High Speed Internet Satellite
February 26th, 2008 Richard Posted in internet connection, web and new media | 14 Comments »
So, apparently the Japanese just launched a satellite that will serve up the internet at 155M. Compare this with my DSL connection that is 3M, and I am very lucky that I have a high speed option at all, living 1 mile out of a town of 14,000 in the middle of America.
Of course, in Japan they can get 100M in most places for the equivalent of $40 a month. In fact, the US is way behind many countries like Japan. One of the main reasons is that cable and DSL companies don’t have to abide by common carriage, so don’t have any competition (as I’ve noted before).
The first cool thing about the high speed satellite thing is that the satellite internet thing could be a real competitor for the companies that control these land lines to our houses. Unfortunately, I’ve heard negative reports back from friends who have tried U.S. Satellite internet, and the U.S. companies certainly don’t offer options at that high of speed.
The second , and really exciting thing to me here is the implications of such a thing for people in the rural US, which is a big issue in terms of the digital divide, and is a big issue to me personally, since my ideal life would be for Maureen, the hound, and me to live back deep in the Ozarks woods, miles from anyone, next to a beautiful spring fed river, where I would rock contentedly on my porch, while surfing the web at high speed on a lap top. If Japan could just send one of those satellites over here, life would be perfect.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:11 am
I hear ye here. I’m about to head into the mountains myself, and need to find some sorta solution for that. We need that satellite speed right here and now.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
The thing that actually concerns me the most about the US Internet speed lag is actually the lack of affordable super-high-speed access in urban areas for consumers. Having just left Rolla I know how horribly lacking in choices you are, but most of the countries in this survey don’t have nearly the amount of geographic population dispersal that we have in the United States once you get out of the cities so the difficulty level is certainly higher here. But what’s the excuse in the major metro areas..?? A satellite like Japan’s would certainly be a great boon for rural consumers, however, and it’s hard to believe that the home of NASA wasn’t there first and can’t figure out how to do something similar!
Satellite internet does pose a problem for online gaming and virtual reality participants, though, as the time for the information to go from the home to space back to the ground and out to the internet and then aaaaall the way back is significant and can make those services unusable – by the time you see someone else and try to interact they’ve already moved or done something else so you are constantly behind. Back when I played video games online I sometimes even had ping/latency problems with a 1.5mb cable connection so this would be much much worse for any real-time applications.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Ooo, Nelson – that reminds me of another good point. Trees would be a problem. Buildings would be a problem. It would SUCK to have to deforest the side of a mountain so you could get your YouTube on.
February 27th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Speaking of net neutrality and competition – this was interesting today:
Comcast Paid Ringers to Fill Seats With Applauding People at a Public Hearing on Internet Matters in Boston:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/2008/02/25/comcast-blocking-first-the-internet-now-the-public/
February 28th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Here’s an update on the comcast seat filling thing from the Washington post.
February 28th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Ugh, Comcast. The Japanese satellite is to high speed internet as hydrogen cars is to fossil fuel replacement. Well, maybe not exactly, but they are “mining space” to deliver the internet.
If we get the World Wide Web from outer space, would it still be the World Wide Web? Out of this World Wide Web? OWWW.pigsinspace.com?
February 29th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
When I first came to America, high speed internet was one of the things I took for granted. I thought high speed internet like our college network would be available everywhere!! Then came a time to subscribe internet in my apartment and man…………..1.5 mbps for $45/month!!!! I can probably get a better deal with slightly higher cost back in Nepal and talking about technology, United States is gazillion years ahead!!
“The average broadband download speed in the US is only 1.9 megabits per second, compared to 61 Mbps in Japan, 45 Mbps in South Korea, 18 Mbps in Sweden, 17 Mpbs in France, and 7 Mbps in Canada, according to the Communication Workers of America.” It seems we in US PAY MORE for slower connection speeds than people in many other countries!!
Recently, Korea introduced Mobile WiMax (WiBro) network in it’s major cities. With WiBro n/w, Koreans have access to high speed internet when traveling at 100 km/hr!!!! Now that’s phenomenal! Yeah, we should do something to bring that satellite service here in US.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:14 am
All this high speed talk makes me think of Sammy Hagar’s I can’t drive 55. My wife and I are rocker’s too but to a little different tune than Dr. R! I am curious at warp speeds, like those described in other countries above, does the benefit outweigh the costs? I am just trying to play a little devil’s advocate here; Are speeds as high as those mentioned really necessary?
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:40 am
>> Are speeds as high as those mentioned really necessary?
Greg, good question! I would say that they actually are – and its not just the speeds it’s the bandwidth; how wide are your series of tubes..? How many internets can you put in there..?
One of the arguments the telecoms use on net neutrality and tiering the internet is that there is a bandwidth crunch – there are too many people using small and finite tubes. Especially as video comes to the Internet, the speed and bandwidth requirements become huge – YouTube is already one of the biggest sites on the web, we have products like Slingbox that takes your television content and ’slings’ it to any TV or mobile device you have THROUGH the Internet and AppleTV which takes Internet video content and puts them on televisions which will increase the number of people consuming that content – and TiVo has had podcast capability for a while, NBC creating products like hulu.com, bittorrent traffic which is HUGE, etc. etc. I’d normally call BS on the telecoms but anecdotal evidence and analysis by people I trust to tell me the truth on these things indicates that there is in fact an impending bandwidth problem in the United States.
So do you need 50mbps to read your email..? Not so much, but for watching HD content on your television? Yes. For making sure you get high speeds when everyone in your neighborhood is using the same tubes? Yes. The future of the Internet is going to require huge bandwidth. I’m about 1 product/service away from cancelling my satellite TV and getting all my video entertainment from the Internet. I’m an early adopter, but that’s the way things are going.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I am getting ripped off. I want 100Mbit connections for 40 dollars!!
March 4th, 2008 at 11:23 am
For the record, we cancelled our cable a year or so ago, and just watch stuff on the computer hooked to the TV or NetFlix.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Yes, it is unfortunate that we’re lagging behind in connection speed (no pun intended). About the best deal I know of in the US is Verizon’s FiOS:
http://www22.verizon.com/content/consumerfios/packages+and+prices/packages+and+prices.htm
It’s a fiber service offered in New York. If you’re too lazy to click the link, you can get 15mbit down/15mbit up for $65/month.
In the competitive gaming scene, online leagues are often segmented into west/central/east due to slow ping times across the country. In Europe, players are generally able to play each other across the entire continent, except in poorer countries.
The UK has some problems as well, and I think some of their ISPs even still have a monthly transfer limit…sure am glad I don’t have that!
March 11th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Satellite internet does not use telephone lines or cable systems but uses a satellite dish for two way data communications. The connection to the satellite is not quite as fast as cable internet or some DSL service but when you get high speed satellite internet access, the service is many times faster than dial up.
September 29th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
You are certainly right Richard. Life would be easier with a top provider coming from Asia, now we are tired of the same old poor competitors that provide internet in the Americas.