Current Satellite Broadband Supplier Recommendations

Looking for another option for a house we are buying in mid Wales. This _may_ have a fibre option, but the copper connection if that doesn' t happen is only <2mb.

Any recommendations with Satellite? (or people to avoid) I'd be looking for packages 30mb+ with 60gb+ download limit.

Any suggestions would be most useful. I will be testing the technology at the various suppliers offices.

Edited by deleted (Mon 05-Mar-18 08:33:40)

Satellite is generally an absolute last ditch option. What sort of thing are you looking to do with it? Latency on satellite is terrible. High bandwidth packages are normally expensive and they can suffer from significant congestion at peak times.

Scarily, I manage servers via Remote desktop. The house in question looks like it has FTTP, but we won't know until purcahse completes. Copper option is dire, and I need to work from home as there appears no local offices with broadband!

On satellite with remote desktop you could see up to a half second delay to anything you do (just moving the mouse cursor or pressing a key) - my suspicion is that you may find it virtually unusable for that purpose. If worst came to worst your best option may be ADSL for things that are latency sensitive and Satellite for bigger downloads - but that could be awkward to manage.

Thanks Ian.

Wish there was another way - we hope for fibre, but as a house purchase depends on it, we have to look at other options.

Any suppliers worth looking at? I'm intend to go to their offices to test.

Afraid I don't know the state of the satellite provider market apart from occasional posts here where people are complaining (which considering this is a site to help people is not surprising).

From what I've heard, I'd avoid satellite if at all possible.

Can you get a 4G mobile signal at the property? Maybe try the EE coverage checker (EE Coverage Checker) with the Post Code in question. Try O2, Vodafone & Three too.

If so, you could get a dedicated 4G router (e.g.: TP-Link Archer MR200), and maybe an outdoor omni-directional antenna if needed (e.g. Outdoor 4G Antenna), and then use that. This worked for me, even before I could get a 4G signal on my phone (EE have since boosted the signal in my area).

Or - EE do a mobile broadband package now, with optional of installing an external antenna: EE Mobile Broadband.

I do this (with an EE 32Gb monthly Data SIM, not their mobile broadband), and load-balance my 4G connection with slow ADSL, as that's the only option in my area.

The main downside with 4G LTE as a connection is the limited data allowances (up to 200Gb with certain packages), and use of CGNAT which can prevent certain usage. This is one reason I keep my ADSL Max connection (which has an unlimited data allowance) and Load Balance that with the 4G connection via a DrayTek 2860Vac (Info Here). The TP-Link MR200 is in an unstairs window (to get the best signal reception), and I use powerline adapters plus ethernet cables to "pipe" that signal downstairs into the DrayTek.

Another possibility - see if there are any WISPs (Wireless ISPs) in that area providing FWA (Fixed Wireless Access).

Good Luck anyway - I hope you get the hoped-for FTTP!

All the best...

Adam.

Edited by AdamInTheSticks (Mon 05-Mar-18 16:53:30)

Thanks Adam.

Unforutnately there is no 4g either (tried EE, which are the best in that area, will try others). We're basically in a little valley in mid Wales with ajust a few other houses.

Trouble is I need to find a definitive solution before completing on the purchase and ofcourse whilst it says it should be able to order fibre, it will be a very expensive mistake if BT happen to be wrong.

Trying to get the current owners to agree to allow me to order the fibre, but nothing yet.

Hmm, with no 4G that means less options for alternatives, unfortunately.

One thing to bear in mind: the antennae on dedicated 4G routers are much better than those in mobile phones, and can pick up a signal where a phone can't - so are much better in poor/weak signal areas. I couldn't get 4G at all on my phone at home, but knew there was supposed to be 4G in the general area, so took a bit of a risk in getting the TP-Link MR200 - luckily, it worked and picked up 4G. Also, an external 4G omni antenna can in some cases make a big difference. Also, even 3G can be an improvement over < 2Mbps ADSL.

The only other 2 options (apart from FTTC / FTTP) would be to have 2 (or even 3) ADSL lines bonded together. Or - you could go with satellite, but keep the ADSL too, and combine the 2 connections (e.g. Load Balancing).

It's surprising that Remote Desktop (well, say TeamViewer, or ScreenConnect, or similar remote access technologies) *can* work quite well even at 2Mbps downstream speeds, I've used them myself at those speeds before - remote access can utilize compression technologies to help there, & most remote desktop packages seem quite efficient.

Anyway - good luck with your investigations, try the other mobile networks too just in case, and remember that 4G routers plus antennae can utilise weaker signals than phones.

Also - there may be a FWA provider in your area (e.g. Airband, Bluewave Internet, Dyfed IT, etc), worth investigating anyway.

Hopefully the current owners will allow you to place on order for FTTP first anyway, as that would be the perfect option! (Hoping for that myself - one day! - I'm in Ceredigion & have so far missed out on the "Superfast Cymru" BDUK programme, we haven't been included in the roll-out so far, maybe that will change, who knows...?!).

All the best,

Adam.

HI Adam,

Thats really useful thanks.

This is indeed right on the edge of Ceredigion... I wonder if I bought an antennae and held it up outside the house if I could check the 4g signal....there is a glimmer of a signal (no bars, but no cross on the indicator on the mobile).

Even when I'm willing to go to any lengths and cost to test, it seems impossible. I offered to pay Openreach to do a survey to definitively say fttp was fine, but they wouldn't have any of it.

I'm even wondering if I could work out of a camper van on 4g up a mountain - but what a shame not to be able to work from the house we are hoping to buy.

Thanks for that info on remote desktop - useful to know. Currently the DSL checker says its either 300Mps FTTP or <1mb ADSL - all or nothing.

Will also check out Airband etc, but don't have any experience of this technology and what its download/upload and latency is like.