Satellites are something we take for granted, and it was less than forty years ago that there were very few circling the planet. Today they provide television signals, run telephone networks and perform a staggering array of scientific and even governmental tasks.
The two most common functions that consumers are aware of involve television and communication, but they are also beginning to view satellites as a reliable way of accessing high-speed Internet service as well.
Isn’t the Internet part of the Broadband network of cables and fiber optic equipment? While there are high-speed services available from cable companies and phone companies using DSL devices, it is just as simple to establish a strong and fast connection through a satellite system as well.
While many people use satellite television companies, these will not be the same services that supply Internet access. This is because a satellite television system is a one-way dialogue; that is the dish receives the signals from many satellites orbiting the planet and sends them to the receiver in the owner’s home.
A satellite Internet connection, however, is a two-way dialogue in which the equipment enables the dish to receive and send signals. These signals are sent from the satellite to a “hub” on Earth which is connected to the Internet, and this in turn returns the signals that the Internet surfer has accessed.
For instance, a satellite Internet customer might want to visit one of the social networking sites to update their “profile”. They would type the address into their traditional computer browser just as if they had a land-based Internet connection. They would then receive a response in seconds.
While the satellite Internet services are not exactly as fast as traditional DSL and cable, they are still very close in their performance speeds. Additionally, if a consumer has only the choice between dial up and satellite Internet access due to their geographic location, their satellite connection will always be at least twenty times faster than the old-fashioned modem, and some accounts can allow up to fifty times the performance speed.
What does that mean? Well, many people like to post pictures to the Internet. They might email them to friends and family or they might even have several profiles at networking sites. If they were using dial up they would have to head to their page and wait for all of the pre-loaded materials to complete the process, then they would have upload the photo to their site and send it across the network before it would be received in its entirety. If a photo is very small, such a 0.5 MB, the dial up connection would take almost a minute and a half to load it, but a satellite connection would complete the job in four seconds flat!
While recreationally using the computer might not require super-fast speeds, if someone living in a rural area was trying to use their computer to transfer a lot of data or materials for professional purposes, they might find all of their efforts frustrated by slow up and download times and connection interruptions known as “time outs”.
Satellite Internet users face none of these issues and can surf the Internet at top speeds without any interruptions or lengthy waits.
