SATNET internet by satellite: too good to be true?

Dominicaus

New member
Oct 4, 2006
427
0
0
"Satellite Internet Dominican Republic", seemingly a reseller or subsidiary of "Satnet" offers some 2-way internet-by-satellite packages that look quite attractive.

They start with a one-off cost of $1,689 and a monthly fee of US$50/month for a 2-way 128/512 kbps

They promise installation within 72hrs of order placement (50% down payment to be deposited in a local bank account).

The alternatives seem appreciably more expensive, and involve a longer delay.

The obvious question is: is there a catch, and if so what is it?

Can you help on this?
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
7,951
28
0
www.caribbetech.com
Its too cheap. They're under the price threshold that will keep them in business. We've just been through a very expensive learning curve with a similar company, and our partners have been through two of these expensive learning curves in our 5 years of supplying internet over satellite in the Caribbean. You will also not be able to do any voip, although they will tell you that you can.

These young companies have to buy their way into the market. They cannot continue to supply satellite bandwidth for those prices so they overload the services. In 4 to 6 months, you'll have a hard time to have any type of bandwidth. As soon as these startup companies have a number of customers, paid for their shared space in a network operating center somewhere, got in trouble because they cannot supply bandwidth at these prices, then they try to sell, they cannot sell as most of the good satellite companies are wise to this, then they go black. Usually the hardware is proprietary and you cannot use the equipment to point to any other satellite.
Beware - contact Arjan from Dunhil systems. He will give you a straight story.

If you are not mission critical and only want connectivity sporadically, you can consider it, but understand they are under the price threshold where they can remain in business, so, you will lose your connectivity sometime. It may be cheap at the price for you, I don't know.
 

DunHill

New member
Aug 29, 2003
351
0
0
www.dunhill.ws
"SatNet" a rather common name (lack of fantasy ??)
Way to cheap to be true, can/will be (another) expensive story for the poor client who thought he bought a cheap system.
if this comes through satnet.com, than you have contacted a Hughesnet reseller.
If so, than you have no rights at all, Hughesnet has officially declared that they don't service the Dominican Republic / Caribbean
Only Puerto Rico and Haiti (soldiers and blue/white helmets) have "official" a signal and hughesnet resellers.
But if you have some more info, than i can dig a bit in it.
 

Eddy

Silver
Jan 1, 2002
3,668
219
0
Have you talked to Dolphy at SIPODOM in Sosua. I know he sell Hughes and his customers are happy. 809-571-2217
 

Squat

Tropical geek in Las Terrenas
Jan 1, 2002
2,239
168
63
In the Las Terrenas area, same monthly rates are offered (50US$/month for 512 down & 128 up). The all-included install is a bit more expensive, though (2200US$). PM me for more info...
 

gamana

New member
Apr 24, 2006
225
2
0
i have been using Hughesnet for over a year now. so far so good. never had a problem with it.
I don't understand what the issue is if Hughesnet does not "officially" service DR. A satelite is a satelite. regardless where you live, if you can point at it, you get signal.
 

Olly

Bronze
Mar 12, 2007
1,914
104
63
Really too good to be true

Dominicaus, Chris, Squat Eddy and Gamana

We have had two systems now over a two year period, which were installed by a supplier situated in the Dominican Republic.
The initial one was with DirectWay costing US$ 147 per month for 1012/128 with equipment and installation costs of US $2750 in August 2005. The second system was with Unasat at US$107 per month for 1012/128 and because new equipment was required , equipment and installation cost of US$1750.
Both these services were discontinued by the reseller leaving us without service and no refund from the company here of the remaining quarterly subscription ? some hundreds of dollars US. In both cases we were left with costly redundant equipment.

We were fortunate in that we could go to Cable Internet provided by the Cable TV supplier in our area. This was at a cost of US$51 per month for 512/128 and an installation cost of US$161 including cable modem.

So I would say that as Cable TV companies come into the field with semi broadband that many of the Satellite internet systems with not be able to compete and probably go out of the business for urban and semi urban environments. For remote locations there is still no real option except for a Satellite Link

We were offered an alternative on SatMex 5 at a cost of US$189 per month for 1012/128 and an equipment cost of US$1260 via Motosat on iDirect Service on Satmex 5 beam 2 .

But having done this twice , I would not recommend using satellite link approach unless as Chris says ? it is mission critical.
We are still waiting for a refund of the balance of the quarterly subscription and have a set of equipment for sale!!!!
Anyone interested?
If you need more information on the supplier in the DR or the equipment PM me

Olly
 

DunHill

New member
Aug 29, 2003
351
0
0
www.dunhill.ws
Both these services were discontinued by the reseller leaving us without service and no refund from the company here of the remaining quarterly subscription ? some hundreds of dollars US. In both cases we were left with costly redundant equipment.
Don't forget to mention that the reseller(s) was/were already charged for the next period and a downpayment and that he/they never got refunded for that and that the bills for the new periods still are coming, just because the contract is for minimum 2 years.

A reseller is just a messenger and has no influence at all about the tricks and stuff the original provider pulls up in the USA.

We were offered an alternative on SatMex 5 at a cost of US$189 per month for 1012/128 and an equipment cost of US$1260 via Motosat on iDirect Service on Satmex 5 beam 2 .
Don't forget the hidden costs of Customs, activation and installation,because motosat "forgot" to tell that.

AND this is offered after the fact that the 1st "solution" offered by the same Motosat did not work at all, the resellers made costs and as well the reseller(s) had/have already paid for everything , else they could not get equipment to test and is sitting now on a bunch of equipment that they cannot send back.

Those resellers lost more than a few hundred dollars, a 10.000-20.000 U$ or more comes first.
And the worst thing is that the same Motosat is offering UnaSat service again, but not for use in the Caribbean.

But having done this twice , I would not recommend using satellite link approach unless as Chris says ? it is mission critical.
absolutely true

We are still waiting for a refund of the balance of the quarterly subscription and have a set of equipment for sale!!!!
For sure your reseller will solve that, but i can take some time after all the money they lost.

If you need more information on the supplier in the DR or the equipment PM me
Just do a search on DR1 and you have them all
And we are 1 of the resellers and victim as well
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
7,951
28
0
www.caribbetech.com
Internet over satellite in the Caribbean has become a hot issue. Some suppliers don't want to supply, some new supplies went black as Olly states, some of our customers and Dunhill's customers had to fall back on services with strong FAP (fair access policy) approaches. It has been an expensive game for everyone and some suppliers simply don't want to supply the Caribbean as they cannot deal with our lack of infrastructure in installations.

The Dominican Republic specifically has been a lesson in patience and just sheer teethgrinding hanging on over the past year. As Ollie says, some of our customers had to change over twice and still don't have a good solution. This started with Hughesnet deciding to change their Caribbean coverage, of course without telling anyone actually working in the DR. We had to change. The company that we changed to (a large organization), went black and does not supply the Caribbean any longer - they could not keep up with our specific requirements in the field. As the CEO said, they did not realize that the satellite install is the infrastructure ... Duh!

Having said that, one of the biggest businesses in the Dominican Republic still funtions and functions well, on our installations - they run just about their complete business over satellite including Voice over IP with a WAN deployed over satellite to their different offices. On other islands, we have mission critical businesses functioning well on internet over satellite, and they have done so for many years - with regular upgrades and some movement between satellites.

In this game, there is no substitute for working with a good dealer. The good dealers know what is cutting and they will tell you when to spend money and when not. It is not a cheap game whatsoever and some people get disappointed. This is not something that you should go into if you are on a tight budget. I always say a terrestrial line is your first option, then, if there is nothing, consider satellite, but with a full wallet.
 

Eddy

Silver
Jan 1, 2002
3,668
219
0
Dominicaus, Chris, Squat Eddy and Gamana

We were fortunate in that we could go to Cable Internet provided by the Cable TV supplier in our area. This was at a cost of US$51 per month for 512/128 and an installation cost of US$161 including cable modem.

Olly

That's what I have now. I like it.
 

Satnet

New member
Jun 12, 2007
1
0
0
Yes its true great support/service

Hi Henry

Great your on line. I am very happy for you. What was the problem? Yes try the 2 watt it should help. Send my best to the wife and kids. Now you got internet in Canada and the Dominican Republic.

Marshall




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Henry DiNatale"
Subject: RE: Has Bob Davidson replied to your Emails.
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 18:54:01 -0400


Hello Marshall



Yes he did reply today apparently is them that send packets to test the site, they will deduct it from the bandwidth usage.

I finally got my satellite working and now I am using the system I have another problem with this set up.

The distance for the cable to reach my boat is almost 300 feet. The speed is at 452 kilobytes, the internet works a bit slow but I cannot use Skype I hear clearly when I am calling but the far end cannot hear me. I am going to try to install a wireless LAN close to the dish to see if I can resolve this problem.



Do you think if I use the 2w amplifier may resolve this problem. I left in the RD my wife can bring it over this Saturday if you think that may help.



Henry