Many people who want to access the Internet at speeds faster than dial up live in areas where most broadband Internet access methods are not available. For some, not even dial up access may be available. In this situation, satellite Internet access may be the only option. While this can be very functional for some, the issue of limited satellite Internet bandwidth may cause problems.

This type of access is available almost everywhere in the United States. There are a number of different forms of it available. This article is focused on consumer service in which both uplinks and downlinks of data are done via the satellite.

Data transfer rates for this kind of service are reasonably good, though not in the same league as good cable or DSL service. Latency is the time between when a request for data is sent and the data is received. This is the real weak point of this service, because two trips up into space and back down to earth are needed for each of these cycles.

It is not unusual for latency to be as high as 1 second. This is almost 10 times longer than the latency for most broadband services. This can be a fatal flaw for some highly interactive uses such as online games.

Because the system has an inherent maximum bandwidth, providers generally limit the amount of bandwidth available to customers. Instead of limiting data transfer rates, they usually limit the amount of data that the customer can transfer during each 24 hour day. This limit varies for different types of accounts, but it can be as low as 200 megabytes per day. Most cellular data service providers have similar limits. Clearly that is going to limit the consumption of streamed HD video!

Different enforcement mechanisms are used for customers who exceed their quotas. Some services will drastically reduce the available bandwidth for the rest of the day. Others may charge extra for data over the quota. There may be time windows during the night when the quotas do not apply.

Data quotas and high latency are the two main issues with satellite Internet service. It also tends to be more expensive than other broadband services. However, when there are no other choices available, it is better than nothing, and for most people it is also better than dial up.