Broadband Satellite Communication

A hub station resembles a small home satellite television dish.

Modern satellite broadband connections eliminate the need for wires and can bring Internet access to users in remote areas. Although satellite connections offer broadband speeds, this form of Internet access is somewhat slower than other, more popular, services.

Function

To gain broadband connectivity via satellite, a customer must have some specialized equipment, including a satellite dish capable of two-way communication, known as a hub station; a modulator; a demodulator; a converter; and a noise amplifier. The hub station receives incoming data from one or more satellites, passes it to the down converter for noise elimination and then to the demodulator for conversion into computer-friendly data. This process happens in reverse for outgoing data as the modulator prepares binary information for transmission and the hub station sends the converted data to the satellite.

Benefits

Satellite broadband, according to the satellite interest group SatSig, allows users in remote locations who cannot gain Internet access through traditional methods to get online. In addition, the broadband nature of satellite communication allows for faster speeds than dial-up connections can offer.

Considerations

Although satellite broadband offers higher speeds than dial-up, the broadband information website Velocity Guide notes that satellite connections are comparable to very slow DSL and much slower than cable Internet connections. This slower speed makes satellite broadband unsuitable for high-bandwidth applications such as gaming and video.

References

• Velocity Guide: How Fast Is Satellite Internet?
• SatSig: Broadband Internet Access via Satellite - How it Works

Resources

• Satellite Internet: Broadband Service Providers and Dish Pointing