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Thread: Satellite Broadband Choice

  1. #1

    Default Satellite Broadband Choice

    I have lost it with BT and their 0.5Mbps, and will be using my £350 Better Broadband subsidy (scotlandsuperfast.com) to get a satellite service. There are 12 commercial providers on the list I have been given: can anyone who is currently using one please post a candid review?
    I daresay I am not the only Caithness punter who has reached this point, so the info would be widely appreciated, I think.
    (BT were quite happy to tell me, last time we spoke, that because my exchange served less than 70 people, it was NEVER going to be in their commercial interest to upgrade it.)
    Thanks in advance....

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Highlands
    Posts
    3,124

    Default

    Satellite broadband is pretty pricey if you download a reasonable amount.Where about in the county are you?I use a 4G mobile router hooded up to EE and get download speeds of 30meg+, its also not the cheapest but its a useful backup to woeful BT
    W.A.T.P.

  3. #3

    Default

    We are down in the South of the county; no 4G alas. Don't download or stream a great deal; just want functional internet access!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Watten area
    Posts
    239

    Default Satellite broadband

    We recently put in satellite broadband from http://www.bentley-walker.com/ due to having 3 months of broadband access problems and 13 engineer visits from Openreach. I am happy with the service from Bentley Walker and the best thing to do is simply give them a phone and tell them your requirements - 02392 311 103 is the sales number.

    You do need to be aware that satellite broadband has a latency issue where it does take several seconds (or so it feels) to communicate with the satellite and then to earth - both ways, for your data to start downloading.

    Even though the advertised download speed may be 28MB the actual download speed will be dependant of contention - the number of people using the service at that specific time. So it can mean you get a download speed varying from say, 4MB to 20MB for most of the time and the top speed occasionally.

    The other issue is that you pay for the amount of data you download, so if you plan to use streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime then it can quickly eat up your download limit. The unlimited plans do cost a lot and are NOT unlimited, you will probably have a max download limit of 150GB, or less.

    Additionally after you use 70% of your paid for download data - your broadband speed gets limited, often to 4MB. Top-up's are expensive for each 1GB you purchase.

    You can often put in your order and the satellite service will be installed quickly, if you use the £350 grant then you are obliged to stay with them for a 12 month contract.

    Hope this helps. I definitely can recommend Bentley Walker.

    Richard

  5. #5

    Default

    Excellent info, thanks. Anybody else??
    I am also going to look at an antenna to boost 4G...

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