How Does Satellite Internet Work

If you are new to satellite internet, then you have probably asked yourself this question, ?how does satellite internet work?? If you are considering a one way multicast system or a one way system with a terrestrial return then you will first need the following outdoor equipment: the right sized satellite dish, a mounting structure, a feedhorn, a feedline and a Universal Low Noise Black Connector. The inside equipment that you will need includes: an internal DVB-S PCI card or an external DVB modem, a telephone modem, a telephone line, and software and hardware from your service provider.

If you are considering signing up for 2 way satellite internet service then you will need a little more equipment. First you will need a similar collection of outdoor equipment. You will need the right type of satellite disc, a mounting system, a feedhorn, a feedline and a Universal Low Noise Black connector. Inside you will need an indoor receiving unit, an indoor transmit unit, and the proper hardware and software for your service and provider.

Now that you know what equipment you need for satellite internet service the next set of answers that you need for the questions to how satellite internet connections work relates to how signals are sent and received. If you have a one way system with a terrestrial return then you will send your request for information via a land based ISP via your phone line. Your request goes from your computer through the phone line to the network system of your service provider to the satellite. The information that you requested is then transmitted from the satellite to your computer.

In the market for satellite internet service? Nationwide Satellite Solutions is your provider of HughesNet satellite internet as well a great resource that will answer any questions you have. Find out if it available in your area. For more on satellite technology visit the technology and internet directory

Satellite Internet in Alaska

If you are trying to find satellite internet in Alaska you may have run into several walls. Chances are that if you don?t live in one of Alaska?s larger cities like Anchorage, AK, Fairbanks, AK and Juneau, AK, then you will probably have a difficult time finding any type of high speed internet access. Even some of the major satellite internet providers like HughesNet don?t provide service in Alaska.

While the search for satellite internetproviders in Alaska can seem hopeless, you do have options. One option is to use a combination satellite and terrestrial based modem system. SKYFx offers this type of service to Alaskans. This service allows customers to upload requests for information via their phone line. The request goes from the customer?s computer, through the phone line, to the SKYFx Network, and then to the satellite. The download of information is much simpler. It goes directly from the satellite to the customer?s computer.

When you are looking for satellite internet access in Alaska you will want to look at the types of fees that service providers change. The first fee that you will want to look at is the monthly plan fee. The second fee is the service contract early termination fee. The third fee is the installation fee. The final fee is the equipment fee. Before you sign up for satellite internet service, make sure that you are familiar with the fees that the provider charges and that you are willing to pay the fees that are charged.

In the market for a satellite internet provider? Nationwide Satellite Solutions is your provider of HughesNet internet services as well a great resource that will answer any questions you have. Find out if it available in your area. For more on satellite technology visit the online resource directory

Will EVDO Knock Satellite Internet Out of the Park?

2007 will be the year that Cell phone providers like Sprint, Alltel and Verizon push strong into Suburban and close-in Rural territory staked out by Satellite Internet operators and attempt to take market share away. Will they succeed?

When EVDO Revision A (and soon thereafter Rev B) comes out in Q3 2007, there will be a full blown skirmish between Cell operators and the Satellite Internet industry for available consumer and business internet accounts. The territories they are trying to claim are the areas where concentration of homes and business is great enough to build out advanced cell service, but not great enough for terrestrial providers like cable and dsl. These suburban and rural areas have historically been the territory for Satellite operators and some adventuresome WiFi businesses.

Current Status:

With the current levels of cell service available (EVDO rev.0), cell operators are taking a fair amount of business away from satellite operators in fringe suburban areas....why?.... younger users who want to stream video, trade music and video, play internet games and not have any limitations on usage. So far, the cell operators are filling the bill for about $50 or so for the "Aircard" and charging about $59 per mo. for high speed internet....well, sort of.

The speeds on most EVDO plans are about 400-800 kbps download and around 200 kbps upload. Much higher speeds are promised when Revisions A and B come in to play later this year and beyond. Latency is around 200-350 ms - 50% lower or more than a satellite connection. This latency allows gaming without too many bumps along the way. For those who have been experiencing oppressive limitations from the satellite operators, it seems like heaven....but for how long?

Some of the providers already have a limit of usage each month and it's pretty restrictive (as low as 4GB per month - lower than the satellite operators are assessing). There is no decent data to report on what happens when the network begins to "load up" with users. I was in Denver's airport during a recent snow storm and the EVDO service was non-existent until you were several miles from the airport.....so it's not perfect, by any means. I personally believe that the cell operators are going to learn the same lessons that satellite internet operators have learned........bandwidth is expensive! You can lure people in with attractive prices and speeds, but when you can't maintain those speeds as the network loads up, you just become another one of those lying, cheating, false advertising no good internet providers that we have too many of already! Just kidding........it's not easy to balance a high speed internet network in this day and time.

Future:

When cell operators build out and offer Rev B. EVDO high speed internet service (about 2 years out), the landscape for service will be incredibly competitive. City, suburban and rural individuals and companies will have a lot of choices and the providers with foresight and innovation will be the one's to survive. It should be good for the consumer!

Satellite Internet and Online Gaming: Does It Work?

Online gaming is one of the fastest growing trends in the world right now. With games such as Runescape boasting subscriber numbers of around a million and World of Warcraft exceeding 7 million active members, the total number of MMOG subscriptions is verging on the absurd, quickly approaching the 14 million mark worldwide[6/06, mmogchart.com]. This tremendous growth in the popularity of the online gaming industry has, in part, been fueled by the accessibility of high-speed broadband internet. A high-speed connection allows for a much more enjoyable game-play experience. Everyone knows that online games work exceptionally well on DSL and Cable internet connections, but what about the newer high-speed service satellite internet? As satellite internet is becoming more readily available and cost effective more and more rural dial-up customers are making the switch to cash in on the faster speeds and always on access. But, when it comes to online gaming many are concerned that their game-play experience will be less satisfactory, if they can even connect to play at all.

The reason for this concern is the issue of latency. Latency is an expression of how much time it takes for a packet of data to get from one designated point to another. This is direly important when it come to on-line gaming in that latency translates into the time that it takes from the moment that a button is pushed to when the action is performed in the game. Often this can mean the difference between life and death. With DSL and Cable the response time is almost immediate, being between 50milliseconds-150milliseconds. The latency for satellite internet is between 600milliseconds-800milliseconds. This may sound like the end of online gaming for someone who has just made the switch to satellite internet but it is not. Although this degree of latency does all but rule out first-person shooters there are a good number of MMOGs that operate well over a satellite internet connection. And, although the effects of latency can never be completely eliminated, there are ways in which to improve upon them. The simplest way to do this is by speeding up the way that one?s computer handles and responds to information being transferred through the connection and by increasing the total amount of available bandwidth. Some operating systems have built in reserves on bandwidth that are non-essential to the functionality of most web applications, see link for a tweak http://www.wildblue.cc/wbforums/showthread.php?t=3323 .

By eliminating non-essential services i.e. bandwidth hogs that the average user never utilizes and dedicating more physical resources to the most used application can help tremendously. Minimizing the effects of latency down to the bare minimum allowed by the laws of physics enables one to play more online gaming that was before not workable and also speeds up the responses of other games that already do work. So, although there are limitations to on-line gaming over satellite internet there are also ways to improve upon game-play responsiveness and many games that will play well without operating system tweaks. Below is a list of online games for both console and PC that, according to subscribers that have tested and played them, do and do not work over satellite internet. This is not a definitive list of games guaranteed to work, so be cautious as results may vary.

What Works
Xbox/Xbox360/PS2/Handheld Games:
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat(for me anyway doesn't for some others)
Perfect Dark Zero
All Tony Hawk games
Mario Kart DS
Call of Duty 2
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
Socom 3(mixed results)
Socom 2(so-so)
Nascar 06 total team control(works kinda)
Rainbow Six Series(Host boots for high ping usually, But CO-OP and 2 V 2 work well)
Splinter Cell: Double Agent

PC Games:
Runescape
Asheron's Call
Everquest
Everquest 2
World of Warcraft
Star Wars Galaxies
Dark Age of Camelot
Roma Victor
Eve Online
Star Wars: Empire at War
Dungeon and Dragons online
Warcraft3
GuildWars
City of Heroes(very difficult to connect to the patch server..other than that it works fine)
Final Fantasy XI
Contract Jack
Auto Assault
Aces High Online flight sim
Trackmania
WarRock Beta
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast
StarPeace
America's Army
Red Orchestra
Diablo 2
Titan Quest
F.E.A.R.
Postal 2

What doesn't work or is not enjoyable

Xbox/Xbox360/PS2/Handheld Games:
Far Cry Instincts Predator
Halo 2
NBA Live 2006
Quake 4
Prey Demo
Ratchet and Clank: Deadlocked

PC Games:
Star Craft
BattleField 2 Demo
Call of Duty 1&2
Battelfield2
Band of Brothers
C&C Generals
UT2004(playable..not enjoyable)
Ragnarok
Prey Demo
Civ 4
Battlefield 2142

Jacob Minett is a consultant and copy writer for the fullfillment company My Net LLC. With six years experience in the satellite industry, Jacob has worked both in the field as a lead technician and now consulting and web copy duties for http://www.MyBlueDish.com which specializes in WildBlue Satellite Internet.

How to Watch Live Satellite TV on the Internet Without Challenging Dish Installation

It is not surprising to know that there are many people who have no idea of how to watch satellite TV on the internet properly. You may be nodding your head right now. Do not give up if you cannot find any information that directs you to the proper ways to watch LIVE satellite TV through the web. There are actually a few methods to watch satellite TV on the internet which I will talk about shortly. As an added bonus, I am going to point you some methods that cost you almost nothing in the long run. Ready?

The next few paragraphs are going to rant about the various new methods to watch satellite TV on the internet. By the time you finish reading this article, you would already know enough to do away with those silly looking satellite TV dishes or the monthly bills you are paying to the satellite TV service providers. So here you go, the 3 ways to watch satellite TV on the web without any satellite dish.

1. Internet Satellite TV Resources

Satellite TV websites are quite popular nowadays as they allow anyone to watch TV for free. TV viewers can get on to online TV channels like Wfitv.com and BeelineTV.com where you get to watch satellite TV on the internet within the next couple of minutes. These websites broadcast all free TV programs. In fact, you can get to watch some really good channels there. Anything that is free is welcome.

Of course, there are some shortcomings in watching satellite TV on the internet with this method. Free also means there are many people who are interested and visit the sites frequently. Expect slow streaming speeds as a result.

2. PCTV Cards

A PCTV card can be used to enable us to watch satellite TV on the internet quite readily. These cards are more sophisticated and can beat satellite TV dish systems hands-down. Such cards are connected to your computers either internally or externally. Once installed, you can tune into hundreds of satellite TV channels. You do not need to fork out a single cent for the satellite TV channels you watch. PCTV cards are not the cheapest things you can find. The cards can cost hundreds of dollars and are not affordable for the low income families.

3. PC Satellite TV Software

Anyone hoping to watch satellite TV on the internet can do so easily with PC satellite TV software. With the software, you can get to watch more than 3000 satellite TV channels. From one end of the world to the other, you have satellite TV channels from almost every major country. For once, you can watch a program from your native country if you are a foreigner. The selection of TV channels is rather huge and includes news, sports, TV shows and more. To own such a nifty piece of software, you only need to cough out $50 at most.

Do you want to find out more information? Sign up for my free satellite TV guide for more useful tips about satellite TV and learn how you can immediately set up your PC to watch satellite TV on the internet with PC satellite TV software.

Davion is a great fan of TV shows. Sign up for his Free Satellite TV Guide for instant quick tips on how to watch satellite TV on PC, tuning into hundreds of LIVE channels of sports, news, movies and kids program without monthly subscriptions. Also read his popular article on how to watch satellite TV on PC instantly for pennies.

MotoSat Satellite Internet, HDTV and Television Systems for Motor homes

Members and Motor Home owners that the best HDTV Satellite Systems and Mobile Internet Satellite systems for Recreational Vehicles are MotoSat Systems. Recently, I read an online article addressing this issue from a user and I have to say to these comments; Indeed MotoSat kicks butt. I have TV and Internet using their systems. What I have been most impressed with is the reliability.

Only once did I ever have a problem and I called MotoSat Tech Support and they fixed it trouble-shooting me over the phone. I made an error and they were able to help me reset the system. Wow, what a great company and they have some of the nicest dealers around the country to assist you. They must do a lot of screening to find all these great people.

Why is MotoSat so great some wonder? I myself have considered this after Beta Testing their first set of Internet Satellite Antennas as they Teamed up with Hughes as pioneers in these systems. Of course knowing the Founders myself, I can say that they had a pretty good run for 15 years the prior with their famous MotoSat TV antennas and now they even have HDTV Satellite Systems now? Who would have known, you could have such reliability in the Murphy Driven and persnickety world of mobile electronics?

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is a guest writer for Our Spokane Magazine in Spokane, Washington

Internet TV Replaces Satellite TV

Internet TV - The Holy Grail
 

Watching satellite TV on your PC delivered through the Internet is the holy grail of entertainment today. As we drift towards the end of 2006 the hype has started and it seems that everywhere you look someone is trying to sell you something to make the dream come true.

What exactly do these products do I ask? I've never tried one because I'm not convinced that I would be getting value for money. As far as I'm aware they don't give you anything that you can't find freely available elsewhere on the net.

I've been getting quite interested in the possibilities presented by video over the Internet lately so I've done a little research and come to some fascinating conclusions.

Don't expect to watch your favourite TV programs and newly released films
 

You won't find the same prime time programming on the Internet, as you get on satellite TV, not legally anyway. If you think about it why would the networks give you something for free when they can charge you money for it through subscriptions and pay per view on satellite TV and cable TV? It just isn't going to happen.

You don't need to spend anything to watch what's freely available
 

I can't be certain about what I'm about to say because I've never bought one of the software products that claim to give you 3000 (or whatever) channels of Internet TV but, I believe that all they do is package what is freely available and make it a little easier for you to get going and find what you are looking for.

The cost of these products could actually be worth the outlay if they do indeed save you the time of setting up your PC ready to watch the streamed video and finding the Internet TV streams that you want to watch. Neither of these activities was straightforward when I began to investigate.

So what can you watch on the Internet?
 

If you are into classic and vintage 'B' movies then you are in luck because there seems to be an awful lot of that available. I also found some good educational, current affairs and political programming all freely available. Finding these made the exercise worthwhile for me but it didn't even get close to persuading me to cancel my satellite TV subscription.

Will Internet TV replace satellite TV?
 

It's inevitable that the Internet will eventually take over as the main entertainment focus in your life. It's happening already with recent studies showing that a large and growing proportion of the population now spend more of their leisure time on the Internet than they do watching satellite TV, cable TV or terrestrial TV.

Sooner or later the bandwidth of the Internet will expand to cope with streaming video to every home and the networks will figure out ways to make us pay for what we watch. I suspect that the transition is going to be a very slow one and it will be a good few years before we can all junk our TV sets.

Internet TV is an exciting development that is in its infancy right now. I shall be following it's progress very closely over the next few years but for now I think you are better off looking at other ways of watching satellite TV on your PC. that don't rely on the Internet.

Steve is an engineer with an interest in digital video, he has written articles like this one How does satellite television work? at http://www.sattelite-television.thegrandfatherclock.com