ViaSat snags Guinness World Record for highest-capacity satellite

Posted on 06/03/2013 by Nicole Lee

After earning top marks from the FCC for its broadband performance, ViaSat has added yet another feather to its cap in the form of a Guinness World Record. According to the august organization, the ViaSat-1 satellite, which powers the 12 Mbps Exede Internet service, is the highest-capacity communications satellite in the world. The reason for the accolade? The orbiting spacecraft apparently provides around 100 times the throughput capacity of a Ku-band satellite and ten times that of a Ka-band, which adds up to more capacity than all North American communication satellites combined at the time of its 2011 launch. While its broadband service still has latency issues, the folks over at ViaSat must feel pretty confident of its recent accomplishments; the company is currently looking beyond its rural customer base and venturing forth into other enterprises, such as in-flight WiFi. Better watch your back, Gogo.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: ViaSat

Verizon FiOS, ViaSat Exede lead FCC broadband performance report

Posted on 17/02/2013 by Zach Honig

How do you pick your broadband internet provider? For many of us, the market dictates our selection, but a few lucky subscribers get to make their own call, rather than opting for the one and only service available in a particular locale. FiOS, Verizon's fiber-optic solution, and Exede, ViaSat's high-bandwidth satellite service -- two common secondary offerings -- happen to be the two frontrunners in the FCC's latest broadband performance report, which rates companies based on actual download and upload speeds compared to advertised bandwidth, among other metrics. More often than not, providers fall short of promised performance, with companies like AT&T and Qwest leading the naughty list. But Verizon and ViaSat are both motivated to maintain subscribers, and exceeding expectations is certainly not a bad way to accomplish that.

This is ViaSat's first appearance in such a report, due in no small part to the company's recent Exede broadband introduction, which followed the ViaSat-1 satellite launch in late 2011. We experienced speedy performance during our own test last year, though latency remained an issue. The FCC covers this major downside as well, reporting a measured latency of 638 ms, compared to an average 29.6 ms figure for terrestrial services -- but overall impressions seem quite positive. The FCC has published some 10,000 words on the topic, so if you do in fact have an opportunity to elect your own broadband provider, it might be worth your while to comb through the agency's full report. It's ready for your perusal over at the source link below.

Filed under: Household, Internet, Verizon

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Source: FCC

DirecTV, ViaSat launch Exede satellite broadband and TV bundles

Posted on 21/11/2012 by Jon Fingas

Rural dwellers waiting for those promised DirecTV and ViaSat bundles can at last swing into action. The two have launched Exede satellite broadband bundles that slash the monthly internet access rates by $10 during the first year, and waive the $50 setup, in return for signing a 2-year satellite TV contract at a same time: the 10GB, 15GB and 25GB data tiers now cost a (slightly) more reasonable $40, $70 and $120 per month, respectively. The partnership doesn't represent a dramatic bargain, then, although it will let subscribers buy in through either DirecTV or ViaSat if they're already comfortable with either provider. Just be sure to act before the bundles' January 31st expiry date if one-stop satellite service is tempting.

Continue reading DirecTV, ViaSat launch Exede satellite broadband and TV bundles

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Networking, Internet, HD

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Source: Exede

Dish Network launches nationwide satellite broadband service with ViaSat, Hughes, calls it dishNET

Posted on 27/09/2012 by Daniel Cooper

Dish Network's long-gestating tie-up with ViaSat and Hughes has finally arrived under the name dishNET. Sounding like an implement you'd use to clean dirty dinner plates, the nationwide satellite broadband service launches from October 1st, targeting customers in rural areas that are underserved with fixed line gear. $40 a month gets you 5 Mbps down / 1Mbps up with a 10GB data cap, while subscribers can get a $10 discount if they pick up a TV package at the same time. We asked the company if this was related to the service based upon its spectrum purchases that was hinted at back in August, and it confirmed this is just leveraging ViaSat Exede and HughesNet.

Continue reading Dish Network launches nationwide satellite broadband service with ViaSat, Hughes, calls it dishNET

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wireless, Internet, HD

Dish Network launches nationwide satellite broadband service with ViaSat, Hughes, calls it dishNET originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Congo femtocell pilot could spawn DIY mobile networks for isolated communities

Posted on 05/06/2012 by Steve Dent

It's nice to get a delivery, but what if your remote village could use the contents to finally talk to the rest of the world? That's what African communications company RascomStar-QAF is cooking up with a pilot network in the Congo's jungles. They're going in to villages throughout the African nation and installing 50 router-like femtocells -- normally used in homes for better cellphone access -- from UK vendor ip.access. Those devices will be connected through the ViaSat orbiting network to RascomStar's telecom gateway in the capital, Brazzaville. Since the femtocell setup is nearly automatic, anyone with limited technical knowledge could do it, rather than the team of engineers normally needed for more complex networks. The result would be a system which could be shipped in a box, connecting previously inaccessible areas to a telecom network -- a lot bigger deal than the WiFi veranda project we were thinking of. To see how it'll all come together, connect to the press release below for more details.

Continue reading Congo femtocell pilot could spawn DIY mobile networks for isolated communities

Congo femtocell pilot could spawn DIY mobile networks for isolated communities originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DirecTV to offer broadband to the boonies, teams up with ViaSat and Hughes Satellite providers

Posted on 17/05/2012 by Sean Buckley

Sure, living in the boonies may give you plenty of space to test out high-tech farming equipment, but at what cost? Rural homesteads just aren't suited for ye olde landline broadband and those fancy satellite setups cost a pretty penny. DirecTV understands, and has struck deals with ViaSat and Hughes to bundle their stellar bandwidth with pre-existing triple play packages to help reign in the cost of high-speed internet. Details on availability and price are still scarce, but DirecTV says customers should be able to take advantage of "certain special offers" later this year. Read on for the official press release, or check out our review of ViaSat's Exede service here.

Continue reading DirecTV to offer broadband to the boonies, teams up with ViaSat and Hughes Satellite providers

DirecTV to offer broadband to the boonies, teams up with ViaSat and Hughes Satellite providers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Engadget Interview: ViaSat CEO Mark Dankberg on Exede and the future of in-flight WiFi

Posted on 11/04/2012 by Zach Honig

When you think about satellite internet, dismal speeds, ridiculous latency and astronomical fees are likely first to come to mind. But the only technology capable of blanketing our entire planet in connectivity is now able to provide a fast, consistent and affordable experience, thanks to one market-leading company, and the vision and leadership of Mark Dankberg. Launched from Dankberg's home in Southern California, ViaSat lit up on the map in 1986, and spent the first two decades focused on government and corporate contracts. Last year's launch of ViaSat-1, however, beamed the company straight toward the top of the North American satellite broadband market, bringing high-speed internet to the rural masses. Pair the company's Exede household product with airline contracts for in-flight WiFi, and you have one ever-growing infrastructure giant. We sat down with Dankberg -- ViaSat's CEO since inception -- at the company's Carlsbad, California headquarters, learning about the Exede service launch, a portable newsgathering rig and what the future of in-flight WiFi may look like on airlines like JetBlue and United. Join us past the break for the interview in full, and an inside look at how ViaSat plans to transform the entire satellite internet experience.

Continue reading The Engadget Interview: ViaSat CEO Mark Dankberg on Exede and the future of in-flight WiFi

The Engadget Interview: ViaSat CEO Mark Dankberg on Exede and the future of in-flight WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ViaSat Exede review

Posted on 03/04/2012 by Tim Stevens

Broadband in the boonies has long been an unreasonable ask. As slack-jawed farmers are fond of telling lost tourists "Ya can't get there from here," broadband-starved country bumpkins have heard from cable companies, "We don't offer service in that location." Options have been few, like paying said cable company thousands to run some copper a few miles down the road, or making a second mortgage payment for a dedicated T3 line.

Over the years satellite internet has been offered as an alternative for broadband in places where bears do their business, but as we've seen it's never really worked. Bandwidth has been low, latency high and pricing on the tall side of average have made services like WildBlue and HughesNet untenable to all but the most dedicated wilderness lovers.

Now a new player approaches, and the offerings certainly sound compelling. It's called Exede from ViaSat and it promises speeds of up to 12Mbps down and 3Mbps up -- comparable to your average household "broadband" connection. However, with monthly fees ranging from $50 to $130 depending on how much data you need, this has the potential to be considerably more costly. Worth it? Put on your best pair of overalls then click on through to find out.

Gallery: ViaSat Exede review