You Need satellite Internet When...

Before you decide to choose satellite Internet as the medium of connectivity, you should be 100% sure that it is really the right solution for your connectivity needs. Lack of Internet access and connectivity is unimaginable for anyone, anywhere in the world. This is a fact of life. There are a few places on Earth which do not have terrestrial Internet access or the quality of access available is poor and unreliable. But we still want to live and work in such places.
 
Satellite as a primary form of connectivity

Satellite is an ideal primary form of connectivity if you live in a remote location. When you know it takes weeks, sometimes months, to get a terrestrial broadband connection installed. Or when you know sometimes it takes that long before the provider admits that it cannot be delivered at all.

Satellite as a back up option

Satellite can act as an excellent back up option in places where the quality of terrestrial access is unreliable and/or poor. Satellite back up ensures that businesses and end users are connected to the Internet when the primary terrestrial access is unavailable for short periods of time.

Advantages of Satellite Internet

Global Coverage

This is the most significant advantage of using satellite links - coverage at any location on Earth. A single satellite in the geostationary orbit can cover distances as large as whole oceans or continents.

This wide area coverage makes high-speed Internet access from remote locations quick and easy. It is also possible to connect many remote locations spread across large distances through a secure private link.

Due to the curvature of the Earth, uneven terrain, oceans and many natural and man-made obstacles, it is difficult to set up a direct communication path over long distances. For businesses like off-shore oil exploration, it is nearly impossible to directly communicate with headquarters - hundreds of miles away. For such requirements, satellite is the most effective option. For satellite connectivity to be established, you only need a power supply and a clear view of the satellite orbiting at 23,000 miles in the geostationary orbit.

Take a look at the VSAT Systems Coverage Map to understand how we provide coverage across North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

High speed access

The first thing you would notice about satellite Internet is Speed. Most satellite Internet providers can provide multi megabit speeds which can be sometimes faster than terrestrial options. If the options available are limited, such as dial-up or unreliable/slow DSL, satellite is the clear winner.

VSAT Systems can provide end users with speeds as high as 2 Mbps upload and 4Mbps download with CIRs for guaranteed speeds.

Cost effective

It costs anywhere between $10,000- $100,000 to lay a mile of fiber in an unserved location. In addition to the high investment, it may take several months to complete the fiber deployment and make it available to individual locations. If you do not have access to reliable terrestrial connectivity, satellite is the most cost-effective means of high-speed Internet access.

Location independent - mobile solutions

Having a broadband connection at any location is great, the advantage of taking it anywhere is even better.

Internet via satellite is possible through fixed and mobile equipment. The end user location is connected to the Internet as long as the VSAT dish has a clear line of sight (i.e. a clear view of the southern sky).

Bandwidth availability

The geo-stationary orbit has about 180 'parking spots' for satellites. Of these, many satellites have fixed positions over large oceans. These satellites are great for watching the weather, but are not useful for providing data communications services. For coverage over North America, there are only a few satellites that can do it. Of these few, fewer are available for Tier 1 operators. Some are exclusively owned by governments. Some are used for broadcast and telecommunications.

Even with the fact that there are limited 'parking spots' for satellites in the geo-stationary orbit and limited bandwidth on these satellites, operators such as Intelsat and Telesat have the capacity to provide gigabit speeds over entire continents. This bandwidth is less than what terrestrial options might have to offer. However, this bandwidth is available throughout the footprint bringing high-speed access at any location.

Reliability

As the satellite network consists of only a satellite, teleport, NOC and VSAT terminal, the number of opportunities for network outages are significantly reduced. Compared to terrestrial networks, there is much less opportunity for network outages. With terrestrial services (cable or DSL), network outages can occur at any point along the infrastructure.

A complete satellite network can work independently of terrestrial infrastructure and maintain connectivity as long as the equipment is powered.

Instant installation and deployment

The satellites antennas can be instantly deployed and installed within a matter of a few hours. For mobile and transportable solutions, you can set-up and connect to the Internet in less than 10 minutes.