Satellite Internet better than dialup?

[Terry]

There was a question in this group about faster dial up. Thankfully I
live in an area where broadband is available. My sister doesn't.

At one time I was considering trying Satellite Internet. The thing
that stopped me was you have to buy the equipment and sign a year
contract to be able to try it.

The Satellite companies should offer a trial.

I would think the company could provide a Satellite dish on a stand
and a coax running along the ground to a window or a small hole
drilled into the house long enough to allow customers to try the
service before signing a contract.

Another thing that stopped me at the time was that the satellite
service still required a phone line for the transmit part. One of the
main advantages of broadband is that if also frees up your phone line.
I think that is no longer an issue.

 

[geoff]

Hello,

Back when tech tv was worth watching, they covered this issue pretty
thoroughly. Satellite requires a phone line because sending of data would
have to go from your dish to the satellite and back to earth again, a
process that would be incredibly slow.

--g

 

[Paul]

Hello,

Back when tech tv was worth watching, they covered this issue pretty
thoroughly. Satellite requires a phone line because sending of data would
have to go from your dish to the satellite and back to earth again, a
process that would be incredibly slow.

--g

I found an example advert here.

http://www.skycasters.com/broadband-satellite-compare/compare.html

The upload/download is too high, to be provided by a phone line.
So that one appears to be bidirectional.

For the cheapest service offered, I don't know if I like a cap of
1GB. I'd need a piece of software on the computers or router,
keeping track of bytes, with such a small cap.

Paul

 

[Chris Hill]

There was a question in this group about faster dial up. Thankfully I
live in an area where broadband is available. My sister doesn't.

At one time I was considering trying Satellite Internet. The thing
that stopped me was you have to buy the equipment and sign a year
contract to be able to try it.

The Satellite companies should offer a trial.

I would think the company could provide a Satellite dish on a stand
and a coax running along the ground to a window or a small hole
drilled into the house long enough to allow customers to try the
service before signing a contract.

They are bi-directional these days. Local electric co-ops seem to be
working with some of the providers, they may even have demos
available. I had direcway, it was better than dial-up. Download was
quite fast, but you always had slow pings because of the distance to
and from the satellite. I don't think it would work for voip very
well.

 

[Bruce in alaska]

I found an example advert here.

http://www.skycasters.com/broadband-satellite-compare/compare.html

The upload/download is too high, to be provided by a phone line.
So that one appears to be bidirectional.

For the cheapest service offered, I don't know if I like a cap of
1GB. I'd need a piece of software on the computers or router,
keeping track of bytes, with such a small cap.

Paul

It would seem that most of the information you folks are posting
is about 4 years "Out of Date". There are basically, three (3)
outfits that are selling Consumer Grade TCPIP Services in the
USA. Hughes Net, Starband/Spacenet and Wild-Blue. All three are
Bidirectional SAT based links. The first two are Ku Band and the last
is Ka Band. Latency is a problem on SAT based TCPIP Links, but only
for Real Time things, like Gaming, VoIP, and Video Conferencing.
Other than that it works well, and I do both VoIP, and Video
Conferencing, on my link, and just understand that there are Latency
Issues involved. I use Starband/SpaceNet and Hughes Net, here in
the bush of Alaska, and have had SAT based TCPIP Connectivity for the
last 6 years. I also have Commercial Grade TCPIP SAT Based Links,
that provide more bandwidth that the Consumer Grade stuff, but it
is the Bandwidth that you pay for, and Commercial Grade LInks are
in the neighborhood of $400-$500US/month. Usually that is more than
consumers will pay for TCPIP Service.

 

[John Doe]

It would seem that most of the information you folks are posting
is about 4 years "Out of Date".

About three hours earlier, Chris Hill posted some up-to-date
information.

There are basically, three (3) outfits that are selling Consumer
Grade TCPIP Services in the USA. Hughes Net, Starband/Spacenet and
Wild-Blue. All three are Bidirectional SAT based links. The first
two are Ku Band and the last is Ka Band. Latency is a problem on
SAT based TCPIP Links, but only for Real Time things, like Gaming,
VoIP, and Video Conferencing.

So satellite Internet is still not good for latency critical
applications like gaming.

Other than that it works well, and I do both VoIP, and Video
Conferencing, on my link, and just understand that there are
Latency Issues involved. I use Starband/SpaceNet and Hughes Net,
here in the bush of Alaska, and have had SAT based TCPIP
Connectivity for the last 6 years. I also have Commercial Grade
TCPIP SAT Based Links, that provide more bandwidth that the
Consumer Grade stuff, but it is the Bandwidth that you pay for,
and Commercial Grade LInks are in the neighborhood of
$400-$500US/month. Usually that is more than consumers will pay
for TCPIP Service.

The current question is about consumer grade satellite Internet
costs and service versus a dial up modem, and probably assuming
the user won't be multiplayer gaming.

Equipment and subscription costs?

Bandwidth limitations?

Speed?

Latency?

 

[Blattus Slafaly £ ¥ 0/00 :)]

There was a question in this group about faster dial up. Thankfully I
live in an area where broadband is available. My sister doesn't.

At one time I was considering trying Satellite Internet. The thing
that stopped me was you have to buy the equipment and sign a year
contract to be able to try it.

The Satellite companies should offer a trial.

I would think the company could provide a Satellite dish on a stand
and a coax running along the ground to a window or a small hole
drilled into the house long enough to allow customers to try the
service before signing a contract.

Another thing that stopped me at the time was that the satellite
service still required a phone line for the transmit part. One of the
main advantages of broadband is that if also frees up your phone line.
I think that is no longer an issue.

Satellite is better than dial-up but worse than DSL or cable. And
costly. You can't use Satellite for Vonage or phone service because of
the latency problem; no game playing either.

 

[Bruce in alaska]

So satellite Internet is still not good for latency critical
applications like gaming.

Unless you can Change the Laws of Physics, Latency will ALWAYS
be an issue in Sat Based IP Links.........

 

[John Doe]

Unless you can Change the Laws of Physics, Latency will ALWAYS
be an issue in Sat Based IP Links.........

Are you saying that the latency problem for gaming is only a result
of the distance bouncing off of a satellite?

 

[geoff]

Yep

 

[Bruce in alaska]

Are you saying that the latency problem for gaming is only a result
of the distance bouncing off of a satellite?

Yes, I AM saying that. The minimum ping roundtrip across the typical
IP SAT Based Segment, is in the neighborhood of 750 ms. The typical
roundtrip ping time for a Terrestrial crosscountry IP Segment is in the
neighborhood of 45 ms. Quite a difference, wouldn't you say? Better than
one order of magnitude. And some folks wonder why SAT Based IP and
Realtime applications sound and look funny......

 

[John Doe]

Yes, a geostationary satellite sits at approx 22250 miles out in
space,

That was the clue I needed. Thanks.