Internet Satellite - The Next Space Race
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It was not too long ago when we were using dial-up internet. I remember typing in a website URL, hitting the Enter button then waiting for the page to load, which to me seemed like eternity. After a while my daily routine would be trying a few URLs and walking away to make a pot of coffee or do some daily chores while they all loaded up. Finally, the era of high speed internet had arrived; DSL, cable, 4G, fiber, and decent satellite became available. The days of long load times seemed to past us, but as more images, animation and videos flooded the internet, having just descent high speed internet wasn't sufficient enough.
For us, living outside of the high speed utopia, no phone or cable company would dare to run copper or fiber to our house. We even offered to cover the cost for them to bury it down our driveway, but with no avail. The only true option we had for years was 3G, later upgraded to 4G or terrible and expensive internet satellite, which my neighbor tried and complained every time we brought up the subject. In the end, we purchased a hotspot through Verizon and paid 80 bucks for 3 GB of data per month. It was a major improvement over dial-up but because we lived in the outer fringe of Verizon's cell tower's range and under a metal roof home, at best we were getting 1.5 Mbps download. For all you non-techy folks, that is turtle slow. Not quite slow enough to make a pot of coffee but slow enough to pull out a few hairs from your head.
Having terrible 4G for the past few years was driving us nuts, so we decided to go with internet satellite. At the time, the only two carriers were Viasat and HughesNet. Both companies had a 25 Mbps downstream guarantee. We picked Viasat but didn’t get our hopes up. Having double the speed of our current hotspot would have satisfied us, but we couldn’t believe our eyes when we first tried browsing to a website. It was like Christmas; we just couldn't believe how fast it was. We ran a couple internet speed test and got 30 Mbps during the non-peak hours and around 20 during the peak hours. All this was great, but it did come with some bad news. Instead of paying $80 a month for 10 GBs of data, we were now paying $161 a month for internet satellite. While we are on the unlimited data plan, it is tough to swallow the high internet payment each month.
As of now, there are 3 more major companies racing to put thousands of satellites in Earth's low orbit. The biggest player is Elon Musk's SpaceX who filed documents to place 4,000 satellites in space. SpaceX launched their first two rockets to space on their two vehicle named TinTinA and TinTinB in 2018. They follow-up with another launch on their Falcon 9 rocket on May 23, 2019 releasing 60 Starlink satellites. 1 By the end of this year, SpaceX plans to have more than 1,500 satellites in space. The second company to send satellites into space is SpaceX's rival, OneWeb, owned by a set of investors to include Richard Branson, Virgin Group, Airbus, Chipmaker Qualcomm and the Japanese firm SoftBank. On Feb 6, OneWeb sent more than 30 satellites into space aboard the Soyuz Rocket. The company plans on sending a total of 648 satellites into space, not quite as dynamic as SpaceX's vigorous plan but still will make a dent to provide rural customers a cheap and viable option for high-speed internet. 2 The third major company is Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Bezos is planning on putting 3,236 satellites into orbit within the next few years, hoping to attract 4 billion new customers around the world for their Amazon service and high-speed internet. 3 Amazon's satellites will launch upon Blue Origin's massive 29-story Glenn rocket, which will be powered by the Huntsville Alabama built BE-4 Engines. The new Glenn Rocket is expected to launch sometime in 2021.
None of the companies have announced how much they will charge for monthly high-speed satellite service but SpaceX has hinted that it might be around $80 per month plus an extra $100 - $300 for installation. While this might sound like unreasonable to the average user, for those of us who live in the rural areas or places that high-speed cable has not reached, it is a pliable option. It sure does beat paying $161 a month I am currently paying with Viasat. I'm rooting for this space race to succeed. As Buzz Light-Year would say, "To infinity and beyond."
(1) Space.com Starlink: SpaceX's satellite internet project, By Adam Mann, Jan 2020
(2) SpaceX Rival OneWeb Launches 34 Satellites In Space Internet Race With Starlink Mega Constellation by Jonathan O'Callaghan, Feb 6, 2020
(3) Here's why Amazon is trying to reach every inch of the world with satellites providing internet by Michael Sheetz, Apr 8 2019.