Introduction

Satellite Basics

How it Works

Issues

Current Offerings

The Future

Conclusions

References and Links

StarBand       DirecPC       How Does it Compare?
 

Current Offerings

The Yankee Group reports that by year-end 2005 satellite will account for about 4.5 million of the approximately 31 million broadband subscribers.  By comparison, cable will continue to dominate the market with 15.7 million subscribers.  Future competition from emerging wireless technologies will  offer a serious threat to satellite.  Currently, the major satellite based Internet service providers for consumers are DirecPC and StarBand.  The hardware and software requirements for these systems are similar.  Services and prices are competitive but higher than cable services (about $70/month).

StarBand provided by Echostar Communications Corporation boasts itself as the first to offer two-way satellite Internet access.  Users can upgrade their service to include the Dish Network television feeds.

DirecPC from Hughes Network Systems is partnered with Pegasus Express, Earthlink, and Juno to provide two-way Internet access.  Users of DirecPC can upgrade to DirectDuo which includes access to DirecTV television feeds.

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How does it Compare?

Satellite ISP's offer bandwidth that is comparable to other offerings (cable modems, DSL, ISDN, etc.).  However, actual performance is impacted by relatively slow uploads and transmission latency.  Transmission latency makes Satellite access unsuitable for interactive games, voice, and other latency sensitive applications.  The chart below gives a brief breakdown of the relative speeds of the most popular broadband options.  Factors that may impact these speeds are network capabilities and instantaneous demand of shared bandwidth. 

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