SatSig topic:

Artistic residence in India

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Feb 28^th, 2005 at 5:27pm

Hello,

I'm working for a NGO that wants to settle an artistic and social residence in India. This NGO wants to set up in a rural zone on the west coast of India (Belekan, Karnataka, near the city of GoKarna) and needs a broadband connection to internet. I'm thinking of using satellite connectivity, but I don't know if i should recommend 2 ways connectivity or not. We will need to upload sometimes large amount of data (video stream) to web servers (at least 3 times a week). We also want to be local provider and establish a cybercoffee for the area. What would you recommend? (does it make sens to use one way connection for such a big amount of data).

I read on the planetSky Website that "two way" satellite systems are not standards based, and thus, FTP and POP e-mail is very unreliable. Is that true? (Is that specific to planetsky?) Do you have experience with that? In their faq, they actually advice not to use "two ways" systems, they explain that due to the connection loss factor, the result is a FASTER surfing experience on 1-way. What do you think? If this is true, is it possible to use a combination of 2 ways connection for large files upload and 1 way for regular internet surfing. Can this be cost efficient?

I saw that several satellites cover this area :

Asiasat in C-Band
NSS-6 in KU-BAND
EUROPE*STAR 1 in Ku-band

- Is there any other satellite that cover the Indian west cost (800km south from Bombay)
- What are the different providers for this zone?
- Should I prefer KU-BAND service than C-BAND services? (in term of signal quality and cost).

Thanks a lot for your answears and advices....

Alx from the ataum project.

Mar 1^st, 2005 at 1:06am

First, I should qualify that broadband internet via satellite should be your LAST choice - if any other broadband connectivity is available. It's really only acceptable for folks living in areas that are NOT served by conventional broadband providers - and in extreme cases where even dialup is not available.

That said, PlanetSky's one-way advertishing is self-serving. Of course they'll tout the "benefits" of one-way, because the alternative is their much more expensive VSAT. What you perhaps don't understand, is that the other half of this "one way" connection is dialup; you send on a phoneline, receive via satellite. Depending upon your terrestrial modem, that limits your transmit to either 33.6 or 44 kbps.

For my purposes, two way is more cost effective. I pay $60/month - period - and my wife is able to use the phone any time she wants. One way accounts typically run about $40/mo, then add the costs of a 2nd phoneline AND a second ISP account (for the dialup side).

"Not standards based" sound like gibberish. SMTP is simply an inefficient protocol - regardless of the medium. If you can subscribe to IMAP email service, you'll reportedly see a big difference over satellite. As far as FTP, I achieved my fastest two way uploads to date (110 kbps) to a FTP server. 50-60 kbps is more typical, slower during peak usage hours.

Now this is entry level service I'm talking about here.For your video stream you'd probably prefer something faster. Look for a provider that sells tiered service. Direcway for example, has a 256/1500 business account (over here) that runs about $100/mo I think. You also want to look for a provider that doesn't unrealistically (or punatively) limit services. Some will let you upload/download to a certain limit, then
a. throttle your bandwidth, or
b. add additional usage charges, or
c. terminate service till the next billing cycle.

Equipment cost for Ku-band is much lower than C-band, and Ka-band service is being introduced this year. But if you're in a monsoon area, C-band has the reliability advantage during adverse atmospheric conditions.

And please keep in mind that I can only relate to costs in terms of USD. I quite understand that price structuring may be different in your location.
//greg//

Mar 1^st, 2005 at 1:32pm

I checked a little further on that 256kbps inroute plan, and it's 130USD/mo rather than the 100 I stated yesterday. Sorry. And even though they use 256k capable equipment, they actually sell it as a 100/1500 service. It's a bandwidth sharing hedge.

//greg//

Mar 4^th, 2005 at 1:41pm

I sent an enquiry to HUGHES, who appears to resell directway service in India with my specifications. I'm still waiting for their answear. I also asked for some details about their product DW3000/4000. (Do you know those products). I will post their answear as soon as I get it.

Regards,

Alex

Mar 4^th, 2005 at 6:13pm

DW3000/4000 confgurations haven't been sold (in America) for some time now, replaced by the current DW6000 system. In your situation, you might want to consider the DW6040 - which is reported to include viable VoIP and VPN capabilities.

//greg//

Sep 29^th, 2005 at 2:03am

We can provide Internet service by satellite on JCSAT3 and Telstar 18 satellites to India. This is a c-band service provided from Hawaii.

Vince Waterson, VP Business Development.
Hawaii Pacific Teleport
www.hawaiiteleport.com
vwaterson@hawaiiteleport.com

May 6^th, 2006 at 8:48am

Try your local ADSL or Broadband ISPs which would cost very much less. As you said that you are going to upload a lot, how could you do that using a one way satellite link? It would take ages to upload via a dialup connection.