The race to space began with Sputnik years ago. Since that time, there have been more and more satellites launched each and every year
having to do with everything from communication to weather and even spying. In fact, the United States first began planning to put satellites in space in 1962 and by 1964 there were six communications satellites in space with four being owned by the government and two being privately owned.
However, the first internet communication by satellite did not take place until almost a decade later in 1973. At this point, scientists were able to successfully link two European computers to an American network though the use of a communication satellite. As technology improved, satellite communication became more commonplace and eventually led to the first consumer satellite internet service in 1996. Since its beginnings, it has been marketed as a way for those who live in rural regions to get online.
While satellite internet is faster than dialup, it has in the past been much slower than traditional DSL or cable. However, when this is the only option available for those who live in rural regions, it has been better than nothing at all. One of the reasons for the slow response time has been due to the distance the signal has to travel. There is very little that can be done due to this distance because of basic physics. In order for a satellite to remain in a geosynchronous orbit (that is, in one spot relative to a certain position on the globe)it must be approximately 22,500 miles above the equator. Thanks to this distance, the signal takes a while for it to reach the satellite and then come back down to earth. As a result, satellite internet connections have traditionally only had download speeds of 600 kilobits per second which is much slower than DSL or cable. However, one company is beginning to change this perspective.
ViaSat has recently launched one of the largest and most capable communications satellite in orbit today. In addition, it also uses the more modern Ka band as opposed to the Ku band which is still in use by other communication satellite operators. ViaSat’s Exede Satellite Internet Service, however, promises to be different by providing higher speeds than ever before. For example, the company promises download speeds of up to 12Mbps and upload speeds of 3Mbps to almost everyone in the United States. Both of these speeds are comparable to what you would find with cable and DSL and makes it possible for rural residents and businesses to finally have the same playing field that those in urban areas do.
In addition, ViaSat offers three separate tiers for the amount of data which can be transmitted, but also say that each tier will have the same speed, therefore customers won’t lose anything from one tier to another. As a result, customers will be able to do just about anything on the internet they would like to.
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Tags: Modern Satellite Internet, satellite internet service, ViaSat's Exede Internet
