Hi,
Thank you for the welcome.
Q. however, what would be the *expected* transfer speeds for gear 1 (unlimited) option? i realise this depends on service uptake - but what are the figures that you expect?
A. It doesn't just depend on service uptake. See <a href="http://www.satdrive.com/?CLASS=Folder&DBID=9902938a78608084a708fc09e17ac9f5" target="_blank">web page</a>
We don't see the need to limit users to a relatively low maximum rate. If the capacity is available and not being used any user - even on the flat rate of £14.99 - any user will have up to 4Mb/s if it is available Note the words 'up to'. Like all satellite services that have a variable number of users and all of them wishing to get information through the bottle-neck
of a transponder, SatDrive is contended - and we do not pretend otherwise. Nor do we offer you a promised speed that may well fail to materialise. We say if you need a higher performance at any time then you can choose to select (and pay for) faster downloads by shifting up into a higher priority gear.
I was downloading this morning a single thread at one site 130kbytes and at another site 47kbytes. You then use download accelerator technology and these figures can be different again. You download on different days or different times and speeds can be greatly faster or slower.
It is impossible to provide you with the exact answer you want due to users, groups, other factors.
Also we have a file and email multicast system which people shouldn't overlook.
Q. how does your software deal with the ISP's 2 hour cutoffs? is it possible to leave the PC doing peer 2 peer downloading unattended? the isp connection can be automatically redialled but does the sat connection remain?
A. Once the isp cuts their connection and you are downloading from a web site you would need to reconnect to your isp. If you were waiting for email and were using your SatDrive email address you wouldn't need to reconnect or connect in the first place. Your satdrive email would be sent to your system if our software was running and you could view it in your mail client without the need for a back channel (modem). The file request service would be sent offline to your computer as well under similar circumstances.
Q. possibility of introducing fixed rate higher gear settings? e.g. £40 a month for a permanent 2nd gear download rate?
A.S atDrive (TM) 1000 = Download 1024 MB's of data per month in priority level 5 at up to 4Mbit/s for £35 inc VAT per month.
NOTE : Any MB's not consumed in the month cannot be transfered to the following month.