European satellite operator SES-ASTRA recently signed a new reseller agreement with Eurosat, a UK satellite equipment distributor. The deal means that Eurosat will be able to market ASTRA's two-way (download and upload) broadband service, ASTRA2Connect, to it consumers in the UK and N.Ireland under its BeyonDSL brand.

The service will target thousands of British households that are not able to access terrestrial ADSL or cable land-line ISPs and will offer download rates of up to 2Mbps. Prices will start from just £19.99 per month (12 month contract) for a 256Kbps connection with "unlimited" access:


Naturally £19.99 for an aging 256Kbps speed service isn't spectacular and many other satellite ISPs have vanished due to the tiny population of potential customers. However for a satellite provider, especially a two-way service, £19.99 is incredibly cheap.

Sadly those interested will still need to shell out roughly £300 for the necessary kit and most will need to pay even more for a professional installation. With costs like that and the performance problems inherent with satellite, it's hardly surprising that many prefer to stick with a dialup link.