The latest way to access the Internet at warp speeds isn’t a fat cable in the ground or a jazzed-up copper wire from your local phone company.
The answer is in the sky: a satellite.
Two companies are rolling out satellite-based Internet services for home and small-office use, providing an alternative to cable modems and digital subscriber lines offered by the phone companies and a handful of start-ups.
The satellite service is zippy, about 10 times faster for downloading information than dial-up modems and about 10 times faster for uploading, or sending, information out via the Net.
What’s needed is a satellite dish, similar to the ones used by many folks for satellite TV services. The added advantage for consumers is that, with an upgrade, both Internet access and TV can be had with the same dish.
Analysts say satellite Internet providers can sign up customers quickly because their service is attractive, given the limitations that now exist for both DSL and cable Internet service.
“The assumption that there will be pent-up demand is valid,” said Jim Penhune, an Internet and new media analyst at Yankee Group, a research firm in Cambridge, Mass.
He said the market for broadband services is still driven by demand. Out of the 50 million or so homes with Internet access, about half are capable of receiving high-speed Internet access via a cable or DSL connection.
“We’re happy that DSL and cable created an awareness for broadband,” said Dave Zatloukal, vice president of DirecPC services for Hughes Network Systems, which is rolling out its satellite access service.
Using satellite dishes for Internet access is a practice that has been around for several years. But until now, satellite dishes were only capable of downloading information from the Internet at high speeds. Users were forced to rely on their phone modems to send information via the Internet.
StarBand Communications Inc. is a joint venture of three companies: Gilat, an Israeli satellite-maker; EchoStar Communications Corp., which owns and operates the Dish Network television service; and Microsoft Corp., which invested $50 million in the venture.
StarBand introduced its two-way Internet service in November and is rolling it out nationwide. RadioShack stores are one place to purchase the needed dish, set up installation and sign up for both the Internet access and the TV service.
It also can be obtained through select EchoStar Dish Network retailers. The system and service can be purchased directly from StarBand at its Web site, www.starband.com.
The Hughes Network service is an upgrade of its existing DirecPC service that is currently a one-way satellite link.
Hughes, the operator of DirecTV, the other major satellite TV service that’s available nationwide, will be providing the hardware, the technology and the satellites. It has teamed up with America Online, Earthlink, Juno and Pegasus to offer the Internet access. Hughes will offer a dish, called DirectDuo, later in the year that can receive both the TV and Internet services.
The only requirement for anyone, anywhere, is a clear line of sight to an orbiting satellite. StarBand proclaims on its Web site: “If you can see the southern sky, you can get StarBand.”
Yet, to access that southern sky, users will need some hardware.
The StarBand service comes in two basic forms.
EchoStar has a package that combines its Dish Network satellite television service with StarBand Internet access. Both are delivered through an antenna dish that measures 24 inches by 36 inches. The dish and modem cost $399, and installation starts at $199. Internet access costs $69.99 a month, and Dish subscribers get discounts.
StarBand also is selling Net service through RadioShack stores, which are bundling the link with Internet service through Microsoft Network. Compaq has configured a computer that receives the satellite transmission directly. The computer with satellite Internet service, ordered through RadioShack stores, costs about $1,250.
StarBand said users should expect download speeds of up to 500 kilobits per second and upload speeds of up to 150 kbps. Speeds could be even faster, depending upon when a user is online.
Frank Derfler, a senior networking editor for PC Magazine who tested a StarBand system from his home on Plantation Key, Fla., found download speeds were somewhat higher than what the company promised. Monitoring it closely for several months, he registered download speeds as high as 900 kbps, with a minimum of 300 kbps.
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Derfler said the satellite service is very effective for the two biggest uses that most people have for the Internet: e-mail and research. The service was “very snappy” for opening Web pages or downloading and exchanging large files.
However, he notes that since a request from a PC must travel to a satellite that’s some 22,300 miles up in orbit around the Earth and then back down to an Internet network hub, which relays the request to the Internet, there is a slight delay. That delay, or latency, said Derfler, makes the satellite service not the best means for interactive duties such as phone conversations or game playing.
Hughes wouldn’t discuss prices for its upgraded DirecPC service, which will provide two-way high-speed Internet access, because it will be marketed through its partners and through various retail chains nationwide, including Circuit City, Best Buy and Office Depot, as well as more than 5,000 independent retailers.
Zatloukal, Hughes’ DirecPC services executive, said pricing will be competitive with services already in the market.
Hughes’ DirectDuo dish, which provides Internet access and satellite TV, will be available in every market, he said.
Although a satellite-based Internet access service may alleviate some of the Internet congestion problems, glitches remain. Some experts say that satellite signals still can be hampered by heavy rains or wet snows. Strong winds could knock a dish out of alignment.
Yet, for consumers and small businesses starving for high-speed Internet access, the weather glitches are minor.
“It’s what you get if you can’t get anything else,” Derfler said.