Further advice on installation

Further advice on installations and dish location for Tooway.

There are a number of important physical factors to consider when looking at installing satellite broadband equipment at your home or site.

With our guidance, you need to select a potential place to locate the mini-dish on your building.

When choosing a potential site for the mini-dish at your home or office you need to consider:-

1. The likely location of the indoor unit/modem which will offer your satellite service, the cable run cannot be more than 25 metres between the dish and the indoor unit, and you will probably want the indoor unit close to your PC or router. You will therefore need a spare mains socket at this indoor location and a place to put the modem.
2. That there must always be clear line of site from the dish to the satellite or your service maybe degraded or stop working. Consider if you are planning the installation in the winter how much foliage will be on local trees in summer as will affect the signal if this interferes with the line of site. This tool helps you easily check the line of site.

If you want to locate your PC further away from the dish than 25m, obviously you could consider a wireless network to take the service into other parts of your building, or maybe you could install an Ethernet (networking) cable between the place where you want your PC and the satellite modem.

If you are considering a Tooway system and you are in Europe, the satellite we will use will be the groundbreaking new Ka Sat.

General guidance notes

• The antenna shouldn’t be mounted too high on the building. If there is a significant fall of snow, you may wish to use a broom to very gently sweep away any excess snow to maintain a clear signal. (In any case, the dish cannot be installed beyond the reach of a standard double extension ladder unless you are happy to pay for the hire of a cherry picker or aerial work platform to assist our engineer in performing the installation safely). The dish shouldn’t be mounted too low such that vehicular or pedestrian traffic could momentarily interrupt the signal.
• Our engineers cannot climb across pitch roofs or outbuildings to install the antenna.
• Installations on flat roofs are possible with the use of a non-penetrating roof mount, but this will add £129.00 (inc VAT) to the installation cost.
• Installation on wooden buildings or cladded surfaces is not recommended as the surfaces can flex in varying weather conditions which can impair the signal reception.
• Installation can be performed on a steel post concreted into the ground, but this will involve extra cost of £185.00 (inc VAT). This form of mounting is called a King post and the engineer obviously has to make a separate visit in advance of the main installation to concrete the post in.
• This type of mounting is particularly suitable for customers who are worried about the cosmetic look of the dish on their home as the dish can be mounted down at ground level out of sight.
• Installation at ground level is quite acceptable providing line of sight is OK, and your selected location at ground level won’t be affected by vehicular or pedestrian traffic which could momentarily interrupt the signal.
• A standard installation (as defined as within the standard installation cost) includes dish mounting on a standard wall mount to a concrete, brick or stone wall, not above 4 metres, within 30 metres of the indoor unit, and not above the height of a standard double extension ladder. Chimney stacks are not normally a good place to site the dish.
• A few digital photographs of the site and the line of site emailed to us can be useful if you need further advice from us on dish location.
• If you have confirmed to us during the order process that line of sight to the satellite is OK, and we get to your site to perform the install, and trees or buildings obstruct the line of sight to the satellite (meaning we can’t complete the installation without a second visit, say, after trees have been trimmed) you will be liable for a second installation charge.
• If you aren’t sure about the line of site, a ToowayDirect Engineer can visit your site prior to installation or order to carry out a line of site test and offer advice on dish location for a further £99.00 (inc VAT).