Frequently asked questions:
Is Tooway™ right for you?
What is Tooway™?
Tooway™ is Europe’s first affordable satellite broadband product designed for home users. Using the latest hardware and antenna technology we’re able to provide a fairly priced system with hardware from only around £199.99 (or €229.95), and airtime from £24.99 a month (or €29.95) inclusive of UK VAT.

Tooway™ is a bidirectional high speed satellite service for broadband Internet access. Bidirectional means that receive and transmit functions are performed via the satellite; therefore there is no need for telephone line.

What is satellite broadband?

Broadband means, very simply, a high-speed connection to the Internet that’s ‘always on’. It’s called broadband because it has a much larger capacity to receive (and send) data. Providing broadband via satellite means that we bounce your data from your remote location up to and down from the satellite to a point on the ground where there’s very fast and reliable internet connectivity.

Tooway satellite broadband is around 184 times faster than a 56k dial-up modem enabling you to view web content and download files more quickly.

Why is Tooway™ more expensive than wired broadband (ADSL)?

ADSL and similar wired broadband services available from BT and their resellers make use of the existing cheap landline telephone infrastructure that has been in place for many years to deliver ADSL to your premises. All BT has to do to deliver broadband to you is insert a fast internet connection into the telephone exchange, and share it over the phone lines. The downside of this is that the infrastructure is old, in poor condition and incomplete in many areas which is why many people still can’t access ADSL even in urban or city locations.

With satellite broadband, the investment in the satellite and related infrastructure runs into tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of pounds and this has to be factored into the price of the Tooway™ services.

You also need to invest in the hardware for you to be able to take advantage of the satellite technology. The hardware you will be buying is very robust and reliable, and will typically run without maintenance for 5 years +. At £199 that works out at around £40 a year, or £3.30 a month (inc VAT) which most people consider better than not being able to have broadband at all. With airtime starting at around £24.99 a month, we are getting very close to the price charged by many ADSL Internet Service Providers.

We would challenge any UK household of more than 2 people, or a family, that they’d save substantially more than that £40 every year by investing in Tooway™ just by then being able to shop online for their insurances, utilities, holidays – even their weekly shopping and clothes.

There are even websites out there now dedicated to showing you ways to save money by buying online. With a bit of work, we’d hope you’d be able to offset the cost of the airtime as well, and even come out slightly better off financially than if you didn’t have broadband at all.

Once you’ve covered the cost you’ve got all the social, educational and entertainment advantages of broadband.

Only you can decide if having broadband is worth this reasonable investment.

How fast is Tooway™?

Tooway™ offers download speeds of up to 10.2 Mbps and upload speeds at up to 4.1 Mbps. When we say “up to” we mean this is peak speed wherever you live, Tooway™ doesn’t discriminate by location.

The exact ‘speed’ or performance of your Tooway™ connection at any given time will depend on a number of factors many of them outside our control. These include the overall busyness of our network at that precise moment, the overall busyness of the public internet, and the protocol or application you’re using at the time.

Are there any minimum requirements for computers?
Not normally. Any computer (MAC, Windows or Linux OS) with an Ethernet network card can be connected to the satellite modem. No additional hardware or computer software is required. If you connect a suitable wireless router to the satellite modem, you can then use PC’s or smart phones in your home or office wirelessly. We can supply a suitable wireless router with your Tooway system, just tick that option in the order process.

Are email and other services included in the Tooway™ service?
We’ve found that most customers when they come to us already have an email account and email address that they want to keep but if you don’t have an email address, we can help you get one for free.

Tooway™ fully supports webmail like Hotmail, Gmail, MSN and Yahoo. ToowayDirect can recommend you to a partner company to provide a SMTP service if needed. Many email providers will not allow (non web based) email sending from users that do not connect using their connectivity (AOL etc).

If you need email sending services and you use software like Microsoft Outlook to send and receive email you can try using http://www.authsmtp.com if your email provider doesn’t offer this.

Does the satellite service get affected by weather?

The standard dish and mount is designed to withstand 100mph winds. Clouds and showers have little impact on satellite communications. However, torrential rain or snow may cause slight degraded service in extreme conditions as signals are reflected a little by rain. Our systems automatically increase power levels to compensate for these conditions.

Can I use Tooway™ with a wired or wireless network?

Yes, you can use a wired or wireless router to connect your Tooway™ terminal to several PC’s or smart phones in your home. In the near future, you will be able to choose the enhanced Tooway™ set-top-box with integrated router and Wi-Fi interface.

We can supply a wired/wireless router with your Tooway™ at a low additional cost, just select that option in the order process..

Does Tooway™ offer triple-play services?

Tooway™ gives access to satellite television by adding a small piece of equipment to the satellite dish, this will need to be done by a competent installer. This allows both free-to-air and paying channels to be received.

Tooway™ can also support telephone through VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology likeSkype.

Can I play online games with Tooway™?

In principle yes and games that don’t involve fast real-time interaction should work fine on Tooway™, but it is not recommended to play so called “first-person shooter” games. Any kind of combat or game that involves the need for an immediate reaction will not work so well just due to the extra time involved in the trip to the satellite and back that your data has to make.

Can I watch television with Tooway™?

Yes, Tooway™ can receive satellite television through a television feed added on to the satellite dish. The advantage of receiving satellite television is that it does not use your internet connection.

Tooway™ services from Tooway can support UK ‘watch again’ portals like BBC iplayer, Channel 4 OD and ITV Player - if the option for a UK Fixed IP (available late 2011)  is chosen - a UK VPN will allow the downloading of content - but please bear in mind that video content eats your bandwidth allowance !

How do I know if Tooway™ is for me?

If your home or small business is only able to get dial-up internet access, ISDN or slow fixed line broadband (up to 1 Mbps) Tooway™ will provide you with an excellent alternative.

If you are still using dial-up, we don’t need to tell you how frustratingly slow and unpredictable it can be. The latest websites are full of images and video rich content which take ages to download on dial-up.

Tooway™ is designed for a maximum of 6 home users (PC’s/smart phones) only. Its designed primarily as a domestic email and browsing tool. (You can connect more then 6 users, PC’s or smart phone to each Tooway™ connection, but the user experience may suffer).

If you require a business grade connection with support for advanced business applications like IP Sec VPN, Citrix or continual/regular connection to your company’s network at your place of work, corporate resources or databases, Tooway™ is not suitable - YET.. There will be a professional level of service available from September 2011.

Our sales team will be happy to advise you further on this.

How do I choose the Tooway™ service right for me?

Tooway™ offers 4 different monthly service options that vary by overall performance (speed) and also by the volume of data the service handles at peak hi-speed.

Try the volume calculator, this will give you a good idea of which of our Tooway™ services is best suited to you.

When you’ve dialled in your user profile to the volume calculator, just select the most appropriate Tooway™ package for your profile, but don’t worry, you can always upgrade later.

I have slow or flaky fixed line broadband, can Tooway™ help?

Having a slow or unreliable fixed line broadband connection is a common reason for small businesses to buy Tooway™. You can run a satellite based Tooway™ connection alongside your fixed line (ADSL) connection.

We can supply you with a load balancing router which will automatically switch your internet traffic to the satellite when your wired broadband goes down, or load balance between the two connections to give you extra broadband capacity for peak times.

What support and warranty comes with the Tooway™ product?

The equipment is covered by a 1 year full manufacturers “return to base” warranty.

If you have a technical or service issue with your Tooway system, contact us by raising a trouble ticket here

Why should I buy Tooway™ through Tooway?

Tooway has developed its Tooway™ product working with its partners Eutelsat and Skylogic. We’ve added a few extras to our Tooway solution which mean our Tooway proposition stands out from other companies who may say they can offer you a similar solution.

 
We also offer you:-

Industry leading customer support with secure online ordering, billing, and invoicing
The option to try-before-you-buy. By visiting an installation in your country / region
Our “Refer-a-friend” scheme which means you can get your Tooway™ airtime for free.
A fair and unambiguous contract
The best prices in Europe with the ability to order and pay in £ Sterling or € Euros
Clear, consumer orientated pricing with prices shown including VAT
Professional installation with Certified Installers and Technical Support that’s the best in the industry.
How does Tooway™ compare to dial-up?
If you are still using dial-up, or have an unreliable / slow ADSL connection we don’t need to tell you how frustratingly slow and unpredictable it can be. The latest websites are full of images and video rich content which takes an age to download.

If you opt for Tooway™ you’ll be able to save hours of your time, and you will be able to access the latest feature rich websites in record time.

Compare Tooway™ to your old dial-up

Key features

• Tooway Dial-Up
• Available virtually anywhere
• Fast Download Speeds (up to 10.2 Mbps)
• Fast Upload Speeds (up to 4.1 Mbps)
• Always-on connection to the internet
• No software to load
• Dedicated connection/instant access (no logging in or out)
• Professional installation
• No phone line needed
• Can I use Tooway™ as a failover or back-up internet connection?
• Are there any limits to how much data I can download or upload?
• Not with tooway but there maybe with other satellite companies. We’ve designed our Tooway™ offering to be fair. If you’re a very light user you pay much less per month for your airtime subscription than a heavy user. You can use our ‘volume calculator’ to dial in your likely usage profile and then you can see which monthly subscription suits you best.
   
• If you need to send and receive more data than our Tooway 10+ service talk to our Customer Service team and they’ll tell you how.
   
• If you need to send and receive more data than the Tooway account you’ve chosen allows, you maybe slowed down slightly by the Fair Access Policy (FAP). At this point you can either upgrade to the next service level, or buy a volume booster token from us just for that month or wait until your usage level falls below the FAP.
   
• At no point will you be cut off, and shortly you’ll be able to monitor your monthly data usage on line via our website.
   
• How does the Fair Access Policy Work (FAP)?
• In order for everyone on the Tooway™ platform to get a good reliable service, we operate a Fair Access Policy (FAP).
   
• We monitor the usage of all the users on the platform to ensure a good quality user experience for all. What this means is that during peak times, extremely heavy users of the service may find their connection throttled slightly to ensure that everyone gets equitable access.
   
• This table shows how your usage will be assessed and the data levels which if exceeded may lead to some throttling. Between the hours of 12 midnight and 6.00 CET these volumes are doubled before any throttling will occur.
  
  Volume
  Tooway 10 Mb – Monthly Service Options
  Time Period Tooway 6 Tooway 8 Tooway 10 Tooway 10+
  1 hr 0.5 GB 1 GB 1.5 GB 3 GB
  4 hr 1 GB 2 GB 3 GB 4 GB
  1 week 2 GB 4 GB 6 GB 12 GB
  4 week 4 GB 8 GB 13 GB 25 GB
  Can I get my Tooway™ hardware for free?
  Homes and small businesses in Wales who are outside the reach of traditional fixed line broadband, or who have poor broadband speed, can get a grant from the Welsh Assembly Government which pays the set-up costs of Tooway™ including the hardware and installation. The subsidy is called The Broadband Support Scheme. Talk to our Customer Service team and they’ll tell you how to apply. .
  
  Can I get my Tooway™ airtime for free?
  Yes. We operate a referral scheme called ‘Refer-A-Friend’. An increasing number of customers in remote locations are using the Refer-A-Friend scheme to get their ongoing monthly satellite airtime for free. This works well because we often find that if there’s one home in a rural not-spot without broadband, there’s usually several others in the vicinity.
  
  Once you have your new Tooway™ system up and running, if you introduce friends or neighbours to us who subsequently buy Tooway™ as well, for every one you introduce we’ll give you a month’s airtime for free!
  
  12 friends or neighbours signing up a year, and you get your airtime for free!
  
  Can I try the Tooway™ solution before I buy it?
  We always happy to welcome customers to visit a REAL installation in Gloucestershire - or to contact one of our satisfied clients in your country.
  
  You can bring a laptop and plug in and try your own applications or feel free to browse using one of ours. Just make sure you let us know when you’re planning on coming so that we can book you a slot and get the kettle on!
  
  If you’re not local to us, we can put you in contact with one of our partners - who can demonstrate Tooway for you.
  
  How long is the Tooway™ airtime contract?
  We offer you a fair and unambiguous 12 month contract and clear, consumer orientated pricing with prices shown including VAT.
  
  Your Tooway™ Installation
  Can I install Tooway™ myself?
  We know that other Tooway disties and wholesalers say you can self-install..if you are a competent DIYer - but we don't recommend this option. We can offer installation by one of our Certified Installers or if you wish to use your own local installer, we’re happy for you to do that. If you decide to go ahead with buying Tooway™, there’s more information available during the order process on what information you need to give your installer and what level or experience the installer needs to have to complete the installation to the required standard.
  
  Do I need a telephone line?
  No, Tooway™ does not require any cable or phone lines and Tooway™ supports free internet phone calls via Skype. However you should be aware that free VoIP services like Skype aren’t suitable for making emergency calls like 999 and so don’t compromise your safety by leaving internet phone calls as your only means of communications if you live in a remote location.
  
  Do I require planning permission or other permits?
  Though conditions may vary slightly, normally planning permission is not required for the antenna you will be supplied with, provided you don’t have other dishes on your building. If your building is a protected historical building official permits may be required. Most issues with planning (or if you have a listed building) can be overcome by installing the antenna on a brick (not-listed) outbuilding or down at ground level.
  
  It is your responsibility to understand and comply with the rules and regulations regarding the placement of equipment on the building you occupy. We will try to guide you where possible.
  
  Where is the dish best mounted?
  You may want to read further advice on installation. The dish must be mounted on a solid brick or concrete surface and be absolutely rigid to obtain good signal strength. Unlike with satellite TV antennas which are “receive only” movement of 1 – 2 mm can make a huge difference to the signal on this sophisticated equipment. Mounting on the wooden cladding of barns or fences for instance is not satisfactory, as when the wood expands and contracts with seasonal temperature changes, the dish will move an unacceptable amount and your signal would be degraded.
  
  If you are planning to install the antenna at ground level, you could get a local builder to create a small concrete raft or plinth for the antenna to mount on. Our engineers can do this for you, but it will involve extra costs.
  
  You need to think that the cable run between the dish and the indoor modem is a maximum of 30 metres and so your location will be influenced by this. If you need to use the service more than 30m from the antenna, you can lengthen the cable run by continuing onwards from the modem using CAT5/6 Ethernet cable from the modem to your PC or router.
  
  How do I know if I have line of sight to the Tooway™ satellite?
  In the UK, Tooway™ usually requires line of site to the South South East. We use the new Ka Sat satellite for our Tooway customers. Ka Sat’s official position in the sky is at 9 degrees East. This translates to about 168 degrees magnetic.
  
  If you can see a Sky digital dish nearby, this points roughly South East. We have a number of mounting solutions that can deal with sites where line of site to the satellite is awkward. The satellites we use are based over the equator.
  
  If you’re still not sure about the line of site to the satellite, talk to our customer service team and they’ll give you more information on how you can check this.
  
  What does a Standard Tooway™ Installation consist of?
  The standard installation allowed for in the installation fee is as follows: mounting on a standard brick or block wall at a height reachable on a standard double extension ladder (not above 4 metres), and not more than 30m from the proposed location of the modem.
  
  Its useful to mount the antenna above pedestrian and vehicular traffic height (so these won’t interfere with the signal, but not so high that you can’t gently sweep any snow off the dish with a broom in winter!
  
  If you plan to mount the antenna at ground level, or on a flat roof you will need a further bracket called a non-penetrating roof mount and this will involve extra cost.
  
  Installation prices are estimated for UK mainland only. If extra costs apply due to your location, we will notify you at outset. Ferry crossings, accommodation, flights and living expenses may be charged extra if necessary.
  
  What happens if/when I move?
  Moving the antenna/dish to another location, whether on the same building or otherwise, is obviously possible if you move. You must notify us if you plan to move house or premises as we have to complete licensing checks for the new location with OFCOM.( UK)  If you don’t do this and the equipment interferes with other licensed equipment at another site you could be liable for a fine. We deal with the obtaining of OFCOM clearance for your initial installation site at outset. This is one of the many things we do in the phase between when you order and you receive your equipment.
  
  Please give consideration to the location of your dish to minimise the likelihood of requiring a move. On subscribing to the service you are required to contract the service for a minimum of 12 months.
  
  What equipment do I need?
  All you need is a satellite mini-dish and a Tooway™ set-top-box. No additional software needs to be installed on your computer to get internet access via Tooway™.
  
  Technical Questions
  Why does ping give a slow response on Tooway™?
  The type of data packet that ping uses is not considered ‘priority traffic’ by our Network Management System and therefore if the network is busy, it won’t accelerate or may even drop the pings you send. Therefore you will see a much slower response than for instance HTTP traffic which is considered a priority.
  
  Ping is not a reliable method of analysing the performance of satellite broadband systems.
  
  What satellites do ToowayDirect services use?
  Our systems use a variety of satellites, but most locations in Europe are covered on Ka band by the new Eutelsat Ka Sat high-speed satellite. We will offer you the best satellite solution we can for your needs. We believe that we are unique in offering this service.
  
  How can I check what download/upload performance I am getting?
  “Speed” is a subjective measure of performance. Typical “speed test” websites on the internet are not designed to check satellite based connections. They tend to add the satellites natural latency into the calculation of data over time and come up with an inaccurate result which will be inevitably poorer than the true performance you are actually receiving. Contact us if you think you have a genuine performance issue. WE recommend www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk
  
  Overall performance of the service will vary at different times of the day depending on how busy the network and the public internet is and how many users are online at the same time as you. Typically the network will be 40% less busy after 18.30 CET and before 08.30 CET.
  
  Are there any limitations of Tooway™ I should be aware of?
  Very few, but satellite technology introduces limitations in certain applications. Unlike some of our competitors, our packages accept direct connection to Macintosh, Linux, Unix or Windows based operating systems. Tooway™ Satellite Broadband packages are not suitable for:
  
  Some remote control software
  Heavy uplink traffic, such as Web or FTP hosting
  Uploading streaming video or professional CCTV monitoring
  IPSec VPN applications (SSL VPN applications like online banking and secure websites are supported)
  Real time online gaming (never really practical on satellite based connections)
  Are there limits to how much data I can transfer?
  The different data volume amounts for each service level are described elsewhere in the FAQ’s above under the Question “How does the Fair Access Policy Work (FAP)?
  
  If you exceed these amounts per month, you will find that during busy times your connection may be throttled (slowed down) by our Network Management System. The more you exceed your selected data volume, the more the connection will be throttled.
  
  Data limits are calculated on a 28 day sliding window. You can upgrade to the next data level at the next monthly anniversary when you make your payment but you must advise us you wish to upgrade at least 30 days in advance, or buy a 1GB temporary upgrade token.
  
  Will I need to buy any extra software?
  As our satellite broadband connections are ‘always on’, We suggest you install quality antivirus software. For free antivirus software, you could try AVG (see http://free.avg.com/).
  
  You will also need software as for any other service such as your Internet Browser and Email Client Software. Commercial and free packages are widely available.
  
  I’ve heard of latency issues with satellite – what does this mean?
  Due to the distance travelled by the signal to/from your computer and the Internet Hub via the satellite, some older satellite technologies exhibited a noticeable lag between communications. Our Satellite Broadband services employ the very latest software and hardware techniques to minimise this lag, including a Performance Enhancing Proxy (PEP) and web acceleration. In use, when a web page is requested for example, the hardware strips out surplus protocol data and requests, and retrieves the page in fewer larger ‘pieces’, than a typical dialup connection for example, which assembles the page piece by piece. Similarly this technique is ideal for handling large file or email downloads.
  
  If ultimate speed is important to you we can sell you a further software acceleration tool which you install on your PC which will further improve the user experience.
  
  Can I fax over the service?
  You can obviously use email based faxed services like Efax over the service and these work very well. You cannot connect a fax machine to the service.
  
  Who handles the platform operations?
  Located in the SkyPark teleport in Turin (Italy) the platform and hub operations for the Tooway™ network are operated by Eutelsat’s broadband subsidiary Skylogic. Skylogic employs more than 50 people on site and operates 14 hubs using capacity on eight Eutelsat satellites. Dedicated staff will work at the teleport to maintain the highest availability of service.
  
  Can I use Tooway™ to connect to my work via VPN?
  Although there’s nothing technically to stop you connecting to your companies corporate VPN with Tooway™ there are some things you need to understand.
  
  Check with your IT department at work and find out if your company’s VPN is an IPSec type of VPN. If it is, these often require a static, public IP address to function.
  
  If your corporate VPN does need a fixed, public IP Tooway™ is not ( currently) suitable as a method of connection. WE should have a professional option available in September 2011
  
  
  NB Coverage: we prefer our clients to use THIS map - not currently used by most Tooway sellers - as it is more accurate.. please note that if you fall outside the green line you should not expect Tooway to work with a 75cm dish - a 1.2m dish ( with stronger 4W transmitter) is due September 2011 - prices / availability will be posted when we have stock.