Satellite Broadband Internet

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Tender_aft

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This should be an annual post as the technology advances rapidly (and why isn't there a Marine Electronics forum?)....

Is anyone using a satellite service such as Tooway or SES Broadband? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts of their services (including on latency).

I just looked at SES and they offer 20Mb download 2Mb upload.

Pay as you go for €7.75 per Gb and (the key one for me) 10Gb data allowance on a contract for €25.95 a month.

So that I can work from my boat properly (ie for months at a time), I need a guaranteed service minimum of 10Mb/s. Relying on marina or nearby restaurants isn't enough.

(...of course, you can also use it from home if you set up the kit)
 
Second hand information from a mate of mine, its very good.
No good asking about here, we have 200k between 60 terminals and then divers abusing it as well :)

Ours is a microwave link on ku band, and its bloody expensive, (like tens of thousands of dollars a month) and ****....
 
Sat broadband not very effective on boats due to the need for a gyro stabilised dish, pricey per gb deal and the latency rules out video phone calls (eg skype, FaceTime). Fine for browsing, email, video (eg netflix). Instead of sat we use a portable 3-mobile MIFI hotspot which gives us better rural coverage than O2 or Vodafone. We get 40gb for €35/pm or 15gb for €21 without contract. Speeds here 6-10mb down and 2mb up.
 
Tender_aft said:
So that I can work from my boat properly (ie for months at a time), I need a guaranteed service minimum of 10Mb/s.
Click to expand...

I'm not on Tooway, but Nordnet, my provider have such high contention, that the headline download rate of 10mbs, is actually down to 890ks at peak times, and the pointing needs to be very accurate and very,very stable.

So, unless you can mount the dish on terre firma, it's a non starter i'm afraid.
 
These dishes are designed for boats and tracking satellites.
I see a lot of the fishing boats in peterhead with esea domes, and they are too tight and too close knit a community to buy something that doesn't work.
 
oceanfroggie said:
Sat broadband not very effective on boats due to the need for a gyro stabilised dish, pricey per gb deal and the latency rules out video phone calls (eg skype, FaceTime). Fine for browsing, email, video (eg netflix). Instead of sat we use a portable 3-mobile MIFI hotspot which gives us better rural coverage than O2 or Vodafone. We get 40gb for €35/pm or 15gb for €21 without contract. Speeds here 6-10mb down and 2mb up.
Click to expand...

MiFi is the way unless you want access at sea. Get an unlocked from Amazon and then when in the local area just buy a prepaid card. Works a treat all over. O2 is my choice for the UK £10 for 1G and no contract. Up to 5 clients supported with no extra gear required as the MiFi unit is the wifi unit is the wireless etc etc.
 
Any update on satellite broadband on boats? The tech must have moved on in the past three years.

On land satellite broadband uses phone lines for the upstream to reduce latency, obviously you can't do that when on a yacht, but the download speeds should be in the same ballpark 10-20Mb/s. Though it's certainly nowhere need that quick on the internet@sea that Brittany ferries use.

Haven't seen much about it from the searches around, but there must be a market for people who like to sail further away from shore, or passage makers.
 
I've thought long and hard on this one.
The big issue I found was expense.
Firstly, the hardware is going to be very expensive.
But the killer for me was usage - any unlimited service was going to be very expensive.

When I looked into it, Tooway uses a beam system and you need to re-register each time you move from one of its zones to another.
The Astra system is slower that Tooway.

However, this season, we have finally solved the problem.
Don't use satellite at all.
4G services are now developing much faster and are way quicker than any satellite system.
Even 3G works well these days.
The turning point for me was finding an "unlimited data" contract.
In our home berth, we are getting data speeds in excess of 50Mb/sec and with unlimited data, that makes out boat internet faster than the service that we get at home in Devon.
Definitely fast enough for TV.
Earlier this year I installed a 4G router ( one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/D-LINK-DW...824279?hash=item5b0caf1357:g:cRYAAOSwCQNWewx- )
My system is more complicated but in fact the above router is all you need.
Routers like this are similar to MiFis - in that they also incorporate a WiFi LAN for all your local devices.

We have been to Mallorca and are currently on the Costa Brava.
It works in all the marinas we called into this summer.
No ?uggering around with marina WiFis - it just works.

It also works about 5 miles out to sea.
In fact, I even used Google Maps (Satellite view) as we approached Cambrills earlier this month) to see the layout of the marina.
BTW - Google Maps (streetview) is available in some ports - images taken from a boat entering the harbour - Cambrills is one such example.

Anyway, my advice is forget satellite - 4G (LTE is the actual technology) is the way to go.
 
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In Croatia we could buy a prepaid data simcard, with unlimited 4G data for one week for 11 euro's,
with a few exceptions on a few islands, we had perfect coverage all the time we were in Croatian water (4 weeks = 4 sim cards)
and I can ussure you that we and our guests used a lot of bandwith...

4G and a unlimited data contract is the way to go !
 
Mikedefieslife said:
It's all well and good using a card but the plan payg or otherwise either needs to be a dedicated internet plan, or include unlimited tethering no?
Click to expand...

Yes - but there are plans out there that offer that.

BTW - Don't be tempted with the UK's 3 offer.
Thats the service that gives unlimited data even when roaming - It is rubbish - doesn't tether and they throttle it so much as to make it useless.

I'm using a 4G Vodafone contract - not cheap (£600 to £700 pa) but in the long run can save money when you consider all the benefits of a full on internet connection.
For example, I have cancelled my Sky contract and other phone contracts.
My VPN and VOIP connections actually save on international phone calls.
OK, my system is a bit out of the ordinary but I have friends that have multiple contracts (his and hers contracts for example) and they have justified annual contracts by terminating other contracts/services.
IMO, the prices will drop as the technology gets rolled out.
Right now, 4G (LTE) works for me.
 
Yes 4G LTE all the way. Its much faster than the WIFI in most marinas, restaurants and business centres. Sky GO app works a treat for watching the rugby on board, and FilmOnTV great for BBC, ITV. Used to have a portable 4G MIFI hot spot, but now use 4G phones with personal hot spots.
 
Thanks Mikedefieslife for waking this (and me) up again.

The thread seems to have drifted into safe territory close to land. The information about 4g etc is all very useful but I am still waiting for one solution that works offshore too, well out of the way of a mobile signal. That was the purpose of the original question.

I think you are right, there still isn't anything suitable yet, so 4g etc is the way to go for now (and SSB!)

I've been keeping my eye on it and the pent-up demand has many solutions in the pipeline which will revolutionize the industry....and then one after one they back out of it ( http://qz.com/422775/facebook-and-google-are-out-of-the-space-race/ )
 
Hurricane said:
.
Right now, 4G (LTE) works for me.
Click to expand...
And for me too. We were gobsmacked on our trip north from Sardinia just how widespread Vodafone 4G coverage is now even in remote anchorages. We rarely bother with marina wifi any more because its usually rubbish. I have a EuroTraveller contract with Vodafone which allows me to use my data allowance in Europe for an extra £3 a day so I simply tether my phone to my laptop and in some places the 4G signal is strong enough even to watch UK TV on the laptop through Slingplayer
 
Hurricane said:
BTW - Don't be tempted with the UK's 3 offer. Thats the service that gives unlimited data even when roaming - It is rubbish - doesn't tether and they throttle it so much as to make it useless...
Click to expand...

Warning: old thread!

As far as I am aware, 3 do not have "unlimited roaming", certainly not on PAYG. They do a 12GB SIM for tablets and modems which offers free roaming in their Feel At Home locations. I have had no problems with this solution.
 
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