

just stay safe dood

my advice take it or leave it

[wizer]

Originally posted by joey
Satellite ISP SatDrive Limits Bandwidth

The UK broadband satellite ISP, SatDrive, has done exactly what we've been warning about in recent news posts and limited the bandwidth (in this case, speed) for customers whom download too much data.

While we've yet to see the official e-mail, one of our readers did quote a line from the message they received: "Some customers who have been using the service for very large downloads for long periods on priority level one will have had their bandwidth reduced thus slowing the download speeds."

This is SAD news Looks like im sticking to 56k

Where did you get this from?

[wizer]

ok I just read the Satdrive forums.. This is very long winded, but the Gist, I think, is that there are NO Restrictions except that those who pay for the higher gears get priority.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Eoin Lambkin
Managing Director

Firstly, my regards to all SatDrive customers and visitors to this forum

The internet can make or break you in an instant! and now is the time to stop any more miss information and speculation as to what is happening to the SatDrive service.

To put matters into perspective:

SatDrive have adopted the bandwidth management platform as developed by TELES AG in Germany which is a tried and tested system for delivering IP traffic over satellite. The business model created for SatDrive was to offer a competitive broadband internet access service for small companies, home workers and internet enthusiasts who could not subscribe to ADSL, cable or Wireless broadband networks.

The first priority of the service is to make sure that browsing bandwidth is made available to all customers as this is a primary function of using the internet. The remaining bandwidth on the transponder is then opened up for downloading content regardless where it resides.

SatDrive also took the stance that it would be economically foolish to offer a low entry pricing structure for customers as used by many other satellite, telco and mobile operators. The up front costs of providing a whole transponder, technical support, product development, office staff, installation fees etc etc means that to provide a decent reliable service you have to charge the customer a manageable upfront price. So for instance our software only package may seem expensive but in reality it incorporates many amortised operational costs.

This said and done it is the responsibility of SatDrive to make a fair and proper contract with its customers and not use cheap marketing ploys to get customers on board.

Therefore I now want to address the issues of the "Fair Usage Policy" and what it will mean to our customers.

Like many other service providers we have introduced some rules about ‘Fair Usage’.

SatDrive has an inbuilt advantage over other services in respect of ‘fair usage’. The flexibility afforded by higher priority gears means that users can pay more for obtaining preferential bandwidth when needed. In our business model the intention is that those who demand the highest performance should pay more. This balance gives us the ability to allow less intensive users to have an extremely affordable service. In Gear 1 there is no volume-related charge and we would very much like to keep it that way.

With normal usage patterns, many users find that Gear 1 is quite adequate for their needs and we do not intend to ever lower the performance simply as an device to sell use of the higher gears. In the earlier pre-launch design Gear 1 was capped to a max of 200Kb/s – but we took the view that if any capacity was being unused at any time we should make it freely available at up to 4Mb/s.

This means that Gear 1 performance is open to abuse. If the traffic load is skewed by a very small minority of users taking advantage of the service by non-stop demand for multiple and massive volume downloads, the traffic contention level could be significantly raised - effectively degrading the service for many other users. This means that SatDrive management software will reduce the bandwidth of those types of users automatically, however it does not mean that your download volume will be capped just your bandwidth will be restricted during the download session.

The SatDrive service has not been designed to accommodate intensive peer-to-peer file transfers and back-to-back downloads of applications such as the new movie DivX file formats. As previously stated the service is intended primarily for users – particularly those outside of ADSL areas and who require web-surfing and email delivery with regular bursts of higher speed web-page or file downloading.

SatDrive is not intended to compete with or mimic flat-rate ADSL. To make an interesting comparison, a typical small business (10 staff) will pay up to £2500 per year for an ADSL connection and on average will use less than 3 Gigbyte per month. SatDrive costs £14.99 offering broadband, would you want to go back to a 56K modem?

The principles of our User Community Fair Usage policy are:

1. We will not cap Gear 1 artificially below 4Mb/s.
The download performance that you experience will continue, as before, to reflect the traffic loads from all Gear 1 users at any instant in time.

2. We will not cap Volume
Gear 1 remains unmetered and is not capped on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

3. We reserve the right to maintain good service standards.
We aim to ensure that Gear 1 average performance is very good value relative to 56k modem dial up or ISDN at 64/128k. If it is deemed necessary we will notify those individual users who appear to be making prolonged and intensive use of Gear 1 to the detriment of all other users.

Broadband satellite technology has it limitations but if managed properly will provide an acceptable level of various broadband services. The real issue for SatDrive is how do you get customers to use the technology to its best effect, for instance using request for download or multicasting data off line thus using the huge available bandwidth which is unused between 00.01 - 00.07 hours.

With the input from our customers and the introduction of our Fair Usage Policy, SatDrive has the potential to grow and introduce new products and features in the future. If we allow a few to bung up the system then we will indeed die a fast death.

If anyone has a particular question, feels they have been misled into purchasing satdrive or would like to discuss their contract then please do not hesitate to call me 01256 77339

[wizer]

Its a fair statement. He's basically saying the if you abuse the service then the bandwidth will be reduced. Its trying to ween out specific high level leechers. I think i'm going to bite the bullet next month and get this installed. Its perfect for me. I'm not a big gamer and prefer to watch movies at the cinema, so for the odd mp3 albums and apps plus web surfing, its perfect. Well, my best option anyway seeing as i cant get dsl or cable

[Hangman]

Try http://www.easynet.net/solutions/sol...age.asp?id=117

[MadMunky]

I've had sat connects before and they suck big time, I wouldnt recommend them to anyone, my parents have the two way bt sat connect and its well slow, ADSL is so much better.

Plus most sat connection are only download and also you can only download via http pages or public FTPs so it no good for P2P or Newsgroups or IRC!