1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,990 In this lesson, 2 00:00:00,990 --> 00:00:03,540 we're going to discuss satellite connections. 3 00:00:03,540 --> 00:00:05,580 Now, satellite internet access is a method 4 00:00:05,580 --> 00:00:08,280 of using communication satellites located in space 5 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:10,230 to connect a user to the internet. 6 00:00:10,230 --> 00:00:11,550 Now up until recently, 7 00:00:11,550 --> 00:00:13,110 satellite internet was really reserved 8 00:00:13,110 --> 00:00:15,030 for a few special use cases. 9 00:00:15,030 --> 00:00:17,430 For example, if you happen to live out in the countryside 10 00:00:17,430 --> 00:00:19,740 or in a remote area where you can't get cable, cellular, 11 00:00:19,740 --> 00:00:21,900 or fiber, you might want to look at using 12 00:00:21,900 --> 00:00:23,730 a satellite internet connection. 13 00:00:23,730 --> 00:00:25,680 Now the great thing about satellite connectivity 14 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:27,570 is that you can get it almost anywhere 15 00:00:27,570 --> 00:00:30,180 because pretty much anywhere in the earth has a place 16 00:00:30,180 --> 00:00:31,620 where you can look up to the sky 17 00:00:31,620 --> 00:00:33,570 and see one of the satellites. 18 00:00:33,570 --> 00:00:34,920 As long as you can mount an antenna 19 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:37,110 and has a clear line of sight up to the satellite overhead 20 00:00:37,110 --> 00:00:38,760 and space, you'll be able to get 21 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:40,680 pretty fast Internet service. 22 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:42,390 Now for home users who live in a remote area 23 00:00:42,390 --> 00:00:43,950 of the United States, for example, 24 00:00:43,950 --> 00:00:46,590 you can use a commercial service like the older Hughesnet 25 00:00:46,590 --> 00:00:48,690 or the more modern Starlink. 26 00:00:48,690 --> 00:00:50,746 And when you use one of these, 27 00:00:50,746 --> 00:00:52,080 you're going to put a small satellite dish up on your roof, 28 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:53,100 much like a Direct TV 29 00:00:53,100 --> 00:00:55,260 or dish network might for satellite TV, 30 00:00:55,260 --> 00:00:56,310 and then you use that to get 31 00:00:56,310 --> 00:00:58,470 some decently high speed internet. 32 00:00:58,470 --> 00:01:00,210 Now satellite connectivity will cost you 33 00:01:00,210 --> 00:01:02,370 more than the equivalent home fiber or cable 34 00:01:02,370 --> 00:01:05,220 or DSL service though, so you have to keep that in mind. 35 00:01:05,220 --> 00:01:06,930 But if you're living in a remote area, 36 00:01:06,930 --> 00:01:09,330 satellite might be your only option here. 37 00:01:09,330 --> 00:01:10,920 Now remote users are one area 38 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:12,210 that satellite is going to be used, 39 00:01:12,210 --> 00:01:13,890 but the real place where satellite service 40 00:01:13,890 --> 00:01:17,340 really makes its mark is for mobile users who are on the go. 41 00:01:17,340 --> 00:01:19,110 If you're somebody who's working out of an RV 42 00:01:19,110 --> 00:01:21,450 or a truck in the middle of a large oil fields in Texas, 43 00:01:21,450 --> 00:01:23,340 for example, you can still get serviced 44 00:01:23,340 --> 00:01:26,310 using a satellite dish even if there's no cellular. 45 00:01:26,310 --> 00:01:28,260 Or if you're a business traveler like me, 46 00:01:28,260 --> 00:01:29,340 you could be flying around the world 47 00:01:29,340 --> 00:01:30,360 on a commercial airplane 48 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:32,010 or taking a cruise across the ocean 49 00:01:32,010 --> 00:01:34,770 and still remain connected to the internet the entire time 50 00:01:34,770 --> 00:01:37,770 because these things have satellite modems in them. 51 00:01:37,770 --> 00:01:40,500 For example, a few years ago, I took a cruise, 52 00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:42,870 but I couldn't afford to be offline for 10 whole days 53 00:01:42,870 --> 00:01:43,703 because I had to make sure 54 00:01:43,703 --> 00:01:45,450 I could answer my students' questions. 55 00:01:45,450 --> 00:01:48,210 So while I was on the cruise ship, I was able to get online 56 00:01:48,210 --> 00:01:50,460 for about an hour a day and answer student questions 57 00:01:50,460 --> 00:01:52,590 because the ship had satellite internet. 58 00:01:52,590 --> 00:01:55,110 Now, it was a little bit expensive to use, you pay about 20 59 00:01:55,110 --> 00:01:57,570 or $30 a day for it, but it worked pretty well, 60 00:01:57,570 --> 00:01:59,250 and the speed was relatively good 61 00:01:59,250 --> 00:02:00,810 using the newer satellite services 62 00:02:00,810 --> 00:02:02,250 that they're using nowadays. 63 00:02:02,250 --> 00:02:04,260 In fact, I could even stream things like Netflix 64 00:02:04,260 --> 00:02:05,910 and Hulu movies if I wanted to, 65 00:02:05,910 --> 00:02:07,260 as well as answering student questions 66 00:02:07,260 --> 00:02:08,460 with no problems at all, 67 00:02:08,460 --> 00:02:11,760 just as if I was sitting back home using my cable modem. 68 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:12,810 Now, satellite internet 69 00:02:12,810 --> 00:02:15,270 does have some drawbacks you need to be aware of. 70 00:02:15,270 --> 00:02:18,510 First, the speed is not going to be as fast as a fiber modem, 71 00:02:18,510 --> 00:02:21,240 a microwave link, or even most cable modems. 72 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:22,830 Second, it's pretty expensive 73 00:02:22,830 --> 00:02:24,870 for most satellite internet providers. 74 00:02:24,870 --> 00:02:27,030 And third, there's actually quite a bit of latency 75 00:02:27,030 --> 00:02:29,130 or lag when you're using an internet connection 76 00:02:29,130 --> 00:02:30,600 over a satellite. 77 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:33,300 This is because communication satellites, for the most part, 78 00:02:33,300 --> 00:02:35,130 use geosynchronous satellites located 79 00:02:35,130 --> 00:02:37,920 around 22,000 miles above the Earth. 80 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:39,870 When I send the signal up that high, 81 00:02:39,870 --> 00:02:42,100 it takes about 1/8 of a second 82 00:02:42,100 --> 00:02:42,933 to go all the way up in space, 83 00:02:42,933 --> 00:02:44,640 and it takes another one eighth of a second to go down 84 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:46,620 to your internet source provider's ground station. 85 00:02:46,620 --> 00:02:48,120 Then it connects to the internet, 86 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:49,230 gets the data you requested, 87 00:02:49,230 --> 00:02:50,730 and then makes that return trip 88 00:02:50,730 --> 00:02:53,430 an eighth of a second up another eighth of a second down. 89 00:02:53,430 --> 00:02:55,950 And this means you have about a half a second 90 00:02:55,950 --> 00:02:59,520 or 500 milliseconds just from the space travel alone 91 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:01,350 regardless of all the other internet delays 92 00:03:01,350 --> 00:03:02,760 that might be out there. 93 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:05,760 For comparison's sake, if I'm using a microwave link, 94 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,850 I can actually see a latency of around five milliseconds. 95 00:03:08,850 --> 00:03:11,460 So if you're a big gamer, that 500 milliseconds 96 00:03:11,460 --> 00:03:15,000 of latency will simply get you killed time and time again. 97 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,330 And so gaming over satellite is not a very fun experience. 98 00:03:18,330 --> 00:03:19,560 Now when it comes to satellite, 99 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,350 things have really been changing rapidly here in the 2020 100 00:03:22,350 --> 00:03:24,210 to 2030 timeframe. 101 00:03:24,210 --> 00:03:26,850 Many companies have been racing into the satellite market, 102 00:03:26,850 --> 00:03:29,070 and this is a great thing for us as consumers. 103 00:03:29,070 --> 00:03:31,530 SpaceX, for example, owns Starlink 104 00:03:31,530 --> 00:03:32,580 and they're a major player, 105 00:03:32,580 --> 00:03:34,770 and they have launched thousands of satellites, 106 00:03:34,770 --> 00:03:36,360 and they've gained regulatory approval to launch 107 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,060 up to 12,000 satellites in total. 108 00:03:39,060 --> 00:03:41,700 Now, Starlink is a pretty low cost option for consumers 109 00:03:41,700 --> 00:03:44,400 with monthly service fees ranging around 100 110 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,760 to $250 per month depending on the plan you get. 111 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:49,890 But the best part is that their latency 112 00:03:49,890 --> 00:03:53,310 is actually only around 25 to 35 milliseconds 113 00:03:53,310 --> 00:03:56,940 instead of the standard 500 milliseconds for most satellite. 114 00:03:56,940 --> 00:03:59,550 So how did they do this? Well, they simply chose 115 00:03:59,550 --> 00:04:01,530 not to use geosynchronous orbits. 116 00:04:01,530 --> 00:04:03,570 Instead of putting these satellites all the way out in space 117 00:04:03,570 --> 00:04:07,350 at 22,000 miles away, they came a lot closer. 118 00:04:07,350 --> 00:04:09,060 You see, when you're using geosynchronous, 119 00:04:09,060 --> 00:04:11,430 it's a great thing for you as a communication provider 120 00:04:11,430 --> 00:04:13,110 because you only need three to six satellites 121 00:04:13,110 --> 00:04:15,150 to cover about 90% of the world. 122 00:04:15,150 --> 00:04:16,290 Now that's great, but that means 123 00:04:16,290 --> 00:04:19,110 you have to be further out, such as 22,000 miles away, 124 00:04:19,110 --> 00:04:21,029 and you can see about 1/3 of the entire Earth 125 00:04:21,029 --> 00:04:22,290 with a single satellite. 126 00:04:22,290 --> 00:04:23,400 But you now have to cover 127 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:25,050 that distance when you're communicating, 128 00:04:25,050 --> 00:04:26,340 and that slows down the connection 129 00:04:26,340 --> 00:04:28,020 and gives you more latency. 130 00:04:28,020 --> 00:04:30,240 Starlink, on the other hand, opted to use what's known 131 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:31,680 as a low earth orbit, 132 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:34,800 and this means they're only about 340 miles above the earth. 133 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:36,240 That's really close. 134 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:37,800 Now, this is much, much closer, 135 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,380 and this is why the latency is so much reduced. 136 00:04:40,380 --> 00:04:42,420 Instead of going 22,000 miles away, 137 00:04:42,420 --> 00:04:44,880 we're going about 340 miles away. 138 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:47,010 Now, the trade-off is that since they're so close 139 00:04:47,010 --> 00:04:49,470 to the earth, they actually can only cover a smaller area 140 00:04:49,470 --> 00:04:52,050 with each satellite, and that's why Starlink has asked 141 00:04:52,050 --> 00:04:54,480 for 12,000 satellites to cover the Earth 142 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,480 instead of using six like a geostationary orbit would. 143 00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:58,740 So for Starlink, 144 00:04:58,740 --> 00:05:00,990 each individual satellite only covers an area 145 00:05:00,990 --> 00:05:05,220 of around 350 miles or around 563 kilometers. 146 00:05:05,220 --> 00:05:06,420 And again, this is why Starlink 147 00:05:06,420 --> 00:05:08,600 has to have a lot more satellites 148 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:09,433 to cover the whole world world. 149 00:05:09,433 --> 00:05:11,702 And currently, they're launching them at a rate 150 00:05:11,702 --> 00:05:13,920 of about one satellite per day to meet their demand. 151 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:16,380 So when it comes to satellite communication, I want you 152 00:05:16,380 --> 00:05:17,820 to remember a couple of things. 153 00:05:17,820 --> 00:05:20,130 First, satellite tends to be more expensive. 154 00:05:20,130 --> 00:05:22,290 Second, satellites tend to be used in remote 155 00:05:22,290 --> 00:05:25,500 or mobile environments such as planes, trains, 156 00:05:25,500 --> 00:05:27,210 cars, and ships. 157 00:05:27,210 --> 00:05:30,000 And third, if you're going to use satellite, you want to go 158 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,070 with something that uses a low Earth orbit 159 00:05:32,070 --> 00:05:33,960 because that's going to give you much lower latency 160 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:36,750 and much higher speeds, such as using the Starlink system 161 00:05:36,750 --> 00:05:38,600 or some of its competitors out there.