Satellite Hi-Speed Internet is one of the fastest growing consumer electronic products out there and its target demographic continues to be rural America, where dial-up internet is the only option. However the pending merger between ViaSat, a satellite equipment maker and WildBlue, the leading satellite Internet provider, will merge their technologies and provide customers with speeds comparable to cable Internet speeds within the next year.
Satellite Internet services are used in every location in the United States were DSL and Cable Internet is not available and customers need an always on, fast Internet service that dial-up ISP’s can’t provide.
Latency is caused when the request for data is transmitted from your satellite modem to the satellite orbiting the earth and then returned. The delay is approximately half a second, not noticeable if you are browsing the Internet, reading email or even downloading. It can however cause significant headaches to customers trying to use applications like VOIP, VPN and video conferencing.
Satellite Internet is not as scary as it seems, for the timid, the hardware involved is as follows:
* Satellite Modem – connected to your computer through a USB port, this allows the ISP’s routers to connect to proxy servers, which enforce bandwidth limits and guarantees fair use by all end users.
* Satellite Dish – The satellite modem connects to a cable that is run to the satellite dish, either mounted to the physical property or a pole.
That’s it!
For dialup and DSL users, no need for a phone line. The service is always on. For customers seeking to use Satellite Internet’s speed over that of a dialup ISP, for the purposes of working from home or distance learning or e-learning, a word of caution about the use of VPN’s. VPN or Virtual Private Network software doesn’t handle the delay or latency of packets sent to VPN servers. Because the VPN acts as a tunnel from one network to another it requires authentication and once accepted needs to keep that handshake throughout the process of working on that network. The latency will break that authentication handshake and cause the end user to constantly have to validate to access the VPN. Not recommended with satellite Internet, but consult the IT guru for the VPN for their input. Special IP stacks and possibly proxies can lessen the effects of latency, so check into it.
By: Francis David
Benefit, Both, Customers, From, Hughesnet, Internet, Satellite, WildBlue