Satellite PC - Understanding Satellite PC Technology
Signals used for a satellite PC is delivered by way of communication satellites. It allows access to a two-way broadband satellite Internet access. Last year, a communications company began offering a two-way broadband satellite to personal computer systems to the consumers of home, small office, and other office markets. From three orbital locations, the system utilizes an elliptical dish which can receive various satellite signals simultaneously. The dish is approximately twenty-four inches by thirty-six inches. It sends and receives Internet data through a dish network satellite television that includes both local and international channels. The communications company plans to pile a bandwidth guaranteed to produce an output of either 150 kbps or 300 kbps. They also guarantee to have connections as fast as 1.45 Mbps during off-peak times or when the network is not congested.
The new two-way terminal supports SOHO and enterprise applications such as Internet protocol multicasting and content delivery. It also receives signals from existing medium power Ku-band satellites. Two-way direct satellite PC is also offered with an antenna system which would allow consumers to receive both personal computer data and television video programming with the same unit. In the rural areas that are cut-off from a two-way cable or DSL availability, the satellite's availability to offer immediate and present two-way national access would make it a very strong product. Can satellite companies, this time acting as broadband internet service providers, expect the same type of success that they've had in competing against the cable guys for video customers?
The area is crowded and very competitive because both cable and DSL providers are actively targeting the consumer market for broadband Internet access. If other wired alternatives are available the consumers may not be too eager to use the larger satellite dishes in order to link up for two-way broadband. The current history of satellite PC services hasn't reflected the success story of the satellite television.
A customer relates his experience about the benefits of having a satellite personal computer. The place was in the Dominican Republic and a hurricane had hit the place. The hurricane did an extensive damage to the most part of the islands with 60mph winds and lots of rain. Roads are impassable because of floods with billboards and roofs blown away, broken power lines, and lots of trees uprooted. They were lucky losing only a few trees but house has undamaged. The satellite dish survived the 24-hour hammering of up to 75 mph gusts of wind and was still pointed to the sky even after the storm. With plenty of damage and flooding, the town was particularly badly hit. And the only working telephone was theirs. So the local authorities set up a command post in their office and used it to coordinate the evacuation and rescue efforts. They would call California to contact the various emergency resources in Santiago and Santo Domingo and to the very few cellular phones that were still working to assist with their coordination using satellite PC.