[RTC List] local hosts - Why are we held hostage?

[William Van Hefner]

Bob,

Unfortunately, satellite will never be a replacement for commercial
Internet service, or even certain types of residential use. Besides the
problem with there not being anywhere near enough capacity in order to
fulfill the needs of commercial users who require a guaranteed amount of
bandwidth (i.e. T1 or better), the time lag from transmitting back and
forth to a satellite that is 22,300 miles away makes it practically
unusable for any type real-time communications.

The biggest problem is with VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) and
real-time videoconferencing. With a real-time delay of 1.3 seconds on the
transmission, having a two-way conversation is awkward, to say the least.
That long of a delay makes real-time gaming next to impossible. Same goes
for anything else that demands two-way, real-time communications. Server
applications are also slowed down to unacceptable standards for any
hosting provider. Short of figuring out how to overcome the limitations of
the speed of light, satellites will never be able to seriously compete
with terrestrial communications for Internet access. If you can figure out
a way to make a radio wave travel faster than the speed of light, it would
be a big boost to the satellite industry though. :-)


-- 
William Van Hefner - President
Vantek Communications, Inc.
e-mail: vantek at humboldtonline.com