Word on the street has
it that Xplornet is in the process of transitioning Northern Ontario broadband
(high-speed Internet) satellite coverage from the tired Hughes and Telesat Ka[1]
satellites to the newer 4G[2]
High Throughput Satellite (HTS) - either ViaSat or Jupiter. While the 4G
satellites are also Ka band, they use different transponder technology to get
the higher throughput. The most noticeable difference is the use of spot beams.
I posted previously more information about the HTS satellite services at these blog
entries - Next
Generation Satellites and ViaSat
Impact on Algoma District
If the plan to
introduce 4G satellite goes ahead, the immediate consequence will be universal
coverage of the District, reduced costs and increased data caps. Based on the
prices charged in other jurisdiction across Canada, one could reasonably expect
prices and service in the following ranges[3]:
When compared
to the existing 3G satellite service on Telesat, there is quite an improvement
in all categories.
One of
the biggest complaints about satellite service over the years has been the "Fair
Use Policy" or FUP. This policy limited the amount of data an individual
user station could exchange (down and up) over a designated period. After the user exceeded the data limit, the
Internet Service Provider (ISP) throttled back the speed of the connectivity
for a fixed period lasting anywhere from 15 minutes to 24 hours, depending on the
service category.[4]
Xplornet now calls the practice Traffic
Management. A full list and explanation of the variations is available at this page on the Xplornet
website.
Another
common complaint is a slowdown in speed during peak hours. This complaint is
common to all wireless, shared bandwidth systems, be they satellite, fixed
wireless (Canopy) or cellular. Commonly
called congestion, it is too many users chasing too little bandwidth. Put another way, ISPs oversell their available
capacity without regard to how the customer is using the system. As the demand
for streaming video and cloud storage services grow, it takes fewer users to
overwhelm existing systems.
There is
a good chance that the 4G satellite will follow a well-established progression.
Early adopters will be very pleased with the speed and availability of the satellite
service. As the word spreads about the service, more customers sign up. Over
time, the service quality gradually declines as the system receives more and
more demand. Eventually, using the system becomes an exercise in frustration.
Finally,
the 4G satellites will not solve the latency, (sometimes referred to as
time-delay or ping time) problem. Like previous satellites, the 4G birds are in
geosynchronous orbit, which means there is a minimum latency in the order of
600 ms in round trip signal time. The
general acceptance is that any latency in excess of around 250 ms will play
havoc with applications that require near real-time connectivity such as
gaming, VoIP and some secure Virtual Private Networks (VPN). Although there
have been marked improvements in how latency is handled, it is still problem
that needs to be considered by some users.
None of the
above is to say that satellite broadband does not have its place in the bag of
broadband solutions. In some cases, it is and will continue to be the only
solution for some remote area such as fly-in camps, industrial operations[5] and isolated seasonal
residence such as those along the Algoma Central Railway (ACR). There are also small residential pockets which
non-satellite ISPs do not consider economically viable.
As a matter
of note, the current federal and provincial policy is
to consider satellite broadband as an acceptable means of providing broadband
access. In fact, ten of the projects approved in the last iteration of the
Broadband Canada program (2012) relied on the use of satellite as the delivery method.
(The majority were fixed wireless.)
Whether satellite broadband is a viable
solution depends on how the customer wants to use the connectivity. I used the
older (and slower) satellite service for over seven years and found it
satisfied the majority of my needs. However, I am not a gamer nor do I view a
lot of video. I did use it extensively for e-mail, web browsing, project management,
academic research, government services interaction and miscellaneous this and
that. Once I got use to time lag in the initial the click to display action -
the latency bug-a-boo issue- it worked fine for me.
The decision as to whether or not to
subscribe to a satellite service is very much a personal one based the customer's
needs.
[1] The frequency range used for download
and upload classifies Satellites:
C-Band - 4-8 GHz); Ku Band - 12-18 GHz; Ka Band - 26.5-40 GHz. The
higher the frequency means the smaller the dish size.
[2] Satellite 4G should not be confused with cellular 4G
networks. They are different technology.
[3] I copied this from the Xplornet website in Feb 2014
for service in Alberta and New Brunswick.
[4] This is the same trick used by some cellular service
providers that offer "unlimited data". After a core cap of anywhere
from 2-4 GB at 4G speeds, any data overages
are throttled back to 3G or even 2G speeds in some cases.
[5] There are dedicated commercial satellite ground
stations operators that can provide better quality service than some
residential quality ISPs.
