OpenSky Satellite Internet Frequently Asked Questions

1.1.1 - What is OPENSKY™ ?

OPENSKY™ is the best broadband satellite system for multimedia applications yet implemented. Developed by EUTELSAT, Europe's leading satellite operator, the service transmits multimedia data to a DVB card installed in your personal computer, via a satellite dish. Add OPENSKY™ to your computer and you will receive exciting new entertainment, such as video-streaming and Web TV, together with fast Internet access and file transfer, plus the capability to create your own broadband network community.

1.1.2 - What does 'Open' mean ?

The word 'Open' indicates that the platform is open to the common standards (e.g. DVB/IP, DVB/RCS, TCP/IP), and accepts contribution from a great number of external partners. Each partner can use OPENSKY™ technology to deliver multimedia services to his users.

1.1.3 - What is Eutelsat ?

Eutelsat is one of the world leaders of satellite communications. For more information, visit the official site at www.eutelsat.net or www.eutelsat.com

1.1.4 - What do I need to receive OPENSKY™ services ?

In order to receive OPENSKY™ services, you need a PC, a sufficiently large diameter dish (normally 60-90 cm) pointed to satellite W3 at 7 degrees East, and any type of standard DVB receiver device (usually a PCI card or an USB box). There is no official "Eutelsat PCI card".

1.1.5 - Do I need a very powerful PC ?

Having a powerful PC is not a requisite at first, however most multimedia applications (video streaming, push reception) work better with a powerful processor and a lot of free disk space. We recommend, as a rule of thumb, at least a Pentium III processor, running at 500 MHz or higher frequency; 128 MB RAM or more and a hard disk drive with at least 1 GB of free space.

1.1.6 - Why do I have to use a dual feed ?

If you want to receive 2 satellites at same time with a fixed antenna, you need 2 LNBs: one for each satellite. OPENSKY™ uses the satellite Eutelsat W3 at 7 degrees East, so you have one LNB for 7 degrees East and a second one for another satellite if you want to receive other channels (e.g., TV channels on Hotbird at 13 degrees East). You can also use a single motorized antenna.

1.1.7 - What is DiSEqC ?

DiSEqC is a technological solution, developed and copyrighted by Eutelsat, to enable a single receiver to operate two LNBs simultaneously. This is used, for example, if you have two LNBs (pointing two different satellites) and the signal is convoyed to a single satellite receiver. If you use reception on 7 degrees only for PC services you do not need DiSEqC.

1.1.8 - What is the FEC ?

The FEC is Forward Error Correction. It is a way to correct errors during the transmission. A FEC of ¾ means that 75% of the bits represents useful data.

1.1.9 - What is the Symbol Rate ?

A symbol is a unique signal state of a modulation scheme used on transmission link, which conveys one or more information bits to the receiver. The symbol rate is the number of symbols transmitted every second.

1.1.10 - What is a transponder ?

A transponder is a satellite system that receives data from a terrestrial station and broadcasts them to another terrestrial station. It can be used as synonymous of a satellite itself.

1.1.11 - What is a LNB ?

Low Noise Block Converter; it's a device placed on the focus of a satellite dish which amplifies the incoming signal and converts the frequencies used by a satellite receiver.

1.1.12 - What are Push services ?

Push is a service that, following a defined program of the service provider, allows you to receive a large amount of data, which are selected and stored in the hard disk. With the Push you don't need to connect to the internet. A data folder is programmed many times a day and you can choose among the different times of retransmission.

1.1.13 - Is it possible to receive e-mail off-line ?

One of the future function of OPENSKY™ service is the off-line mail reception and reception notification.

1.1.14 - Is it true than I can use Hotbird 5 on 13 degrees East for OPENSKY™ ?

The OPENSKY™services are not available on Hotbird satellites.

1.1.15 - If I use OPENSKY™ services, what would my transfer rates be ?

The download rate depends on the system load and it is up to 160 KB/sec for a single connection.

1.2 - Internet connection with OPENSKY™

1.2.1 - Can I use your system with the ADSL / CABLE / LAN ?

You can use ADSL or cable with OPENSKY™ but the IP address that you see on the "SatLogin Interface" page should be the public IP assigned to your computer by your ISP. If it's not yours it means that you are behind a proxy or a masquerading router. To configure Internet Explorer, if you use ADSL, you'll have to use the same parameters as if you were using a modem (proxy server).

1.2.2 - Can I use OPENSKY™ with my current ISP ?

You can use OPENSKY™ with your ISP. In fact, you will use your ISP to contact our proxy but all thedata that you requested will be received through your DVB card. You'll have to check if the IP address that you see on the "SatLogin Interface" page is the address of your current PPP connection.

1.2.3 - The Ip address shown on the SatLogin page is different from the IP address assigned to my computer by the ISP

It is possible that your ISP use a proxy or masquerade your computer to let you access to the Internet. In his case you can use the OPENSKY™ VPN connection. Ask to your reseller to have more information on VPN connection.

1.2.4 - Should I connect through a particular ISP ?

We don't have a private dial-up provider so you must keep your ISP.

1.2.5 - I am behind an ISDN router. Can I use your system ?

You can use it with OPENSKY™ but the IP address that you see on the "SatLogin Interface" page should be yours, else you can use the OPENSKY(TM) VPN connection if your router are enable to do it.

1.2.6 - Do you use VPN ?

OPENSKY™ use a VPN connection to make the SatLogin where the computer with the DVB card don’t have a public IP address. The Unicast service is always sent us in the Eutelsat Proxy but it this case you have to set it in the VPN connection and not in dial-up connection.

1.2.7 - Do you use Socks 5 ?

OPENSKY™ provide a socks proxy that permit to the user to use all the internet protocols with programs that support socks connection (i.e. peer2peer, mail, newsgroup, …).

1.2.8 - Why do I need to connect to my ISP ?

Your parabolic dish is able to receive but not to send data to the satellite. When you browse the internet, you have to send information (i.e. the URL you are requesting). Even while downloading a file, the TCP/IP protocol requires that your computer send “acknowledgements”. Anyway, you need a return channel, and the simplest return channel is the telephone connection with your ISP.The possibility of a complete connection (without the return channel via modem) will be given as soon as a new technology called DVB-RCS (Return Channel Satellite) will be available on our satellites.

1.2.9 - I have many ISP accounts... which one to use ?

Any ISP is equally good in principle. However, you might find that some ISPs have a better connection towards our servers. This means that your requested acknowledgements can reach us faster. You have to experiment to see if an ISP offers a better connectivity than another. Remember that in Internet Explorer you have to set the proxy settings for each ISP connection.

1.3 - DVB card compatibility

1.3.1 - I have a Telemann, Technisat, Technotrend, Hauppauge, Siemens, Pentamedia, etc. card, compatible ?

As rule of thumb, all DVB-IP compliant cards will work, but not all will be able to support all OPENSKY™ services. Otherwise, you can't use a satellite receiver, you have to buy a DVB IP card that you will install on your PC.

1.3.2 - Can I use a USB DVB box instead of a DVB card ?

Yes, you can.

1.4 - DVB card sales

1.4.1 - Do you sell DVB cards ?

We are not selling DVB cards. All we can do is to advise you to buy a standard DVB card like Telemann, Broadlogic, Technisat, Technotrend, Hauppauge, Siemens, Pentamedia, etc. You can buy a card by Internet or ask your computer reseller for more details.

1.4.2 - How much does a DVB card cost ?

The price of a standard DVB IP card is around 100Euros.

2- Configuration

2.1 - DVB card parameters

2.1.1 - What are the parameters for the Unicast ?

The parameters for the satellite Eutelsat W3 7 degrees East are:

Frequency: 11.2623 GHz (11262 MHz) - 27,5 MSymb - Pol: Horizontal - FEC: 2/3 – The oscillation frequencies for the LNB depend on your installation. Most installations have “Universal” LNB, which has low frequency: 9.750 GHz (97500 MHz), high frequency: 10.600 GHz (106000 MHz). To receive data you must also enable the PID which is communicated at the creation of your account.

2.1.2 - What is a MAC address ?

The MAC address is a six-byte number which is usually represented as six hexadecimal bytes separated by '-'. For example 00-d0-a1-b2-c3-22. It uniquely identifies a network interface card. In our case, it uniquely identifies your satellite card (which is seen by the operation system as a network card). A MAC address is built like this: 00-d0-a1 is the code of the card manufactor. The last numbers XX-XX-XX represent the last 6 numbers or letters of the serial number of your DVB card.

You need to communicate this address to our serves (upon inscription) to receive data from satellite. If you ever change your satellite card, you must update the MAC information.

2.1.3 - How can I know my MAC address ?

Execute the command “winipcfg” in MS-DOS Prompt in Win95, Win98 or WinME. For all Windows platforms the command “ipconfig /all” can be executed and the value to consider is “Physical Address”. The MAC address can also be obtained by the application distributed by the card vendor.

2.1.4 - Which MAC address option do I have to choose: build IP from MAC, use ISP IP or use real MAC ?

Each data packet that you receive by satellite in Unicast has got a destination address. This destination is identified by the MAC address of your DVB card. So you will have to choose "use real MAC".

2.1.5 May I use a different OS than Windows (Linux, Mac) ?

If you have a DVB card that is supported by Linux (drivers), you can use OPENSKY(TM) for the Unicast Service.In the near future, the multicast (Net TV) will also be available. At the moment the streaming is only available for the OS that can use Windows Media Format.At our knowledge, currently there are no DVB receiver devices supported by Apple Macintosh.

2.2 - Unicast steps

2.2.1 - I do not receive any data by satellite.

If you do not receive data by satellite for the Unicast Service, please follow these steps:

Maybe the problem that you have is because of an IP address wrong configuration. The IP address that you see on the "SatLogin Interface" page should be yours. If it is not yours, it means that you are behind a proxy or a router. To use the Unicast with OPENSKY™ you need to send data to connect to our server <https://sdr.eutelsat.net> with the IP address of your machine (where the DVB card is installed). As written in the OPENSKY™ Guide that you received with your loginname and password, please follow these steps:

1- set the proxy 193.251.135.100 port 8080, excluding the sdr.eutelsat.net, in your browser in the dial-up connection

2- connect to https://sdr.eutelsat.net: loginname + password

3- be sure that the IP address displayed on the SatLogin page is yours and NOT your ISP's PROXY

4- if it is your IP address you can login.

5- right now, all your requests are received by the proxy and the data is sent by satellite on the PID 3xxx that your provider give to you: it may be different, check in your registration confirmation.

7- when you finish the satellite browsing don't forget to disconnect from the SatLogin Page and to remove the proxy for a classic browsing.

2.2.2 - What will I do with the REG file that I received with my Login and password ?

Double-click on it, or right-click on it and choose “Merge”. This will change the TCP windows size to permit you to download at more than 20 KB/s under some versions of Windows98 which don’t do it automatically.

2.2.3 - How can I know my IP address ?

Windows 95/98: Start Menu -- Run (winipconfig) - select PPP adapter. Windows 95/98/2000/NT: Open a DOS windows - execute ipconfig - check in “PPP adapter” if the IP address displayed on the SatLogin page is present.

2.2.4 - How to logout correctly from OPENSKY™ ?

You just have to disconnect from the page: <https://sdr.eutelsat.net> You have to insert your login and password, Operation: disconnect

2.3 - Multicast parameters

2.3.1 - What will I do with the NSC files ?

Each NSC file represents a TV channel encoded in MPEG-4 and sent in Multicast mode by satellite. You need Windows Media Player 7 (or 6.4 under Windows NT) with the latest codecs to read it. You will have to enable the PIDs for the Multicast (see the attached file with your loginname and password). If you don’t have the appropriate codecs, they will automatically be downloaded by Windows Media Player (thus you will need an Internet connection). We currently use Windows Media Video and Audio codecs v8.

2.3.2 - What are the PIDs for the Multicast ?

The PIDs for the Multicast are given in the OPENSKY™ guide that you received with your account parameters at the moment the multicast PID are:2001, 2004, 2010, 2401, 2410).

3 - Coverage area

3.1 - I can receive perfectly the signal from Eutelsat W3 but I do not live in Italy.

Eutelsat W3 cover Europe, North Africa, Middle East. You can find a foot print of the coverage on www.macrosat.com

4 - Commercial matters

4.1 - Prices requests

4.1.1 - What are the prices for OPENSKY™ ?

Eutelsat does not directly sell OPENSKY™ subscriptions. For subscriptions, prices and special offers, please refer to our service providers that you can find on:http://www.macrosat.com/opensky-Price.html

4.2 - Resellers requests

4.2.1 - I would like to be a dealer of OPENSKY™ services.

On the site www.eutelsat.net you will find a form to compile and you will be contacted by the Commercial department.

5- New parameters

5.1 - Update parameters

5.1.1 - I will change my DVB card, can I send you the new MAC address ?

If you change your DVB card, send to your reseller an e-mail from your declared e-mail address with your login, the old MAC address and the new one.

5.1.2 - My e-mail address changed, can you change it on your database ?

If you change your e-mail address, send to your reseller an e-mail with your login and your new e-mail address.

5.2 - Lost parameters

5.2.1 - I lost my login and password.

If you have lost your parameters, send to your reseller an e-mail with the e-mail address that you gave on the form and your MAC address.

6 - Miscellaneous

6.1 - The satellite card

Satellite card is needed to receive data from the satellite and allow processing operations. Actually, a great number of cards exists which conform to the DVB/IP encapsulation standard.

These cards are usually PCI cards which must be inserted into a free slot inside your computer. The external connector must be connected to the dish, pointed at 7 degrees East. You can find the list of OPENSKY™ Compliant card on: http://www.eutelsat.net/needfaq/dvb.html

The satellite receiver can also be an external USB box, connected to the computer by a USB cable. Notice that the transfer rate of the USB port can represent a problem if you select too many channels.

There is currently no cards supported for Apple Macintosh. This is due to the lack of DVB devices for such a platform, not to any limitation of OPENSKY™. To use a Mac with satellite, you are forced to use a satellite gateway which retransmits satellite content on a LAN, and use the Ethernet socket on the Mac.

6.2 - The cabling

Notice that you may find some problems if you use your dish both for normal TV and for computer use: if the TV is listening on a particular polarization, the computer cannot listen on the other. The ideal solution is to have an LNB with two independent outputs: one is sent to TV, the other to computer.

However, most TV channels are at 13 degrees East, while the satellite position for OPENSKY™ is at 7 degrees East. In this case, you will have two LNBs, each one used exclusively by one application.

The problem remains that, using the computer, you cannot use services which are broadcasts on different transponders (i.e., different frequencies or polarization). At the moment all services are broadcast on the same transponder, but this could change in the future as the capacity of each transponder is limited to about 40 Mb/s.

6.3 - Configuring the satellite card

The satellite card is configured through software produced by the manufactor of the card, so the details of configuration will vary.

6.4 - Configuring the browser proxy

The browser requires special configuration in order to receive data from the satellite. In particular, after the SatLogin process, one must use the proxy proxy.eutelsat.net on port 8080. However, the proxy must not be used to access the SatLogin pages themselves.

EXPLORER: The configuration can be done in different ways.:

Totally manual configuration Configure the browser to use proxy 193.251.135.100 on port 8080, for all protocols and 193.251.135.110 port 1080 for socks, except the site: sdr.eutelsat.net. However, with this configuration, the user cannot browse the Internet before the SatLogin and after the SatLogout, unless he deselects the proxy configuration.

Automatic proxy script: is no longer used, because it creates problems for off-line use of your browser. A very frequent error with Explorer is to set the proxy not on the currently active connection. Look carefully to identify the default connection and the connection you are actually using.

NETSCAPE: the settings for Netscape are changed automatically by a JavaScript routine at the moment of SatLogin and SatLogout. Each time the browser will open a window where you must “grant” the permission to modify the settings. In order to overcome this:

– in the SatLogin welcome page, click on the Eutelsat Certificate link and follow the procedure to add a “trusted CA” to your browser. This CA is the one which guarantees the validity of SSL server's certificate and of applet's programmer certificate;

– when the window opens to grant the rights to the JavaScript applet, select the button “Remember this decision”.

At the moment of SatLogin, the current proxy settings are saved into a cookie, and the settings are changed in order to use correct proxy config. At the moment of SatLogout, the settings are reset to their old state (normally “direct connection to the Internet”), and you can continue browsing with your normal ISP connection.

Notice that if you close Netscape without disconnecting first from the SatLogin page, the setting will remain on “proxy config” and you may experience problems the next time you restart Netscape. If you do not want to rely on automatic configuration, you can revert to one of the two manual configurations described above (Netscape users must select “Remember this decision” and click “Deny” when the applet asks for permissions).

6.5 - Configuring Windows Media Player

The default installation of Windows Media Player is able to receive video streams from Internet. Note, however, that on first use the WMPlayer might want to connect to the Internet to download the latest codec. So, if you are configuring a computer for other people, it's recommended that you try the video streams once, to force WMPlayer to download codecs if necessary. Due to Microsoft policy, it is not possible to install codecs offline.

It is also suggested to change the following parameter.

WMPlayer 6.4, in View ® Options ® Advanced ® Streaming Media ® Change ® Buffering, put “1” in the field “Buffer ...seconds of data”.

WMPlayer 7, go into Tools ® Options ® Performance ® Network Buffering and put “1” in “Buffer ...seconds”.

Pay attention to remove the Flag from Always dial up the connection from internet explorer, else the system will always require to make the dial up connection even if it is not required from multicast contents.

6.6 - Common problems

6.6.1 - Missing PIDs

The most recurrent cause of problem is that the correct PIDs are not inserted in the list of active PID on the satellite card. Please remember that you must enter all the PIDs used for multicast transmission (video streaming and other push services), plus the PID used for interactive browsing. Once again, look carefully to be sure that the PID that is shown on the SatLogin page is correctly inserted in the active list. Notice that the “Login OK” page is sent by terrestrial way, so you will receive it anyway.

6.6.2 - Wrong MAC

Make sure that the MAC of your satellite card is identical to the MAC shown during the SatLogin process. The MAC is composed by six hexadecimal bytes separated by dashes, for example 00-34-56-78-9A-BC.

6.6.3 - Too many PIDs

If you choose too many PIDs in the satellite card configuration, you may experience problems in streaming applications. For example, on a Broadlogic 1030 card, when the selected PIDs contain more than about 6 Mbit/s traffic, the WMedia streams begin to pause every few seconds (even if in the 'statistic' panel there is no packet loss).

6.6.4 - Forced logout

If you are connected, and at the moment the proxy stops responding, then maybe you have been disconnected from the OPENSKY™ platform. This may occur either because you have been inactive during a long period of time (such as 2 hours).

6.6.5 - Missing logout

If you do not logout correctly from the OPENSKY™ platform, the proxy setting of your browser might be wrong for the normal use of your computer. You can verify this looking at the current settings of your browser. To avoid this problem, always go to the SatLogin page to make the "logout'' operation.

6.6.6 - ISP problems

Sometimes problems are generated by ISP not correctly working. For example, the ISP may not correctly resolve internet names. Name resolution is needed to access the SatLogin page, and if you use a manual proxy configuration using names. Certain ISPs may forbid connections on port 8080, needed to reach the proxy. Some ISP allow only connections on port 80, which is the most used for web browsing.

6.6.7 - Transparent proxy

Certain ISPs use transparent proxying, which is not compatible with the SatLogin process. Some ISPs cut the connections after some delay (e.g., 20 minutes) because they believe that the user is not receiving anything from its internet connection. In this case, you have to leave an open connection to the internet using the modem (e.g., have a radio channel playing in RealAudio). If your round-trip time is too high (more that 400ms), this usually means that the connection offered by your ISP is very bad; try to use another ISP. A round-trip too high (and a bug in Microsoft Windows TCP stack) will stop you to have good performances.

6.6.8 - Proxy problems

When you connect to 193.251.135.100 you must be sure that you are not using a proxy. Please verify your browser settings to be certain that you are not using a proxy. Else you will need a VPN connection.

6.6.9 - Unsupported protocols

All the protocols are supported by OPENSKY™. The programs to use different protocols have to support socks connection to be used.

6.7 - Troubleshooting

6.7.1 - My browser does not work anymore, unless I make SatLogin

Probably your browser remembers the proxy setting for OPENSKY™, and tries to contact it. The proxy does not answer, unless you are correctly logged in. To solve this problem, select “direct connection” in the proxy settings of your browser, whenever you do not intend to use SatLogin.

6.7.2 - My telephone connection falls after some minutes from my SatLogin

Your ISP might think that you have a problem with your connection, because it does not see any data reaching you (in fact, data is reaching you through the satellite). As a remedy, you can launch a transfer which uses the terrestrial line (e.g., FTP without configuring a proxy). You can also try to contact your ISP to solve the problem in a definitive way.

6.7.3 - The signal strength has suddenly fallen to zero or other strange things

In the presence of bizarre errors, always try to reboot your PC. Remember that satellite cards are advanced technology but drivers and/or firmware may contain bugs. As a general rule of thumb, visit the web site of the card constructor, and download and install new drivers or firmwares when they become available.

6.7.4 - My download rate is not very high

You might be trying to access a very busy server, or a server with a poor connection to the Internet. Although data is sent to you using a broadband connection, it is the web server itself that sends data slowly. Try to connect to OPENSKY™ web site, or to one of the mirrored sites, to see the difference.Maybe your TCP window is not big enough. Read the section on how to configure the TCP window size.

6.7.5 - I have configured the proxy but the browsing is still done only via modem

Maybe you have forgotten to insert the Unicast PID (gived to you by your reseller) configuring the driver of your DVB card.

6.7.6 - When I try to connect I get a Internal Server Error

In case of Internal Error, you just have to try again later. This might be due to the big number of simultaneous connections from different user, or to a technical upgrade.

7- Email contacts & Reporting Problems

At the moment the only way to contact us is writing to support@macrosat.com e-mail address.

When reporting problems to our technical staff, please provide at least the following information:

- your login name

- the MAC address of your satellite card, obtained by running the appropriate application (e.g., Broadlogic Control Application)

- which operating system you are running;

- which browser you are using, and which version.

If you complete the SatLogin process, and you encounter a problem afterwards, please write down the following information while you are still connected with your ISP:

- the name and telephone number of your ISP (Internet Service Provider);

- the current time;

- your current IP address (run winipcfg or ipconfig /all );

- the list of PIDs currently shown by your satellite card management software;

- the current configuration of the proxy on your browser.

If you receive an error message, please write it in full detail; specify if it is displayed in a popup window or inside the browser window. Measure how much time is spent between your last operation and the error message.