WHAT IS TOOWAY™?
Tooway™ is a high-quality, affordable, satellite broadband Internet access for users across Europe.
WHY SHOULD I GET TOOWAY™?
If you’re faced with the prospect of ‘dial-up-only’ Internet access then Tooway™ is for you.
It offers a broadband Internet alternative to homes with low-speed dial-up.
Tooway™ changes the price/performance paradigm for satellite
Internet access in rural areas across Europe.
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED?
All you need is a 68 cm satellite dish for the Ka-band service, or a
96 cm antenna for the Ku-band service, and the Tooway™ modem.
No additional software needs to be installed on your computer to communicate with the Tooway™ modem.
CAN I INSTALL IT MYSELF?
Installation is recommended by our trained installer network.
DO I NEED A TELEPHONE LINE?
No, Tooway™ does not require any cable or phone lines as did former satellite-based Internet services.
ARE THERE ANY MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPUTERS?
Not normally, no. Any computer (MAC, Windows or Linux OS) with an embedded network
interface card (10/100 Mbps) can be connected to the satellite modem.
And more
importantly, no additional hardware or computer software is required.
CAN I INTEGRATE TOOWAY INTO A NETWORK?
Yes, you simply need to connect an IP Router between the network in your home and the
satellite modem. Otherwise you can choose the enhanced IDU with integrated router
and Wi-Fi interface, in the near future.
DOES TOOWAY™ OFFER TRIPLE-PLAY SERVICES?
Tooway™ can be configured to receive television, with an additional receiver, and voice over
IP services by connecting to a dedicated device.
CAN I RECEIVE TV CHANNELS VIA THE ODU?
In Ku-band, reception of TV channels at 13° East is possible with an additional LNB.
Currently the Ka-band ODU is designed for the transmission and reception of data only,
so it’s not possible to receive TV channels.
WHAT TECHNOLOGY IS TOOWAY™ BASED ON?
Tooway™ is based on ViaSat’s SurfBeam® DOCSIS® two-way broadband satellite system.
Unlike SAT ADSLPLUS service, this system requires no connection via
cable or phone lines.
The SurfBeam system is well established in North-America with
more than 250,000 users.
It is a highly scaleable open standards-based platform that
lowers the cost of consumer terminals and services significantly by using cable modem
networking technology, DOCSIS 1.1, a widely used open standard.
To adapt the standard to satellite, ViaSat has developed a satellite air interface that is
seamlessly integrated into DOCSIS head-end termination systems.
HOW LONG ARE THE TIME DELAYS WITH SATELLITE TRANSMISSIONS?
Geostationary satellites are located in orbit approximately 36,000 kilometres above
the equator.
A roundtrip time to a satellite for data needs about 250 msec, the 2-way
protocol latency is about 600 msec including SurfBeam system latency. To mitigate latency,
which would impact on TCP throughput and web browsing speeds, a Performance Enhancing Proxy
(PEP) and Web acceleration are integrated into the SurfBeam modem and DOCSIS head-end system.
WHAT ARE THE MAXIMUM UPLINK AND DOWNLINK SPEEDS?
The SurfBeam terminal is able to receive at speeds up to 4 Mbps. The 2 Watt amplification
allows transmission of data to the satellite by the consumer at speeds exceeding
1 Mbps according to the frequency band, the satellite, the remote antenna size and the location of the terminal.
HOW STABLE IS THE SERVICE IN BAD WEATHER CONDITIONS?
At one time heavy rain was thought to be a potential barrier to successful deployment of
Ka-band satellite systems. Indeed, the reduction of signal level is so important that
it was difficult to guarantee a high-quality service.
ViaSat has included in the SurfBeam
system satellite air interface technology that mitigates rain fade.
The SurfBeam system automatically responds to rain fade with uplink power control
and adaptive data coding techniques (Adaptive Coding and Modulation - ACM) that
overcome potential outages, while optimising the use of satellite transponder bandwidth.
This gives the Tooway™ network higher reliability compared to other two-way satellite services offered in Europe.
WHAT FREQUENCY BANDS DOES THE SERVICE OPERATE IN?
Tooway™ operates in Ku- and Ka-band. Ka-band capacity is on Eutelsat’s
HOT BIRD™ 6 satellite at 13° East, and Ku-band capacity on the company’s EUROBIRD™ 3 satellite
at 33° East. In 2010 Eutelsat will deploy a dedicated Ka-band satellite with multiple spotbeams
across Europe at its HOT BIRD™ neighbourhood (13 degrees East).
WHAT IS KA-BAND AND WHAT ARE ITS ADVANTAGES?
Broadcast satellites principally operate in Ku-band frequencies that have
the benefit of offering a broad geographic coverage through a single footprint.
Ka-band, which is now beginning to be exploited over Europe, has other benefits:
- More Ka-band bandwidth is allocated to each satellite by the ITU (1 GHz per orbital slot)
- For dedicated two-way communications, spot beam technology allows extensive frequency reuse, effectively lowering the cost of the spectrum
- The larger amount of available bandwidth supports higher transmission rates, supporting higher peak speeds for individual subscribers
- The higher Ka-band frequencies allow smaller antennas to be employed for the subscriber equipment
- The blanket licensing requirements for subscriber premises equipment can be more easily met with low cost subscriber terminals
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