Fast Internet access is no longer reserved for those lucky to live in neighborhoods served by cable modems or digital subscriber lines.
Two-way high-speed Internet access by satellite is open to anyone in the continental United States with a clear view of the southern sky and an AC power outlet.
StarBand Communications Inc. began selling its two-way dish and service in December. A competing service from the DirecPC subsidiary of Hughes Electronics Corp. should be available by summer.
This isn’t Net nirvana. StarBand is expensive at $69 for monthly service. The up-front charge for equipment and installation is $640–and can’t fully match the performance of cable modems and DSL.
But StarBand succeeds in delivering what industry insiders call “the broadband experience.”
The connection is fast enough to make Internet radio and television enjoyable, with speedy downloads of big files such as MP3 music tracks. And StarBand is always on, so users can accomplish everyday tasks without having to endure the wait for a conventional modem to connect through a phone line.
That StarBand works at all is an engineering miracle.
The dish receives data from a satellite in a stationary orbit 22,300 miles above the equator and–here’s the miracle part–sends data back up to that satellite. The satellite, in turn, channels data through StarBand’s ground stations in McLean, Va., and Marietta, Ga.
StarBand’s official download speed is 500 kilobits per second, with 150 kbps upload. I did some informal testing, and the download rate varied from 350 kbps to 570 kbps, clustering around 400 kbps–at least 10 times faster than the typical phone connection.
I continued my testing by downloading jazz great Charlie Parker’s “Slow Boat to China” from the MP3.com site. StarBand fetched the 4.6 megabyte file in 1 minute 40 seconds, while my AT&T@Home cable modem did the job in 20 seconds.
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Cable modems and DSL generally cost $39 a month, with equipment and installation rarely exceeding $200. That’s why StarBand–slower and more expensive–clearly isn’t a good option for anyone within reach of cable or DSL service.
But millions of people in the United States, from the center of big cities to isolated rural settlements, don’t have cable or DSL access and might not for years to come. StarBand immediately moves those people to the Internet fast line.
Not everyone can take advantage of home satellite systems. Some properties don’t have a clear view of the southern sky–blocked by tall buildings, perhaps, or mountains. And some apartment, townhouse and condominium dwellers can’t get permission to install an external satellite dish.