Problem with Rx SNR (Satelite - tooway)

Hi,
I have been using a satelite-connection ( tooway, viasat) for several months now. In the countryside in Portugal, where I am living, there is no other possibility to get internet. No cable, no G3 oder G4 is available. So I depend a lot on my connection.

During the summertime everything was perfect. I had a Rx SNR much more than 10, and 10 so I was told, ist the minimum for starting the connection.

During the last days the rain period started and the quality of the signal is much lower. The speed is OK, i dont complain about that. But the Rx SNR is sometimes 2, 3 or 4 - I even realised less during heavy rain.

My concern is, that I will be kicked out of the contract if my Rx SNR stays constantly under 10. Some time ago i phoned to a technician (asking for other things) and he told me, that my Rx SNR should be constantly over 10. Otherwise I will get troubles...

Does anybody know more about that?

Thanks a lot!
Raphael

Satellite services can be affected by rain, solution is usually a large dish and checking the alignment has not shifted off the optimal location.

If there is any obstruction close to the line of sight e.g. tree/bush then it will have a worse effect when its wet, so for trees consider getting tree height lowered or moving the dish to a better location

Hi MrSaffron,
thank you for answering pretty fast. Yes, I know all that about rain and weather. Now it is good weather and the Rx SNR is over 10 again.

What interests me most is, if the company offering the sat-service could eventually kick me out of the contract due to a low Rx SNR. The speed of the connection is acceptable, even with heavy rain. Only the Rx SNR is very poor. And I do not want to loose the contract because of poor weather.

Seems odd that the company would kick you out, usually the other way around where the firm wants you to stay even though the service is bad.

For now all you can is check the line of sight and alignment of the dish, and maybe see if they have a larger dish option.

In reply to a post by rabox:

Hi MrSaffron,
thank you for answering pretty fast. Yes, I know all that about rain and weather. Now it is good weather and the Rx SNR is over 10 again.

What interests me most is, if the company offering the sat-service could eventually kick me out of the contract due to a low Rx SNR. The speed of the connection is acceptable, even with heavy rain. Only the Rx SNR is very poor. And I do not want to loose the contract because of poor weather.

It should manage below 10. I've used Ka band satellite services much lower than that, although on Avanti not Eutelsat.

If it goes too low you will of course lose connection, but if you're not, it sounds like you're ok. I would imagine you have been told they will kick you off the network (e.g. the modem has to renegotiate back in to network), not they will terminate your service.

That said, satellite companies have to be careful, if your dish is slightly mis-pointed it could be hitting another bird, and your Tx power will have to go up significantly to cope. It may need to run at a lower QAM level because of your poor SNR, which means you would take up a larger timeslot for the same bandwidth, which they may not like.

But, it's likely either due to water ingress on the cable/connectors, which would be the fault of the installer, dish misalignment, which would also be the fault of the installer not properly tightening it or aligning it, or a tree/whatever in the way.

As long as it's not the last one, your ISP should be able to send an engineer for you.