[LINK] ETT spruiks satellite broadband in face of OPEL and Govt plans

[David Boxall]

From:
<http://www.itnews.com.au/News/68454,ett-spruiks-satellite-broadband-in-face-of-opel-and-govt-plans.asp>
"Even as OPEL finalises its nation-wide WiMAX rollout and the Federal 
Government teeters on its FttN plans for regional Australia, newly 
appointed wholesaler for the IPSTAR satellite, ETT Limited, remains firm 
in its belief of becoming a serious regional broadband provider."

They'll need to make it a lot more reliable.  Getting a sync is such a 
hit & miss affair that I'm loath to turn off my modem.  Syncing seems to 
be easier in the early hours of the morning, so I presume the problem 
has something to do with crowding.  A function of the contention ratio, 
I guess.

They'll also need to make it cheaper.  At 1Mb/s, an extra GB would cost 
me $30.  I've no idea of the cost of data, but that price is beyond the 
value to me.

 From where I am (32º51'S; 151º15'E), the satellite is so low in the sky 
that it doesn't take much of a tree to cause problems.  We *are* talking 
about the bush here.  Where (apart from up) is the IPSTAR satellite anyway?

Being less than a year into a three year contract, I'll need to wait a 
while before looking for an alternative.  Hope the trees don't grow too 
fast.

-- 
David Boxall                    |  Any given program,
                                 |  when running correctly,
                                 |  is obsolete.
                                 |       --Arthur C. Clarke