How Does Hughesnet Data Work?

When you search for internet providers, there are a few different types of internet technology you may find available in your area. You’ll likely to stumble across DSL, 4G, and satellite internet. But what exactly is satellite internet, and how does it work to provide people even living way out in the countryside with a stable and fast connection to do the tasks they need to online?

Satellite Technology Explained

Many people who have had or know someone who has had satellite internet before will remember the satellite dishes mounted somewhere on the roof of their home or on a pole mount in the yard. Mounting a satellite dish requires a technician to come out to your home to position it exactly right so the satellite attached to your house can send and receive beams of data to and from satellites in space.

This is why satellite internet is only available for stationary homes – a boat or RV’s constant movement would make finding a reliable connection over and over again while traveling nearly impossible. The satellite dish would have to be continuously moved in order to connect to and from satellites in the sky.

The Five-Part Relay System

To break down how exactly the data flows and delivers you a quality internet connection, we’ve explained it further below by providing more info on the five-part relay system on which satellite technology is based:

• An internet-ready device, meaning a laptop, tablet, phone, or any other device that can be used to access a connection, goes online to use the internet. To be able to perform tasks on the internet with these devices, data is sent and received through your modem/router each time you click on a link to view or a show to stream.
• Your modem is what translates data between your device and your satellite dish. You can do this through a hardline connection with an ethernet cable, but a router is what you’d need for a wireless connection, aka Wi-Fi, by connecting it to the modem.
• Remember that precisely positioned satellite dish we mentioned above? This is where it comes into play – your satellite dish outside sends beam signals up to your provider’s satellite in space (roughly 22,000 miles above Earth’s surface) and receives information back. These satellites rotate with the Earth, keeping your connection consistent and allowing for the crucial two-way communication between your dish and provider hub that makes this entire technological process work.
• And finally, we get to the NOC, or Network Operations Center. The request for information that is sent to your home’s dish whenever you click on a link or type a URL into your address bar also goes through the satellite in the sky and beamed to the NOC, who then gathers your info and sends it back to you through the relay.

Sounds like a lot of work, right? But actually, the entire process described above happens in fractions of a second! It seems impossible, but that’s what makes satellite technology so extraordinary.

Is Satellite Internet Right For Me?

It can be! If you live in an area where only dial-up, DSL and satellite internet is available. Satellite internet is the superior choice. With Hughesnet internet your internet speeds can be up to 100 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload!¹ That’s up to 10x faster than dial-up! At these speeds you can enjoy more of what you love to do online. Hughesnet is available to anyone and anywhere within the continental United States.