Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

WildBlue broadband internet satellite launched
WildBlue.com ^ | July 18, 2004

Posted on 07/18/2004 11:54:30 AM PDT by HAL9000

WILDBLUE ANNOUNCES THE SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH OF ITS FIRST SATELLITE PAYLOAD AT 8:44 PM EST, JULY 17TH, 2004

Launch is First Step for WildBlue to Provide High Speed Internet Service via Satellite To Rural America and Smaller Cities

DENVER, COLORADO - WildBlue Communications, Inc. (www.wildblue.com), an emerging satellite broadband company, announced that its first satellite payload, aboard Telesat’s Anik F2 satellite, was successfully launched Saturday night from Kourou, French Guiana. The launch of its first satellite payload will permit WildBlue to offer wireless high-speed Internet access services to virtually anywhere in the continental U.S. WildBlue’s offering is expected to be particularly attractive to the estimated 25 million homes and small businesses that don’t have access to other broadband Internet options.

“WildBlue is building a new platform to make affordable, two-way wireless high-speed, Internet access available to small cities and throughout rural America,” said Tom Moore, WildBlue’s CEO. “We are very pleased to have met this important milestone. With our first satellite payload successfully launched, we will now begin a thorough testing phase as we ramp up to consumer availability in early 2005.”

Telesat’s Anik F2 satellite was successfully launched into orbit this weekend aboard an Ariane 5G+ launch vehicle (Flight 163). Anik F2 will be put into operational service at the 111.1( West longitude orbital location.

The Anik F2 satellite, manufactured by Boeing Satellite Systems and owned and operated by Telesat Canada (Telesat), features C, Ka and Ku-band transponders, and is one of the most powerful commercial telecommunications satellites ever built. WildBlue’s satellite payload is a key component in its low-cost wireless broadband infrastructure. The new Ka-band "spot beam" technology will allow multiple re-use of the same frequency, providing higher capacity at lower costs than traditional Ku-band satellites. WildBlue is also using a new approach to satellite communications based on the proven DOCSIS® (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) networking standard, the leading consumer broadband technology in North America. The use of DOCSIS® along with digital broadcast satellite standards will result in low, competitive customer equipment costs.

“WildBlue’s key value is in offering broadband Internet service to markets that wouldn’t otherwise have this advanced access available,” continued Moore. “We are very proud to be working with some of the industry’s top equipment manufacturers and technology providers to make this new service a reality, and we’re happy to be, literally and figuratively, off the ground.”

Backed by the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, global satellite leader Intelsat and Liberty Media, WildBlue will be marketing its new broadband solution to families, telecommuters and small offices virtually everywhere in the continental U.S.

WildBlue’s second payload will be carried on its own satellite, WildBlue-1, under construction at Space Systems/Loral. WildBlue-1 will be scheduled for launch based on market demand for WildBlue’s services.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Technical
KEYWORDS: broadband; internet; kaband; satellite; space; wildblue
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last
For folks without access to DSL, cable or terrestrial wireless - this service may be better than DirecWay or Starband.
1 posted on 07/18/2004 11:54:31 AM PDT by HAL9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: HAL9000

6 ton Canadian commsat.


2 posted on 07/18/2004 11:59:16 AM PDT by RightWhale (Withdraw from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and establish property rights)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000

I hope so. Thanks for posting it.


3 posted on 07/18/2004 12:00:55 PM PDT by Dubya (Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,but by me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000

So, how do you upload to a satellite from a laptop without using landlines or cell towers?


4 posted on 07/18/2004 12:03:51 PM PDT by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000
"... this service may be better than DirecWay or Starband"

By better, do you mean price or quality, or both?

5 posted on 07/18/2004 12:04:50 PM PDT by Boss_Jim_Gettys (I am a Republican attack dog.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Boss_Jim_Gettys
By better, do you mean price or quality, or both?

I think the quality will be better than Starband, and the "Fair Access Policy" will be more user-friendly than DirecWay.

6 posted on 07/18/2004 12:09:28 PM PDT by HAL9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: gcruse
So, how do you upload to a satellite from a laptop without using landlines or cell towers?

That seems to be coming. I just saw a self-aiming antenna on the Starband page.

7 posted on 07/18/2004 12:11:16 PM PDT by HAL9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: gcruse

8 posted on 07/18/2004 12:11:18 PM PDT by So Cal Rocket (Fabrizio Quattrocchi: "Adesso vi faccio vedere come muore un italiano")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: gcruse

Via wireless modem much like your ethernet card.


9 posted on 07/18/2004 12:13:26 PM PDT by softengine (Life is like a roll of toilet paper.....The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: gcruse
how do you upload to a satellite from a laptop

You have to wear a special hat.


10 posted on 07/18/2004 12:17:00 PM PDT by Reeses
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: gcruse

> So, how do you upload to a satellite from a laptop
> without using landlines or cell towers?

You don't, unless you have a local 802.11 wireless link
to the base station.

All of the DBS internet solutions require a fairly
powerful transmitter mounted on the dish. The FCC doesn't
much care about receivers, but they care very much about
transmitters, and the higher the power, the more they care.

I expect that all of the DBS uplink solutions must be
installed by a certified installer, and they must be
fixed-base. No user-install. No moving base sites, like
RVs (or houseboats).

WildBlue may (or may not) solve the problems that have
kept me from getting DirectPC or StarBand. They may
have credible uplink speeds. They may (or may not) have
a reasonable FAP. But don't expect mobile.

FAP - Fair Access Policy - a quota on your uplink and
downlink. Exceed it for the month, and you either get
throttled down or shut down entirely. Run the numbers
and make sure your FAP provides net throughput (GB per
month) that is actually higher than dial-up. If not,
what was the original objective now?


11 posted on 07/18/2004 12:17:05 PM PDT by Boundless
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Boundless

Well there will always me an inherent delay in any data going via a geosyc satellite of around 600ms just from travel time up/down to the satellite (the same lag you used to hear in a phone call to Hawaii or overseas if your call was on geosyc satellite and not underseas cable)


12 posted on 07/18/2004 12:36:23 PM PDT by tophat9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: tophat9000

me=be


13 posted on 07/18/2004 12:37:02 PM PDT by tophat9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000

No, it won't. And the reason is buried in their details. They, Like DirecWay, have what they call their 'Fair Access Policy' (FAP). That is, if you exceed a certail download limit per hour, you are either shut off or busted back down to dialup speeds. The limit for DirecWay is 190MB - and all it takes is a game demo ora good-sized PDF file to blow right past that. StarBand's unlimited and remains the only satellite sevice that is so.

As a certified StarBand dealer and installer, I got a solicitation to jump on the WildBlue bandwagon a few months ago. FAP them and the horse they rode in on.


14 posted on 07/18/2004 12:39:51 PM PDT by Noumenon (Ronaldus Magnus - only lesser men have followed in his footsteps.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tophat9000

> Well there will always be an inherent delay in any data
> going via a geosyc satellite of around 600ms just from
> travel time up/down to the satellite ...

Yep. It is important that anyone considering DBS know
about the propagation delay/latency. The speed of light,
it turns out, is not all that fast.

WildBlue/DirecPC/StarBand are not suitable for:
- interactive editing (e.g. telnet)
- interactive gaming
are marginal for:
- VOIP (stutter inducing)
- hosting almost anything
and may not work at all for:
- VPN (secure telecommuting) due to ack of each packet. VPN might "work", but might end up no faster than dialup.


15 posted on 07/18/2004 12:44:57 PM PDT by Boundless
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: gcruse

the web page says it's bidirectional thru the satellite dish.


16 posted on 07/18/2004 1:03:59 PM PDT by SauronOfMordor (That which does not kill me had better be able to run away damn fast.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Boundless

What would be a good internet solution for a boat?


17 posted on 07/18/2004 1:04:58 PM PDT by Vince Ferrer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Noumenon
I'm sure DirecWay and StarBand have many satisfied customers - but their rates of dissatisfied customers seem to be remarkably high. DirecWay customers are constantly complaining about the FAP, and StarBand customers complain about how slow and unreliable the technology is. My brief experiences with trying StarBand in a Radio Shack store were bad.

I think WildBlue intends to win customers from DirecWay and Starband by offering better service and access policies, more similar to cable service. We shall see.

Terrestrial wireless broadband will become as ubiquitous as cell phones in a few years, and it will be better than satellite for most rural broadband users.

18 posted on 07/18/2004 1:07:58 PM PDT by HAL9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Boundless
It will never be as good as wireline, but WildBlue may have an advantage over DirecWay and StarBand by using Mentat's SkyX TCP/IP stack.
19 posted on 07/18/2004 1:13:36 PM PDT by HAL9000
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: HAL9000

For folks without access to DSL, cable or terrestrial wireless

How long before all laptops come equipted to use this?


20 posted on 07/18/2004 1:18:37 PM PDT by Valin (Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson