Satellite broadband boost with 12Mb/s service
Satellite broadband is a bit of a bad reputation. It is a picture of California Viasat hope to change with two announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week.
The first is a new home broadband service, available next week, the download speeds of up to 12 megabits per second at a price of $ 50 per month. The rate is substantially higher than what normally been available, with most residential satellite services topping out between one and two megabits. The price is also considerably lower, with other services generally cost between $ 70 and $ 100.
Viasat also announced a partnership with JetBlue. The airline will test satellite broadband in flight, in order to roll out services in early 2013. It is too early to talk about prices, says Viasat CEO Mark Berg Thanks, but simple ways such as email and web browsing can be free.
The key to both was the launch of Viasat in October. The satellite has about 140 gigabits per second data rate - significantly more than the previous satellites have had a few gigabits.
The extra capacity means that satellite broadband is finally economical to offer, and it can now match many of the features of its terrestrial counterparts. At CES, was Viasat demonstrate the ability to run multiple programs simultaneously, including high-definition video.
"People really can not understand if they use for themselves. That's why we're here," Thank Berg said.
Yet there are some programs where satellite broadband is missing. There's no getting around that it is time for data signals need to reach the ground, so latency satellite links will always be worse - or was - so cables. Applications that require low latency, such as online games, therefore does not perform so well.
Even with an expansion of capacity, satellite broadband is unlikely to ever offer the same great benefits as a wired Internet usage. Viasat highest end monthly plans, for example, top out at 25 gigabits per second.
Nevertheless, some broadband experts are optimistic about the future of technology. Vint Cerf, who helped design the original protocol rules that the Internet is based, is excited by the increasing bandwidth and believes that lower orbit satellites can help to retard it.
Cerf, who has worked for NASA for several years on improving satellite transmission network, says that the technology can also be adapted to Internet radio far and wide as an antenna-based TV signals, used to do. This way satellite broadband to be able to millions of customers every need a little more than a small receiver to get the signal to reach.
The first is a new home broadband service, available next week, the download speeds of up to 12 megabits per second at a price of $ 50 per month. The rate is substantially higher than what normally been available, with most residential satellite services topping out between one and two megabits. The price is also considerably lower, with other services generally cost between $ 70 and $ 100.
Viasat also announced a partnership with JetBlue. The airline will test satellite broadband in flight, in order to roll out services in early 2013. It is too early to talk about prices, says Viasat CEO Mark Berg Thanks, but simple ways such as email and web browsing can be free.
The key to both was the launch of Viasat in October. The satellite has about 140 gigabits per second data rate - significantly more than the previous satellites have had a few gigabits.
The extra capacity means that satellite broadband is finally economical to offer, and it can now match many of the features of its terrestrial counterparts. At CES, was Viasat demonstrate the ability to run multiple programs simultaneously, including high-definition video.
"People really can not understand if they use for themselves. That's why we're here," Thank Berg said.
Yet there are some programs where satellite broadband is missing. There's no getting around that it is time for data signals need to reach the ground, so latency satellite links will always be worse - or was - so cables. Applications that require low latency, such as online games, therefore does not perform so well.
Even with an expansion of capacity, satellite broadband is unlikely to ever offer the same great benefits as a wired Internet usage. Viasat highest end monthly plans, for example, top out at 25 gigabits per second.
Nevertheless, some broadband experts are optimistic about the future of technology. Vint Cerf, who helped design the original protocol rules that the Internet is based, is excited by the increasing bandwidth and believes that lower orbit satellites can help to retard it.
Cerf, who has worked for NASA for several years on improving satellite transmission network, says that the technology can also be adapted to Internet radio far and wide as an antenna-based TV signals, used to do. This way satellite broadband to be able to millions of customers every need a little more than a small receiver to get the signal to reach.
Posts
Satellite broadband is certainly a great alternative to terrestrial communications infrastructure esp in remote regions.
ReplyDelete