Ipstar Reception

[dave2222001]

Hi I work on an Offshore oil installation located about 140Km east of Ko Samui. From the IPStar web site I see that we are a little way out of the footprint of the nearest Satalight spot beam.

I have E mailed providers, IPStar and Shin sat repeatedly on this topic without any replies.

I have spoken on the phone and it seems that with sufficient demand (there are a few installations out here) they may be able to broaden the beam so we are in the area.

Having said that the person I spoke to cant be contacted now and didnt E mail me with any info as promised.

Anyone out there with technical knowledge on weather we are likely to be able to get the signal and recive decent internet access.

Our current system is so slow it can take an hour to get a print out of a bank statment and we have loads of folk who want to use it on board.

Any help much appreciated.

BR

Dyslexic Dave

[KuBand]

Hi I work on an Offshore oil installation located about 140Km east of Ko Samui. From the IPStar web site I see that we are a little way out of the footprint of the nearest Satalight spot beam.

BR

Dyslexic Dave

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

IPStar is not the only solution for us here in and around the region / Thailand.

By far the best satellite internet provider is based in Hong Kong by "SpeedCast" and uses the "AsiaSat 4" satellite for their services on the "C" band or low band. This band is not worried by weather like Ipstar is, is not slow like IPstar and works on rigs 100%.

But unlike IPSTAR it is NOT designed for the home (well it work 1000% at home but it is not designed for home) it is designed for work.

We have chucked a few in around the region for companies and I am impressed with it.

The cost (one time fee) is about USD 6,500 + shipping / customs etc ex HK. The monthly fees range from USD 250 upwards depending on the package. But hey it works in the rain.

No need for imarsat fleet22 anymore this blows it socks off for the crew and the company.

Good luck in your search Dave.

PM me if you want more details, but thought more people would also like to hear about them.

[croftrobin]

Why not check for yourself or get the comms crew to check? - your rig is bound to have a few sat receivers on board - take out a dish (for KU band) if you have not got a spare one on board. First check to see if you can pick up a KU signal from Thaicom 2/3 @ 78.5°E - if you can, so far so good.

A quick test - can you receive the UBC signal on the rig ? - if yes then I would say you are 85% certain of using IPstar.

If so then check the signal strength on the IPstar transponders - if you get a signal of > 65% then just get the kit from IPStar and take it offshore. The KU signal is affected by rain, much more so than a C band signal, but in general unless it is very heavy rain in my 2.5 years experience of using the service its not a problem. If it is very heavy rain, then where I am the power tends to go off anyway so the PC's dont work! The larger the diameter of the dish, the better the signal you will receive and the less problem you will have with rain-fade.

The new IPStar satellite (@ 120°E) is not yet fully operational so until its confirmed 100% , they (IPSTAR) can not tell you anything, as they do not even know themselves! But I would bet a few quid that the signal from that bird will be stronger than from current sats.

Satellite footprints are not hard and fast - we watch Dream TV from the Phillipines with good signal strengths up here on cheap mesh dishes and the footprint diagrams certainly do not show us as having coverage!

Hi I work on an Offshore oil installation located about 140Km east of Ko Samui. From the IPStar web site I see that we are a little way out of the footprint of the nearest Satalight spot beam.

I have E mailed providers, IPStar and Shin sat repeatedly on this topic without any replies.

I have spoken on the phone and it seems that with sufficient demand (there are a few installations out here) they may be able to broaden the beam so we are in the area.

Having said that the person I spoke to cant be contacted now and didnt E mail me with any info as promised.

Anyone out there with technical knowledge on weather we are likely to be able to get the signal and recive decent internet access.

Our current system is so slow it can take an hour to get a print out of a bank statment and we have loads of folk who want to use it on board.

Any help much appreciated.

BR

Dyslexic Dave