Exede Internet - ViaSAT Broadband Solution?

[SO49]

I came across a satellite broadband service called Exede Internet that uses the ViaSAT satellite network to deliver high speed land-based broadband 12Mbps down and 3Mbps up with 10GB's/month for $49/month.

Doing some research I find the service is using the same mini-VSAT KVH TracPhone V3IP service that otherwise costs boaters $49 for 50MB/month with extra data costing $1.99 per MB.

Now I understand that a satellite tracking antenna has to be more expensive but we boaters are certainly getting ripped off paying over a dollar per MB for what land based cost is one-half cent.

Now I wonder if I could sign-up for the land based service and use it with the KVH antenna?

As you can tell I'm struggling to come up with a way to conduct my internet based business while off-shore.

Jeff

[SunnySky]

I really want to know the answer to your question as well.. Similar question is Inmarsat's major pricing differences between their mobile BGAN on land vs FleetBroadband on water. My understanding with all the satellite technologies is that the company providing the service knows a general (if not exact..) location of where the subscriber's service is being provided. So whether or not if would work with the technology, which I see no reason why it wouldn't, my big concern would be if the company providing the service would be willing to provide the lower cost service knowing you are not on land or if they would view it as "lost revenue" and suspend your service. Since this is a company policy question, unlike the technological question, it could also change at any time so even if it worked this year and your internet business became dependent on it, it might not work with their corporate policy next year?

[goboatingnow]

offshore high speed Internet is all a function of market pricing and not technology. Offshore the target users are rich people that need high speed internet, ie highest return from all that expensive space hardware. Onshore, you are competing with land offering, so its different.

All sat services have geographical boundaries, many sats have foscused beams, ( especially for small dish support), so simply being a sat system doesnt mean it works everywhere.

Sorry no free(cheap) lunch Im afraid

dave

[SO49]

Sounds like pricing will stay where it is until somebody else comes into the business and disrupts the market. Apropos of that I remember hearing about a provider in Australia or New Zealand that was offering offshore satellite based internet at substantially lower cost. For that matter I surmise that there is no reason for us to be restricted to US based satellite providers - we could easily signup with Russian or Chinese providers. Many nations have launched satellites.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by SO49

Sounds like pricing will stay where it is until somebody else comes into the business and disrupts the market. Apropos of that I remember hearing about a provider in Australia or New Zealand that was offering offshore satellite based internet at substantially lower cost. For that matter I surmise that there is no reason for us to be restricted to US based satellite providers - we could easily signup with Russian or Chinese providers. Many nations have launched satellites.

All these systems rely on spot beams, else the tracking dishes would be way to big, remember these geostationary systems are far away.

The high seas internet market will never be approachable for small boats, there simply isnt a large enough market to make a difference, near shore , 3G, wifi etc makes it all irrelevant.

dave

[SO49]

My understanding is that the ViaSAT can handle over a million simultaneous connections - that's in the info at Exede Internet. I think 'never' might be a bit strong since many services we commonly use today were once thought to only be for 'rich' people. Anyway I'd only need 1 to 2GB's of traffic per month for which I'd gladly pay a couple of hundred bucks. That's the ballpark I'm looking for.

[magentawave]

My son has been selling Exede internet for a couple months now and he swears that they routinely get speeds of 12mbps minimum and if they take the time to set up the antenna they've gotten close to 30 mbps! Amazing considering I don't get higher than 17 mbps with Time Warner cable at home and usually much slower when everyone else is online due to cables bottleneck...and apparently there is no bottleneck with Exede.

[SO49]

Hello Magentawave - please ask him what he thinks about using the KVH marine antenna with a land based Exede account. Will it work?