subject: Who says satellite Internet is not fast? [print this page] The human race has achieved many amazing things and concurred many feats in the last half century. Since the 1950s, man has engineered advanced computers, developed the Internet and sent men to the moon, just to name a few. The future looks optimistic, with NASA now focusing on sending a man to Mars.
Yet, with all this advanced technology, people still manage to complain about the speed of certain services, specifically the differences between satellite broadband and cable Internet. Blogs are scoured across the World Wide Web comparing the two on all factors, including price and speed. Many claim that although the prices are similar, cable offers faster speeds than satellite Internet, ranging from 512Kbps to 20Mbps, compared to the latters rate between 492Kbps and 512Kbps. In many instances, they are right. But, with recent developments in technology, the download rates could potentially change.
Simply look at the current satellite Internet developments in Japan. The recent breakthroughs are completely amazing. Granted, Japan is known worldwide for their technologically savvy culture. Every picture of Tokyo primarily the streets - is littered with bright lights, multiple advertisements and massive amounts of people, all using cell phones or advanced smart phones. It is like Time Square, in New York City, New York, on steroids.
Lately, professors and scientists in Japan, more specifically at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), have been collaborating with Aerospace agencies and information and communication institutions to develop hi-speed satellite Internet broadband connections. In fact, in February 2008, their first satellite was launched, which apparently provides previously unimaginable Internet speeds ranging upwards to 155Mbps. That is absolutely incredible.
Additionally, the NTU team is now focusing on ameliorating connection links during harsh weather, such as heavy rainfall or high wind, which traditionally disrupts connections. If this is discovered, it will not just signify the end of lost connections and user frustrations, it will represent so much more. When natural disasters happen, power lines and cable connections are severed. People can no longer communicate. But, with satellite broadband, people are still able to maintain connections to loved ones as well as keep up to date on current, important information crucial to survival. And with these new developed high speeds, people will access this information instantaneously. Actually, it is not a question of if this technology will be discovered; it is more of a question of when, since technology currently evolves at such a rapid rate.
Not to mention that this high-speed technology was developed almost a year ago, so it is just a matter of time before all countries have access to it and can utilize it to connect the masses. People would be able to communicate across oceans, across continents, with no delay at all. Conversations would be carried out as if they were conducted in the same room, face-to-face. Heck, if mankind sent a man to the moon 50 years ago with technology equivalent to a Texas Instruments graphing calculator, which can be bought at any local electronics store, just imagine the technological developments that will occur in the next 50 years.
