Broadband Satellite Internet: 99.44 % System Reliability
The Skycasters satellite Internet service is a best-effort service
with historic reliability in the range of 99.44% (exclusive of
scheduled maintenance)*. This puts the Skycasters service reliability
rating in line with leading terrestrial solutions such as DSL or cable
Internet.
In the event of a network outage, the Skycasters average MTR (mean time to repair) is under 30 minutes, easily surpassing the average MTR intervals of terrestrial services that rely on complicated networks of interconnected routers and many miles of copper, fiber or COAX cables throughout a geographic region.
Here are some general facts about satellite Internet reliability:
- There are fewer points of potential failure or congestion, as we
offer a direct connection to the U.S. Internet backbone
from everywhere
that we provide service. - Satellite avoids the obvious vulnerability of the “local loop” used to provide traditional wired services like cable, DSL or T-1. To illustrate, consider that a satellite connection cannot possibly be interrupted by a backhoe, bridge or tunnel incident, fire, ice storm, earthquake, downed telephone pole, etc.
- Because it is difficult to make repairs in outer space, the satellite spacecrafts are designed with multiple layers of redundancy and multiple backup systems, resulting in uptime approaching 100%. There are even spare satellites already in orbit which are immediately available in the unlikely case of a catastrophic failure of a satellite.
- Our satellite provider partners, Telesat and Intelsat, operate their
networks to the absolute highest level of redundancy and reliability,
equaling or exceeding military specifications in the manufacturing,
launching and operation of their satellite spacecraft. Also, the main
ground station (network operations center) uses multiple diverse antenna
facilities, redundant routers and power supplies, and is connected directly
into multiple Tier I Internet backbone providers via diverse physical
paths.
For these and other reasons, many companies who have a mission-critical need for data communications use satellite as either a primary, alternate or backup connection.
Skycasters offers a private network peering arrangement for franchised organizations or any larger, multi-location enterprise with operations nationwide. This arrangement has the added convenience of a single vendor relationship, eliminating potential finger-pointing among vendors during any trouble resolution processes.
Rain Fade
Rain Fade is a short period (usually less than five minutes) during which a loss of satellite signal occurs because intense storm cells are located directly between the satellite and the satellite dish. In these intense storms, the separation of the water droplets approximates the signal wavelength. This effectively creates a temporary “wall” of water that reflects and distorts the satellite signal, resulting in rain fade.
On the East Coast of the U.S., for example, rain fade accounts for approximately 8-10 satellite Internet outages per year. Other parts of the country may have different results.
Satellite TV and even other satellite Internet providers are far more susceptible to rain fade than Skycasters. That’s because we offer larger dishes, more powerful transmitters and other business grade equipment throughout our network. Couple this with our dynamic power modulation, and most storms don’t even affect Skycasters Internet service.
However, when enough water falls, it can overwhelm even the most powerful satellite signals. A good rule of thumb is when the sky goes black and the thunder shakes the windows, there may be enough rain associated with the storm to interrupt the signal. Fortunately, these powerful storms are usually fast moving. The Skycasters system is designed to recover from these rare rain events gracefully and seamlessly.
Sun Outages
Twice a year, the orbit of the satellite around the earth and the earth around the sun align in such a way as to place the sun directly behind the satellite, overwhelming and temporarily blinding your satellite dish. This is called a sun fade, sun transit or sun outage. These outages occur during the spring and fall, and only last for a few minutes during each occurrence. The times can be predicted, as they occur on a regular schedule.
* Link availability is dependent upon location within the satellite footprint, customer premises equipment, etc., and varies between 99.27% and 99.94%. Please discuss link budget analysis with your sales representative.