hey there folks.

Anyone on here happen to have any knowledge of 2 way mobile satellite broadband?

Or even better know of a decent company that isn't going to totally rip us off!

It will be for business use btw. And i know that maximum speeds seem to be coming up at about 2mbps.

Other alternatives would be mobile 3G/HSDPA broadband but need to be able to share the connection with up to 15 users and must have good coverage in and around York.

Thanks

Phil

One word .... Expensive and slow.

The 2mbps is a maximum and applies to download only, and because of contention on the satalite transponder you will very rarely get anywhere near it. Upload is done via a 56K modem or in the case of mobile via the cellphone network, so for 15 users on a shared connection it will be very slow.

I also believe that in addition to the monthly costs you pay per mb downloaded as satalite time is very expensive.

We had it at work (before I arrived here) and they said they only EVER used it for downloading huge files, for everything else they actually preferred a 56k modem shared between 6 people. Yes. You read that correctly.

Lol... not looking good!

Was looking at a 2way system that doesn't reaquire a phone line or similar for the upload.

Will be getting onto Vodafone soon to see what they can offer us to pop into a 3G wireless router!

Phil

You'll not get a 2 way system unless you buy a satellite transceiver (transmitter and reciever) which I would imagine would cost more than your house.

Lol... not looking good!

Was looking at a 2way system that doesn't reaquire a phone line or similar for the upload.

Will be getting onto Vodafone soon to see what they can offer us to pop into a 3G wireless router!

Phil

forget voda in york... you need to talk to 3 esp if you are poppleton end of the city.

One word .... Expensive and slow.

:confused::confused::confused:

Lol... it isn't for personal use btw!

It is for use on my bus that i'm trying to set-up for York city council.

We will be using it all over the city so will be going with the IT team some time to check signal coverage with vodafone. Although looking at their map of coverage for 3g it doesn't compare at all to the amount of coverage that Three has!

But I have a feeling that I will have to use Vodafone as that is who the council has their existing mobile broadband and phone contracts with!

Phil

So it's for use on the/a bus?

Is if for any community projects? If so, BT might be able to do something for free sponsorship.

Remember though, if 15 users are using it, your 3GB limit will be eaten very quickly on mobile data. And each GB there after will be circa £5. Could work out VERY expensive.

Yes for use on but... but to be used for education with some light commercial/business use also.

Thats were Vodafone seem good... one plan on the site has a 10BG allowance and another with 20GB.

It won't be used all day everyday... probably only on average about 1 hour a day so the allowance should be ok.

Need to talk to the IT guys and find out what options I have... they don't know too much about wirelessy things though!

Phil

There is a linksys 3g router that Voda will flog you: you plug a 3g card into it. Worked a treat in central Birmingham recently while Virgin Media finally got the fibre installed.....

3g router

Yup... seen that!

Says up to 5 people though... so need to speak to Vodafone or IT people and see about doing a deal... maybe the sponsorship thing isn't such a bad idea... could have a Vodafone sponsorship and get a cracking deal so I can (try) and keep within budget! lol

Yup... seen that!

Says up to 5 people though... so need to speak to Vodafone or IT people and see about doing a deal... maybe the sponsorship thing isn't such a bad idea... could have a Vodafone sponsorship and get a cracking deal so I can (try) and keep within budget! lol

We had an office of 10 people on it- connected into our office network when the WAN supplier messed up and didn't connect the circuit.

Haven't seen the bill yet :eek:

lol... its a fairly generous allowance i suppose of 10GB.

Should be good enough for us...

The thing is I only need the sim card as we're planning on building a 3G wireless router into the bus that we will just need a sim card for.

Phil

Haven't seen the bill yet :eek:

Let us know the damage. I've seen a firm rack up £10k of data bill in only 2 days!

Let us know the damage. I've seen a firm rack up £10k of data bill in only 2 days!

One of our staff managed 2.5k in three days...from one laptop.

ouch! I don't have that money to spend on mobile internet! lol

But like i say in an average month we're only looking at about 1-2 hours a day usage so should be ok.

Phil

ouch! I don't have that money to spend on mobile internet! lol

But like i say in an average month we're only looking at about 1-2 hours a day usage so should be ok.

Phil

You'd be amazed at how little time it takes to rack up that much usage.

File sharing, pics, streaming video. In some cases, each user could kill 1-10GB EACH an hour!

Dont underestimate how badly this could go cost wise. Restricting bandwidth hungry sites such as youtube, BBC news etc will be essential for you. Possibly even image hosting sites, facebook, forums and email sites too. etc etc

So far tonight I've nearly hit 2gb myself, and that's without any filesharing.

I went to a road show type affair the other week for mobile products and there was quite a big selection of 3G routers and with most you could plug in an external aerial which would be useful on your bus.

Everyone is saying how much the bill is going to be for traffic but what's the bus actually used for?

It's going to be used in conjunction with the new diplomas namely the Society, health and development one so there will be practical stuff goin on the bus and not just IT stuff all the time. For most of the time that any IT will be used on the bus it will just be one computer hooked upto the projector.

And no they won't have free reighn of the internet. I think we're looking at getting Vodafone to set-up security and surf control on the connection to save having to filter everything through a server.

Phil

Bandwidth cost isn't really going to be an issue then, thought the bus might have been to get 'hoodies' off the street by the council supplying them with a bus to sit in, free internet and biscuits. Then I could foresee a big Youtube / Facebook fest.

As others have said as long as coverage isn't an issue a 3G router with external aerial is probably your best and most cost effective choice.