Satellite Broadband

Bloders

Member
Location
Ruabon
Hello...
So weve had satellite broadand for a number of years now, without any real issue.
The data limits are a pita and its fairly expensive, but it works.
However, weve now had no connection for 3 weeks, and the company ( Big Blue ) are, IMO pretty poor.
So ive got to looking at other providers etc.
The company below reckon i can get good 4G using an antenna etc. I think they are quoting about £400 for the kit with install and then 40 a month.
So apart from the up front cost, its cheaper than the satellite.
Is it that good, and, ultimately I reckon they are just reselling some basic stuff. Can someone point me in the direction of what the equipment is as maybe i could do it all myself, cheaper.

For the record, im trying to keep it cheap as BT have installed fibre to the nearest pole, but cant (or wont) say how long before they offer a connection. Potentially wihtin a few weeks wed have FTTP, thought it could easily be another 12 months


thanks
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Hello...
So weve had satellite broadand for a number of years now, without any real issue.
The data limits are a pita and its fairly expensive, but it works.
However, weve now had no connection for 3 weeks, and the company ( Big Blue ) are, IMO pretty poor.
So ive got to looking at other providers etc.
The company below reckon i can get good 4G using an antenna etc. I think they are quoting about £400 for the kit with install and then 40 a month.
So apart from the up front cost, its cheaper than the satellite.
Is it that good, and, ultimately I reckon they are just reselling some basic stuff. Can someone point me in the direction of what the equipment is as maybe i could do it all myself, cheaper.

For the record, im trying to keep it cheap as BT have installed fibre to the nearest pole, but cant (or wont) say how long before they offer a connection. Potentially wihtin a few weeks wed have FTTP, thought it could easily be another 12 months


thanks

Can you get 4G on a mobile phone, in or outside the house?

Have a look at teh maps showing coverage.
 

Bloders

Member
Location
Ruabon
Can you get 4G on a mobile phone, in or outside the house?

Have a look at teh maps showing coverage.
not really, but the coompany i quoted above say it should work, and they are then quoting 40 a month plus 400 to install the kit.
What kit is it and can i "just" fit it myself?
 

Loftyrules

Member
Location
Monmouth
Speak to https://www.astrabg.co.uk/astra-bg-contact-us/ they are really nice guys will come out and do a site survey and make sure you can get a decent service and will then sort you out with the right 4G provider.
They came and surveryed my place and weren't happy enough with the signal received to install a kit. They cover North Wales too as they had been up there running surveys the day before
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Last edited:

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
I'm on airband. Good speed and pretty reliable. Not what I'd call "cheap" and not available across the whole country.

Neighbour was using one of the airband providers that I was about to sign up with them as it seemed a good service, albeit costly. On talking with my ISP, the Boss man had a look and said we can do ADSL Max now on your line. so thats what I did. Neighbour is still using the airband service, but I think they will be off as they now have FTTC close to...
 

DieselRob

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
North Yorkshire
I'm with bigblu as well but I've actually found them fairly good at getting problems sorted (and there have been a few) why are they dragging their heels for 3 weeks? Is it an issue with the dish? I had a new router sent out within 2 days of reporting a problem. I'm on the £40 "silver" package and never get anywhere near the usage allowance including using Iplayer/Netflix etc
 
I'm on airband. Good speed and pretty reliable. Not what I'd call "cheap" and not available across the whole country.
Same here ...

Neighbour was using one of the airband providers that I was about to sign up with them as it seemed a good service, albeit costly. On talking with my ISP, the Boss man had a look and said we can do ADSL Max now on your line. so thats what I did. Neighbour is still using the airband service, but I think they will be off as they now have FTTC close to...
Sadly no FTTP here - neighbour has spent over 100k (allegedly) getting FTTP, but they won't let me have a slice of it!!
 

Bloders

Member
Location
Ruabon
I'm with bigblu as well but I've actually found them fairly good at getting problems sorted (and there have been a few) why are they dragging their heels for 3 weeks? Is it an issue with the dish? I had a new router sent out within 2 days of reporting a problem. I'm on the £40 "silver" package and never get anywhere near the usage allowance including using Iplayer/Netflix etc
Used to be boradband forever and never had an issue.
went down nearly 3 weeks ago - rang up, did some diagnostics etc. decided i needed a new bit for the dish.
3 days later rang back, nobody had even ordered it to be sent out
gents new bit. no better.
rang them. went through some stuff, and they said they get back to me
2 days later, they ring me to go through the diagnostics we did 2 days before

and on it goes.
currently been waiting 3 days for a date from their subcontract supplier to come and look at it.
 

fermerboy

Member
Location
Banffshire
My in laws have big blue broadband as it was the only option open at the time. Its OK bit stop start and drops regularly.
I reckon they might get 4g now with a little work,
We are on Vodafone 4g unlimited data here now, deal on for 12months at £33 with first six months half price.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
Hello...
So weve had satellite broadand for a number of years now, without any real issue.
The data limits are a pita and its fairly expensive, but it works.
However, weve now had no connection for 3 weeks, and the company ( Big Blue ) are, IMO pretty poor.
So ive got to looking at other providers etc.
The company below reckon i can get good 4G using an antenna etc. I think they are quoting about £400 for the kit with install and then 40 a month.
So apart from the up front cost, its cheaper than the satellite.
Is it that good, and, ultimately I reckon they are just reselling some basic stuff. Can someone point me in the direction of what the equipment is as maybe i could do it all myself, cheaper.

For the record, im trying to keep it cheap as BT have installed fibre to the nearest pole, but cant (or wont) say how long before they offer a connection. Potentially wihtin a few weeks wed have FTTP, thought it could easily be another 12 months


thanks

Certainly in Wales the installation cost of 4G broadband is all covered by the Government unless the aerial has to be 500m up a mountain from the promises. There is £800 grant available.
Just had mine installed yesterday. up from around 1.8mbps to up to 50mbps with unlimited data, but with a 'fair use' clause of 1000GB [is that 1TB?] per month

Just up the road BT's contractors lay fibre to the premises over three years ago. The cables end at their poles and nobody has been connected up as yet. On a landline, if it is fibre to the cabinet, you are unlikely to get the speed I get from 4G if you are more than half a mile from the cabinet and it will cost just as much per month.

I was told that BT and Openreach have gone slow because they are afraid of 4G and 5G in particular rendering their land lines and fibre optics to less populated areas uneconomic and even unwanted.
 

Bloders

Member
Location
Ruabon
Certainly in Wales the installation cost of 4G broadband is all covered by the Government unless the aerial has to be 500m up a mountain from the promises. There is £800 grant available.
Just had mine installed yesterday. up from around 1.8mbps to up to 50mbps with unlimited data, but with a 'fair use' clause of 1000GB [is that 1TB?] per month

Just up the road BT's contractors lay fibre to the premises over three years ago. The cables end at their poles and nobody has been connected up as yet. On a landline, if it is fibre to the cabinet, you are unlikely to get the speed I get from 4G if you are more than half a mile from the cabinet and it will cost just as much per month.

I was told that BT and Openreach have gone slow because they are afraid of 4G and 5G in particular rendering their land lines and fibre optics to less populated areas uneconomic and even unwanted.
we had the grant to get the satelite system, so i guess cant aply again.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Just up the road BT's contractors lay fibre to the premises over three years ago. The cables end at their poles and nobody has been connected up as yet. On a landline, if it is fibre to the cabinet, you are unlikely to get the speed I get from 4G if you are more than half a mile from the cabinet and it will cost just as much per month.

I was told that BT and Openreach have gone slow because they are afraid of 4G and 5G in particular rendering their land lines and fibre optics to less populated areas uneconomic and even unwanted.

How farcial!!

Certainly not going to be viable if BT/OR cannot even provide a ruddy service when the lines are almost there... :sneaky:

With the level of performance you are getting, few rural users will not go 4/5G, up and until you start seeing contention on the mast and other congestion problems. I heard of a problem in the SW along these lines.

I was intending asking OpenWorld if we could put in our own fibre a few years ago for 4 properties, as the actual cost of the fibre itself was relatively cheap (under a Grand) , but the comms engineer who would have helped, then said that he tried a similiar project for a client and OpenWoe as they were then, point blank refused to make a connection and then quoted him in the tens of thousands...
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
After nearly a week on 4G, the results are mixed. I've had over 50mbps on occasion. Today it is at 30mbps download and 22up, but one day, last Friday I think, the mast must have been down or something, because it barely did 1mbps and the BT landline was faster at 1.8
Not sure whether EE throttles speed at times for some reason.
I'm quite happy with 30 by the way, but would prefer 40+ at times for leisure use.
 
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