Announcement

**Gurm** · 30 October 2000, 11:05

Let me preface this by saying that I don't have one of these units. However...

Speeds are not likely going to change. Current satellites get 400kbps (give or take) downstream.

The latency is going to be the real kicker though - it won't be very good, by all reports I've heard.

- Gurm

------------------
Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

**impact** · 30 October 2000, 11:40

It's not really good for gaming because of the high latency, but if you're looking for a fast i-net connection on you luxurious sea yacht, by all means go for it!

**rob_b** · 30 October 2000, 13:34

I think you are both correct when it comes to current download only systems. The high latency coming mainly from the fact that your isp had to re-direct your url requests to the satellite service you were using. I could be wrong about that since i'm not really a networking guru. But at least that step has been eliminated in the two-way systems.

Seems to me from the specs i've been reading that the only thing changing here is the wireless transmit/receive instead of physical wiring. I can't imagine that when you add up all the miles of wiring your connection goes through that it's not at least equal to the distance a satellite is from earth. Also, isn't there a satellite connection between our local isp's and the internet ???

Anyway, thanks for the input,
Rob

**Gurm** · 30 October 2000, 14:42

Rob,

Satellite? On our local ISP's?

Hahahahahahahahaha!

Ok, I am calm now and realize that you weren't joking.

No, virtually all Internet lines are hard-wired. The delay over satellite is just too damn big. Think of it this way - you can chat gaily with the folks in Moscow over traditional phone lines, but there's an 8-second delay just to get across the pond with a satellite signal.

- Gurm

------------------
Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

**SteveC** · 1 November 2000, 09:15

No no no Gurm - 8 seconds is just sooo far way off!!

In two way communications (like phone calls), only 1 satellite hop is allowed as it has a 250ms delay to make the journey. The same journey via fibre takes no time at all (relatively speaking!). 'Phone calls are allowed up to around 300ms delay, more than that and it is REALLY annoying!!

TV, on the other hand can use as many satellite hops as you want because you don't need real-time two way comms.

Satellite internet connections are usually one way, and the upstream uses a modem. Two-way satellite is fine for net access / downloading / transferring data, but as the minimum ping is >250ms, it's no good for online gaming.

Trust me - I'm doing a telecommunications degree at the moment...

------------------
Cheers,
Steve

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

[This message has been edited by SteveC (edited 01 November 2000).]

**rob_b** · 2 November 2000, 06:00

Thanks for the reply Steve. As I said in the original post, there will be several two-way satellite access services coming out soon for the home user. With that ping i'm probably no worse off with my modem when it
comes to internet gaming ?? Oh well, looks
like we sit and wait for cable access
Rob_b

**Gurm** · 2 November 2000, 09:18

Sorry, you're right I was off. But even "minimum 250ms" (which will translate into closer to 1sec in actual usage oftentimes) is too darn much to be useful (unless you live in the mountains somewhere, or you want to surf the web on your yacht... hehe).

- Gurm

------------------
Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

**Liquid Snake** · 3 November 2000, 21:22

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/541

Satelite signals do have to travel quite a distance, and I believe they are radio waves, which are slower than light waves. This adds up to massive latency.

**Ali** · 7 November 2000, 20:42

Some ISPs do link through satellites.

iHug, one of the big ISPs here in New Zealand have a slight speed advantage over everybody else, cos they have a great big fat satellite link to north america (New York I think). Thats a 2 way thing though.

The rest of New Zealand goes through a cable that runs to Australia, then to Hawaii, then to south america I think.

this cable has been in place for years and years, and is VERY overloaded. They are laying a new one at the moment that should have been finished at the middle of this year, but isnt yet.

Im using aDSL here, and inside NZ is very very fast, cos we have fat fibre cable all up and down the country, but as soon as I go to a yank site, or even worse a UK site teh speed drops off.

One of my friends works a iHUG in town here, and they are the other way round. They use satellite to get to the next town, then phone lines to get to your PC, and thats a wee bit slower than the fibre. But as soon as you go overseas they are much faster.

This will all change soon (I hope), but at the moment, satellite is very good. a guaranteed 600Mbit isnt to be sneezed at either.

Ali

**Marshmallowman** · 8 November 2000, 04:04

yo snake soup, radio and light are both part of the electromagnetic spectrum just different frequencies so they do travel at the same speed c=3x10^8 Metres per second.

But a whole bunch of latency might be involved in mixing and demixing the signels at the ground stations (you and the Sattelite ISP). Most latencies in networking occur during routing(hops), eg sat to ISP to internet backbone.

well thats what I reckon anyways

But it does sound like a technolgy that will probably evolve into premo internet technology pretty soon.

**rob_b** · 8 November 2000, 08:46

I think Liquid Snake's link gave me the information I was looking for. The bottom line is, Satellite services might have high sustained download rates, but there's no getting around that 44,000 mile round trip (dishnetwork satellite) which translates into high pings (700-900ms). Basically , satellite service is good for everything except interactive stuff such as gaming (my primary interest ).

Also, I have been seeing references to lower earth orbiting satellites, I don't know how low and I don't know if they're planned or already exists. I know microsoft's teledesic
system of low earth orbiting satellites is supposed to help the latency problem but that is a few years off. AS for roght now, I only know of 2 satellite internets services and their satellites are wayyyyyy out there.
If anybody know's of a two-way service with pings <100, please post something here
Thank you for all replies,
Rob_b

**Greebe** · 8 November 2000, 09:17

LOL

Announcement

Two-way satellite access pings

Two-way satellite access pings

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment