Telekomunikacja Polska is the leading telecommunications operator in Poland. It will expand its extensive service offering and will also provide reliable satellite broadband connections for rural areas. ASTRA2Connect is planned to be offered in three different service packages, download speeds vary from 512 kbit/s to 2,048 kbit/s.

The ASTRA2Connect satellite technology is know for its always-on, highly reliable, Internet access. This includes Internet telephony for flat service fees. A low cost self-installable modem and satellite dish is required. ASTRA2Connect is available in 14 European countries. Its services are marketed via Internet service providers to the residential market.

“With this agreement, Telekomunikacja Polska is now the only telecommunications provider offering fast Internet access everywhere in Poland. The launch of satellite-based Internet services is another example of our activities which will eventually eliminate the white spots in Poland,” said Maciej Witucki, Chairman of the Board of Telekomunikacja Polska. “With the additional satellite service, our customers can now choose from the entire range of possibilities to access the broadband Internet: ADSL, mobile and satellite connections.”

“We are proud to have signed a distribution agreement for ASTRA2Connect with a strong partner such as Telekomunikacja Polska,” said Norbert Willems, Managing Director of ASTRA Broadband Services. “Access to broadband is necessary for economic and social wealth, and in Poland, there are still around two million households which are not covered by terrestrial broadband networks. We strongly believe that together with Telekomunikacja Polska we are offering an ideal solution for these regions: ASTRA2Connect is highly reliable, cost-efficient and immediately available.”

One Way Access will only allow you to receive data from the satellite, therefore the equipment cost will be low. Because there is no way to upload data to the satellite you will need to have it installed in conjunction with a dial-up, cable, dsl or other broadband link. Because a wired connection is still necessary the most important benefit, namely wireless access, is lost. The only scenario in which one way access comes in useful is when a slow dial-up or isdn connection is your only wired option. In that case it will allow you to achieve higher speeds reaching about 3Mbit/s.

Two Way Access will allow a bidirectional connection. Users will be able to send data to the satellite. Because the current mainstream satellite dishes need to be manually directed to a satellite this technology can only be used in combination with geostationary satellites. These satellites remain at a seemingly fixed point hanging above earth. Because of that they need to be further away from earth to escape gravity. This high distance is the main reason for the high latencies that goes paired with current Satellite Internet subscriptions.

A new technology is evolving which makes use of low earth orbit satellites. These satellites are much closer to earth which is definitely a good thing for latencies/pings. Unfortunately to be able to stay at this low altitude they need to move, fast. Transmitting data with the satellite will require dynamic satellite dishes that constantly adjust towards the satellites location. Since at some point the satellite disappears behind the horizon, a new one needs to pass by. Depending on the altitude a minimum of 5 satellites is needed for global coverage. To get the data to the users home other mediums will be used. Wired networks such as fiber, cable, dsl or wireless such as wifi, 3G, EDGE, WiMAX,… o3B is currently deploying low orbit satellites to enable fiber speeds over satellite. The future looks bright for satellite internet providers.

The network launch will follow recent deregulations of the telecom industry in Qatar. The market has opened the door for satellite internet providers to meet the ever growing demand for extra bandwidth for a variety of enterprise communications and government needs in the country. Now QSAT can offer even more advanced services to rural areas. Thereby fixing the communications gap in the region’s rapidly growing market, where terrestrial service is for most people still a bridge too far.

The new network plans to deliver next-generation performance for VPN‘s (virtual private networks) and other applications that customers rely on for modern business. The new network will enable efficient allocation of bandwidth capacity from the satellite to its base of customers. Higher Quality of Service is possible by automatically adjusting. This way typical conditions such as rain fade that often cause service degradation in Africa and other tropical regions can be overcome.

“Critical enterprise and government applications, including rural telecommunications, telemedicine, VPN’s and distance learning create a growing demand for extra bandwidth capacity. Upcoming markets begin to realize the astronomic service and cost advantages of using VSAT. iDirect provides all those benefits with advanced features that enable the offering of higher SLA‘s (Service Level Agreements) to meet the ever growing demands of customers.”

Most developed nations, particularly in the northern hemisphere, are well served by an extensive fiber network. Unfortunately the deployment of an extensive fiber network in many developing markets is not yet commercially viable, let alone practical.

O3b Networks plan to offer fiber performance over satellite, at prices comparable to normal fiber. Customers will directly connect to core networks and 3G Cellular or WiMAX towers, the O3b Networks says the system will completely change the economics of telecommunications infrastructure in new communications service markets.

Demand, commercial and social benefits are directly demonstrated by the rapid growth of telecommunications services in emerging markets. O3b Networks  will target markets where the deployment of high-capacity bandwidth is restricted due to political, geographic or economic barriers. The Company’s low-latency, low-cost 3G cellular backhaul and Internet backhaul services will allow telecom operators and ISPs to start offering more affordable, high-speed Internet access services – effectively bridging the digital divide between emerging and developed markets .

Technical and operational development is well underway. Initial production has begun and starts with a constellation of 16 satellites. 2300 transponders will deliver a low-latency backhaul at speeds reaching 10 gigabits per second. Service activation is planned for late 2010. The system is scalable and allows to increase capacity with additional satellites and therefore meet growing demand.

According the executive of the European Commission states the two companies state it should be possible to get mobile Satellite Internet up and running by May 2011 worst case.

Both will receive the exclusive right to use radio frequencies to beam wireless Internet, television, radio or emergency communications to mobile phone users or computers that can’t connect to existing network masts.

They have promised to cover at least 60% of European Union territory. According the European Union this could boost Internet access in highlands, rural areas and remote islands that currently have poor to no access at all or end up paying astronomical fees due to limited operator choice.

Solaris is jointly owned by Luxembourg-based SES Astra and France’s Eutelsat Communications, which in future plan to deliver services to mobiles and cars. Inmarsat is mainly known for providing satellite phones in naval industry.

Let’s find out why!

Latency, in game terms called ping, is a factor that causes roadblocks in Satellite Internet connectivity being used for online gaming. Internet researchers state that at present service levels playing online games is not a sinecure over satellite Internet. The time it takes for an electromagnetic signal (Radio Waves) to cover the two way distance up and down is approximately 0.48 seconds at a speed of 186,000 miles or 299,337 kilometers per second. Not much, but unfortunately above acceptable limits for smoothly playing interactive online games and thus the main reason why online gaming is not suggested if you have a satellite Internet connectivity. The transponders (satellites) are normally hovering at a height of 22,300 miles or 35,888 kilometers above sea level. Apart from latency there are numerous other factors such as noise degradation of the signals during heavy precipitation and solar interference in mid March and late September. Yet another factor that would hinder online gaming via Satellite Internet is bandwidth availability. Online gaming is real-time and mostly requires high bandwidth between the server and the player’s computer. In some cases Satellite Internet may not affordably provide such high bandwidth requirements for home use. Online games are developed using peer-to-peer architecture and the bandwidth requirements are most of the time directly related to the scalability of the game. As the number of players increases, the bandwidth requirements for the game will do also. Real time games have to maintain consistency of state. It is important that all players have the same view of the world in a shooting game. It requires higher speeds, lesser latencies and almost no jitter. The bandwidth requirement for an online game is calculated as N.L/T; The update period parameter is called T and N stands for the number of updates that is sent and received in each update period. The size of the updates is L. This formula is used by researchers who work on the bandwidth requirements of a game. But as an end user we should also consider these requirements before we start a game.

Satellite Internet companies such as HughesNet offer speeds of  1 Mbps, 1.2 Mbps and 1.6 Mbps for home connections as well as 2 Mbps and 3 Mbps for business connections. Upload speeds are at most 300 Kbps. Online gaming is not ideal over Satellite Internet because factors such as loss of packets and jitter may cause the player to lose or even abandon a game. It will be a frustrating experience for the player and hence it is advisable that for gaming purposes either Fiber, DSL, Cable or other broadband mediums be used. Satellite Internet providers are continuously working on their technology to upgrade infrastructures so that they can in future offer higher levels of services to subscribers. Things are moving at a fast pace but for now, until latency problems are solved, fans should stick with DSL, broadband or cable Internet.