We’ve mentioned how satellite broadband is the Rodney Dangerfield of broadband connectivity, given the ridiculously low caps, high prices, and slow speeds. With the satellite industry pushing for broadband stimulus funds, they’re heavily hyping next year’s launch of ViaSat 1, which Viasat insists will have more capacity than all current commercial satellites combined. The NY Times is running yet another in a number of articles where satellite providers insist they’re finally getting ready to not suck:WildBlue s alone will have 10 times the capacity of its three current satellites combined. Such behemoths, the companies say, will enable them, at prices similar to what they now charge, to provide Internet service at speeds many times faster than they now offer as fast, in some cases, as fiber connections. Further, the companies argue, satellites can provide service more easily and cheaply per subscriber than their earthbound cable and phone company competitors, particularly to the 14 million to 24 million Americans who live in areas without broadband service.Most satellite customers will have to see this kind of satellite broadband Utopia to believe it. Satellite providers have been making these kind of over-the-horizon promises for the better part of a decade, but limited capacity and their pesky inability to defeat basic physics have left them as little more than marginal providers. Viasat purchased WildBlue in 2009, and says that they’re planning to “reposition WildBlue as a higher-end service,” as in, one that can actually deliver the speeds they promise. That might be a good place to start.
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