Is it normal...

Crusader

Crusader

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Is it normal practice for WISPs to use a satellite uplink/downlink as a base station? Seems that the WISP I'm signing up with uses an international satellite link for their backhaul.

Also, the signal strength to my premises is around 15db (I think). They are going to put the receiver a bit higher and should get around 20db. Is this an acceptable range so I won't struggle with timeouts etc?
 
the normal ping on satellite is about 500ms so do you think they use sat?
if they do be very patient .
 
I think most of them do. Often latency on overseas sites are high=connection through SAT.

Wheras loacal sites are faster =adsl connectivity.:D
 
Well. I'm busy testing them out at the moment. Browsing worked fine, but it seems as if there's currently a major issue with the sat connection. Hopefully they'll get it sorted otherwise I'm definitely canceling.
 
most wisps run their internet through a pc at a datacenter like a mail server or so.
 
Kloon said:
most wisps run their internet through a pc at a datacenter like a mail server or so.
Click to expand...

I think what they use is a load balancer of sort. They route some traffic to their local and some to their sat connection?

Like when you've reached your cap, they'll send your traffic through sat as its cheaper.:D
 
Hmm... Here's another interesting conundrum, over which there is NO grey legal grounds to dispute.

Your WISP, had better have an "International Gateway License" or as it's been converted to now -- an ECNS license. Without that they're not allowed to procure international communications (via sattelite e.g.) without going via the licensed ECNS/International gateway providers - Telkom, NeoTel, Sentech, and recently, MTN, Vodacom, and (gasp) iBurst.

In other words, aside from the technical difficulties with their VSAT connection - you are going to get screwed over at some point soon, by this WISP ;)
 
Well, I don't know about an "International Gateway License", but I do know they have some sort of license from ICASA (VANS if I recall correctly).

If there is some problem down the line, it shouldn't be that big a deal. They own all equipment so I didn't have to pay for it. For the price it's a good deal, even if they go belly-up after a while.
 
Well, the Wisp is Wispernet. The Sat connection was an absolute pain. Their ISP throttles it to death at 1.5 KB or 0.5 KB with an occasional spike of 20 to 30 KB/s for a hour or two a day.

I've cancelled with them and they were very understanding, promising a full refund, since it was nowhere near the service they promised.

They'll be waiting for Telscum to eventually install ADSL so they can use that as a backhaul... might give them another try if that ever happens.
 
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