Advances in Satellite Technology Makes Rural Internet Service Accessible

Satellites are used all over the world now for multiple applications. They carry cell phone signals, track where almost anything is on the Earth, guide travelers to destinations, allow credit card transactions to process immediately, bring television and radio signals to users and allow people to find out where their teenage daughter really went after the concert.

Satellite technology has come a long way since the 1940’s when the idea became popular as a means to broadcast television around the world. The launching of Sputnik in the 50’s encouraged people that satellites could really be a part of the future. Soon the 60’s brought the Communications Satellite Corporation into the game and saw phone calls and tv broadcasts sent via satellite feeds become the standard. It was that decade that saw the most groundbreaking in satellite communications. In fact, so much had been conceived for satellites in that decade, that satellite internet technology is not a brand new concept at all.


It was not until recent years though, that the internet aspect of this technology could be put to use for day to day consumer based applications. Orbit, stabilization, launching, and antennas had to be worked on along with the complexity of maintenance issues, latency and feedback. However, while a main focus was on getting lighter, more stable and lower satellites into orbit, it was actually the receiving system that held back progress for many years.

One major problem with the first satellite dishes for internet service was the size. They had to be cumbersome as there were issues with both receiving enough of the signal and weather obstructing the signal, specifically rain. The expense of these models and the space needed to mount the dishes made them an unrealistic option for the consumer looking for home use applications. Even television satellite dishes suffered a similar problem with dishes taking up a large amount of space in the yard.

Eventually using fixed orbit satellites and furthering the advances in the technology focused on the frequency of signals and the way the band converts, shrunk both the television and internet dishes to user friendly proportions. Today these dishes can be mounted onto most any structure with ease. This has made satellite internet service the answer in a lot of rural settings around the world. Programs around the globe have used satellite technology to bring the internet to rural communities where not even a phone line previously existed, or cities that are hard to access because of their locations.

Even in the States, DSL and fiber optic lines are limited in rural settings. Dial-up internet connections are the most common, but as the internet demands the loading of increasing amounts of data on each page, dial-up is very slow and often can’t load a page entirely at all. Although satellite technology can seem costly, multiple users sharing the satellite bandwidth works similar to how cable broadband users share bandwidth. Using satellite internet, rural users can be offered a higher speed connection at an affordable cost.



This post was written for MyBlueDish, the best place to get resourceful information about satellite internet service.