NBN and its new satellites

[Paul Haese]

Originally Posted by The_bluester

If you are properly remote then that would I assume be what you would get. Depends though, you might in in fixed wireless.

If things stay at least slightly true to the original concept the prices should all be about the same, and if Fixed wireless was available it is better for latency obviously.

I am using NBN fixed wireless at my obs. Zero latency, download speeds of 42mbits a second, uploads speeds of 18mbits. Going from ADSL to NBN has been like step out of an old Vdub into a new Merc. If the satellites are anything like fixed wireless then people will not be dissatisfied.

[pmrid (Peter)]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

I am using NBN fixed wireless at my obs. Zero latency, download speeds of 42mbits a second, uploads speeds of 18mbits. Going from ADSL to NBN has been like step out of an old Vdub into a new Merc. If the satellites are anything like fixed wireless then people will not be dissatisfied.

Well, we will know soon enough.

For me, I can't immediately see that I will gain anything much out of the increased speed. Perhaps a few milliseconds more to spend sipping Chandonnay or something similar.

Peter

[acropolite (Phil)]

doesn't work properly with VOIP

I doubt NBN satellite will be satisfactory with VOIP simply because the distances involved will mean long propogation delays, expect local conversations to be at best the same as talking with someone overseas.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Sort of unavoidable really, pesky speed of light. But what else to do? Having campaigned for years that the entire NBN concept was unneeded and wasteful it would have been politically impossible to do something more costly like increase the fixed wireless footprint and do away with the satellite service.

[pmrid (Peter)]

Coverage of the launch is better on the Ariane site than the NBN which is a YouTube effort that presently seems to be unfocused and spinning around.
http://www.arianespace.tv/

Peter

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally I was on IPStar satellite. When the opportunity to get NBN Satellite came a along I jumped at it with the promise of faster speeds etc - and it delivered that too for a while.

About 12 months ago I complained about the speed on NBN satellite, and eventually got through to a straight talking fellow who explained that at that stage, NBN was leasing bandwidth for 40,000 customers on Optus's satellite. The catch was that at that stage they have subscribed 48,000 customers. No doubt they have continued to over subscribe, so that when their own satellite comes on line that can switch customers over and have the satellite well utilised. But it is frustrating to be on ATM.

I'm hopeful that I can get onto fixed wireless NBN, but failing that, bring on the new satellites I say.

Al.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

By my understanding, the problem with the interim sat service is it simply suffered from higher demand than expected (Fancy that) and they have consumed every bit of bandwidth they could lay a contract on and then some.


On topic, Sky Muster was launched this morning, so hurdle 1 has been cleared, not being on top of a rocket which exploded on the pad or soon after launch!

[speach (Simon)]

Just listening to the news it's just been launched

[gary]

Originally Posted by speach

Just listening to the news it's just been launched

Story and video here on ABC.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-0...omised/6817998

[gary]

Originally Posted by NBN satellite program director Matt Dawson

About 30 minutes after the rocket carrying Sky Muster is launched, the nose cone of the rocket opens up and releases Sky Muster into a Geostationary Transfer orbit.

Sky Muster then needs to deploy its solar panels to get power from the sun and charge the onboard batteries.

The main chemical thruster at the bottom of Sky Muster then needs to be fired to lift it from the Geostationary Transfer orbit drop off point, into its final orbital position 36,000 km above Australia.

This process will take about two weeks.

...
Once Sky Muster is in its orbital position above Australia, it will need to undergo several months' tests to make sure it is functioning correctly.

We will then need to integrate the satellite with the ground stations and commission the 101 spot beams.

...


End-to-end final testing of the system right from the end user premise with all of the 10 ground stations, Retail Service Provider systems, our network management systems and the internet will then take place.

This will continue until we are confident we can make the service available commercially. We are planning on being able to do this in Q2 2016.

Article and pictures here -
http://www.nbnco.com.au/blog/five-qu...-director.html

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Argh, even the ABC has lost the plot with regard to science and technology reporting!

Taken from a current news snippet.

"There was a small likelihood — estimated by one Federal Government MP as 4 per cent — that the satellite would have exploded on exit from Earth's atmosphere and the Government had taken out insurance in the event of a disaster."

Surely they mean "The carrier rocket may explode on launch"

And

"'The company said the newly launched satellite was already unfurling its solar panels and preparing to thrust into its "orbital slot" position before it begins rotating around Earth."

What is it doing now, sitting stationary? I would have known that one was wrong when I was ten!

[gary]

In an article in today's Sydney Morning Herald, Adam Turner reports
that ISP's will start signing up customers to Sky Muster in April/May 2016.

There will be a choice of 25/5 Mbps and 12/1 Mbps plans.

A second satellite will be launched later this year.

Between them they will replace the current Interim Satellite Service.

Article here -
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/c...03-gmkfwh.html

[Tinderboxsky (Steve)]

Yes, we have been notified by our provider that they will be able to give us an instal timetable in March. It is getting close.

Steve

[sheeny (Al)]

Too late for me. I'm on fixed wireless NBN now and it's great. Makes more bandwidth for someone else.

Sounds like the new satellites should be the same speed as fixed wireless. That should be good if they don't over sell it.

Al.

[PCH (Paul)]

The NBN guys are in our street now. As Big Kev used to say, "I'm excited!"

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Originally Posted by sheeny

Too late for me. I'm on fixed wireless NBN now and it's great. Makes more bandwidth for someone else.

Sounds like the new satellites should be the same speed as fixed wireless. That should be good if they don't over sell it.

Al.

Unfortunately with FW it does seem to come with the caveat "YMMV" (Your Mileage May Vary)

Ours was brilliant to begin with but the advent of a 50/20 speed tier and the arrival of Netflix seems to have exposed a serious lack of backhaul in the FW network (And very slow response to the problem)

Our speeds routinely dip under 10meg download in peak times (And a lot of other people too) and we don't have the worst of it, one subscriber I know is seeing anywhere down to 1 meg at peak use times! The worst of it is it is really unpredictable, just checked mine and it is 18/13 down/up at the moment.

[gary]

In a 29th April 2016 article in the Sydney Morning Herald, Hannah Francis reports that
the Sky Muster satellite service has gone live.

Originally Posted by Hannah Francis, Sydney Morning Herald

The Sky Muster satellite launched 36,000km into space at the end of October 2015 and will now begin rolling out to some 400,000 eligible customers.

A team of more than 600 technicians will be installing dishes at premises across Australia that are unable to connect to the fibre, fixed wireless or hybrid-fibre coaxial parts of the multi-technology NBN.

Sky Muster replaces the NBN's interim satellite service, which has been oversubscribed and congested, resulting in poor internet connections for thousands of Australians.

The 37,000 customers currently connected to the interim service are expected to be migrated to the long-term service within a year.

The rollout schedule aims to connect 85,000 premises by the end of June next year, and a further 50,000 by June 2018.

"It will take some time to get all eligible premises connected due to the sheer size of our 7.69 million km² country, so we ask for patience as our teams travel around to install the service," said NBN chief customer officer John Simon.

Two-hundred early bird customers have already been trialling the network across Australia.

The initial trials showed average download speeds of up to 25Mbps, and 5Mbps upload speeds, on the new service, NBN said.

A report from telecommunications research firm Ovum found the Sky Muster service was "equal to the world's best [satellite services] in terms of download speed and peak monthly data allowance".

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/tec...29-gohzid.html

[w0mbat (Ian)]

After being told of the SMH article I emailed my ISP (IPStar) yesterday to ask for details. No response yet.
Ian

[blindman]

According to some satelites does not exist.
Must admit I have NEVER seen ANY photo of satellite :-)

[JB80 (Jarrod)]

http://www.astrophoto.fr/satellites.html