HughesNet, Viasat and... Elon Musk? Satellite internet, explained

Satellite internetis没什么新鲜的, but there's growing interest in the category now thatAmazon,伊隆麝香and others are working to expand its availability and capabilities. That's welcome news, especially withthe ongoing pandemickeeping people at home, and more dependent on internet access than ever before.

在所有50个州提供，卫星互联网并不像fiber or cable, but it might be one of your only options if you live in a rural part of the country, whereinternet infrastructure remains woefully underdeveloped。Here's everything you should know about it before you sign up.

阅读更多:The best internet providers for 2021: Cable vs. DSL vs. satellite and more

卫星互联网如何工作？

卫星互联网与卫星电视类似地运作，因为它依赖于在低压或高地轨道和接收该信号的接收器盘中通过卫星路由的信号的组合。接收器通常放置在您的家庭或业务上，在某个位置，它尽可能无障碍地访问天空。您将将调制解调器连接到该卫星将信号转换为可行的Internet连接。

While electricity is needed, the satellite internet world isn't dependent on cable wires, fiber or phone lines.

这些地面技术是昂贵的extend into rural areas, where companies get fewer customers for their investment in a given amount of cable. Satellites are difficult to launch into space, sure, but once a sufficient network of them is available,companies can offer broadbandsatellite internet to customers over a wide swath of the planet, even in fairly remote places.

Who currently offers satellite internet?

The two top satellite internet providers in the country are Viasat and HughesNet, and each has been in the business of satellite-based communications for decades. Most recently, HughesNet began offeringits Gen5 service plan卫星家庭互联网。同时，ViaSAT已开始提供一个名为的新卫星/ DSL混合动力服务Viasat Flex, which promises to improve signal reliability and lower latency. It's available at no immediate extra cost in rural areas within AT&T's DSL network.

这两个长期的名字现在面临着新鲜，高调竞争的前景。去年7月，联邦通信委员会批准了亚马逊项目Kuiperto deploy thousands of satellitesto create its own satellite-based broadband service under the Amazon umbrella. Even farther along is Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. His company'sStarlink satellite internet servicealready boasts more than a thousand satellites in orbit, and the service is currentlyin open beta in select regions with over 10,000 customers。You can check outour first impressions of Starlink在上面的视频中。

Where is satellite internet available?

Most areas of the US can receive satellite internet signal due to the proliferation of satellites attuned to those latitudes. HughesNet, for instance, offers service in all 50 states. Some satellite internet companies are also exploring coverage in other parts of the world, including options for communities to have one or morecommunity hot spotsin lieu of residential dishes and connections.

Is satellite better than other kinds of internet?

Recent advancements and a proliferation of satellites in orbit havebrought satellite internet into the range of speeds that are available来自一些其他常见的互联网模式。如果您不确定当前的互联网速度是什么，you can check your connection把各种数字放在上下文中;连接以每秒兆位或Mbps测量。

例如，DSL和有线互联网非常常见，DSL下载速度在3到50Mbps的范围内，并且电缆通常从10到500Mbps提供，具体取决于您的计划和其他因素。卫星互联网通常在12到100Mbps进入，速度慢，但Musk承诺，最高可达300Mbps的速度将是可能的when Starlink's infrastructure is complete.

Fiber internet, which makes use of fiber-optic cable, can offer blazing fast download speeds每秒高达2,000Mbps或2千兆位。然而，安装光纤电缆是昂贵的，并且群体密度很低的某些区域可能不会成为光纤互联网的优先位置，直到卫星互联网选项生长。

以下是与其他类型的互联网连接相比，卫星连接的优点和缺点是快速的。

Pros

• 等待您所在地区提供的宽带互联网可能需要很长时间，并且现在可以使用卫星互联网。
• Satellite internet is fairly simple to acquire: find a company that offers it, request that a dish be installed and get the right plan for your needs. That's it.
• Because major companies like SpaceX and Amazon are entering the satellite internet market, speeds are likely to increase and prices could become more competitive; at the very least, availability is likely to widen.

Cons

• When other options besides satellite internet are available and offer you reasonable broadband download and upload speeds, they will often be cheaper than satellite internet, at least for now.
• With many of the satellites located in far-away orbit above Earth,潜伏is a common issue with satellite internet, as your traffic will need a few extra moments to make it up to outer space. Starlink claims to be deploying its satellites much closer to Earth, which it hopes will resolve some latency issues.
• 正如Hughesnet所说的那样，卫星菜肴必须良好地对齐，例如，随着“南方南部的清晰观”。积雪或某些天气可以造成斑点甚至停电。

More on satellite internet

Want to learn more about the latest in satellite internet? Things are changing rapidly, so keep up with the news here at CNET: Learn about the2021年最佳互联网提供商,Starlink reaching the 10,000-customer mark, and卫星网络如何长期包围地球。