The first commercial availability of consumer broadband services via Eutelsat's new 'up to' 10Mbps capable KA-SAT (Tooway10mb) Satellite, which will begin on 31st May 2011, looks set to mark a crucial moment for remote rural communities in the UK. It will combine with Avanti's competing HYLAS 1 spacecraft to offer more internet access choice and performance than has previously been available, but which is best?

Avanti successfully launched their HYLAS1 Satellite at the end of November 2010 (here), while Eutelsat's rival KA-SAT went aloft almost exactly one month later during December 2010 (here). Both are targeted at the UK / European market and feature similar capabilities.

At the time of writing many Satellite ISPs have yet to reveal their final details and pricing, although a number of providers have bucked that trend (e.g. Rural Broadband and Broadband Wherever) and allowed us to gain a better insight into how both services stack up against each other.

What will £25 inc. VAT per month get me?

Avanti HYLAS 1
Customers paying this much can expect a monthly usage allowance of around 5GB (GigaBytes) and a download speed of just 1Mbps (0.25Mbps uploads).

Eutelsat KA-SAT
Customers paying this much can expect a slightly lower monthly usage allowance of around 4GB (GigaBytes) and a significantly faster download speed of 6Mbps (1Mbps uploads).

Those who choose to pay around £60 per month should be able to get an up to 8Mbps service (2Mbps uploads) with a 10GB usage allowance from HYLAS1 packages. By contrast KA-SAT will do up to 10Mbps (2Mbps uploads) with a 13GB allowance for the same sort of money.

So far Eutelsat appear to have the lead, especially at the cheaper end, although we wouldn't be surprised to see Avanti adjust its packages in the near future. Both also feature one-off service activation fees of approximately £25-£30. Sadly it's too early to know how each will compare in terms of real-world service quality, though the new generation of services seem to all be able to deliver fairly stable speeds.

The cost of hardware and installation can also vary wildly between different providers, which makes this aspect particularly difficult to pin down. Satellite services are notoriously expensive and consumers can usually expect to pay anything from around £300 to £600 for the combined hardware and installation.