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2 way satellite broadband or any other rural solutions?


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I'd certainly back up what Di says. I've found cheap, generic internal modems can be dreadful, particularly on less-than-optimum rural French dialup connections.

When I was involved in an ISP user forum in England connection speed was an issue for many people there, and by far the best results were reported by those using a certain external modem (Diamond Supra Express 56e Pro). When I moved to France I had really poor connection speeds with a French-bought computer with built-in modem, so changed to a French (Olitec) external modem as recommended by Mazan, which was far better. That, however, (or perhaps it was the drivers available at the time) did not get on at all well with Windows XP, of which I had an early French-language installation. So I dug out the old Diamond, installed the French drivers, and regularly get 48K connections, with really excellent download speeds.

Onspeed is good if you want faster surfing, but unfortunately doesn't help with downloading large files (I receive, and send, a lot of high-resolution graphics).

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There is no difference between a like-for-like internal and external modem, in fact pretty much all modems on the market rely on a tiny number of internal chips that actually do the conversion. Though I agree some internal modems CAN be rubbish.

What is more likely to be the reason for the faster performance is the fact that a new standard for modems, and in particular data compression, came out in the last year or so (V92). So new modems will work much better than the 2 year old ones you brought out from the UK.

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I have also found that some PC's have connection problems. I have fitted the Peabird 56K/V92 PCI internal modem in a number of friends computers and the reliability of the connection and the speed has been excellent. The drivers work well for 98SE up to XP no problem. They are available for about 18 Euros from the company Internity either from their stores or from their website. The nearest store for me is in Trelissac (Perigueux) I use a website http://www.testmyspeed.com/speedtests/international.htm for checking the real download times of a modem and ISP and it is surprising how it varies during the day and weekday and which ISP you are using. Wanadoo and Neuf for instance are dreadfully slow and Tiscali is fast when using these tests on the same PC/modem at the same time of day.
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There is no difference between a like-for-like internal and external modem, in fact pretty much all modems on the market rely on a tiny number of internal chips that actually do the conversion.

In fact most USB and cheap internal modems rely on the processor and software to do all the hard work. On the other hand external serial modems have a dedicated data pump that does all this work and it does it much better than most modem drivers for Windows do. They are completely different to the cheap internal and USB sort. The whole point of an external serial modem is that they need no drivers as such, just an inf file to tell Windows what they can do. This is why I recommend them over any USB or internal modem. The same applies to ethernet ADSL modems as compared to USB ones. The former are much better.

And yes, some modems do work better in some countries than in others and the cheaper the modem the less reliable they are. For reliable use in France you can't beat an external serial modem designed for use in France, like an Olitec. They are well worth the 50€ they cost.

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Thanks for you’re feedback, the PC has an English V91 internal modem so I’ll try a French external serial modem and see how I get on.

Incidentally I found that, with my bank anyway, a minimum connection speed of 33Kb is needed for successful on-line banking, this just gives enough time to download a page, fill in the details and upload before it times out.

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C'est la vie! Your connection speed is quite typical but it has little correlation with how well your ISP can send on your requests and responses to the webpage that you are visiting (like your bank). Even if you upgrade your modem your ISP may be having to deal with so high usage (throughput) rates that your increased connection speed has no effect nas your ISP is so busy. Just a word of caution.
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[quote]Regarding FT rolling out broadband to rural areas, don't hold your breath. Their press release of Sept this year gives 90% broadband coverage by end of 2004 and 96% by end 2005 (this is on their site ...[/quote]

(Sorry, that's not the quote I meant to insert...)

 

Definitely not 100% coverage in the Vendée, Di, in spite of claims made by Philippe de Villiers and his Conseil General cohorts...

I went to the local FT office to ask why typing my number into wanadoo and tele2 sites didn't come up with anything - when I understood that my commune was now connected to ADSL.  They told me I was "too far away".  Not sure from what. 
I am about 1 mile outside the main village, and know other people at a similar distance who seem to have ADSL OK.  Very frustrating.

I don't think I could rustle up 100 souls in my hamlet.  There are only 9 houses!

 

Incidentally (in response to Moulin), I have been using free.fr in France for several years, and can connect at 48Kb - a lot faster than my pre-broadband UK connection. 
Whoops - just seen your next post, that you use the same ISP! 
The internal modem in my UK-bought PC seems to work all right - though I do recall that I had many teething problems until a friend downloaded an update for the modem.

Angela
www.the-vendee.co.uk

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Your connection speed is quite typical but it has little correlation with how well your ISP can send on your requests and responses to the webpage that you are visiting (like your bank). Even if you upgrade your modem your ISP may be having to deal with so high usage (throughput) rates that your increased connection speed has no effect nas your ISP is so busy.

This was an issue 10 years ago but hasn't been for a long time. Think about it: how could broadband even exist if ISPs had trouble getting data through to 33k dial-up users? 2megabit ADSL provides you with as much data per second as 50 dial-up users can take and there are plenty of users whose ADSL is many times faster than 2megabits. There is no shortage of capacity at all and rarely does any ISP's bandwidth usage go over 80%. There can be occasional and temporary routing problems between two individual service providers that can cause some pages to display slowly, or problems with site hosting servers that can cause particular sites to be slow (we've all seen this with this forum's hosting), but that's all.

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I went to the local FT office to ask why typing my number into wanadoo and tele2 sites didn't come up with anything - when I understood that my commune was now connected to ADSL.  They told me I was "too far away".  Not sure from what. 

Use this site http://www.degrouptest.com/ to check for ADSL availability as FT will invariably omit to tell you that there are many providers other than Wanadoo. It usually takes at least 7 days for ISPs' websites to be updated with new ADSL installations.

Just because ADSL is in your village doesn't mean that you are on an ADSL loop. Initially not all loops are connected to a new DSLAM though progressively you can expect them to be. Often the DSLAM is in another (larger?) village that may be several km away and if you are much more than about 5km from the DSLAM (the site above tells you how far away you are) you may not get ADSL at all, though another person further away from the centre of your village may well be much closer to the DSLAM and so may be eligible. The quality of your line is also important.

If you currently have ISDN you will always get a negative response from ADSL test sites.

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Hi

Thanks for the link, Mazan.

For my tel No: it says :

Longeur 2836m

Affaiblissement : 42.54db

Debit ADSL 3800 kbps

Debit ADSL 2+ 6092 kbps

Date d'ouverture 2 March 2005

Is this good ?

What speeds can I expect?

BTW, this village has 800 people, probably 1800 with the next village which is getting ADSL at the same time.

Peter

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Those figures are fine.

You will get all speeds up to about 4megabits (this is a lot more than the maximum 1 or 2 megabits that most ISPs currently offer in non-degrouped areas) though you won't get the degrouped ultra high speed offers that can be had in very big towns.

That date is flexible and will probably retreat as it gets nearer.

Your two villages are undoubtedly on the same DSLAM.

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Lucky you, Peter!

Mine says
Ligne testée :  non stocké
Longueur de ligne :  6812 mètres
Affaiblissement :  70.16 dB
[Estimation] Débit descendant ADSL :  195 kbps (24 ko/s)
[Estimation] Débit descendant ADSL 2+ :  166 kbps (21 ko/s)
Caractéristiques IP/ADSL :
Plaque ADSL :  LOIR-1
Type de DSLAM :  ECI

Then everything on the right-hand side is "impossible":
Offres FT Internet IP/ADSL :
IP ADSL 128 (128/64 Kbps) Impossible
etc etc

...as is everything below, provided by:
neuf / cegetel /tiscali / free / alice

Angela 

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We have similar results to Loiseau. I expect to be using my 2 phone lines (one for phone and one for fax/Internet) and DUN (modem dial up networking) for a little while yet. I'll just have to take an extra sip of wine between requesting a webpage and receiving it. Life could be so much worse!

They have committed to a new mobile phone mast to frizz our brains though!

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Sorry to be a pain we're just buying a place (don't know the tel.no) but have that of our neighbour and this is what the site tells me.  Is this good or bad? 

Code Commutateur Local : CSH11
Nom Commutateur Local : N/D
Longueur de ligne : 30 mètres
Affaiblissement : 0.45 dB
[Estimation] Débit descendant ADSL : 8192 kbps (1024 ko/s)
[Estimation] Débit descendant ADSL 2+ : 25600 kbps (3200 ko/s)

 

Thank you.

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What's this? A flat above the local exchange?

I can't see how you could get better distance figures than these however it looks as though the exchange you are on may not actually have a DSLAM. What does rest of the page say about service availability?

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[quote]Sorry to be a pain we're just buying a place (don't know the tel.no) but have that of our neighbour and this is what the site tells me. Is this good or bad? Code Commutateur Local :

Now you're just showing off

Your neighbour clearly lives in a telephone exchange!

paul

 

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I expect to be using my 2 phone lines (one for phone and one for fax/Internet) and DUN (modem dial up networking) for a little while yet.

Anyone with two lines and no ADSL in sight would be well advised to go for ISDN instead. Allow about 150€ for one-off installation/modem costs. Monthly rental is identical to what you pay now and for about 40€ per month you can have a good unlimited use internet package. You will retain your two numbers and will still be able to phone and be on the internet at the same time.
With ISDN your connection speed will increase by about 30%, the connection will be made in about 1 second rather than 30 and the connection will become extremely robust.

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Hi Mazan

Although FT are supposed to install ISDN if asked, asking and getting are two different things. They come up with all sorts of reasons why not or simply do not ever turn up.  If the difference is only 30% then I will stick to Onspeed.

I did have an ISDN line in the UK and was actually turfed off more frequently than we are in France on Tiscali and the speed of 44.0 Kbps is as regular as clockwork each time we log on. We are just under 3,000 metres from the local exchange but some of the village where the exchange is has broadband from another exchange so I think it may be some time till they get to us.

Is 3,000 metres feasable?????? I would love one day to be able to have broadband, a girl can dream

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Although FT are supposed to install ISDN if asked, asking and getting are two different things. They come up with all sorts of reasons why not or simply do not ever turn up. 

You may need to argue with them but the provision of Numeris (Duo, not Itoo) is a legal requirement out of which they cannot wriggle. In fact you want Itoo not Duo but even so if you stand your ground you will get it.

 If the difference is only 30% then I will stick to Onspeed.

Sorry, but Onspeed is just a joke. It doesn't increase your download speed at all and in many cases it actually slows things up. It may be perceived to be effective for webpages, but it certainly isn't for anything else. Most people who use the internet a great deal don't use it for web browsing but for file transfers and email, and Onspeed is useless for these.

I did have an ISDN line in the UK and was actually turfed off more frequently than we are in France on Tiscali

You were unlucky. When I had ISDN, connections of 12 hours or more were the norm.

and the speed of 44.0 Kbps is as regular as clockwork each time we log on.

That is the negotiated modem speed at the time of connection. If will vary considerably during the connection with many drop-outs due to renegotiation. ISDN is rock-solid 64k with no drop-outs and no renegotiations.

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We are just under 3,000 metres from the local exchange but some of the village where the exchange is has broadband from another exchange so I think it may be some time till they get to us.

Is 3,000 metres feasable?

3000m is fine but the measurement is always from the DSLAM, not from your local exchange. Use the link I gave to find your distance from the DSLAM. FT are unlikely to put DSLAMs in very small villages any time soon.

You may be close enough to the DSLAM but on the wrong loop as I previously mentioned.

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  • 1 month later...
>The whole point of an external serial modem is that they need no drivers as such, just an inf file to tell Windows what >they can do. This is why I recommend them over any USB or internal modem.

Mazan, you might want to read this and rethink your recommendations. "If your V.92/V.44 modem connects via a 'real' serial port you're in trouble: ". Your advice for an external serial modem on an average PC may throttle performance by over 50% compared to a cheap internal one.

http://www.modemsite.com/56k/v92v44v42.asp

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"If your V.92/V.44 modem connects via a 'real' serial port you're in trouble: ". Your advice for an external serial modem on an average PC may throttle performance by over 50% compared to a cheap internal one.

Interesting enough but this refers to some rather special circumstances involving particular modems, particular ISPs and particular compression systems and the crux of it is not with any of the above but with the speed of the port through which they are connected. The assumption being that an internal modem will be on a PCI slot or better and that most serial ports on PCs are throttled at 115kbs. The article is also very geeky.

It doesn't affect the reliability/connection issue at all. I find that most users of plain old modems just want a cheap, reliable and fast(ish) connection and the serial device offers this where internal modems often don't. I don't think that the issue of getting slightly better speed on some types of file transfer is of much interest to most people. Anyone who is that concerned about file transfer speed would have got ISDN (if they can't get ADSL) long ago and of course ISDN allows for very robust and more or less instant connections, and up to 128k (uncompressed) in both directions.

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[quote]My God. I've read everything now. So. Working on this hypothesis. If I live in Iraq/China (where most of them are made by the way)/ The States/ Germany/ and so on. I should have a modem made in the re...[/quote]

Nope, it's external modems IME work much better than the cheapy internal ones.
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