Consumer or Enterprise Grade Satellite Internet Service

At first glance, the attractive pricing of consumer class internet service may seem like a worthwhile choice for your company’s satellite internet needs. Much like the transportation industry of moving people and goods around, there are a variety of methods to transfer data over the internet. For the transport business, you could choose a bus, a car, or a heavy truck. However, if you use a car to move a hockey team, it could get a little crowded.

Likewise, internet networks today are “shared.” Multiple customers use the available bandwidth capacity from the internet service provider (ISP). By squeezing the maximum number of paying customers on the network, ISPs can achieve maximum profits. This oversubscription model has been a mainstay for ISPs since the inception of the Internet and is based on the premise that it is virtually impossible for multiple users to press enter at precisely the same time.

Unfortunately, this network design is becoming outdated very quickly. Many consumer class networks now have oversubscription ratios of 100:1 or more. An oversubscribed network with proper care and attention by ISPs could deliver reasonable speeds for basic email and surng. However, as internet use evolves to more of an entertainment medium through applications like Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube, ISPs are seeing exponential demand for bandwidth and traditional models simply won’t work anymore.

Events like the recent Red Bull parachute drop from space can drive enormous numbers of simultaneous users. This puts a temporary strain on available bandwidth. Thus, the burstable aspect of surfing is quickly being displaced by a steady stream of data. This essentially means that more network users are pressing the enter button at the same time and customers are facing dramatically slower speeds than in the past. If you are trying to conduct business and rely on your internet connection for VoIP you will likely suffer during these times.

Generally, ISPs try to add new capacity and the additional bandwidth is usually affordable. Unfortunately, satellite Internet service providers face a dilemma since adding additional space to their respective networks is very expensive. Consumer class networks are continually challenged in terms of capacity and they are unpredictable. They are “best effort” only and cannot guarantee performance or speed. galaxy® Broadband’s SKYDATA Ka or Ku Band enterprise service is the opposite. It will guarantee performance and is predictable. The trade-off is price, but like the old adage says, “You get what you pay for.”

Enterprise networks are not grossly oversubscribed, so with fewer customers sharing the same resource, it costs more. On the other hand, you have a much better chance of obtaining optimum speeds on an enterprise network. In terms of raw cost per bit transported, you may be surprised as to how affordable it could be to subscribe.

The strongest reason to select enterprise over consumer class is the ability to customize your connection to maximize performance. For example, galaxy® Broadband has the ability to prioritize, throttle, block, or in a word, manage your specific sites traffic to insure the best possible performance and strongest connection. Like the bus versus car analogy, true enterprise ISPs have engineers on staff to design, implement, and monitor your connection. They are professionals with specific training on applications and work with your IT resources to customize solutions to transport data.

ISPs that offer consumer or small business class plans only provide faster speeds for a higher price. Speed alone is not the solution. The reason is that some applications on the net can sense the available speed then gobble it up quickly. If you have a PC that opens a peer-to-peer connection, it has the potential to use every bit of additional speed. If someone on your local area network (LAN) is streaming a video on YouTube, they will connect at a faster speed if it is available.

You simply cannot add speed without adding network management. Installing a device on your LAN is also not a solution unless you have a lot of budget money. Nonetheless, most aordable appliances on the market are only partially able to detect and control the worst oenders. You need network management and application customization that an enterprise ISP can provide.

With all internet connections, technical glitches or connectivity issues can happen. Therefore, an occasional call for help can be frustrating if you subscribe to a consumer grade service. You will start at their Level One help desk and be escalated from there. galaxy® Broadband’s enterprise technical support oers engineering level expertise and real people to talk to 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In a corporate environment time is money, so sending critical information on a poor connection ultimately costs more than on a good one.