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.