ViaSat1 Undergoes Successful Test

This is follow-up on my blog of 31 Oct 11 about the launch of the ViaSat 1 satellite.

ViaSat Inc announced on 07 Dec 11 the completion of a successful test of the ViaSat1 bird.

As stated in their press release, the company “…has transmitted the first data over the ViaSat-1 high-capacity satellite and the WildBlue high-speed data network. The initial transmissions and receptions were completed the evening of December 2 from a SurfBeam® 2 terminal at ViaSat's Carlsbad campus, through the ViaSat-1 satellite and a gateway located in Milford, Utah. The test included email, web surfing, and video streaming, proving the power of the integrated network. The satellite, designed and owned by ViaSat, is the highest capacity satellite in the world.”

The release goes on to state “The ViaSat-1 high-capacity Ka-band spot beam satellite includes coverage over North America and Hawaii, enabling a variety of new, high-speed broadband services for WildBlue in the U.S., Xplornet in Canada, and JetBlue Airways on its domestic U.S. fleet.”

It appears that first customer use may occur before the end of 2011 but none of the companies involved have released specific details.

The Canadian carrier Xplornet has been uncharacteristically silent on how it intends to use the new capability except to laud the “4G” capability the new hardware opens up.

Searchmont HSPA Upgrade Reported - Now Confirmed

This report is now confirmed by Tbaytel staff in Thunder Bay and the local SSM Tbaytel agent - The Brick. 

An Anonymous respondent submitted the following report on Tuesday, 29 Nov 11 under  the CRTC Broadband Report Issued blog.

Searchmont's HSPA upgrade is coming online today. The wireless canopy speed tests show an increase rates at my home today after the majority of the infrastructure was put in place yesterday.

I have not been able to receive independent confirmation but I do know that Tbaytel had a scheduled a work outage for an equipment upgrade on the Bellevue/Searchmont link on Monday, 28 Nov 11. Therefore, I believe the report to be accurate.

CRTC Broadband Report Issued

The CRTC issued its Broadband Report dated November 2011 The statistics cited are for the year 2010.

I think some of the cited statistics are going to make you cry or laugh or sit back in awe!

HSPA Data Hub Survey and Speed Issues

I continue to receive reports about the large fluctuations in the data throughput speeds being experienced by users of HSPA data hubs. This appears to be occurring across all vendors and across all the various hardware equipment. In some cases, the Internet connectivity is so bad, the service becomes unusable.

In an attempt to shed some light on the issue I produced a short personal background paper explaining some of the issues and set up a short survey of users’ experiences.

I ask HSPA data hub users to respond to the survey as it might help to get a better understanding of the problem as viewed from a user perspective and perhaps identify potential problem areas in the Algoma District . The survey is completely anonymous. Please pass the information about the survey on to other data hub users you may know.
Click here to take survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HXX5KK3
Thanks

Bell Mobility Moving Into North Sault?

It appears that the long rumoured moves by Bell Mobility into the North Sault area is preceding apace. A notice of Public Consult was published on 04 Nov 11 for a site near Heyden on the Beaumont Mobile Home Park property.

I have reports that there is new tower a few hundred metres to the east of the Tbaytel Goulais (Buttermilk) tower location that is reported also to be a Bell site.

Seasonal Data Hub Usage Information (Updated Information Added)

Addtional information added I am on a month-to-month plan with the Rogers data hub; I bought it outright without a contract.
I recently asked Rogers if they had some kind of plan for persons who only needed or wanted the data hub on a seasonal basis such as summer residents or snowbirds who went south for the winter. I received the following reply from Rogers: - “In regards to your recent inquiry, unfortunately we are unable to temporarily suspend wireless service.”
It appears the sole Rogers option if you own a data hub and want seasonal access only is to cancel the service and sign-up again when the service is required. It looks as if users on a Rogers’ contract are out of luck.
There is currently a $35.00 activation fee associated with the data hub. Although I have heard that this has been waived in some cases, I would factor it into my cost analysis. It seems one would be need to be away for at least two billing cycles (months) to make the trouble worthwhile.
While I can’t confirm it, I suspect the other two carriers serving the Algoma District have similar policies. If anyone has additional information, let me know and I will post it.
Addtional information added.It looks like a Tbaytel insider took me up on my offer to  post additional information; see comment below from Anonymous. He reports that the Tbaytel policy on seasonal service for month-to-month users is cost and hassle free. Sounds good for the North Sault and North Algoma seasonal residents. 

ViaSat 1 Launch and Impact on Algoma District

Based on the public information available together with some insider leaks , I don’t anticipate the recently launched ViaSat1 will have a major impact on satellite service in the Algoma District although I do expect there will some reduction in congestion as the customer base using the current satellites shrinks.
I first discussed the new generation of satellites in July 2010. ViaSat1 was on the books as the first of the High Throughput Satellites (HTS) to serve North America. After about a six month delay due to a potential issue with the solar array used to provide the power in space, International Launch Services (ILS) lifted the ViaSat1 satellite into orbit on 19 Oct 11. A technology overview of the satellite operation can be found at this link.

The new satellite uses a newer version of the spot-beam concept used in the Canadian Anik F2 satellite. According to data released by ViaSat through various media resources, there are 72 spot-beams; 63 in the U.S. and nine over Canada. The spot-beams are “steerable” to a certain degree so the actual footprints are yet to be finalized. The maps below show the rough estimates of the ViaSat1 spot-beams covering parts of Canada as well coverage provided by the Anik F2 spot-beams 

Fig 1. ViaSat1 Canadian Spot Beams*	Fig 2. AnikF2 Spot Beams

* The number of spot-beams shown is greater than nine as some US spot-beams project into Canada.
The Canadian spot-beams are owned by satellite operator Telesat and will be used by Xplornet Communications Inc to service to consumers in rural Canada. The satellite is designed to deliver service for 15 years or more.
The new satellite uses acceleration software called AcceleNet®. As explained on theNetworkProductssite, this software addresses some of the problems associated with satellite usage such as preservation of enterprise security policies—such as SSL VPN compatibility and acceleration of secure file transfers (signed SMB) and web applications (HTTPS)—and bandwidth management for VoIP calls.
Even with the new software, the issue of latency will remain and impact applications that require low ping times to run efficiently or indeed run at all. Gaming and video-conferencing could remain a problem. On the other, user should notice a marked improvement in the web surfing and message exchange experience.
The whole concept of ViaSat1 is that it will concentrate its beams in the areas of relatively high population density. As can be seen on this unofficial map, whole swathes of North America are left uncovered and will need to rely on existing space platforms to provide coverage which may be beefed up.

Xplornet has yet to publish details about how it will use the new capability of ViaSat1. From various sources it appears Xplornet will not use a ViaSat1 spot beam to cover the Algoma District. It seems the plan is to use the capacity freed up by the transfer of customers in other parts of the province and country to ViaSat1 to provide better service to the Algoma District users by reducing the congestion on the existing network.
There has been some discussion as to what the ViaSat1 based price structure could look like.
The following speculation appeared in an ITWorldCanada article: “When ViaSat-1 comes online later this year, they’ll be able to pay $55 a month for” 1.5 Mbps downlink service “ the same speed (plus a $249 up front charge), which includes 10 Gb of data. More importantly, there will be packages with speeds of up to 10 Mbps, twice the maximum that some subscribers can get now.” Indications from other sources indicate additional GBs will cost around $2.50 per GB.
The exact impact on the pricing and service conditions for legacy users on the Hughes and Anik systems is unknown except that Xplornet insists the current users will notice a marked improvement in service quality as some of the new network control features, especially the terrestrial aspects, will be available to the existing network.
Another issue worthy of consideration is terminology and the oft misunderstood term 4G. I discussed the definition for a 4G telecommunications service as a moving target in this blog. Most of the publicity associated with the ViaSat1 launch and subsequent service calls it “4G”. This could easily be confused with the cellular networks’ “4G” service in terms of speed. In reality ViaSat1 4G usually refers to a fourth generation of communications satellites and associated electronics. The only similarity is that the cellular networks and the satellite networks are changing over to their respective generations coincidentally.
It has become part of the ICT culture to bad mouth satellite service with complaints about, speed, reliability, data cap limits, price and a myriad of other features. In many cases this is justified. On the other hand, satellites offer a substantial improvement in throughput over dial-up. They provide a needed access on a universal basis, where terrestrial systems are not available.
I used satellite service for over 7 years. It definitely filled a need.
Was I glad to be able to switch to a terrestrial based system when Rogers and Tbaytel introduced service in my area? Absolutely.
Would I recommend a satellite service as a viable option for use as a system of last resort? Absolutely.