[Hidden-tech] Satellite internet services

[Jeremy Dunn]

DirecWay, offered by Hughes, is the market-leading full-duplex satellite
broadband offering.
http://hns.getdway.com
There are a number of companies reselling and rebranding this service, such
as Earthlink, Skycasters, etc.

StarBand is the other satellite service that covers North America
http://www.starband.com/

SkyWayUSA is the main provider of half-duplex satellite service (Down via
Satellite, Up via dial-up).
http://www.skywayusa.com/

These services have similar limitations when it comes to "Sharing" a
connection via WiFi, as suggested below:
1) upload speeds are limited to 60kbps (Direcway) or 6kbps (typical dialup
for SkyWay).  So downloading may be faster, but not -sending- large files to
a client, for instance.  And certainly not running a local webserver.
2) there are restrictions on the volume of data that can be downloaded per
time period, which vary by service.  Sharing the service with one or more
neighbors might easily put you over this threshold, resulting in reduced
service (the companies "throttle back" your speed for a period of time, if
you exceed the quota)
3) it is probably against their terms of use to share such a connection,
although I don't have time/interest right now to investigate this in fuller
detail.

For those who have not yet investigated satellite services, I will say this:
I know several people who have them.  Some are happy enough, because it is
better than dial-up and no other broadband services are available in their
area.  Some however are dissatisfied and actively seeking alternatives.  One
main reason for dissastisfaction is the "latency" involved in a satellite
connection.  Satellites are in geostationary orbits, about 23,000 miles up.
The signal must go through two earth-orbit-earth round-trips, 92,000 miles,
which is about 1/2 of a light-second.  Add to this the routing in the remote
(groundlink) facility, and there is sometimes a 1.5 second delay.  Also they
tend to buffer packets sent to the satellite, to improve efficiency.  This
is fine for sending email, but it doesn't work well for applications that
send lots of small packets (like a stock-ticker on your desktop), or for
real-time games.  These connections -do- compare favorably to dial-up if all
you care about is downloading big files.

Regards,
- Jeremy


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Ussailis" <ussailis at equinox.shaysnet.com>
To: "Marcia Yudkin" <yudkinyudkin at yahoo.com>
Cc: <    >
Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 11:51 AM
Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] Helping others without broadband


>    ** Be a Good Dobee and help the group
>    ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
>    ** Remember you must be counted to post .
>
> There is a satellite business that offers high speed internet. I
> ocassionally receive mail on two versions: one thet includes an uplink
> transmitter, and another that uses dial-up for uplink.
>
> I believe there is mention of one of them in this month's Consumer
Reports.
>
> I see no reason why neighbors couldn't share something like this using
> WiFi stuff. Of course the satellite company wouldn't be overly thrilled.
>
> Jim Ussailis
>
> jim at nationalwireless.com
>
>
>
> On Fri, 5 Aug 2005, Marcia Yudkin wrote:
>
> >    ** Be a Good Dobee and help the group
> >    ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
> >    ** Remember you must be counted to post .
> >
> > Amy,
> >
> > I live in Goshen, and a few months ago, we had a meeting
> > with Steve Kulik, our state representative, and one of the
> > questions that came up was, is there any hope of getting
> > broadband out here?
> >
> > His answer was, "Unfortunately, no, not in the next few
> > years, at least."
> >
> > It's hard to see private business *ever* bringing broadband
> > to the smaller hilltowns (such as Goshen, population 920)
> > without some sort of government incentive, subsidy or push
> > - or without a whole lot of hidden businesses getting
> > together and showing the telecom companies that they might
> > get their investment back, that population numbers don't
> > tell the whole story.
> >
> > Anyone else ever talked to their state representative or
> > senator about this issue?
> >
> > I could be imagining things, but I seem to remember hearing
> > a few years back that Vermont (which has next to no cities
> > at all) had some sort of state-wide initiative to make
> > Internet access available throughout the state.  Out in the
> > sticks, that's what's needed for broadband.
> >
> > Marcia Yudkin
> > Creative Marketing Solutions
> > http://www.yudkin.com/marketing.htm
> >
> >
> > --- A - Z International <az at a-zinternational.com> wrote:
> >
> > >    ** Be a Good Dobee and help the group
> > >    ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the
> > > member's area.
> > >    ** Remember you must be counted to post .
> > >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > I spent yesterday lunch with Aron Goldman, who heads the
> > > Shutesbury-Leverett broadband initiative, a Globe
> > > reporter and several
> > > Shutesbury-area folk who are all suffering from lack of
> > > broadband.
> > >
> > > Although I've known about the issue and tried to help out
> > > here and there, I
> > > was really horrified to learn how some of our members are
> > > struggling. Aron,
> > > for example, has to drive to Amherst and park outside a
> > > cafe to download
> > > files I can receive or send in seconds. Of course, not
> > > having broadband or
> > > DSL, for that matter, means no VOIP. And Aron tells me
> > > that some people are
> > > actually spending as much as $500 a month for private T1
> > > lines, which is an
> > > exorbitant expense for a small business. While some folks
> > > may be "robust"
> > > enough to afford that expense, and it is something they
> > > can write off, it's
> > > still pretty extraordinary to realize that we have
> > > members who are fronting
> > > about $6,000 a year for something that costs me roughly
> > > $400 - $700 annually.
> > >
> > > With all this in mind, I'm hoping that others can help
> > > Aron promote his
> > > efforts to resolve the broadband issue in Franklin County
> > > and elsewhere. He
> > > posts meetings to the list regularly and is quite
> > > accessible.
> > >
> > > In the meantime, I do have a wireless network in my condo
> > > and plenty of
> > > work space outside of my own office space. I can
> > > accommodate 10-plus people
> > > at any given time who are doing quiet work. Just reach me
> > > through the
> > > Contact button on the Web site if you want to stop by and
> > > do some work. I'm
> > > happy to have you if I'm home, which is often.
> > >
> > > best,
> > >
> > > Amy Zuckerman
> > > Hidden-Tech founder, co-chair
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > http://www.hidden-tech.net
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