Pica

This may or may not be of use to anyone out there, apologies for using space if it's not.
we moved to abruzzo 9 months ago and it has taken this long to find a way to get online with almost-if not- uk broadband speed. Advertising not allowed but to be of any help if you're struggling please send me a pm and I'll let you know how it's worked for us with a satellite system.

Lorna at Vicenza

Hi Connie,

You're not allowed to advertise or promote your own personal businesses for personal gains - but you are allowed to say which system worked for you and why.

We have had in the past, threads about Vodafone and Fastweb and Telecom and Sky etc. and if it's just a case of saying what works and what doesn't here - that's fine.

Pica

Thanks. No it is not my business just some company we found that does a brilliant job so thought it may help others.

Lorna at Vicenza

You can say which and why, if it's going to be of help to others. It can't be that big a secret as there are not that many of them in Italy.

Pica

It's a British company called Bentley Walker Internet Solutions.
They provide a self install system, dish, modem etc. Arrived here within 1 week of ordering.Good support line

duffer

Are you using any Voip applications or Skype? If so, I would be interested to know what the call quality is like. Ciao!

Angeldimana

Isnt Bentley Walker the Tooway system? Expensive???

We use Tooway Satelite Broadband from Open-Sky based in Bologna - It expensive compared to normal broadband but work reasonably well for us but we are just about to move to Newtech 'line of sight' which is much cheaper and offers similar downloads speeds but is unlimited in terms of usage whereas the tooway is limited by usage.

Angeldimana

We use skype on the tooway system. It normally works ok but if you use it excessively it can effect your usage and you dont get the same call quality.

The prices are something like 4gb per month = €30, 6 gb = €53 and 12 gb = €99. So, compared to conventional fixed line is expensive but some times there is little other option.
Installation varies but cost us about €450 including the modem and dish.

I think if you can get it or if its available in your area, 'Line Of sight' is a better and cheaper option. Here you need to have direct sight from your house to the signal antenna (normally mounted on the church tower in your village)
The cost are about €120 for installation €20 per month and the performance is better as you dont have limitation to usage.

When youve used more than your allowance on tooway it automatically slows down to enable what they call fair access. This can be very frustrating and unless you pay for a higher tariff or a extra GB then the internet can be virtually unusable.

Good luck!!

Pica

Sorry don't know what voip is but have used skype-and just as good as in UK

Pica

We have line of sight to nothing (apart from the mountains ). Tooway allows us a combined up & download of 8 GB a month at a cost of £30.00 monthly approx plus vat. Cost for equipment was about £285.00. We really needed a reliable connection with good speed and so far it's been excellent. They currently have on offer (ha ha) an option of £30.00 off if a code is sent from someone who already uses the system.

duffer

Are you getting UK TV as well?

Angeldimana

Skype and Voip are basically the same thing. Skype is brand name or company that offers VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)


Before we had the Tooway open-sky installation i contacted Bentley Walker and their prices were a lot more expensive than what you are paying. I also had to find my own 'approved' installer if i remember correctly. Your getting a much better deal than me so well done!!
I know how frustrating it can be.

Pica

Not yet but it certainly looks like it would be fast enough for BBC iPlayer and other online telly sites. It copes perfectly with YouTube videos. These are available through proxy servers for a smallish fee or free if you're clever!

Pica

The only approved installer is situated in Milan and our "virgin" installer found him to be of no help at all by phone also he's purportedly only installed one system in Italy.
However, a new satellite was launched back in the spring this year and has 80 points to "align with". This new self install system although initially(about 48 hours) frustrating to align worked in the end and after a week of almost constant use is proving very reliable.

Bentley Walker

Thank you ever so much for the kind words Connie – It's always a pleasure to read good feedback from happy customers.

Just a quick word regarding your Skype usage. Although customers on our networks can and do use Skype quite successfully, we don't actually officially support it. Prolonged usage can eat through your bandwidth quota reasonably quickly seeing as Skype can prove to be quite bandwidth intensive.

I won't bore you with the technical details, but you may fair better using a “SIP” based VoIP service. SIP is much better suited to Satellite broadband connections, leaving you more precious bandwidth spare each month than you would have using Skype. One such SIP service is called “Sipgate” and you can find out more by looking the name up in your favourite search engine.

But just in case you weren't aware, we do actually offer a VoIP service of our own specifically tailored for use over satellite broadband. Please feel free to get in touch with us if you'd like any further information.

Thanks once again Connie.