Satellite Internet - How it works

Dish Satellite Internet Connection Access

Background
Satellite Internet using a dish has been around since the mid 90's. DirecPC allowed anyone, anywhere to access the Internet. A dial up account was used to send data to the Internet and a satellite dish was used to send high speed broadband data back to the user.

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A few years later, Starband and Direcway (formally DirecPC) released two-way dish internet systems, which no longer required a dial up connection. These systems used a USB connection with a PC. These systems provided decent download speeds, but upload speeds were no much faster then dial up. Networking these system was also a problem. The user had to use Microsoft's Internet Connection Sharing or other custom software for networking the satellite Internet connection.

After a few years, both DirecWay and Starband released standalone Satellite Internet Modems with built in networking ability. The used built-in DHCP, and when combined with a hub, the user could network several computers to the Satellite Internet Dish.

In 2005, Direcway started changing their name to HughesNet, and Starband is focusing more on their Spaceway Commercial Products.

Both HughesNet and Spaceway use existing Ku-band (11-14 GHz) communication satellites to provide Internet service to their customers. In 2005, WildBlue entered the scene with the latest in Satellite Broadband Technology, Ka-band (19-30 GHz). Ka-band provides more precise spot beam control and allows the use of smaller dishes.

How does a Satellite Internet Connection Work? A satellite internet modem connects your computer to a Network Operations Center (NOC). The NOC is your gateway to the W WW. When your browser request a web page, the request is up to a satellite 22,3000 miles above the equator. The satellite retransmit the request down to the NOC. The NOC uses high speed internet connections to contact the web server. The server sends the requested data to the NOC, where the NOC sends the data to the satellite and down to your satellite modem.

A satellite signal traveling 22,300 miles up and down and then back up and back down takes about 480 milliseconds. This is called signal latency.

When you add up the satellite signal latency to the normal signal latency between the NOC and the WWW, you will have an average overall latency (in internet terms this called ping times) of at least 600ms and common ping times up to 1000ms (1 second). This compares to 100ms to 250ms for other, non-satellite, broadband methods. As long as a user understand that satellite internet will appear to have slower page loads then other broadband options of the same download speeds, most users accept this as normal. Latency does not have an appreciable affect on file transfers.

Todd Humphrey operates a Satellite TV and Satellite Internet consumer help web site, DBSInstall . DBSinstall provides consumers the resources they need to solve common Dish Network, DirecTV, DirecWay, HughesNet, WildBlue and FTA Satellite problems. When professional help is required, consumers can search though our national database for local Satellite Retailer or Installer near them.