Bahamas, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, 
iDirect Faces Competition from Surfbeam & HughesNet
For the first time since introduction about 3 years ago, the highly touted
iDirect Enterprise Satellite Internet platform is being challenged by
two less expensive platforms: HughesNet's DW 7700 and ViaSat's Surfbeam
ku band setup. But can these lower cost solutions actually deliver? Here
is the early comparison:
1. Cost: (note – prices quoted here are US based CONUS prices. International
pricing is higher and is controlled by international distribution agreements
and pricing policies.) The iDirect setup traditionally has cost in excess
of $1,800 for equipment (1.2 meter dish and two watt transmitter) + installs
ranging from $499-$799. There are a few companies offering it for less, but
with fairly long terms on the service to make up the difference. The HughesNet
7700 is selling for about $1,600 plus install of $500 for the 1.2 meter dish
setup with 2 watt transmitter. You can buy the DW 7000 Business Internet version
for about $1,000 (attains the same speeds, but a few frills are missing) .
The ViaSat ku band Surfbeam setup is selling for about $1,600 for the 1.2
meter dish and a 4 watt transmitter plus install of about $500, the lowest
price of all offerings in this comparison given the more powerful transmitter
is included. The 2 watt setup sells for less than $1,000 plus installation
(provides up to 256 kbps uploads - so not evaluated).
2. Latency: The only vsat product on the market today that can compete
with iDirect in this area is ka band Surfbeam (Wildblue Communications).
The HughesNet setup is fairly close, but still running some 75 - 150 ms behind
the iDirect figures which are pretty consistent in the 575-700 ms range.
The Surfbeam ku setup hasn't been on the market long enough to compare; however,
I should have a test system very soon and will post results. Since it uses
the same modem as the ka band Wildblue setup, it might prove to be a worthy
competitor in this area.
3. Shared Bandwidth: This is where things become very confusing for most
Business Grade vsat buyers. The least expensive monthly service options
are "shared
bandwidth", which for all but the U.S. Government and giant corporations,
is all that is realistic to talk about. Dedicated bandwidth is extremely expensive
and very few opt for it. The problem with shared bandwidth is not all shared
bandwidth is created equal! This is the most convoluted and often misrepresented
area of the satellite internet industry. Most satellite providers are very
reluctant to tell you exactly how many folks you are sharing the bandwidth
with. It's called the contention ratio or contention rate and it's crucial
to how well your satellite service will perform. Most experts regard anything
below 20-1 as true enterprise grade shared bandwidth; however, with the efficiencies
that have resulted from both HughesNet's new 7000 series platform with DVB
S2 technology and the DOCSIS platform utilized in ViaSat's Surfbeam ku modem,
some are saying that contention ratios up to 60-1 will work competitively
with the iDirect setup running at a 20-1 rate.
The iDirect platform needs the lowest contention ratios to perform competitively
with other setup's from my experience. This is where the competition really
begins for iDirect...it only works great when lot's of bandwidth is available...and
that can get expensive. There are several companies trying to push the
limits of contention ratio out there right now with the iDirect setup and
the customers are screaming about slow speeds and high latency. The HughesNet
DW 7700 has the most concurrent TCP/IP sessions to the internet than the other
packages in this comparison. The HughesNet connection will not "degrade" as
fast as strictly IP type connections, so more users can be on the net simultaneously...a
nice advantage for HughesNet. To further understand this complicated area of
satellite internet, call a professional vsat sales engineer with a reputable
company
4. Monthly Cost: Since we are limiting this discussion to shared bandwidth,
I will compare the products using the most popular speed requested: 2000
kbps download and 512 kbps upload speeds.
A. iDirect: The least expensive monthly service with acceptable contention
ratio I'm aware of runs $599 per month with no usage limitation. There
are many "low ballers" out there, but you are strictly limited in the
amount of usage per month or the costs literally soar. One package is $350
per mo, but has a limit of 3 GB per mo. total usage and .09 cost per MB thereafter.
B. HughesNet Business Internet: $199 per month. There is a 1250 MB threshold
(Fair Access Policy)- so you are slowed down if you do a very large amount
of downloading in a short period.
C. Surfbeam ku band: 3000/512 is the closest plan I could find and it runs
$350 per month. It has no limitation on usage per month at this time.
5. VPN & VOIP: Since the iDirect setup has the lowest latency of all systems
tested, it will handle IPsec vpn the best. The Surfbeam ku setup might be
equal when thoroughly tested, and it's a pretty safe bet that the HughesNet
7700/7000 series will come in third due to higher latency, although better
by far than anything they have offered in the past. Keep in mind that no satellite
internet setup will do a great job at an IPsec vpn tunnel. Expect 50-70% degradation.
The folks needing Voice over IP will get very good results over a iDirect
or Surfbeam setup (by satellite internet standards) and will not be able
to use HughesNet's setup for voip at this time.
Business Internet has improved over the last three years for those who
can't get terrestrial service, but it has limitations that can still provide
plenty of frustration for users. Which setup you choose will depend a great
deal on your needs and budget....to get straight answers and the right
fit for your company, make sure you are talking to a professional who is not "married" to
any of the providers.