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Satellite web surfing at 40Mbps with ViaSat SurfBeam 2 Pro (video)
If you've been relying on a satellite modem for your daily dose of the Internet, you're probably all too familiar with sub-1Mbps download speeds and an overall painful experience. That's exactly why we've been so impressed with ViaSat and its new 12Mbps down, 3Mbps up Exede residential satellite broadband product. Yesterday, we journeyed deep into Camp Pendleton near San Diego to test out those 12/3Mbps speeds on the go-anywhere SurfBeam 2 Pro Portable, and now we're back to play around with the enterprise setup's more stationary sibling, the SurfBeam 2 Pro. The modem functions in much the same way as ViaSat's less-expensive household version, though there's a bit more horsepower under the hood.The sample we saw at the company's Carlsbad, CA headquarters is also provisioned for faster service, delivering throughput in excess of 40Mbps down, letting you transfer files from the web at speeds you'd typically only be able to meet with a fiber connection. That may be a bit excessive for regular web use, but if you need to download software, movies or other large files in remote areas, that extra speed will likely be more than welcome. Join us past the break for a quick look a Exede, followed by a demo of the enterprise version and its 40Mbps downloads.
Live from Camp Pendleton with ViaSat SurfBeam 2 Pro Portable (video)
There's no power outlet, land-based internet connection or even a decent cell signal in sight, yet we're posting this live, at fast broadband speeds. We're miles deep into Camp Pendleton, connected to ViaSat's SurfBeam 2 Pro Portable mobile satellite transceiver and sending data to and from ViaSat-1 located more than 20,000 miles above our heads. SurfBeam 2 wasn't designed for us to kick back and surf the web in the middle of nowhere at speeds that we could barely achieve while tethered to a cable connection just a few years ago, but we're doing just that, with ViaSat's roughly $20,000 go-anywhere satellite broadband rig. We first heard about Pro Portable last month at CES, which the company is marketing towards military, emergency management personnel and even broadcasters -- that's right, the sat truck of the future fits inside a hand-carry suitcase, and sends HD video from the world's most remote locations right back to broadcast centers at record speed, nearly eliminating that lag that makes certain CNN reports painful to watch.Pro Portable really can go anywhere -- disassembled, it fits inside a fairly modest suitcase, but screw it together and you have a full-size dish. There's also a four-port Ethernet router and an optional battery pack, which provides up to four hours of juice. Think of it as Exede broadband for far-off-the-grid types. Sadly, Pro Portable isn't priced low enough to make its way into your on-the-go blogger kit, but it costs a small fraction of the million dollars you can spend on a sat truck, which rents for thousands of dollars a day. It's also far more transportable and discrete, offering consistent 12 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds nearly anywhere in North America. How can SurfBeam 2 hold up during a bandwidth-intensive HD upload? See for yourself just past the break -- our 230MB hands-on video made its way from the ground to space and back to Viddler in just shy of 13 minutes, and our Skype video call looked fantastic, without any noticeable lag.
ViaSat-1 sends its first words through the stratosphere to cooing stateside relatives
The ViaSat-1 story seems to be orbiting its way toward a happy ending in time for Christmas. The world's highest capacity telecommunications satellite sent down its first words on December 2nd: sadly it didn't chime a romantic "Mommy!" but a somber collection of high-bandwidth video streams, emails and websites. It'll continue back-and-forth testing, probably sending back pictures of red firetrucks until mid-December, which is when the company will assume "full control" (handed over from Space Systems / Loral) of the orbiting router and begin prepping commercial service before the end of the year. At which point, it'll be available to cover the US, Canada and Hawaii with KA-Band broadband service with partners WildBlue, Xplornet and JetBlue domestic flights.
ViaSat-1 scheduled to launch October 19th, spreading high-speed satellite service across North America
It's been delayed a few times already, but the high-capacity ViaSat-1 satellite is now in the process of being prepped for a new launch date: October 19th. Once in operation, it'll bring download speeds up to 10Mbps to satellite internet customers in both Canada and the US (including Hawaii) via Xplornet and WildBlue, respectively, and serve other partners like JetBlue. Those interested can keep an eye on the source link below for a live broadcast of the launch.
