Satellite internet.

[Rich_ard]

What are the options for Internet now.
Don't feel like spending £75/m on starlink.
I currently have bt broadband, no fiber yet, which mostly is fine until we get lightning then its out. Mobile is poor. I use WiFi call around the farm.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

I am wondering the same, no Internet at present (for the last two weeks) as a contractor ploughed up the phone line (that was about 4" deep). Open reach are just trenching in around the reseeded field to duct in a new copper cable. I have had problems with the old cable every year for the last 4 or 5 years and they had plenty of opportunities to re lay it, but waited until it was re seeded, so a little bit irritated.

 

[Kidds]

Starlink is the answer, it is dear but it works. Claim the VAT back as it is for work, reduces it to £62.5. Still dear of course.

 

[Tim G]

Wanting to know the same here. Currently I n copper cables which are hit and miss. Broadband dropping in and out throughout the day for the last week or so. Frustrating because our farm shop payment system needs the WiFi, as does just about everything else it seems. Had a quote from Gigaclear to install fibre from the road to the house, they couldn't understand why I turned it down (£4500).

 

[Rich_ard]

Starlink is the answer, it is dear but it works. Claim the VAT back as it is for work, reduces it to £62.5. Still dear of course.

Don't likemusk either! There must be alternatives.

 

[DieselRob]

Don't likemusk either! There must be alternatives.

I tried that Big Blu broadband, it was shocking. Couldn’t get a consistent connection and when it did work it would max out around 5mb download.

How far away is decent broadband from you? There is a line of sight repeater system working not far from here, I don’t know how good it is

At the moment we manage with a 4g router, if demand increases much more as kids get older then it’ll probably force me down the starlink route unless fibre gets to the end of my lane then I might look at moling a new line in or something

 

[Pooh_Bear]

We have Starlink here and it works pretty well. It's that or 1990s speed internet from BT. Can't stand Musk, don't like paying £75pcm but it's that or not to be able to do my day job from home (and commuting into the office is a lot more money).

 

[Kidds]

We have Starlink here and it works pretty well. It's that or 1990s speed internet from BT. Can't stand Musk, don't like paying £75pcm but it's that or not to be able to do my day job from home (and commuting into the office is a lot more money).

Same but without the commuting bit.

 

[PSQ]

We have Starlink here and it works pretty well. It's that or 1990s speed internet from BT. Can't stand Musk, don't like paying £75pcm but it's that or not to be able to do my day job from home (and commuting into the office is a lot more money).

Same as here. Had Starlink about 4 months and it's a rock solid 90mbs (up to 130) compared to the extremely flakey supposed 18mbs from BT. The self install was easier than expected, but needed a longer antenna cable and an angled roof mount, as the standard 4 leg antenna base is pretty useless.

I really don't like the idea of giving money to Elon Musk, but then again BT are just a different flavour of corporate scumbags, so you really need to hold your nose either way.
When we do eventually get connected to FTTP I will punt on the Starlink kit straight away (no contract term with starlink whatsoever, which is refreshing), but I'm not holding my breath. BT dug in the ducting and poles 10 months ago, but when pressed on a connection date they changed from "1st Quarter 2024", to "before 31st December 2026", hence the move to Starlink.

 

[rollestonpark]

I applied for the gigabit voucher scheme, took me 2 years, but OpenReach laid fibre to 4 properties which as a family group we own and/or live in.
We can have any speed up to 1000mb now and latency is about 10/12ms , 1 off payment of £1000 per property.
Paying £46/month for the first 2 years, then it'll be regraded to regular fibre to premises, so can get a price from anyone after that.

Took forever, but the scheme paid for most of the costs (think it was about £56K). Was worth the effort, is better than starlink and cheaper.

 

[Will Blackburn]

Just get Starlink until fibre arrives, best option by far.

 

[J B]

We use Airband - don't know if it (or similar) is available near you?

In Shropshire the 'council' have a 'Connecting Shropshire' department who are quite helpful.

 

[Rich_ard]

I tried that Big Blu broadband, it was shocking. Couldn’t get a consistent connection and when it did work it would max out around 5mb download.

How far away is decent broadband from you? There is a line of sight repeater system working not far from here, I don’t know how good it is

At the moment we manage with a 4g router, if demand increases much more as kids get older then it’ll probably force me down the starlink route unless fibre gets to the end of my lane then I might look at moling a new line in or something

I spoke with a company today who must do sat mobile but it must be line of sight as they need to do an assessment to see if they can see the mast from here. Starlink with no contact sounds as good as I can find so might just go with them. At least if it's no good I can cancel. 2 year contract sounds a long time if the others aren’t any better than bt.
A second hand £3 router has fixed it today now. I should get another for the next thunder storm we get! I phoned bt to ask for a new router but according to their line check it was fine so they were going to send out a engineer. Well a router fixed it now so the line check is a load of crap!

 

[ladycrofter]

Do some online research and you will likely get free installation from any number of providers. All countries now have grant schemes if you are below a certain speed. We got all the kit and free installation. Went with BigBlu, they organised it all. Monthly cost is same as wired.
You must go through the grant scheme process, not start installation yourself, we had to download some cryptic app to very bad speed.

Link here.

 

[Rich_ard]

Do some online research and you will likely get free installation from any number of providers. All countries now have grant schemes if you are below a certain speed. We got all the kit and free installation. Went with BigBlu, they organised it all. Monthly cost is same as wired.
You must go through the grant scheme process, not start installation yourself, we had to download some cryptic app to very bad speed.

Link here.

I spoke with a company today who do it. They want a 2 year contract. Its cheaper than starlink but not much. I wounder how much they are claiming off the government.

 

[Shovel 79]

SWS broadband air band here(Shropshire) . Paying well under £40/month. Think there was a fee for the dish on the house.
Only lose internet in very extreme thunderstorms and comes back on after, not weeks later.
Wouldn’t go back to BT .I don’t have a landline now.

 

[MRT]

I am wondering the same, no Internet at present (for the last two weeks) as a contractor ploughed up the phone line (that was about 4" deep). Open reach are just trenching in around the reseeded field to duct in a new copper cable. I have had problems with the old cable every year for the last 4 or 5 years and they had plenty of opportunities to re lay it, but waited until it was re seeded, so a little bit irritated.

Dyfed telecom via dish for the business here, tandem to BT in the house, DT use the cheapest components available and it breaks down a lot. We end up using the mobile hotspot which is weirdly more reliable, embarasing for both companies (or it should be)

 

[curlietailz]

I have Brdy which is what BigBlu now is works far better than the really rubbish copper BT but I also have a 5G Wi-Fi router in the farm bait room that works far better but we’re luckily right on the edge of a 5G signal

 

[Paddington]

Voneus airband (was SWS), here in Shropshire.

 

[kiwi pom]

Bit surprised about the Elon comments, think I'd rather give him the money that a lot of these companies.
Not sure I'd like to work for him, but he gets stuff done.