How does Satellite service compare to terrestrial broadband services?
The primary differences between terrestrial (DSL, cable, and modem) and satellite services are round-trip times, vulnerability to weather and radio interference, and cost of subscription.Terrestrial broadband services have faster round-trip (“ping”) times, but similar actual download rates. Geosyncronous satellites orbit at an altitude of 36,000 km. Because round-trip traffic must make this trip 4 times for each two-way communication, ping times are commonly 500-2000 ms as opposed to the 50-200 ms times seen in terrestrial data links. This means that every single web page loaded requires a minimum of 500-2000 ms to begin loading. However, the data rates are comparable – once a file download begins, it runs at speeds similar to terrestrial traffic. This limitation is most visible when sending and receiving small data packets.Because Satellite service is transmitted as radio waves through the atmosphere, it can be affected by weather conditions at the customer site, the Network Operation
