When broadband Internet access debuted in the late 1990's, it was a thrilling technological breakthrough for computer users around the world. The sometimes frustratingly low speeds of dial-up connections, along with the additional process of dialing into a modem, were seemingly things of the past. For families in rural areas, however, the distance from their homes to a phone company's central office precluded DSL access and cable television is seldom available outside of cities and towns, which meant that they were excluded from this broadband service, as well.
As satellite television began to grow in popularity, especially with households outside of the reach of cable television or clear terrestrial broadcast signals, the providers began to offer satellite Internet access along with their entertainment packages. For the families that subscribed to them, this meant no longer trying to access 21st Century web content on 20th Century equipment.
Satellite Internet service works a great deal like satellite television. A signal is generated on Earth, either a request from the user's computer or the fulfillment of that request from the provider's servers. The digital information travels the approximately 35,000 miles into space where satellites orbit, is bounced off the satellite and broadcast back to the user's dish. It sounds like something out of a science fiction story when the details are explained and, really, it's not far off.
One of the differences between satellite Internet access and other forms of broadband is that satellite Internet usually has higher levels of "latency"-the time between a request being sent to the server and the server's response-than other services. This has to do with the fact that the signal travels through space at the speed of light which is a fixed constant at a little over 186,000 miles per second. For typical web usage, such as surfing, checking email or other common applications, this latency isn't really noticeable. For applications that require the lowest possible latency, however, such as online gaming, it may be a factor. As this issue is one of physics, there is no way to remedy it.
Still, for many whose options are either dial-up's ultra-slow speeds or a connection that allows them to enjoy the full power of most Internet applications, satellite Internet access is a convenient solution. The Internet's two most popular uses are for seeking out information and for providing quick and easy communication and satellite access provides both of those abilities at much higher speeds than dial up and oftentimes at download speeds that rival those of other broadband services. Coupled with the fact that these services can be transmitted to almost any location on the globe, satellite Internet access is certain to gain in popularity. Satellite television has already become a presence from the major cities of North America to the most remote rain forests and deserts of the American continent at large. The ability of these areas to connect to the Internet, at broadband speeds, is a resource only recently being explored.
Rural areas tend to have difficulties receiving broadband connections from cable and DSL providers. Satellite internet provides the fast download speeds and convenience of shopping large sites that were previously painfully slow with standard dial up. Hughes Net Satellite Internet offers speeds up to 130 times faster then standard dial up.
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