Satellite Provider Promises 10Mbps Broadband Service Across UK

French Satellite Company Eutelsat is on the verge of announcing the release of its Tooway satellite based high speed internet service in the UK and beyond, after the release of a new satellite.

The service will be targeting users in rural areas who do not have access to high speed broadband. Tooway claims that it can offer a 2Mbps satellite connection for only £29.99 per month, which might not be competitive but does the job pretty well.

The satellite provider operates in 20 European markets and will go head to head against rival SES Astra whose Astra2Connect broadband-by-satellite service is available for £19.99 monthly for a 256Kbps with the 2Mbps costing £75 per month.

Unlike traditional broadband connections, Tooway only requires a small satellite dish and a modem connected to the computer via the Ethernet Port which means that installation and running costs are fairly minimal.

Arduino Patacchini, Director of Multimedia and Value Added Services at Eutelsat, said that “Tooway will help make Lord Carter’s vision for Digital Britain a reality by revolutionising the consumer market for satellite Internet access”.

Eutelsat will significantly increase its internet access speed to 10Mbps next year by using KA-SAT, a dedicated new satellite which will be launched with the sole prospect of delivering broadband to the rest of Europe.

The satellite, which apparently has the combined data transfer capacity of 40 traditional satellites, will be powerful enough to provide internet access to up to two million European households at a "similar speed, price and quality to that of terrestrial ADSL2 services".

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Our Comments

This means £24 for 24Mbps services which, from where we stand, is excellent value for money, especially if you can use it wirelessly. However, Cnet points out to some hidden costs and terms and conditions. The satellite will costs below £400 to set up, the upload speed will be around 384Kbps, there's a 1.2GB priority traffic (but no upper limit).

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