Ka-Band Part of DISH Broadband Future

[Steve Mehs]

EchoStar is preparing its Ka-Band satellite for launch this year, a bird that will help the company develop its broadband efforts.

EchoStar IX, a hybrid Ku/Ka-Band satellite, is expected to be put in service prior to December, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen suggested this week that the satellite may become operational sometime this summer.

The satellite, which will operate at 121 degrees, is being built by Space Systems/Loral. The EchoStar IX spacecraft will have 32 Ku-Band transponders in addition to its Ka-Band payload.

In the SEC filing, EchoStar said the Ka-Band portion of the satellite will be used to test and verify potential future broadband initiatives at the company, and possibly initiate those services.

EchoStar also has control of Ka-Band spectrum at 113 degrees, through its 90 percent interest in Ka-Band licensee VisionStar. EchoStar didn't complete construction or launch of a satellite for the VisionStar spectrum by milestone deadlines established by the Federal Communications Commission. EchoStar has requested an extension of the milestones from the FCC, but failure to receive an extension will render the license invalid, the company said.

From SkyReport (http://www.skyreport.com/skyreport/mar2003/030603.shtm#one) (Used with Permission)

[Jacob S]

I hope they can provide the service for $50 or less and have some affordable hardware.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Charlie mentioned the other day he wants his broadband equipment to be DOCSIS compliant (so really you might be able to use a cable modem with your KA satellite receiver)

[razorbackfan]

You mean I can FINALLY connect faster than 28.8k????? I'm gonna cry.

[davhol]

I'll reiterate what I mentioned in an earlier thread: satellite internet won't be the nirvana that a lot of folks are hoping it to be. The "problem" is LATENCY -- the time it takes a data packet to get from you to it's destination (and back). The data has to travel from your computer, up to the satellite, 22500 miles (roughly) away, 22500 miles back down to the earth station and then on it's way to/through the internet. If the speed of light is 186K miles/second (or 186 miles/millisecond) it takes 22500/186 or 121 milliseconds to get TO the satellite and, assuming NO further delays, another 121 milliseconds to get back to the ground before being routed on to it's destination. For all you "gamers" out there, that's at LEAST 1/4 second (or MORE) between the time you hit a key/mouse and it arrives at the gaming server! Now, if you're websurfing or emailing or up/downloading stuff, you'll notice an "initial delay" before the data starts flowing, but then the data will flow FASTer than a dialup connection. I'm not knocking satellite internet! It may be the only (high speed) option available to some folks, but it won't be the answer to a gamer's needs.

[Richard King]

davhol speaks the truth, but he is only half right on the calculations. It takes two trips over the bird, so double the latency. Shoot 'em up gaming over satellite requires special non earthly skills including being able to tell where your opponent will be approx 3/4 of a second into the future from when you see him/her/it. However, if you are not a gamer it works just fine. Posted over Starband.

[Chris Freeland]

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
Charlie mentioned the other day he wants his broadband equipment to be DOCSIS compliant (so really you might be able to use a cable modem with your KA satellite receiver)

Yes I noticed that too, I agree it sounds like we will be able to hook a broadband satellite receiver to a cable modem.

Since I am not a gamer and my wife and daughter only play games on are local PC's and laptop and not against others on the internet, latency would not be a big deal for us.

I also noticed that E9 has 32 KU FSS band TP's, does anyone know if E* owns all of these frequencies? It appears with a slightly larger dish and a KU FSS LNB we could possibly receive additional locals and or HD TV channels on those TP's.

[Cyclone]

For large downloads, it will be great. But if you do want to play a game of quake or anything. You might want to still keep your dialup isp account active.

Games like Checkers or Online Chess will work great though.

[Chris Freeland]

Originally posted by Cyclone
For large downloads, it will be great. But if you do want to play a game of quake or anything. You might want to still keep your dial-up isp account active.

Games like Checkers or Online Chess will work great though.

Since I get my dial-up ISP for FREE ( the University that my wife teaches at ); ) that would be no problem, this is one reason I have not made the jump to a cable modem yet is that this would cost me about $50 a month compared to $0 for my dial-up ;) .

[davhol]

Well, I DID say something like 1/4 second (or more) to get TO the gaming server. I didn't say (but I guess I implied 2x) anything about "round trip" time. :)

[jeffwtux]

I think it it never works for game playing, that would still be acceptable since that is like %1 of the market, but it better be doable for watch streaming media. That will be demanded by the masses in the future. I always think about the masses.