[one_third]Satellite Installation and Support
Astrasat’s specialist installation service ensures that you receive the best possible signal from the satellite. All work is carried out by an experienced and qualified engineer. The installation process is broken down as follows:[/one_third]
[one_third]Satellite signal test
To identify the perfect position for the dish we survey the site and a satellite signal test is conducted to verify the satellite position. Both the proposed dish location and cable run are then agreed with you.[/one_third]
[one_third_last]Satellite dish fitting
The mounting kit and digital satellite dish are fitted to the agreed position plus any additional equipment needed to install the dish is installed. The dish is then aligned to the correct satellite using our signal test equipment. A hole is then drilled to access the interior where the modem is to be located. We then fix the cable (using correct fixings) to the location of the modem in a sympathetic manner.[/one_third_last]
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Connection
Finally we’ll connect the satellite antenna to the modem and synchronise the modem with your network to activate. As part of our service we ensure you have a working knowledge of the equipment and we always clear away after we have finished, leaving the work area clear of debris.
Installation starts from as little at €250 for a standard installation with hard wired modem, WiFI units available with prices starting from €50. Fixing poles and brackets not included.
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Self-install
You can self-install if you’re good with DIY. Take a look at our customer service area for details on how to install your satellite dish correctly.
We can send you the kit, it’s easy (take a look at our installation video and our iPhone installation app). You can use a local installer to set it up (we can recommend one if you’re not sure) or you can leave it all to us and we’ll send round one of our certified Installers who do everything for you.
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[one_third_last]
Support
If you encounter technical difficulties with your satellite system, Astrasat is able to help. Our qualified engineer will come out and inspect your system and make any necessary alterations to get you back up and running in the shortest time possible.
Our typical servicing includes the replacement of damaged cable from the satellite dish to the receiver, dish realignment and replacement LNB’s. We are also able to advice on upgrading obsolete or damaged set up boxes.
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[one_third]Broadband Speed Test
1) Connect directly to the modem through an ethernet cable to a laptop or computer.
2) Remove all other devices from the network to ensure there is no interference, and stop all apps, programs, or other web pages that could be using your internet connection.
3) Open a web browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge) and enter the following address:
http://speedprobe.skylogicnet.com/HTML5speedtest/
4) Once this has completed its test, the results will be shared with us on your account.
5) Run this test a further 2 more times, with at least 30 minutes between each test.
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[one_third]Tooway Satellite Installation
Before assembling and installing your new TOOWAY Astrasat system please take a look at the installation video.
There is also a downloadable file that you can print out and keep with you at the time of installation – COMING SOON.
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[one_third_last]SES Satellite Installation
Before assembling and installing your new SES Astrasat system please take a look at the installation videos.[/one_third_last]
Fair Usage Policy:
Tooway provides its satellite broadband services through the KA-Sat satellite that is owned by Eutelsat.
Eutelsat has no role in direct communication with end users or customers. Its sole role in relation to customers is to manage the satellite operations and manage the traffic on the network.
Like most domestic terrestrial broadband services, Eutelsat’s Tooway network (the “Network”) is a shared and ‘best effort’ network; at any given time, subscribers within a given geographic area must share available network capacity.
Eutelsat aims to provide each subscriber with a “fair share” of that capacity, while providing all subscribers with a high-quality online experience. If you exceed peak usage or monthly thresholds, you should expect to see your service slow down, especially at peak times, in order to allow fair access to other lower users.
Eutelsat employs Network management practices designed to prevent any user from placing a disproportionate demand on Network resources. Some of these practices are used only when the Network is congested; others are used more generally.
Traffic levels on the Network usually have no significant impact on the user experience. Eutelsat has designed its Network carefully to achieve this result. At other times, however, too much demand from too many users in the same period may lead to congestion (“Congestion”), where total demand exceeds that available on the Network.
During these times, Eutelsat’s Congestion management practices will be applied first to users who have already used more than 50% of the traffic included in their Consumption Profile. Through this practice we aim to treat traffic in a manner that reduces the impact on the user experience and prevents a subscriber from exceeding his or her “fair share” of available capacity.
The goal of these measures is for the vast majority of users to enjoy a better overall service experience than they otherwise would without these practices.
CONGESTION MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
A. Congestion management overview
Under normal traffic conditions, it is not necessary for Eutelsat to employ congestion management practices. However, while network capacity is abundant, it is not unlimited. This means that some congestion at some peak times is inevitable – and that is when the congestion management practices make sure that the load is managed to give the best possible experience to most number of people using the Network.
Congestion typically occurs in the link between the subscriber terminal and the gateway earth station via the satellite. In order to determine if the link is congested, Eutelsat continuously monitors the traffic load in each spot beam channel. If the instantaneous traffic load exceeds the available capacity of the spot beam channel, Eutelsat implements the congestion management algorithm described below.
B. Mitigating the impact of network congestion on the user experience
Internet traffic is normally “bursty” in nature, i.e. traffic flows generally are not constant or continuous, but rather are characterised by “bursts” of data. On occasion, too much demand from too many users in the same period in a given spot beam channel results in a total instantaneous demand for capacity exceeding, on a temporary basis, the capacity available within the channel.
On such occasions, the Network can experience Congestion. Congestion most typically occurs during the Network’s “peak” usage hours which generally can be expected to be from about 17:00 to 00:00 local time at the user’s location, depending on the day of the week (“Peak Hours”).
Congestion may also occur during certain periods when usage is “unmetered” (such as the “night free zone”).
Congestion, and the resulting transmission delay, impacts the user experience with respect to some types of applications more than others. For example, a delay in the rendering of a web page may be noticeable to a user waiting for the content to appear on their screen. On the other hand, a user downloading a bulk file (e.g. a software update) may be less impacted if the download takes longer during Congestion than it otherwise would, since the subscriber may already know that the download requires some time to complete.
Customers should also be aware that the public Internet itself suffers from frequent bottlenecks and congestion and, if users experience ‘slowness’, it shouldn’t automatically be assumed as being related to congestion on the Tooway network.
Eutelsat’s goal is to manage its Network to minimize the impact of Congestion on traffic. To achieve this aim, Eutelsat’s congestion management algorithm is designed to reduce the traffic load, while giving a preference to services and applications that require less transmission bandwidth, such as web browsing and email.
During periods of Congestion, bandwidth intensive applications such as video streaming and file downloading may be affected more than other applications. As a result, the quality of video streaming may be reduced and/or buffering may occur. In addition, file downloads may take longer to complete during periods of Congestion.
Under more severe Congestion, all applications may need to be slowed, and in those instances, the time to download web pages may take longer. Eutelsat and the Tooway service operates as a “mere conduit”. Despite the fact that Eutelsat is in no way involved with the information transmitted through the Network, following a specific request of a Public Authority, Eutelsat may block the access to specific URLs.
Eutelsat does not intentionally block any particular form of traffic (unless explicitly specified in the characteristics of a given service profile) but may block certain TCP/UDP ports and/or specific protocols that it reasonably believes may represent a security threat to the Network.
C. Heavy Users
A “Heavy User” is a user (or a small group of users) consuming a disproportionate amount of a Network’s resources. Eutelsat will monitor both overall Network performance and individual resource consumption to determine if any user is a Heavy User, who could potentially disrupt or degrade the Network and/or its usage by other users.
Eutelsat reserves the right to immediately restrict, suspend or terminate Heavy Users’ Service Accounts without further notice.
WEB BROWSING AND EMAIL
During period of service limitation, to be certain to fully experience web browsing and email, the user needs to follow all of the guidelines below (otherwise no service will be available):
- Virtual Private Network (VPN) and remote access software must be turned off;
- A web browser application has to be used. Only static (non-video, non-music) content viewed within a web page application qualifies as web browsing and/or email. Content viewed in other applications may not be considered web pages or email (e.g. Android, iPhone or iPad apps other than web browsers);
- Web Browser URLs must begin with http:// or https://. This means ftp:// and other types of sites that launch external applications will not be classified as web traffic;
- Email attachments must be 10 MB in size or less.
Data Usage & Monitors:
Our broadband products and tariffs are mainly differentiated by the monthly data allowance. We think this makes the tariffs fair, because everyone can select a tariff that suits their level of internet usage.
This data allowance can be broken down into upload and download traffic.
When your computer, tablet or phone uses the Internet to upload and download things, it uses data. Uploading is when you send an email, upload a photo or video, or log on for a video chat with a client in the US or a relative Down Under. Downloading includes retrieving information when you visit a web page, opening your emails and attachments, streaming web radio or videos from YouTube or using Google Maps to work out exactly where that American client is based.
The amount of data you use depends on what you are doing. Video streaming or downloading a movie, for instance, uses more data than sending an email or uploading a photo. To help you make the most of data, whatever your allowance, we’ve put together some facts, tips, tricks and expert advice on data consumption.
Data usage guidelines
The table below outlines some typical uses for your broadband connection and defines the rough data consumption of each. This is a guideline only as the exact amounts likely to be consumed will depend on your operating system, your browser and the thing that you are downloading or uploading.
|
Low definition Movie Download |
0.75GB Per movie |
Medium |
|
High definition Movie Download |
3.5-4.5GB Per movie |
Very High |
|
Spotify |
1GB Per 7.25 hours |
Medium |
|
Streaming TV Standard definition |
0.75GB Per hour |
High |
|
Streaming TV High definition |
2.75GB Per hour |
High |
Making the most of your insomniac data
All of our satellite broadband plans come with an unlimited night-time allowance that’s included free. This is excellent for scheduling data heavy activities like downloading catch-up TV programs or HD movies. You can find download schedulers online such as PlayOn, BBC iPlayer and Netflix also have schedulings tool for doing just this.
You should also turn off automatic software updates on all your devices to stop them working their magic during peak hours make sure you do them overnight.
Exhausted apps constantly running in the background
Many smartphone apps and bits of software (even websites) consume data in the background even if you don’t think you’re using them or viewing them. Developers are dreaming up new, dynamic and innovative apps every day and trying them is all part of the fun of using the Internet, but some of them are very data intensive. If you feel you’re using too much data, or your data allowance goes quicker than you think it should, take time to look at what apps are live on your phone and could be using up your allowance even when you think your phone or tablet is in standby mode.
Stick like glue to your data consumption
If you’re concerned about your data consumption, or want to see how your data allowance is being consumed, there’s a number of ways you can do this:
- Data monitor apps
You can download the GlassWire data monitor app from the Google Play store free of charge for Android devices or the My Data Manager & Security app from iTunes if you have an iPhone or iPad. These apps allow you to monitor the usage of data on the device as a whole as well as breaking it down by application. It can, for example, display the quantity of data each app (like Facebook or YouTube) may be using. - Laptops or desktop computers
You can download GlassWire for your personal computers too. GlassWire is a free, open-source, bandwidth monitor that works on Windows, Linux and Mac OSX. GlassWire keeps track of how much you use your internet/network connection and allows you to view this information either via a web browser, or by using the command line tools. - Security & local networks
If you’re concerned about your data consumption and feel that your data allowance disappears more quickly than expected, we would recommend ensuring that your Wi-Fi network is totally secure. Otherwise, you might find your neighbours or passing vehicles are using your network. Our key advice here is don’t use simple or easy to guess passwords, or worse still, no password at all. This will prevent any rogue devices or users from automatically, even accidentally, joining your network; this is quite common if you live in a location where multiple visitors might pass through.
For Windows Users
If you’re a Windows 10 user, we have good news for you. Their April 2018 system update (version 1803) provides you with some great tools to make sure your broadband doesn’t grind to halt mid-BBC iPlayer documentary or cut-out on that Skype call to your nest-flown kids.
As well as being able to check and reset your data stats, there’s even better news for those of us on capped data plans. Now we can set data limits and background data restrictions when using a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection, which is a great way to reduce unnecessary usage and stay under your data limit for the month.
The right side of the tracks
This isn’t too complicated to set up
- In the ‘Search’ box at the bottom of your screen, type ‘settings’;
- Click on the cog wheel icon that comes up to open the ‘Settings’ page;
- Click on Network & Internet to open up that section;
- Click on Data Usage to open up that section (this is where the magic happens);
- Use the “Show settings for” drop-down menu, and select the wireless or wired network you want to restrict;
- Under “Data limit,” click the Set limit button; and
- Then you can choose your limit type (monthly), your reset date (1st) and your limit (GB).
You can limit unnecessary usage by restricting what apps and features will use up data in the background and set up notifications to let you know when you’re close to hitting your limit.
The really important thing to take note of is that this Windows 10 data system will only monitor the data usage on that particular device and not every device in the network. So, if you’ve got a wife or husband or partner or kids or grandkids, you’ll have to keep an eye on their data usage too when calculating your monthly consumption.
For iPhone or Android
If you or someone in your broadband-connected household has got either a MacBook, an iPhone, an iPad, an Android device or uses Windows 7 or 8, you can look at My Data Manager. You can download this knee-knockingly smart app from either Apple’s App store or Google Play for Android users.
When you first download the app to your device, it will ask you to enter your data plan details, including your billing cycle and data cap. Enter your tariff information at this point and you can use the Wi-Fi tracker to stay right on top of your month’s usage. You can then set up alerts to be notified when you have reached a certain point in your monthly limit (say, 50 or 80%).
One of the best things about My Data Manager is that after a few weeks of use, you’ll really get an accurate sense of what apps and actions are gobbling through your data, which will allow you to start making smarter better-informed broadband choices. Two of the other great things about My Data Manager is that it can track data usage across all the members of your data plan, whether there’s just the two of you or a whole big old barn-storming family; and it can manage your data across the different devices that make use of your broadband plan.
further or identify any potential causes. Please note other speed testers may not give an accurate reading as they may not be designed for the satellite system.