SatSig topic:

Questions about SkyDSL

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Aug 14^th, 2014 at 6:02pm

Hi,
as I already wrote in my other thread https://www.satsig.net/topics/satsig-topic-num=1407957663 I am a https://www.skydsl.de/ Customer.

There are a few things that totally confuse me:

1. I read along your Forum (sadly, after signing the contract) and you dont want to hear it but SkyDSL offers offensively with having no "Fair Use Poliy" at all.
I phoned their support after having speed issues for the first time wich was after 5 Days and ~60Gb and asked if there is some kind of "fup" the Satellite owner may activate. They assured -again- that there is no "Fair Use Policy" that may apply to my connection. The only thing I have to consider is that the Satellite Transponder is a share medium and I have to share the connection along with 49 other people wich they call pool.
If there is a Traffic Limit, 60Gb is something i can deal with, but they have to inform me. At the moment this just feels like they lied about facts.

2. Is SkyDSL a Tooway reseller? Do their tarifs settle on "tooway plans" and therefore the tooway faps apply? Or are they dealing independetly with skylogic/eutelsat? My Hardware has some tooway logos on it.

3. There seems to be some Kind of Traffic Monitor from tooway available at https://checkportal.skylogicnet.com/ but i just can access the speedprobe from their, no statistics. I dont got any warning mails, too.

4. I've done several speedtests. 3rd Party tests show very different speed depending on the time, clearly because i share the bandwidth with 49 other people in the pool. The Tooway speedprobe shows full speed in 95% of the tests, even when other tests show way less bandwidth. In the Tooway FAQs they say the Tooway "Fair Access Policy" applies to their speedtest, so if i overrun my limit I should get less bandwidth in their speedprobe. But the Tooway test shows always fullspeed.
Maybe there is a bottleneck at skylogics uplink to the rest of the net?

5. or are they kidding me because tooway calls it Fair "Access" Policy instead of Fair "Usage" Policy? Huh

6. Are there any other SkyDSL Customers here?

Aug 15^th, 2014 at 6:56pm

Thank you for your contributions.

I've had a look at the SkyDSL web site and my impression is that they must be leasing bulk dedicated capacity on KA-SAT and then reselling that capacity using their own terrestrial network capacity and routers, plus hardware for extra customer benefits: "email" and "Home Space". Their web site says that "No fair use applies" and there are various options "Up to 6 Mbit/s, Up to 12 Mbit/s and Up to 20 Mbit/s". One page on their web site https://www.skydsl.eu/en-NL/Internet-via-satellite/comparison/Tooway-vs-skyDSL suggests they are trying to improve on the basic Tooway service by offering their own particular extra customer benefits.

Normal Tooway resellers all offer the same range of tariffs, which are all "up to 20 Mbit/s" services, and to which a "Network management Policy" applies. See https://accesointernetsatelital.com/network-management-March2014.pdf

The Tooway Fair Access Policy (FAP, FUP or what have you) has changed a great deal since they started and I doubt that it has settled down even now. Initially they had multiple "Up to" speed limits, multiple Gbytes per month and a range of average speed limits with 5 minute sliding windows, per sec, per hour, per 4 hours, per day, per week etc. All too complicated. For my pennyworth, I think the best policy is: a daily Gbyte limit from 6 am - 12 midnight, with a reduction to 64kbit/s if you exceed the limit, plus a free-for-all (no FAP) regime between midnight and 6am.

One of the less advertised Tooway offerings is called "IP connect" and offers dedicated capacity both up and down. This is suitable for companies wanting to transmit TV, such as signals from sporting events, back to the studio. It might also be used by closed user groups, comprising multiple remote offices of a company, very many water pumping stations etc, where the group require dedicated capacity that they know will always be available only for them and with no risk of congestion from external causes. This could be implemented on the normal Tooway system by declaring all such traffic as top priority and limiting the per second bit rate to the composite of the one or all sites in the customer network.

Domestic Tooway service is shared. You are paying around euro 35 per month for a service that gives a bit rate of say 60 Mbit/s per 1mS, up to 20 Mbit/s per second and 30 kbit/s per month.

Dedicated capacity starts at about euro 1700 per month.

See https://www.bentley-walker.com/tooway/ for a good description of both the Home User and Business User tariffs. This is a reputable company.

An alternative Ka band satellite service involving small customer VSAT antennas, with coverage of Europe, Middle East and Africa is Avanti/Hylas, see https://www.avantiplc.com/

Best regards, Eric.

Aug 3^rd, 2015 at 4:03pm

I am a skydsl customer, and I am getting really awful download speeds, mostly around 1Mbsp altho I am supposed to be on the 20 Mbsp tariff. I have spent hours on the phone with skydsl, and they just say my line tests are all fine and there is no problem. I suspect they are lying but I dont have the technical knowledge to challenge them.

I am planning to move to another service but I would like to know if the issues are all on sky side or if somehow my hardware is at fault.

I am in Central Italy, are there any other skydsl customers out there having similar issues ? Is it possible that somehow my computer is causing these problems ?

Any advice gratefully received.

Best wishes
Nigel