Satellite Internet News

Satellite Internet is one of the new technologies for accessing the Internet. The technology uses a transponder, dish and a modem for uploading and downloading data from a computer to the service provider’s server. HughesNet is a leading provider of satellite Internet services. Satellite Internet connectivity is good for data transfer, but it is not the ideal choice for online gaming and other real time applications. Let us find out why.
Latency is a factor that causes roadblocks in Satellite Internet connectivity being used for online gaming. Internet researchers are convinced that at present service levels online gaming is not ideal over satellite Internet. The time it takes for an electromagnetic signal to cover a two way distance is approximately 0.48 seconds at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. By all practical means this is above acceptable limits and the primary reason why online gaming is not suggested if you have a satellite Internet connectivity. The transponders are normally at a height of 22,300 miles above the equator. Apart from latency there are other factors such as degradation of the signals during heavy precipitation and solar interference in Mid March and late September. Another factor that would hinder online gaming via Satellite Internet is bandwidth availability. Online gaming is real-time and requires high bandwidth between the server and the player’s computer. Satellite Internet may not provide such high bandwidth requirements for home use. Online games are developed using peer-to-peer architecture and the bandwidth requirements are directly related to the scalability of the game. If the number of players increases the bandwidth requirements for the game will be more. Real time games have to maintain consistency of state. It is important that all players have the same view of the car in a racing game. This requires high speed, less latency and almost negligible jitters. The bandwidth requirement for an online gaming application is calculated as NLu/Tu; where N is the number of updates that is sent and received in each update period and Lu is the size of the updates. The update period parameter is Tu. Researchers who work on the bandwidth requirement of a game use this formula. As an end user we should know the requirements before we start on a game.

Satellite Internet companies such as HughesNet offer speeds of 700 Kbps, 1 Mbps, and 1.5 Mbps for home connections as well as 1.5 Mbps and 2 Mbps for business connections. Online gaming is not ideal over Satellite Internet because factors such as loss of packets and jitters may cause the player to lose or abandon a game. It will be a frustrating experience for the player and hence it is advisable that for gaming purposes either DSL or broadband connectivity be used. Satellite Internet providers are continuously working on their technology to upgrade their infrastructure so that they can offer higher levels of services to subscribers. Things are moving at a brisk pace but until the speed and other factors improve online gaming fans should use DSL, broadband or cable Internet.

VoIP has revolutionized the way telecommunication is done. Voice over Internet protocol allows voice packets to be sent over Internet bandwidth enabling cheap communication. There are many companies which offer voice over Internet services and some of the leading ones are Vonage, Skype, Yahoo and Net2Phone. Consumers can access VoIP over Internet connections like broadband and DSL. Satellite Internet is a new technology that has become very popular in recent times and VoIP providers are able to offer services to customers in remote regions using it. It will still take some time until VOIP by satellite is ultimately stabilized and customers can enjoy the full benefits.

Some of the challenges faced by service providers include packet loss, jitters and limited bandwidth. Service providers like Hughes and Skyframes which have their own satellites are teaming up with the VoIP providers to offer voice services to customers. Designing a VoIP network would require details on the bandwidth requirement for VoIP data. Satellite Internet providers are facing challenges on the bandwidth capacity that would be required to offer VoIP services via satellite channels. G.729 (b) encoding with a 40 b payload and header compression would require 10 Kbps of bandwidth. Packet loss is another challenge faced by service providers offering satellite VoIP services. Packet loss causes degradation in voice quality. The protocol used for voice traffic transmission is UDP/IP and if the data packets are corrupted they cannot be retransmitted. TCP/IP protocol allows retransmission of data packets. It is important to maintain very low bit error rates to offer high quality voice services to customers. Jitters are another technology hurdle that is faced by satellite VoIP service providers. It is used to calculate the delays in packet arrivals that happen because of network delay. If this factor is not within acceptable limits the quality of voice becomes poor and the receiver may not be able to enjoy a good conversation. Jitter buffers are used to overcome this hurdle and ensure that there is less delay in the network. Researchers and scientists are working relentlessly to overcome all hurdles that come in way of experiencing a smooth voice call through satellite Internet.

VoIP by satellite is not ideal because of some more factors. Latency factor refers to the time delay in locating the Geo-stationary satellite and the speed of light. There is a delay of 280 msec because of latency factor. Traffic congestion in the network also affects the quality of VoIP service. This can result in voice packets being dropped, delayed or reaching the receiver out of sequence. Compression technology is another parameter for delivering high quality VoIP service. There are two compression technologies that are followed as industry standards. The G.729 codec uses bandwidth of 18Kbps and RTP uses around 10 Kbps per second. If service providers are able to cope with the technological challenges of VoIP over satellite, it will not be long before remote areas of the United States can connect with the rest of the world.