Satellite

Satellite Internet is an option for people living in a rural setting because most of the time you can not get Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or cable Internet and dial-up is really your only other option. Satellite Internet uses a satellite dish for two way data communications, both uploading and downloading, so it does not use telephone lines or a cable system. Now DSL and cable Internet tend to have higher download speeds than satellite Internet, but satellite Internet can be up to 10 times faster than any normal modem.

With satellite Internet except to have a two to three foot satellite dish, two modems one for both uplink and downlink, and coaxial cables connecting the dish and the modems. Your satellite dish will also need a clear view of the south because of where the orbiting satellites are located. Plus just like satellite television the elements and nature can cause problems. Just keep in mind that things like trees, heavy rain, heavy winds, snow and where the sun is located in the sky can all affect your reception of Internet signals.

Internet Protocol (IP) multicasting technology is what two way satellite Internet uses. What is so great about this technology is that there are up to 5,000 channels of communication that can simultaneously be used just by a single satellite. So IP multicasting has the ability to send data from one single point to many different points all at the same time just by sending the data in a compressed format. Plus because of compression both the data and the bandwidth are reduced in size.

There are still some satellite Internet companies that will require you to have a dial-up or cable modem connection so that you can send data to the Internet, otherwise known as upload data.