Bentley Walker Satellite Internet News & Information

Rural Broadband - Customer Feedback

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We love hearing from our customers and how satellite internet can really solve problems for them. Here is some recent feedback from a happy Tooway customer.

I live in one of the "not" spots with no TV, radio, nor mobile signal (the
constabulary use satellite phones). The position is further exacerbated by the fact that the nearest exchange is some 17 kilometres away and Broadband but a dream - my dial up gave me 15 kbs.

I did try to get satellite Broadband several years ago with - yes , you've
guessed it with ****** A week after my cheque for 1400 GBP cleared
(installation and first month up front) the company went into liquidation.

Though Bentley Walker was around at the time it was for business purposes
only.

With my retirement as a GP in the NHS I found that I no longer had the
facilities of the surgery. Though because of the ****** scenario I was
extremely reticent to have anything to do with Satellite Broadband for
years.

Not only was I surprised that how the fees had decreased but that instead of
the glib sales spiel of ****** I actually had a person (Chris Martin) whom
was thoroughly conversant with the product, answered my many queries by
return , and has always been extremely pleasant and helpful.

In my experience I have found the true worth of a company is not so much
when things are going right but rather when problems arise. To this point
all the minor issues - have been resolved in an efficient and prompt manner
by your technical staff.

Accordingly, I simply wish to extend my sincere thanks to all those members
of the Bentley Walker team whom maintain both a efficient and professional
manner that Bentley Walker can be proud of.

With regards,

Dr W J Thomas

Billboard advert for Tooway at London Waterloo Station

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Here's our billboard advert for Tooway at London Waterloo Station, which
will be up for the next month.

Whilst London is the capital of the UK and may have quality broadband
connections for the most part, many commuters passing through take the train
within the commuter belt to rural areas with poor or unreliable internet access.

Tooway uses Satellite Internet to ensure that you can enjoy fast, reliable internet
access even in the most rural and remote of get-aways.

Broadband Support Scheme throughout Wales is extended!

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Bentley Walker Ltd a worldwide reputable satellite internet service provider is pleased to hear the successful broadband support scheme is to be extended.

We encourage those who are eligible , having premises in Wales to apply for support with this grant up to £1,000 for the installation, set up and required equipment to deliver fast broadband.

The simple case is if you cannot receive basic broadband connectivity (2Mbps or above) and you haven't received publicly funded broadband assistance then your very own satellite broadband system can be installed, making fast broadband available.

Please remember no telephone lines are required , just a clear line of sight to the sky!

To receive this support simply evidence by printing a broadband speed test or the broadband availability checker if no current connection exists and attach a quotation from Bentley Walker Ltd.

You will be pleased to see our pricing will be at a minimum cost to the Welsh Government broadband support mechanism , this we believe will allow many more to take advantage of the funds available and receive fast broadband connection.

In fact through this tremendous scheme the complete satellite system , professional installed by our experienced installation partners would be completely FREE! to each successful applicant , you only pay for the chosen monthly subscription which can start from as little as £20.82/mth!

Please examine our website ; www.bentley-walker.com/tooway/ or give us a call at Bentley Walker to receive a quotation 02392 311103.

You can then choose how to claim the funding by calling 03000 60 3000 or visiting www.wales.gov.uk/broadband , a form will then be sent to you.

Choose the payment method as part of the offer letter you receive.

Please include your Bentley Walker satellite internet quotation with a printed speed test or broadband availability checker result.

Please remember you can elect to pay Bentley Walker yourself or elect for the Welsh Government to make this payment to us on your behalf.

We are confident your internet experience will be a pleasure to use and our service exceptional.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Feedback from Afghanistan

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

One area where we have had great demand in recent years in providing satellite internet services for troops in Afghanistan. Military personnel serving away from home rely on our connectivity to stay in touch with home, wherever they may find themselves stationed.

It's always great to get feedback from customers, but especially so from those serving around the world. Here is some recent feedback we received from US servicemen in Afghanistan:

"The base here offers internet for $100 a month that is 128kbps / 32kbps (but never reaches half that).

For that same price per month, a small number of us were able to purchase your Dual 4000 setup and have, what we call "the fastest internet this side of the Euphrates

I will be recommending your service to everyone I see that is tired of the service available to us; do not be surprised if you see me ordering multiple systems in the very near future!!!".

- Lonny W. Koons

Stock Image (C) The U.S. Army

Feedback from Baghdad

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In addition to providing satellite Internet services to residential and business clients all across Europe we also provide vital services to many operations across the Middle East. One of our Iraqi based clients recently shared their experience with us.

“Thanks to your system and your support we have been successful.” Northrop Grumman

Douglas T works for Northrop Grumman who provide field engineering and services to the US Military based in Iraq. They are the fourth-largest defence contractor in the world and provide a range of services to the military including the construction of aircraft carriers, missile defence systems and IT services.

Their first task in Iraq was set up operations in the Al Faw Palace in Baghdad. Getting online is essential to their operations however there was no infrastructure in place in Baghdad at the time. They ordered a Bentley Walker satellite Internet and installed it on the Al Faw Palace roof.

“We relied on your Internet service to keep our systems running. Parts were ordered, software patches down-loaded, and critical information was passed to keep a family of high-tech, complex systems running“ Douglas T, Northrop Grumman.

Bentley Walker provided all the hardware that was required for the Internet connection to be set up. Northrop Grumman have been so impressed with the service that they are taking all the hardware back to the US now that their work in Iraq has finished. They hope to be able to put it to use again soon though.

This satellite link was vital not only to keep their business running but it also provided a link with friends and families all around the world.

Northrop Grumman accredits their success in Iraq to Bentley Walker. Without a reliable, secure and fast Internet connection Northrop Grumman would have struggled to fully serve the needs of their clients in Iraq. Also the ability to call home every day boosted the morale of all staff.

It always brings us great pleasure to hear how our satellite Internet services are helping businesses to operate in the most remote and often hostile conditions. Not only have our services provided Northrop Grumman with vital communications support in the last decade but it has meant that all those working in the field were able to stay in touch with family and friends. We look forward to working with Northrop Grumman again in the future.

Delivering Internet to Indigenous Communities in Venezuela

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

One of the greatest pleasures in running Bentley Walker is knowing that the services we provide are making a real difference in the world. From small kayak businesses in the remote Norwegian Fjords to defence operations in war zones, our services reach far and wide.

One of the most rewarding stories for us is seeing how our satellite Internet services have helped to improve the quality of schooling in one of the most remote areas of the world.

Bentley Walker was chosen by the Wayuu Taya Foundation to provide satellite Internet to the Los Lechosos school in a remote area of Venezuela. The Wayuu Taya Foundation is a charity that works to improve the lives of Latin-American indigenous communities. Its president is Patricia Velásquez, the Venezuelan actress and super-model.

We provided and shipped all the equipment to the school free or charge and worked with a local technical support team to get the systems up and running. The school had already received free computers from HP with the help of the Wayuu Taya Foundation so they were ready to get online as soon as our satellite dish and network was set up.

“We are really happy with the service, it is the first time that we have had Internet in the school”.

We were put in contact with the school via the Row6.com Project. Row6.com is a campaign set up by June Sarpong to get the world talking through story telling. The goal of Row6.com is to record and archive stories from around the global, ideally capturing stories from every community on the planet.

We love the work that June has been doing to help connect the people of the world. Her work has not gone unnoticed either. In 2007 she was awarded an MBE for services to broadcasting and charity. An ambassador for The Prince's Trust and campaigner for the Make Poverty History, her work reaches almost as far as our Internet services.

New Funding for Broadband in England and Scotland

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has announced details of their Broadband Delivery Programme for the UK. The aim is to improve Internet access to all areas by working with the private sector. Subsidies will be provided to reduce the costs of installing broadband services.

£530 million has been allocated for investment into rural broadband in the UK. The funding is specifically for areas where commercial investments are currently failing to meet demand.

English counties have now been allocated £294.8 million and Scotland the remaining £68.8 million. The Welsh Assembly have already created their own programme for Wales. The investment is to ensure that the UK has the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015, with 90% of all homes and businesses having access to at least 20Mbps and all the UK having 2Mpbs.

This scheme is only available to homes and business with a current maximum speed of less than 512kbps. In some areas the subsidies will still fall a long way short of the cost of laying broadband fibre optic cables so alternative solutions are being sought, one of which is satellite Internet.

The Broadband Delivery Programme is also in talks with the Department of Health and the Department of Education. Broadband access is no longer just a luxury, it is fast becoming a necessity and the only way to access vital health information and educational resources.

Immediate solutions available from Bentley Walker Tooway™

Bentley Walker provide a fast satellite Internet service to all areas of the UK already. The new government initiative may provide funding for Tooway installations. Tooway currently provides speeds from 6 Mpbs. Learn more about our Tooway™ service on our Tooway microsite.

Further Information

BDUK Funding Allocation
Broadband Delivery Programme: Delivery Model
UK Fixed Broadband Map 2011
Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG)
BBC Internet Speed Checker- are you getting less than 512kbps?

Get in touch

If you would like to learn how we can help please call us on (0) 2392 311 103 or make a "General Enquiry" via our contact form here and mention the government funding.

iDX 3.0 Upgrades

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Bentley Walker have upgraded their satellite Internet platform to the latest software, iDirect’s iDX 3.0. This upgrade makes significant improvements to Internet speed across its global VSAT network which means that Bentley Walker now provides faster satellite Internet across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America.

The software upgrade allows Bentley Walker to use its current hardware to improve its services by allowing two Internet protocols, SCPC and TDMA, to operate simultaneously which essentially doubles the speed at which information to be processed by using previously untapped SCPC bandwidth. In addition to this, iDX 3.0’s multi-channel demodulation technology has further enhanced performance by allowing more inbound channels to be processed by a single satellite receiver.

“Though shared TDMA networks use bandwidth more efficiently, in our market it’s still important to offer dedicated SCPC connections for specific customer applications that require them. iDX 3.0 therefore is the ideal software since it gives us the flexibility to deliver service over a large, shared TDMA outbound channel and offer dedicated SCPC bandwidth on the inbound channel. What’s more, our upgrade to iDX 3.0 was relatively simple and seamless, with virtually no interruption in service or impact to customers.” - Anthony WALKER, CEO, Bentley Walker Ltd.

Bentley Walker has managed to improve the service it provides to it current clients without any disruption. Bentley Walker has clients all over the UK and Europe and its Middle East and Africa business is expanding rapidly. One of the fastest growing areas is Afganistan where Bentley Walker are helping businesses and homes to connect online for the first time, and servicemen stay in touch when on tour.

Tooway Success in Lyngdal Norway

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100

It must be hard to beat the peace and tranquillity of living in a forest cabin in rural Norway. However it can present a few problems when it comes to vital services like Internet access.

One of the most interesting things about working at Bentley Walker is talking to the wide range of customers we have all over the world. Recently one of our Norwegian customers, Rick Talbot, sent us some great photos of his Tooway system at his remote home cabin.

Rick builds canoes for people all around the Stavanger area. His cabin is in coastal forest near the entrance to the Stavanger Fjords which form a large network of Fjords on the southern western tip of Norway. This is a real Internet black spot and there seems little chance of broadband ever reaching such remote areas as this. However, Rick is online thanks to his Tooway system, comprising of a Surfbeam 2 Satellite modem, dish and TRIA transceiver.

"Very impressed with the performance. We’re now no longer in a telecoms black-spot!" Rick Talbot.

Rick has had to make a few small changes to his local environment to ensure that he receives a good signal, he told us that he had a problem with a big fir tree blocking the signal, but his trusty axe helped to resolve the problem.

This area of Norway is real wild country. There are still wolves roaming in the mountains and the valleys run deep. Road networks are poor and telecommunications almost non-existent in parts.

Without Tooway Rick would not have any access to the Internet. As well as helping with his canoe hobby in general he now runs his own website, Whitewater Developments, which specialises in detachable and extendable 'DUK' canoes.

We are really proud to see that our Tooway satellite systems are providing people like Rick with opportunities that would otherwise not be available to them, and it is great to see how Rick Talbot has managed to get the most from this service even in a very remote and at times hostile environment.

If you would like to share your story of how Tooway satellite Internet has changed your life or business please get in contact with us.

Tooway KA Sat installation videos

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

We are happy to announce that in addition to our iDirect & HX50 installation videos we can now offer a two part series of KA Sat Tooway installation videos.

Installing a Tooway system on KA Sat is a reasonably unproblematic affair, however we realise that potential customers & installers may wish to see the entire process through from beginning to end before undertaking the installation themselves.

The second video in the series can be found here.

Exciting News on iDirect IDX 3.0

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Using satellite communications, customers face an ironic challenge when it comes to growth. The more satellite IP networks are adopted for core business communications, the more these networks can become difficult and costly to support.

While it’s ironic, the logic is simple. Greater reliability leads to greater volumes of network traffic and more dynamic applications.

The solution lies on two fronts: efficiency and flexibility. Bentley Walker are committed to investing in our iDirect Evolution networks to ensure efficient allocation of satellite capacity and to ensure our platforms are able to adjust to customer demand trends.

The industry in general has recently seen several key innovations that have enabled Bentley Walker to increase bandwidth efficiency and offer better value to our customers. . The most significant of these was the introduction of DVB-S2. But a longer list of technologies– such as Adaptive Coding and Modulation, 2D 16-State inbound coding and Adaptive TDMA (all operating on Bentley Walker networks) is helping making our satellite networks much more efficient.

Flexibility is another long-standing challenge. How can Bentley Walker meet the broad diversity of customer needs that characterize the Satellite industry? Historically, this diversity has led to a static choice of two main transmission technologies: TDMA and SCPC.

SCPC is designed for sites that need a high-volume, fixed, point-to –point link. TDMA is a shared channel engineered for service providers that want to allocate a pool of bandwidth across multiple sites.

In recent years, TDMA has been widely adopted over SCPC. One of the most significant reasons for the growing popularity of TDMA is that SCPC networks are seen to waste bandwidth. They can only be set at one size, and that size is usually matched to peak bandwidth demand. Yet, SCPC networks are the most appropriate solution for customers that require constant, heavy bandwidth requirements. The reality for in country service providers and customers is that they may need both TDMA and SCPC. And this means investing in and operating two technology platforms, which increases capital expenses and leads to operational inefficiencies.

The integration of TDMA and SCPC onto a single technology platform has long been a wish factor however on IDX 3.0 this is now a reality. Bentley Walker are pleased to announce IDX 3.0 is now in operation running all of our major networks W6 , W3a , AM22, T11 and W2a C band .

Customers can convert any Evolution remote router to hybrid device that can switch back and forth between TDMA and SCPC.

Take an enterprise network that is built on TDMA. It supports core voice, data and video applications. Let’s say the customer wants to use the same network to support HD-quality video or transfer large data files. Typically, this would be a decision between installing a TDMA network or an SCPC connection. However, on an integrated TDMA/SCPC network, a router can be set to TDMA as a default mode for core applications, and then be switched temporarily to run in SCPC mode to support temporary heavy traffic conditions like data back-up or HD video applications.

In this example, TDMA and SCPC can be switched based on time intervals. A remote router can also be switched from TDMA to SCPC on a permanent basis once traffic reaches a threshold where a dedicated SCPC connection is more economical longer term. One application for this is cellular backhaul. For mobile operators, TDMA networks typically present the most cost-effective way to backhaul data when they first introduce service in remote areas. Once these operators gain subscribers in local villages, network traffic expands in volume and becomes steadier. If an integrated

TDMA/SCPC remote router is in place, it can be remotely switched through a network management system to run in SCPC on the return channel.

In the same way, Internet Service Providers can start with TDMA as they get their service up and running and shift to SCPC once they reach a designated volume of network traffic.

How can this improve business operations and increase efficiency ?

For the first time ever, Bentley Walker has the flexibility to offer both SCPC and shared service on a single platform. It helps significantly lower both customer capital and operating costs.

For example,

When a customer site grows larger, Bentley Walker can offer a dedicated SCPC link using the same hardware. And all this can be done instantly and without the need for a costly site visit to exchange hardware. An integrated TDMA/SCPC platform enables customers to invest in just one core platform to grow their service. They can reduce capital and operating expenses. They gain network-wide cost savings and bandwidth efficiencies. And they have greater flexibility to meet ever-changing customer demands and deliver a highly reliable service – whether that’s over TDMA, SCPC or both.

If you would like more information on this service please contact sales@bentleywalker.com

Best Regards

Bentley Walker

Eutelsat delivers 10mb service to 13 million households

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Next generation satellite internet is now here in the form of Ka-band Tooway, which can deliver download speeds to up to 10mb to 13 million households across Europe.

The new Tooway service finally brings the promise of fast, cheap internet access to all. Because it is satellite based Tooway doesn't need you be near a telephone exchange - or infact even a telephone.

Watch the Tooway video and see how easy and affordable high speed internet just became. For More information on Tooway itself see our dedicated Tooway Site.