Competition in the UK consumer broadband Satellite internet access market is hotting-up again today after ISP BeyonDSL announced a new service with download speeds of up to 4Mbps (0.25Mbps uploads) for just £29.99 inc. VAT per month. The package uses ASTRA's (ASTRA2Connect) satellites (23.5E Astra 1E, 1G, 3A) and includes a 2.5GB usage allowance.In addition customers can add an extra 1GB to their allowance for £18 (one-off fee) or unlimited data between 11pm and 5am every night (FreeZone) for an extra monthly charge of £17. A 12 month minimum contract term applies.
BeyonDSL, in a further effort to keep up with its rivals, has also added the FreeZone upgrade - at no extra charge - to its slower packages. For example, the 1Mbps (ValueZone 1M) service now comes with FreeZone and includes a 2GB usage quote for the same price as their 4Mbps product.
BeyonDSL's Managing Director, Mike Locke, said:
"In every way BeyonDSL leads the competition... our equipment is cheaper to buy and install; our dish is smaller; you can combine Sky or Freesat on the same dish; we offer a dedicated enhanced VOIP data channel; our choice of subscriptions is wider and the equivelant money spent with us gets you more speed and more allowance. Oh, and we're the only one's to offer FreeZone, allowing you to download unlimited data every night with no effect on your allowance. If you want Satellite Broadband, why would you want to choose anyone else?"
"In every way BeyonDSL leads the competition... our equipment is cheaper to buy and install; our dish is smaller; you can combine Sky or Freesat on the same dish; we offer a dedicated enhanced VOIP data channel; our choice of subscriptions is wider and the equivelant money spent with us gets you more speed and more allowance. Oh, and we're the only one's to offer FreeZone, allowing you to download unlimited data every night with no effect on your allowance. If you want Satellite Broadband, why would you want to choose anyone else?"
We note that the required hardware usually costs £299.99 and an installation is typically around £100, which brings the total cost to £399.99. That's roughly the same as some of its rivals, albeit cheaper than most.
The service is clearly designed to take on Eutelsat's 3.6Mbps (0.38Mbps uploads) Tooway service, which includes a 2.4GB usage allowance for £25-£35 per month. Bently Telecom currently offer the cheapest version of this at £26.43 inc. VAT per month, with a "Complete Satellite System" promotion on the hardware for £334.87.
However Eutelsat's Eurobird 3 (33° East) based Tooway service is not designed to be shared with Sky or Freeset. It should also be noted that both Eutelsat and Avanti will soon have 10Mbps and 8Mbps capable broadband satellites in orbit. New services from related ISPs are expected from early next year.
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Comments: 7
Agnes JohnsonPosted: 3 August, 2010 - 9:36 AM
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I bought this solution, and then found it doesn't support UK watch again portals like BBC iplayer and Channel 4 OD, because the IP address for Astra's platform is in Germany or whereever it also doesn't give you the correct listings on EBay.
MarkJPosted: 3 August, 2010 - 10:00 AM
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That's an interesting point, I wonder if the same problem happens on Eutelsat because they are also based outside of the UK. Avanti however is UK based, although we don't know how their IP's are handled.
I can easily see this has being another big drawback to Satellite, the lack of geographic IP addressing.
AlexPosted: 3 August, 2010 - 5:06 PM
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Hi Agnes,
We're just literally now undergoing an IP transition that will allow you to use all UK-based services. It's imminent so stay posted :-)
All the best,
Alex
onephatPosted: 4 August, 2010 - 7:02 PM
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With a 2gb odd data cap i wouldn't get used to watching much on the iplayer. Its about time one of the satellite boys offered a decent 21st century data cap. I remember using EOL back in the day and at that point they offered around this level(from what i remember). So much for progress. I understand that satellite capacity is expensive but at 2.4gb a month really what's the point.
MarkJPosted: 5 August, 2010 - 1:36 PM
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Some do offer unlimited downloading but this tends to only come with very slow speeds or apply during off-peak hours. Sadly it's a difficult area for the actual Satellite operators to tackle; pushing data up and down from space is more costly than you might think.
SteveDPosted: 15 September, 2010 - 7:18 AM
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Ever since BDSL migrated all their IP addresses away from Astra's hub, the QoS has dropped significantly. We asked to change back to an Astra-allocated IP (as a rural SME we don't give a damn about BBC iPlayer) but BDSL either can't or won't do it. Once our contract comes up for renewal we're transferring over to Tooway.
MikeLPosted: 25 September, 2010 - 11:54 AM
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Hallo SteveD, the QoS is not linked in anyway to the IP ranges. The change to UK IP addresses (which are still routed from the ASTRA hub as previous IP addresses) should have had no impact at all on QoS.
I will look at the QoS issue directly for you but can't identify you from this post. Please contact us either via your MyAccount page or by phone or by email to info@beyondsl.net
It might be possible to get a Lux or Ger IP like the old ones from ASTRA but all that will do is to make all geo-located websites like Google, O2 etc (not just iPlayer) think you are not in UK which for most UK customers is not what they want.
We'll do our best to resolve your issue. Regards, MikeL
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