In its November edition, Germany’s independent consumer organization group the Stiftung Warentest performed a number of tests on satellite and mobile Internet access and gave Filiago and Star DSL, service providers and distribution partners of the satellite-based broadband service ASTRA2Connect, with high marks.

 

ASTRA2Connect scored the overall grade of “GOOD” (1.8), and in the subcategory quality of the Internet connection, both ASTRA2Connect providers were the only ones to be rated “EXCELLENT.”

 

Leading European satellite operator SES (News - Alert) ASTRA, one of Newtec’s major Sat3Play customers, offers access to high-speed Internet with its interactive satellite broadband service ASTRA2Connect. The Sat3Play broadband terminal is a state-of-the-art, high-performance equipment package designed for a true broadband experience over satellite. It implements highly efficient technologies, such as DVB-S2 modulation, and IP traffic enhancement techniques such as TCP/IP acceleration and pre-fetching as well as encryption.

 

Norbert Willems, managing director of ASTRA Broadband Services, and Serge Van Herck, CEO of Newtec (News - Alert), issued a joint statement congratulating the winners: “We are very proud of the Stiftung Warentest’s quality judgment. We now also have confirmation from an independent party that we are offering the highest quality satellite broadband access solution.”

 

Willems added, “It has always been our goal to offer households in rural areas the possibility to have access to fast and easy broadband Internet.”

 

For the test, the respective satellite-based broadband services were compared and tested with a speed of 2.048 kbit/s in the categories Internet connection, handling, installation and versatility as well as deficiencies in the general terms and conditions. According to Newtec, only ASTRA2Connect distribution partners Filiago and StarDSL scored in the evaluation and were classified as "a real substitution for areas without DSL.”

 

The ASTRA2Connect satellite technology is based on Newtec’s Sat3Play technology and was launched in early 2007. With speeds of up to 4 Mbits/s, ASTRA2Connect offers reliable, always-on, interactive broadband Internet access, especially for areas deprived of or with limited terrestrial broadband access. The customer premises equipment – a satellite modem, iLNB and satellite dish – is delivered with a “Point&Play” tool for easy self-installation.