Satellite VoIP Discussion Board

[ww]

I would like to get high speed Sat Internet in Belize.

Will this be working for VOIP as well ? What are my options and costs ?

Thanks,

ww

p.s. I have been checking the Latin America sections at DBS Forum but it seems they are for sat tv only.

[satbaja]

Satmex5 Ku Band beam 2 covers Belize.

There is iDirect service available on this satellite.

Works great with VOIP.  

[HVYMTL]

I would be happy to answer your questions about satellite use in Belize.

-Yes, it works well for many uses and costs are varied, as are your options.

Tom@countrysidenet.com

[ww]

Thanks Tom,

I checked your website but I am still not sure what costs I am running into with internet and Voip.

Kindly send some details in pricing.

Thanks,

Wolfgang
ww@vip6.com

[Mel_Berry]

Tom/CountrySide

Phil's Mom is selling the Hotel in San Pedro very soon.

The 1.8m/Viasat system located at the hotel is probably up for grabs, and very likely be a good buy (price-wise) and technology wise.

Charles will be able to support it.

You might want to contact Phil before the hotel sells, and resell it to someone like "ww" in this posting.

[Mel_Berry]

Wolfgang

Call Charles at (US) 979-589-1584

He will help you get you what you want - he lives not far away in Honduras.

Once you get the info you need I can hook you up with a less expensive antenna already located in San Pedro/Ambergris.

[Robert keyes]

on 08. Dec 2007 at 19:59, ww wrote:

I would like to get high speed Sat Internet in Belize. Will this be working for VOIP as well ? What are my options and costs ?   Thanks, ww   p.s. I have been checking the Latin America sections at DBS Forum but it seems they are for sat tv only.

Let me say that VoIP is probably not a good idea for satellite. Why? Because of latency. A packet that is delayed will have very adverse affects on a voice call.

This is even more the case when you use compression and low bit rates, like most people do in VoIP. Often, it's not worth the reduced costs, because the conversation is barely intelligble and because you have to repeat yourself so many times it goes on longer than is necessary.

Another problem is that VoIP is illegal in some countries, because the telephone company monopoly needs to be paid.

Really, satellites are best for broadcast. You can sort of squeeze internet on as a service when there's nothing else that can do the job, but it will be more expensive and not perform as highly as DSL or cable or Fibre Optics.

I am working on some technologies that will help satellite Internet users a bit. The idea is, that you would have a WiFi connection between two nearby satellite WiFi users, and when one of you has already downloaded a specific file, there's no need to go get it via satellite again - just get it from your neighbor. Well that's the brief explanation, but it can get quite complex when you get down to actually making it work right. But even this improvement won't help you make that VoIP call any better. There are ways of making VoIP over satellite work better, but it would take some change on the parts of user behaviour to get it to work correctly.

[Maxim Usatov]

As a CTO of a satellite ISP, I would like to defend VoIP over satellite here. First of all, VoIP works over satellite and works with great success. There is a recommendation standard called G.114: http://www.isp-planet.com/technology/2006/cisco_voice_quality_1b.html

Links over geosynchronous satellites produce a one-way delay that falls in the range of 150-400ms, and that is considered as an "acceptable" worldwide standard. It's actually around 280-300ms in average. Yes, it isn't as good as calling your neighbor on a local telco but it works surprisingly good. I mean it.

Robert, I also highly disagree with you saying that using VoIP over satellite is "barely intelligble". Most probably you were a victim of poor quality of service. When QoS isn't set up right or if the link has no CIR (and that's very common today) - you get poor VoIP quality. Sometimes small VoIP packets are getting jammed with large packets carrying HTTP traffic. As bandwidth is pretty much limited due to high costs, the negative effect of such is highly increased. There are lots of other underwater stones of running VoIP over satellite. If the satellite link has been especially engineered to carry toll free VoIP traffic, you will have crystal clear sound and will get used to the delay rather quickly. Upon my experience, both parties get used to a "satellite" delay within a few first seconds of the conversation.

At last, I'd like to mention that BusinessCom currently services a number of VoIP carriers over satellite links. Those are companies, from very small to very large ones, redistributing VoIP service further to their end customers located in remote areas. Businesses are quickly growing and there are myriads of happy end subscribers now being able to call with reduced costs and exceptional quality of service.

[TDMAMike]

I couldnt agree more with the above post. VOIP over satellite very common these days....especially on the iDirect platforms due to the efficiency of the upstream protocol structure. I am sure there are others just as capable.

If you intend to run VOIP I highly recommend that you do your homework on the ISP to ensure they have a solid QoS plan for VOIP. Ask them how they are giving priority to that service! There are some Network operators who know what they are doing and others who know nothing about what they are doing.  If you choose the wrong one you could be very dissatisfied and contractually obligated to that poor service for some time.....

A good ISP is one that is backed by a team of RF and Network Enginners who have thoroughly tested quality of service in their upstreams (all service levels)....ensuring that their customers get what they paid for.

[Mel_Berry]

The idea that Voip does not work correctly via satellite is ridiculous.

That is a rumor spread by individuals or companies that do not know how, or cannot afford any of those systems that do work.

Tell me what is your location/area in Belize and I will possibly introduce you to one of our customers who are enjoying Voip-via-Satellite.  Maybe we have one close to you - I would need to ask them first if they are available to speak with you.

The other rumor is that Voip will not work properly on a HughesNet system because of the latency.  It is true that the everyday installer/technician does not know how to do this, but it does work when you have the right IT person involved.