DirectPC 2-way link in 2001

[Greebe]

DirecPC/Pegaus/Juno are planning to offer. Hughes's DirecPC, for example, plans to roll out a Juno-based two-way DirecPC satellite service "in 2001"!
http://www.direcpc.com/consumer/scoop/juno.html

This would be great for those out in the boonies!
(hope it's cost effective)

[Raptor^]

A similar service was offered in the UK a year or so ago. It works fine unless you want to play games over it, because its a high latency connection (how long does it take to send stuff to satellite and back?)

From what I remember, the pricing wasn't too extreme either.

[DarkSyd]

Inet2000 is offering wireless internet access here in Sask. The have a 5km broadcast range right now, and are putting in a higher power transmitter they say will be able to reach a 20km radius (woohoooooooo!!!!!).
Works about the same as cable for games, and speed is advertised as 2megabit/s. Seemed pretty snappy when I tried it, but didn't get a chance to try any big downloads.

[MadCat]

Originally posted by SteveC:
Well I do know that 2 way comms (such as phone calls) cannot go over more than a single satellite hop anywhere round the world (even to australia from the UK, even though it's so much cheaper than cables). Phone calls are not allowed to have more than 250ms delay, and so a satellite must be over 125ms latency.

(Does that make sense? I think so!)

And keep in mind Steve, telephone calls get a dedicated line...satellites that serve internet have to act as a router too, which results in more latency.

Plus when you consider how weak some of that hardware is due to power constraints, I imagine satellite routing is pretty slow compared to say a massive Cisco ground-based setup.



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This Signature Space FOR SALE / RENT

[xortam]

I considered getting internet access via my BUD last year. At the time, they were giving away the PC adapter but the network speed and monthly pricing just seemed a bit mediocre. Haven't talked to anybody who's used this. Couldn't find the URL to the service but it should be around here somewhere.

[SteveC]

Well I do know that 2 way comms (such as phone calls) cannot go over more than a single satellite hop anywhere round the world (even to australia from the UK, even though it's so much cheaper than cables). Phone calls are not allowed to have more than 250ms delay, and so a satellite must be over 125ms latency.

(Does that make sense? I think so!)

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"