And despite the need to install dish hardware, many satellite customers appreciate the technology’s reasonably straightforward sign-up and installation process. "The procedure is relatively pain free, particularly when compared with the complications and delays involved with DSL," says Michael Goodman, a senior satellite industry analyst with The Yankee Group, a Boston-based technology research company. Yet, as two-way satellite’s popularity grows, providers are finding themselves swamped with orders, causing some delivery problems.

Down to Earth

While satellite technology is often the only way to get broadband to some locations, cost remains a problem. Pegasus, which offers its two-way service through alliances with satellite operators DirecPC and Tachyon, prices its 400Kbps upstream/128Kbps downstream service at $69 per month (the company is also planning a faster, pricier service from DirecPC that’s scheduled to debut in July). At StarBand, service also costs $69 per month. But that’s more expensive than either cable or DSL. "One also has to consider the substantial hardware and installation costs, which can range up to several hundred dollars," says Goodman. StarBand’s hardware-installation package is priced at $638. A Tachyon installation, which is geared toward small offices rather than individual PCs, costs $4,950, in addition to between $800 and $1,300 per month for the service itself. The sky-high installation price is the result of expensive electronics and an FCC rule that mandates professional installation of two-way satellite systems, because of the technology’s high-power microwave transmitter. "You can’t just hang a two-way dish in your backyard like a TV dish," says Jeremy Guralnick, vice president of product management for San Diego-based Tachyon.

Latency is another important issue. Since satellites orbit at 22,300 miles, a signal needs anywhere from one-half to three-quarters of a second to complete the Earth-satellite-Earth round-trip. That’s not a big problem when swapping e-mail, transferring files or casually surfing the Web. But latency pretty much rules out two-way broadband applications such as telephone calls and videoconferencing. "Users find the voice delay confusing and intolerable," says Goodman.

Satellite technology is also vulnerable to rain-fade?an atmospheric phenomenon that blocks signals during downpours. Rain-fade isn’t a big problem in moisture-challenged places such as Arizona or New Mexico. But in Florida, where cloudbursts occur almost daily at certain times of the year, satellite users can expect occasional service interruptions that range from a few minutes to a half hour or more.

Two-way satellite services use a dish that’s slightly larger than the models used by satellite TV receivers. While mounting a dish on a roof or wall usually isn’t a problem, tall buildings or trees can make it difficult?occasionally impossible?to find a clear signal path. "Satellite service requires an uninterrupted view of the southern sky?nothing less will do," says StarBand’s Gal. Yet satellite technology can also be surprisingly accommodating. "With the Havasupi installation, we worried that the canyon walls would block the signal path," says Groenhout. "The installers rode down on mules and discovered, surprisingly, that the signal carried all the way down to the canyon floor."