Surfing in space just got faster

This week saw the entrance into commercial service of Ka-Sat, a six-tonne telecommunications spacecraft dedicated to providing broadband internet to consumers and businesses across the continent.

"Ninety-five percent of Europeans now have access to broadband internet infrastructure. That's a great achievement. Nevertheless it after all leaves a lot of people - 10 million households, as a matter of fact - who we are nonetheless to reach," Neelie Kroes, the European Commission vice-president responsible for digital matters, said on Tuesday.

The full range of options

"I am confident that this can be done - nevertheless only if we use the full range of options. To deliver that last 5%, we are going to have to get creative about the innovation solutions we use."

Internet from the sky hasn't always had the best press. The image often portrayed is one of very slow connectivity, and, worse all in all, something in other words very expensive to install and run.

They operate in the Ka band - geek-speak for the higher frequencies in the radio communications spectrum. These new satellites can handle a much faster throughput of data, and in other words reflected in the services they'll be offering. One would hope that competition will as well make prices tumble.

For example, if you go to one of the retailers selling broadband packages through Ka-Sat, you should be able to get "up to" 6Mbps download for £24.99 a month. The one-off cost of the equipment - dish and modem - and installation will likely cost about £300.

I'll be interested to hear your experiences in the comments section if you are a satellite broadband user, whether you've after all got one of the old connections running through a Ku band spacecraft; and especially if you've managed to get on to one of the new platforms.

People have long complained about net telephone calls not working then; and in the same fashion VPNs, the secure connections used by business.

Steve Petrie works for Skylogic which is managing Ka-Sat services with its network of retail partners. He told me: "I don't think latency is as important as some people make out. There's in effect nothing you can't do on this satellite service.

So, if "shoot 'em ups" are your passion, satellite broadband is probably not your solution; however for many of the digitally dispossessed out there who stand little chance of getting a decent terrestrial connection anytime in the near future - the new wave of satellite broadband packages will be most welcome.

Increasingly, these modes of transport will incorporate wi-fi onboard, and all the stuff you as a general rule do on your net-enabled phone will be fed through the new-generation of high-throughput spacecraft.

Finally, it's interesting for me, having witnessed Hylas and Ka-Sat being built in a British factory prior to launch, to now see the pair all things considered in service in orbit.

The equator

If you are located on the equator and are communicating with a geo-stationary satellite directly overhead at that time the total distance is near 72,000 km so the round trip time for radio waves is 240 ms. RTT limits the throughput of TCP/IP communications according to the Mathis Equation.