Exede for an RV?

[exede4me]

I had the oportunity to use one of the Pro Portable flyaway terminals on my recent vacation. ViaSat sells these to outfits like the Red Cross, news agencies, and other outfits needing a compact package that can be checked on any commercial airliner or tossed in the back of a mini-van, etc.

While the Pro Portable antenna is designed to be quickly assembled and pointed by the user, there is also another antenna being sold now for satellite news gathering (SNG). The SNG antenna is self pointing and works while parked just like any of the other non-tracking receive only antennas commonly used on RVs today.

The Pro Portable terminal worked very well for me. I logged just under 4,000 miles in a month of traveling around the western US. Along the west coast service was via ViaSat-1, further east at Yellowstone service was via WB-1.

Download and upload speeds were better than the 4G wireless card I had with me (which connected at 3G most of the time, and sometimes not at all) and were typically in the 12/3 Mbit/s range on ViaSat-1.

I was able to use the terminal to attend a WebEx meeting as well as all the standard emailing and web browsing one would expect. Worked quite well for Skype too. Pretty much felt just like I was in my office most of the time. Great for watching Netflix movies as well.

In my opinion, if you own a several hundred thousand dollar diesel pusher motorhome, the prices of these antennas are not out of range.

Given the poor quality of many of the WiFi networks at the RV parks we visited, and the poor wireless coverage in some of the out of the way spots, the satellite solution is a great thing to have.

Sadly, I had to turn the antenna back in once I finished my trip. I'm really going to miss it on my next trip . . .

So, bottom line, there is a solution that will work for RVs, but right now the focus is on SNG, and the consumer RV market is not yet being developed. I expect that to change at some point once the SNG market is taken care of.

[HiddenOkie]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those systems also cost prohibitive compared to other options? I'm not saying that to try to torpedo the idea, but we looked into the same thing several years ago and the cost was astronomical. I suppose it's all relative, but you are correct in that they do exist after the military developed them back in the day, but they're nowhere near mainstream.

[exede4me]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those systems also cost prohibitive compared to other options? I'm not saying that to try to torpedo the idea, but we looked into the same thing several years ago and the cost was astronomical. I suppose it's all relative, but you are correct in that they do exist after the military developed them back in the day, but they're nowhere near mainstream.

Right now on the Exede network, there are no other options. Portability/mobility and the related beam switching is only supported using these antennas. It is in part a function of antenna design and part a function of system design. The antenna has to work with the modem and outdoor electronics and also have the software system support to move from beam to beam and satellite to satellite.

So you can't just take a residential package and clamp it to the back of your RV and be on your way.

While these antennas are certainly more expensive than the pole mount version used for a standard residential installation, they are on the other hand, they are less expensive than a version that tracks as you drive down the road.

But, if you've plunked down $350 k to $1.5 M for a nice diesel pusher motorhome and are using it semi or full-time, then odds are you're going to find the price within your budget.

To put it in perspective, antenna systems that cost about as much as the SNG antenna I mentioned are being sold into the maritime yacht market and are doing quite well.

[HiddenOkie]

That's what I thought. The technology is available, but it's also cost effective unless you're just wanting that particular technology hence my recommendation to go with cellular for the masses. I looked into it several years ago and it was that way then. . .fifty bucks versus thousands just for the equipment when I was looking for a way to stay connected during travel. It just wasn't cost effective for no more than it would get used.

[exede4me]

One of the cool things that ViaSat participates in is the RAAM, a bicycle race across America. This year's time was 5 days, 5 hours, and 5 minutes.

What's the point? The riders need to coordinate and there are considerable stretches of secondary roads in the US where there is no cellular coverage for voice or data.

I found plenty of empty spots in cell coverage on my recent vacation, but thanks to the portable Exede antenna I was testing, I did have Internet wherever I stopped for the night.

Back home when I go camping in Borrego Springs a couple hours east of San Diego - no signal. I'm going to miss that system this winter . . .

So while the satellite solution is more expensive, if you are someone who needs to be connected sometimes it is the only solution.

[exede4me]

More apropo to the RV market might be a photo of the ViaSat Exede SNG van and the antenna.

I'm guessing if it will fit on that little van, it would fit nicely on a 40' RV

[HiddenOkie]

Now that's something I'd be interested in using for sure if it were to come to mainstream market. I'd put it in my RV in a heartbeat and if it were mobile, my truck instead of having to deal with spotty coverage.

[niels]

I ended up having a system from Mobile satellite technologies installed which uses an iDirect modem and one of the Viasat satellites on Ku band. It isn't as fast as the Exede system by a landslide, but works quite well for my needs. When all was said and done, I ended up paying roughly $10K in hardware and installation, and service fees are just about $200 / month. For this, I get a system that works anywhere in the US, and is a simple button push and about 3 minute wait to deploy. The up to 1.5 Mbps download speed is quite usable for my needs.

Yes, there is indeed a market for people that will pay significant equipment and monthly fees to get this level of work anywhere, anytime Internet service. Not sure how big it is, but it does exist.

Niels. (Via satellite internet, unfortunately not Exede. )

[exede4me]

I ended up having a system from Mobile satellite technologies installed which uses an iDirect modem and one of the Viasat satellites on Ku band. . . .

I'm confused. ViaSat doesn't have any Ku-band satellites, nor, to the best of my knowledge, are iDirect modems used on any ViaSat leased bandwidth on satellites in the Ku-band. Certainly though there are networks in the Ku-band that do use iDirect modems.

ViaSat uses it's own modems in their Ku-band mobile broadband networks - principally the ArcLight direct sequence spread spectrum technology, though ViaSat has other Ku-band modem technologies that support mobility as well.

[exede4me]

Thought I would update this to add that ViaSat has filed to add a 1.2 m version of the SNG antenna to its license.

While this antenna will not likely be something an RV'er will want to put on their roof, the SNG market should be happy to have the option.