Quizzes & Puzzles0 min ago
Broadband By Satellite Dish ?
This may be a daft question but here goes anyway !
Why is not possible to supply a good broadband connection via a TV satellite dish, like Sky for instance ? Presumably if it were possible, Sky would already have done it, so there must be a technical problem involved. Satellite dishes provide a very good way of broadcasting TV pictures, so why not internet access ? Most of us still get our telephone service via copper wires, strung along wooden poles, in much the same way we did generations ago, with all their inherent problems.
I'm not talking about satellite phones, which you often see being used by news organisations like the BBC when they are in remote places.
Why is not possible to supply a good broadband connection via a TV satellite dish, like Sky for instance ? Presumably if it were possible, Sky would already have done it, so there must be a technical problem involved. Satellite dishes provide a very good way of broadcasting TV pictures, so why not internet access ? Most of us still get our telephone service via copper wires, strung along wooden poles, in much the same way we did generations ago, with all their inherent problems.
I'm not talking about satellite phones, which you often see being used by news organisations like the BBC when they are in remote places.
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Thanks you two and so quick !
Rocky...I rarely lose my TV due to weather. It does happen but only very occasionally. Its happens about as often as I used to lose the TV signal from my local transmitter, when bad weather occurred. In fact, I think it happens less now that I use SKY.
WyeDyed...thanks for the tip. It would seem that SKY, and others of course, are missing a trick here. There must be millions of people in Britain that aren't getting a very good speed via their telephone line. I have used a fibre optic connection recently, at a meeting in central London and the difference was breath taking ! As an ex-BT engineer, admittedly of nearly 20 years ago, I can say that it will be many, many years before BT gets around to providing a good, fibre optic service to most places, despite what they say. If you live in the country, than you will be the last to be upgraded.
Surely with all the huge leaps in technology, there has to be an alternative to having a dish the size of a Ford Escort strapped to your chimney ? When I use my iPhone, I sometimes think back to early episodes of Star Trek !
Rocky...I rarely lose my TV due to weather. It does happen but only very occasionally. Its happens about as often as I used to lose the TV signal from my local transmitter, when bad weather occurred. In fact, I think it happens less now that I use SKY.
WyeDyed...thanks for the tip. It would seem that SKY, and others of course, are missing a trick here. There must be millions of people in Britain that aren't getting a very good speed via their telephone line. I have used a fibre optic connection recently, at a meeting in central London and the difference was breath taking ! As an ex-BT engineer, admittedly of nearly 20 years ago, I can say that it will be many, many years before BT gets around to providing a good, fibre optic service to most places, despite what they say. If you live in the country, than you will be the last to be upgraded.
Surely with all the huge leaps in technology, there has to be an alternative to having a dish the size of a Ford Escort strapped to your chimney ? When I use my iPhone, I sometimes think back to early episodes of Star Trek !
Sqad... I'm interested in your satellite internet connection ! What kind of average speed do you get ? Is it reliable ?
I'm sure that you could give the company name away here, without enraging our lovely Ed ! After all, company names appear in nearly every post under Technology. I personally have typed SAMSUNG, TESCO, BT, etc without sanction !
Perhaps you could treat it like a Guardian Crossword puzzle clue, and give it us cryptically !
I'm sure that you could give the company name away here, without enraging our lovely Ed ! After all, company names appear in nearly every post under Technology. I personally have typed SAMSUNG, TESCO, BT, etc without sanction !
Perhaps you could treat it like a Guardian Crossword puzzle clue, and give it us cryptically !
mikey.......you must think that i am thick, but all i know is:
Company called tooway and the modem is ViaSat Surfbeam2 Residential Satellite Modem. It runs via a router, mobile phones, my PC(desktop) and mrs sqad's laptop.
I pay €80 /month which is about £60 and one tops up the phone on-line, that is the mobile and the "fixed mobile" if you get what i mean.
No idea of the speed, but it is as quick as the landline that we had in the previous villa.
So my answer is not very technical, but Google Tooway.
Company called tooway and the modem is ViaSat Surfbeam2 Residential Satellite Modem. It runs via a router, mobile phones, my PC(desktop) and mrs sqad's laptop.
I pay €80 /month which is about £60 and one tops up the phone on-line, that is the mobile and the "fixed mobile" if you get what i mean.
No idea of the speed, but it is as quick as the landline that we had in the previous villa.
So my answer is not very technical, but Google Tooway.
It's worth remembering that you still need a phone connection in order to get internet access via satellite. That's because a home satellite dish only receives signals; it doesn't transmit them. So the information sent outbound from your computer (such as a request to show the Answerbank's website) still has to use cables.
Further, using satellites for internet purposes is an incredibly inefficient way of doing things. TV satellites transmit the same signals across millions of square miles of the Earth's surface. Internet satellites have to spread the data that you require (as well as all of the data required by other users of the service) across the same area, with your receiving device being able to decrypt the tiny bit of the satellite's output which is intended for you.
Further, using satellites for internet purposes is an incredibly inefficient way of doing things. TV satellites transmit the same signals across millions of square miles of the Earth's surface. Internet satellites have to spread the data that you require (as well as all of the data required by other users of the service) across the same area, with your receiving device being able to decrypt the tiny bit of the satellite's output which is intended for you.
