One of the big problems with technologies like DSL and cable modems is that they require you to be roughly
within 18000 feet of some central office. Cable modems really don't have an 18000 foot limitation.
They do have a limitation but it's really kind of invisible to us as users.
Well we can't all do that.
And that's where technologies like satellite really make the difference.
This is a satellite receiver.
And what I should ask.
Let me be more accurate.
This is a satellite transmitter and receiver and this is fairly typical of
the Internet based satellite connections that you can get. Satellite isn't nearly as fast as DSL and
cable usually topping out at best maybe about three megabits per second and that's synchronous.
However that information is a bit dated today satellites are asynchronous with downloads which we can
see around 12 megabits per second and uploads around three megabits per second. When you can't get anything
else.
As long as you can see a satellite you can use a satellite receiver.
Now the satellite itself in terms of the receiver isn't too terribly interesting.
We have technicians who will come out and they'll install this and point it at the right satellite and
get it up and running for us.
But coming out of this guy are two RG-6 cables: one for the transmission and one for receiving.
And they go over to the satellite modem.
So here's a satellite modem if you look in the front it's not too terribly exciting but in the back
you'll see we've got two connections.
These are F-Type connections one for transmit one receive and we plug these in.
And then we've got power.
And then right here we just have a nice little RJ 45 connection so it really works out incredibly well.
The concept of modem works pretty much the same for DSL cable satellite.
You've got something that plugs us into our technology but the end result is it always comes out as
an RJ 45.
There's one term on the network plus you might want to be aware of.
And that's called satellite latency.
Even though you might reach a certain speed with satellite simply because of the vast distance involved
you may find yourself in a situation where the satellites are a little bit slow on the response simply
because it's a long way up and a long way down.