Discover Satellite Internet

Internet-by-satellite, also referred to as satellite broadband, is a high speed internet connection made via communications satellites instead of a telephone landline or other terrestrials means. It provides a bi-directional connection, meaning the possibility to download and upload data between the internet and your computer. It’s the only broadband solution for those who live in areas without or with slow terrestrial or wireless/mobile broadband access. Satellite Internet is an immediate gap filler, possibly whilst waiting for another solution (such as ADSL or fibre etc.).

Internet-by-satellite solutions are not complex. They require an antenna (a white satellite TV-like dish, though slightly bigger at 70 cm diameter) connected to a modem inside the house (as for traditional solutions): this replaces the connection to the copper network through the phone line or to the fibre. There is no need for any specific software application on the Personal Computer. The positioning of the antenna is a bit more accurate than for a TV-antenna, so a guidance system (generally sound-based) is incorporated. The antenna can be installed by an average user. Legal authorization is not normally required for installing a satellite dish but it is recommended to check local legislation for possible similar restrictions in historic areas or areas of natural beauty. No specific procedure towards the Telecommunication administration is required to install the satellite dish (in other terms, no specific radio-equipment licence or fee is needed).

Maximum monthly data allowance is in practice more important than speed. For example, a monthly allowance of around 10 GB allows frequent internet usage, including downloading music, video clips and movies such as:
– exchanging 5000 mails of 1 MB each
– and downloading 500 documents of 1 MB each
– and posting/downloading 150 photos of 1 MB each
– and browsing the web 10 hours per day
– and downloading 100 music pieces of 3 MB each
– and streaming 20 video clips of 60 MB each
– and posting about 1 hour of iPad videos
– and downloading 4 Standard Definition movies (typically 700 MB each) or 2 High Definition movies.

Offers vary in terms of speed and data allowance, but are typically equivalent or even better than traditional ADSL broadband:
– Up to 20 Mbps download and 6 Mbps upload
– As with wireless technologies, most subscriptions are capped in term of monthly data use.
A 10 GB monthly volume is often associated to a 20 Mbps download subscription
(down to around 2 GB with speeds of 2 Mbps).

Downloading and uploading files is as fast and reliable with satellite broadband as with ADSL. Web surfing is the same as other solutions.  Internet Service Providers (ISP, also referred to as “ Distributors”) offer 99.5% guarantee for the service (i.e internet connection). Some ISPs propose a minimum speed guarantee, providing the maximum data allowance is not exceeded.  Triple play packages (Voice Over IP, VoIP) based on satellite solutions are now available: internet, TV and voice with the same internet dish (reversely, TV-only dish cannot be used for internet services). Satellite broadband also allows supporting video-conferencing. The latency impact (0.5 second delay) is not considered as annoying by the users for the voice applications.

Satellite broadband does not allow massive downloading and video streaming because of the limitation on the monthly volume allowance (typically 10 GB per month, allowing downloading several standard definition movies). Video streaming quality is not affected by the volume limitation. Satellite broadband is not well suited to online “fast twitch” or “first person shooter” interactive gaming because of longer delay (0.5s latency) than that of fixed broadband. It will work too slowly with buffered periods. Satellite broadband will work fine for “turn-based” games (e.g. chess). Internet-by-satellite works when it rains, even in heavy rains. New technologies are much less sensitive to rain than a few years ago because they allow maintaining the link while adapting the data rate to rain conditions. The performances are in line with availability specifications (better than 99,5%). In very high rainfall areas, the sizing of the dish is adapted to secure the link. Only heavy hail can generate short outages.Due to the shortage of IP addresses in some countries and to the Europe-wide coverage of satellites, IP addresses provided for internet – by – satellite services might not always have the same nationality than the customer. In case of specific need for a national address, it is recommended to check in advance the availability with the Internet Service Provider.

Several sophisticated mechanisms and encryption algorithms ensure a high security level during the “on-air” data transmission between the user premises and the satellite, and between the satellite and the internet backbone. Concretely, every modem connected to the satellite is protected thanks to a unique MAC (Media Access Control) address, i.e a unique identifier assigned for communications on networks. Beside, all data transmissions are fully encrypted in order to ensure confidentiality of the transmissions, as well as of the transmitted information.

Satellite broadband presents absolutely no danger for health (neither dangerous radiations nor electro-magnetic pollution).