Index Is KBO Broadband right for you? What is KBO Broadband? 3 What is satellite broadband? 3 Why is KBO Broadband more expensive than wired broadband (ADSL)? 3 How fast is KBO Broadband? 4 Are there any minimum requirements for computers? 4 Are email and other services included in KBO Broadband services? 4 Does the satellite service get affected by weather? 5 Can I use KBO Broadband with a wired or wireless network? 5 Can I receive satellite TV with my broadband? 5 Can I use Skype on the KBO Broadband system? 5 Can I play online games with KBO Broadband? 5 How do I know KBO Broadband is for me? 5 How do I choose the KBO service right for me? 6 Can I try the KBO Broadband solution before I buy it? 6 I have slow or flaky line broadband, can KBO Broadband help? 6 What support and warranty comes with the KBO Broadband product? 6 Can I use KBO Broadband as a failover or back-up internet connection? 7 How does KBO Broadband compare to dial up? 7 Why should I buy through KBO? 7 How long is the KBO Broadband airtime contract? 8 Are there any limits to how much data I can download and upload? 8 If I exceed my data allowance, what are my options? 8 What happens when I opt for your installation service? 9 1
Self-installation Can I install KBO Broadband myself? 9 Do I need a telephone line? 9 Do I require planning permission or other permits? 9 Where is the dish best mounted? 10 What does a standard KBO Broadband installation consist of? 10 How do I know if I have line of sight to the KBO Broadband satellite? 10 What happens if/when I move? 11 Technical Questions Why does ping give a slow response to KBO Broadband? 11 What satellites do the KBO Broadband services use? 11 How can I check what download/upload performance I am getting? 11 Are there any limitations to the KBO Broadband I should be aware of? 12 Will I need to buy any extra software? 12 I ve heard of latency issues with satellite - what does this mean? 12 Can I fax over the service? 12 Who handles the platform operations? 13 Can I use KBO Broadband to connect to my work VPN? 13 Can I have a fixed public IP? 13 2
What is KBO Broadband? Is KBO Broadband right for you? KBO Broadband is Europe s first affordable satellite broadband product designed for home users. Using the latest hardware and antenna technology we re able to provide a fairly priced system with hardware and installation from 99.00, and airtime from 39.95p/m., inclusive of VAT. KBO Broadband is a bidirectional high speed satellite service for broadband Internet access. Bidirectional means that receive and transmit functions are performed via the satellite; therefore there is no need for telephone line. What is satellite broadband? Broadband means, very simply, a high-speed connection to the Internet that is always on. It is called broadband because it has a much larger capacity to receive (and send) data. Providing broadband via satellite means that we bounce your data from your remote location up to and down from the satellite to a point on the ground where there s very fast and reliable internet connectivity. KBO satellite broadband is approx. 184 times faster than a 56k dial-up modem enabling you to view web content and download files more quickly. Why is KBO Broadband more expensive than wired broadband (ADSL)? ADSL and similar wired broadband services available from telecoms providers make use of the existing cheap landline telephone infrastructure that has been in place for many years to deliver ADSL to your premises. All these companies have to do to deliver broadband to you is insert a fast internet connection into the telephone exchange, and share it over the phone lines. The downside of this is that the infrastructure is old, in poor condition and incomplete in many areas which is why many people still can t access ADSL even in urban or city locations. With satellite broadband, the investment in the satellite and related infrastructure runs into tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of pounds and this has to be factored into the price of the KBO Broadband services. There is also a need to invest in the hardware to be able to take advantage of the satellite technology. The hardware is very robust and reliable, and will typically run without maintenance for 6+ years. Basic package install/equipment costs 198 (see latest news for special offers), working out at under 40 p.a. over 5 years, which most people consider better than not being able to have broadband at all. With airtime starting at 39.95 per month, we are getting very close to the price charged by many ADSL Internet Service Providers. 3
We would challenge any household of more than 2 people, or a family, that they would save substantially more than that 40 every year by investing in KBO Broadband, as a result of the price reductions they would receive by being able to pay online for their insurances, utilities, holidays even their weekly shopping and clothes. Also, eliminating the cost of visiting internet cafes. There are even websites out there now dedicated to showing you ways to save money by buying online. With a bit of work, we hope that you would be able to offset the cost of the airtime as well, and even come out slightly better off financially than if you didn t have broadband at all. Once you have covered the cost, you also get all the social, educational and entertainment advantages of broadband. Only you can decide if having broadband is worth this reasonable investment. How fast is KBO Broadband? KBO Broadband offers download speeds of up to 18 Mbps and upload speeds at up to 6 Mbps. Up to means peak speed, wherever you live. KBO Broadband does not discriminate by location. Refer to Latest News section for any recent changes to the packages. Are there any minimum requirements for computers? Not normally. Any computer (MAC, Windows or Linux OS) with an Ethernet network card can be connected to the satellite modem. No additional hardware or computer software is required. If you connect a suitable wireless router to the satellite modem, you can then use PC s or smart phones in your home or office wirelessly. We can supply a suitable wireless router with your KBO Broadband system, if needed. Are email and other services included in KBO Broadband service? We have found that most customers, when they come to us, already have an email account and email address that they want to keep. If you don t have an email address, we can help you get one for free. KBO Broadband fully supports webmail like Hotmail, Gmail, MSN and Yahoo. KBO can now provide a free SMTP service if needed. Many email providers will not allow (non-web based) email sending from users that do not connect using their connectivity (AOL etc.). 4
Does the satellite service get affected by weather? The standard dish and mount is designed to withstand 160 Kph winds. Clouds and showers have little impact on satellite communications. However, torrential rain or snow may cause a slightly degraded service in extreme conditions, as signals are reflected a little by rain. Our systems automatically increase power levels to compensate for these conditions. Can I use KBO Broadband with a wired or wireless network? Yes, you can use a wired or wireless router to connect your KBO Broadband terminal to several PC s or smart phones in your home. In the near future, you will be able to choose the enhanced KBO Broadband set-top-box with integrated router and Wi-Fi interface. We can supply a wired/wireless router with your KBO Broadband at a low additional cost. Can I receive satellite TV with my satellite broadband? Yes. We can add a small attachment to the broadband dish to enable Sky through this dish, thus, eliminating the need for two dishes. We can provide Sky and Free to Air systems with the broadband. Please see our television section for latest offers for Sky and Saorview. Can I use Skype on the KBO Broadband system? Yes. Please note though Skype was originally designed for terrestrial ADSL connections, it is based on the P2P protocol so is not as efficient over satellite networks as some other VoIP solutions. Can I play online games with KBO Broadband? In principle yes and games that don t involve fast real-time interaction should work fine on KBO Broadband, but it is not recommended to play so called first-person shooter games because of the significantly longer ping times (approximately 600-650ms). Any kind of combat or game that involves the need for an immediate reaction will not work so well due to the extra time involved in the trip to the satellite and back that your data has to make. How do I know KBO Broadband is for me? If your home or small business is only getting dial-up internet access, ISDN or slow fixed line broadband (up to 1 Mbps), KBO Broadband will provide you with an excellent alternative. If you are using dial-up, you will be aware of how frustratingly slow and unpredictable it can be. The latest websites are full of images and video rich content which take too long to download on dial-up. 5
Our domestic KBO Broadband packages are designed for a maximum of 5 home users (PC/smart phone/laptop) only. They are designed primarily as a domestic email and browsing tool. (You can connect more than 5 users, PC s or smart phone to each KBO Broadband connection, but the user experience may degrade). If you require a business grade connection with support for advanced business applications like IP Sec VPN, Citrix or continual/regular connection to your company s network at your place of work, corporate resources or databases, KBO Broadband is NOT suitable for you. We will be happy to advise you on satellite broadband alternatives designed specifically for more heavy-duty business use. Companies that do not use VPNs will find KBO Broadband provides high speeds and good allowances. How do I choose the KBO Broadband service right for me? KBO Broadband offers 4 different monthly service options that vary by overall performance (speed) and also by the volume of data the service handles at peak hi-speed. Try the volume calculator, this will give you a good idea of which of our KBO Broadband services is best suited to you, but don t worry, you can always upgrade later. Email us with any queries and we will get back to you. Can I try the KBO Broadband solution before I buy it? You are free to try our system for 8 days with no obligation. In the unlikely event you are not happy with KBO Broadband and you notify us within the 8 day period, we will make a full refund of any costs incurred by you in the install. I have slow or flaky fixed line broadband, can KBO Broadband help? Having a slow or unreliable fixed line broadband connection is a common reason for small businesses to buy KBO Broadband. You can run a satellite based broadband connection alongside your fixed line (ADSL) connection. We can supply you with a load balancing router which will automatically switch your internet traffic to the satellite when your wired broadband goes down, or load balance between the two connections to give you extra broadband capacity for peak times. What support and warranty comes with the KBO Broadband product? The equipment is covered by a 1 year full manufacturers return to base warranty. If you have a technical or service issue with your KBO Broadband system, contact our technical support centre and we will be happy to help anyway we can. 6
Can I use KBO Broadband as a failover or back-up internet connection? If you have a small business with a maximum of 5 PC s or Macs, you can use KBO Broadband as a back-up or failover broadband internet connection for email, browsing and VoIP. We can supply you with a load balancing router which will automatically switch your internet traffic to the satellite when your wired broadband goes down, or load balance between the two connections to give you extra broadband capacity for peak times. How does KBO Broadband compare to dial-up? If you are still using dial-up, we don t need to tell you how frustratingly slow and unpredictable it can be. The latest websites are full of images and video rich content which takes much too long to download. If you opt for KBO Broadband, you will save hours of your time, and be able to access the latest feature rich websites in record time. Key features KBO Broadband Dial-Up Available virtually anywhere Fast Download Speeds (up to 18 Mbps) Fast Upload Speeds (up to 6 Mbps) Always-on connection to the internet No software to load Dedicated connection/instant access (no logging in or out) Professional installation No phone line needed Why should I buy Broadband through KBO? KBO Broadband has developed its KBO Broadband product working with its partner Toowaydirect. We have added a few extras to our KBO Broadband solution which mean our 7
KBO Broadband proposition stands out from other companies who may say they can offer you a similar solution. We also offer you:- Industry leading customer support with secure online ordering, billing, and invoicing The option to try-before-you-buy A fair and unambiguous contract The best prices in Europe Clear, consumer orientated pricing with prices shown including VAT Professional installation with Certified Installers and Technical Support that is the best in the industry No requirement of a month in advance airtime (unlike most other telecommunication companies), we try to keep the initial costs as low as possible. How long is the KBO Broadband airtime contract? We offer you a fair and unambiguous 12-month contract and clear, consumer orientated pricing with prices shown including local taxes. Many of our competitors are minimum 24 month contract or 12 month contracts for an additional fee. Are there any limits to how much data I can download and upload? The various packages available have different volume allowances, starting at 8 Gb per month. This allowance applies to data downloaded AND uploaded. See web site for package information. If I exceed my data allowance, what are my options? When you exceed your particular package allowance, your speeds will reduce to almost unusable levels. You will never be charged more than your chosen monthly airtime, which is a worry for many customers. It is very advisable to keep a regular check on your usage to ensure it is not exceeded, which can be checked on http://checkportal.skylogicnet.com/ If you exceed your allowance, it is probably advisable to enquire about up grading to the next package though it does take some customers a couple of months to get used to their pattern of usage. You can also purchase one off volume boosters, at a price of 15 per Gb, which work parallel to your regular usage. This will ensure you are never without broadband and the boosters can be applied within 12 hours, you will get your fast speeds back once these are applied. 8
What happens when I opt for your installation service? When opting for our professional install service, we endeavour to visit your property and professionally align and install the system within 8-10 working days. Our installers will provide the hardware components required (cable and mounting bracket). We have a network of professional installers so we can get you up and running anywhere in the country within a reasonable time frame. A standard install usually takes between 1.5 and 2 hours. The installer will ensure you are ready to go before he/she leaves your premises. Self-Installation Can I install KBO Broadband myself? You can self-install if you are good with DIY. It is a technical installation involving peaking the dish etc, so you need to be knowledgeable of these matters. We would advise leaving the install to our trained installers as often customers have to incur expensive call outs after they attempt the install themselves. Do I need a telephone line? No, KBO Broadband does not require any cable or phone lines and KBO Broadband supports free internet phone calls via Skype. Do I require planning permission or other permits? Though conditions may vary slightly, normally planning permission is not required for the equipment you will be supplied with, provided you don t have other dishes on your building. If you have a Sky dish already on your building, we can remove this and install our broadband dish which can receive both TV and broadband, thus eliminating the need for a separate Sky dish. If your building is a protected or historical building, official permits may be required. Most issues with planning (or if you have a listed building) can be overcome by installing the antenna on a brick (not listed) outbuilding or down at ground level. It is your responsibility to understand and comply with the rules and regulations, regarding the placement of equipment on the building you occupy. We will try to guide you where possible. 9
Where is the dish best mounted? The dish must be mounted on a solid brick or concrete surface and be absolutely rigid to obtain good signal strength. Unlike with satellite TV antennas, which are receive only, movement of 1 2 mm can make a huge difference to the signal on this sophisticated equipment. Mounting on the wooden cladding of barns or fences, for instance, is not satisfactory, as when the wood expands and contracts with seasonal temperature changes, the dish will move an unacceptable amount and your signal would be degraded. If you are planning to install the antenna at ground level, you could get a local builder to create a small concrete raft or plinth for the antenna to mount on. Also, be aware that the cable run between the dish and the indoor modem is a maximum of 30 metres, so your location will be influenced by this. If you need to use the service more than 30m from the antenna, you can lengthen the cable run by continuing onwards from the modem using CAT5/6 Ethernet cable from the modem to your PC or router. What does a standard KBO Broadband installation consist of? The standard installation allowed for in the installation fee is as follows: mounting on a standard brick or block wall at a height reachable on a standard double extension ladder (not above 4 metres), and not more than 30m from the proposed location of the modem. It is useful to mount the antenna above pedestrian and vehicular traffic height (so these won t interfere with the signal). If you plan to mount the antenna at ground level, or on a flat roof you will need a further bracket called a non-penetrating roof mount and this will involve extra cost. Installation prices are estimated for mainland only. If extra costs apply due to your location, we will notify you at outset. Ferry crossings, accommodation, flights and living expenses may be charged extra if necessary. How do I know if I have line of sight to the KBO Broadband satellite? KBO Broadband usually requires line of site to the South South East. We use the new Ka Sat satellite for our KBO Broadband customers. Ka Sat s official position in the sky is at 9 degrees East. This translates to about 168 degrees magnetic. If you can see a Sky digital dish nearby, this points roughly South East. We have a number of mounting solutions that can deal with sites where line of site to the satellite is awkward. The satellites we use are based over the equator. If you re still not sure about the line of site to the satellite, talk to our customer service team and they ll give you more information on how you can check this. 10
What happens if/when I move? We can move your equipment and install it elsewhere for a call-out fee, which depends on various factors. Call the office to inform us of this and we can give you a price. We have to complete licensing checks for the new location. If you do not do this and the equipment interferes with other licensed equipment at another site you could be liable for a fine. KBO Broadband deals with the obtaining of clearance for your initial installation site at outset. This is one of the many things we do in the phase between when you order and you receive your equipment. Please give consideration to the location of your dish to minimise the likelihood of requiring a move. On subscribing to the service, you are required to contract the service for a minimum of 12 months. Technical questions Why does ping give a slow response to KBO Broadband? The type of data packet that ping uses is not considered priority traffic by our Network Management System and therefore if the network is busy, it won t accelerate or may even drop the pings you send. Therefore you will see a much slower response than for instance HTTP traffic which is considered a priority. Ping is not a reliable method of analysing the performance of satellite broadband systems. What satellites do the KBO Broadband services use? Our systems use a variety of satellites, but most locations in Europe are covered on Ka band by the new Eutelsat Ka Sat high-speed satellite. We will offer you the best satellite solution we can for your needs. We believe that we are unique in offering this service. How can I check what download/upload performance I am getting? Speed is a subjective measure of performance. Typical speed test websites on the internet are not designed to check satellite based connections. They tend to add the satellites natural latency into the calculation of data over time and come up with an inaccurate result which will be inevitably poorer than the true performance you are actually receiving. Check your speed at http://speedprobe.skylogic.com/ Overall performance of the service will vary at different times of the day depending on how busy the network and the public internet is and how many users are online at the same time as you. Typically the network will be 40% less busy after 17.30 and before 07.30. 11
Are there any limitations of KBO Broadband I should be aware of? Very few, but satellite technology introduces limitations in certain applications. Unlike some of our competitors, our packages accept direct connection to Macintosh, Linux, Unix or Windows based operating systems. KBO satellite Broadband packages are not suitable for: Some remote control software Heavy uplink traffic, such as Web or FTP hosting Uploading streaming video or professional CCTV monitoring Real time online gaming (never really practical on satellite based connections) Watching online TV Accessing work intranet, VPN Peer-to-peer file sharing e.g. Bit Torrent Will I need to buy any extra software? As our satellite broadband connections are always on, we strongly recommends that you install a (software or hardware) firewall to protect you from any unwanted attempts to access the files on your computer. We also suggest you install quality antivirus software. For example, ZoneAlarm is a handy personal firewall application, free for personal use (see http://www.zonelabs.com). For free antivirus software, you could try AVG (see http://free.avg.com/). You will also need software as for any other service such as your Internet Browser and Email Client Software. Commercial and free packages are widely available. I ve heard of latency issues with satellite what does this mean? Due to the distance travelled by the signal to/from your computer and the Internet Hub via the satellite, some older satellite technologies exhibited a noticeable lag between communications. Our Satellite Broadband services employ the very latest software and hardware techniques to minimise this lag, including a Performance Enhancing Proxy (PEP) and web acceleration. In use, when a web page is requested for example, the hardware strips out surplus protocol data and requests, and retrieves the page in fewer larger pieces, than a typical dialup connection for example, which assembles the page piece by piece. Similarly this technique is ideal for handling large file or email downloads. Can I fax over the service? You can obviously use email based fax services like Efax over the service and these work very well. You cannot connect a fax machine to the service. 12
Who handles the platform operations? Located in the SkyPark teleport in Turin (Italy), the platform and hub operations for the KBO Broadband network are operated by Eutelsat s broadband subsidiary Skylogic. Skylogic employs more than 50 people on site and operates 14 hubs using capacity on eight Eutelsat satellites. Dedicated staff will work at the teleport to maintain the highest availability of service. Can I use KBO Broadband to connect to my work VPN? Although there s nothing technically to stop you connecting to your company s corporate VPN with KBO Broadband, there are some things you need to understand. Check with your IT department at work and find out if your company s VPN is an IPSec type of VPN. If it is, these often require a static, public IP address to function. If your corporate VPN does need a fixed, public IP KBO Broadband is not suitable as a method of connection. However, we can advise you about excellent business-grade satellite alternatives, should you need these advanced facilities. Can I have a fixed Public IP? KBO Broadband business packages include up to 4 fixed IP addresses, depending on packages. Home packages use dynamically assigned IP addresses. KBO can provide fixed IP addresses for an extra 10p/m. Contact the office with any other questions you may have by the below methods. Email support@kbo.ie Call 0818 222 600 Text KBO to 087 6521347 for a call back 13