StarBand by Spacenet

What is StarBand?

Since November of 2000, StarBand has provided low-cost, two-way, always-on, high-speed satellite Internet service to residential and small office users. StarBand had little in the way of competition until WildBlue's market presence began to make itself felt in early 2006. HughesNet (formerly DirecWay) did not offer any compelling reason (and still doesn't) to choose its services over StarBand's. StarBand ran into several difficult situations, however. The temporary outage of the IA-7 satellite during the 2004 Thanksgiving season took approximately 22,000 of its subscribers off-line. Service was restored within a week, but this event struck a blow to consumer confidence in the product.  StarBand subsequently lost 2/3 of its capacity on the AMC-4 satellite for business reasons that are as yet unexplained by StarBand.  The end result was a network that became increasingly over-subscribed and not all that well managed. Unsurprisingly, service and performance suffered.  Accordingly, early in 2006, StarLAN placed a moratorium on all StarBand sales and installations until the situation improved. Which it now has.
 
Much has changed at StarBand.  After approximately 4 and a half years of operation, StarBand was acquired by Spacenet in March of 2005. This acquisition provided StarBand with much-needed capital, and more importantly, better management and a totally revised and improved network infrastructure. StarBand re-launched their new Nova product line in December of 2006. See the press release here.  StarBand Nova services include two options Nova 1000 and Nova 1500. The Nova 1500, aimed at small office users, offers always on broadband Internet access at speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps download and 256 kbps upload. The Nova 1000, which is designed for residential users, offers speeds of up to 1 Mbps download and 128 kbps upload. Both services use the advanced Gilat SkyEdge VSAT platform.
 
Hence StarBand's new tagline, "StarBand Reinvented."  StarBand hasn't so much reinvented itself as it has taken advantage of Spacenet's far more mature and advanced network infrastructure.  New StarBand customers receive a completely different satmodem and dish. Again, new StarBand customers now make use of Spacenet's enterprise-class network infrastructure. The old StarBand gear (360 and 480 series satmodems and antennas) has been discontinued and is not compatible with the new system. According to a recent dealer communication, StarBand claims that they will continue to support their existing 360 and 480 series systems "as best they can."  Whatever that means - draw your own conclusions.  As of December 2007, a limited update/upgrade plan for certain older systems was announced, but it does not replace the outdoor gear with the improved antenna and transmitter, nor does it reset the warranty clock.  Given the far lower cost of the new Spacenet gear, customers are in all cases better served by simply purchasing new gear.
 
Is StarBand a Good Value?
 
The answer is yes, especially for telecommuters and those who require higher performance and better response from their satellite-based internet connection. Today's satellite-based broadband provider market has become highly competitive. StarBand, WildBlue and HughesNet now offer products that are within a hundred bucks or so of one another, excluding installation costs. Services offered by all three providers are roughly comparable in terms of price and speed, but this area warrants some careful scrutiny. See the Service, Price comparison and FAP pages for a more detailed take on this.
 
The inherently higher reliability and far lower latency of the new StarBand/Spacenet system certainly counts for something. StarBand's Nova 1000 residential service offering is is a good deal for residential users who desire better native performance than comparable WildBlue or HughesNet products. The Nova 1500 is competitive with WildBlue's Pro Pak and the cost of business/enterprise packages. WildBlue - when it is available - beats the Nova 1500 on price - but not when it comes to network latency, response and transparency. This is where StarBand beats WildBlue handily when it comes to support for remote acces technologies such as Microsoft's Remote Desktop, Citrix Metaframe remote access clients and SSL VPN support. Perhaps most importantly, StarBand's FAP policies are far better than those of either WildBlue or HughesNet.
 
The Nova 1500 service does not support VoIP and offers IPSec VPN support at dialup speeds only. Should the Nova 1500 service at some point offer VoIP and/or IPSec VPN support, then there would be a compelling reason to consider it for these purposes. Bottom line - the Nova 1000 is a good deal for residential users. The Nova 1500 - also good a deal if you need the superior remote client performance it delivers.
 
Equipment
 
The StarBand™ system consists of the new Gilat SkyEdge satmodem and a 36" elliptical satellite dish mounted on or near your home or office (a 1.2 meter satellite dish is required in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands). The dish must have a clear unobstructed view of the Galaxy 27  satellite located 22,300 miles up over the Equator in the southern sky. Two standard coaxial RG6 cables connect the satellite dish antenna to the StarBand satellite modem. The StarBand SkyEdge satmodem is in turn connected to your computer via an Ethernet connection with no software required. See the StarBand Equipment section of this website for details.

 

Why Should I Use StarBand?

About Spacenet

Spacenet, Inc., based in McLean, Virginia, is a provider of VSAT satellite-based data network services as well as hybrid satellite/terrestrial networks and network management services. The company was founded in 1981 as a sister company to Sprint, providing satellite links for voice connections. The company grew into a worldwide satellite operator and services provider as it went through several mergers and acquisitions over the next 15 years, absorbing AT&T Tridom, passing through the hands of GTE and later becoming a division of General Electric Capital Services.

In 1998, GE sold Spacenet's North American operations to VSAT terminal manufacturer Gilat Satellite Networks, and spun the satellite assets off into GE Americom (which later became part of SES Global). In March 2005, Spacenet acquired its former sister company, StarBand, the first two-way consumer satellite ISP in the United States.

Spacenet's primary business is providing VSAT and hybrid/terrestrial data network services to government and enterprise customers under the Connexstar brand. Spacenet's enterprise/government VSAT services are used for a wide range of applications such as primary broadband or narrowband networks, disaster recovery/backup networks and multicast file delivery. It is the largest competitor to Hughes Network Systems in the North American enterprise VSAT market, with around 25% market share. As of 2006, Spacenet served about 50,000 enterprise sites and more than 30,000 residential and small office customers

The Takeaway:

StarBand offers a solid package of satellite-based technology and services for small office / home office and small business broadband usage. We do not recommend StarBand or any other consumer-grade satellite-based internet service for any business use requiring IPSec VPN support or VoIP applications.

See the Residential Satellite Service Comparison and the  Commercial Satellite Service Comparison pages for a more extensive comparison of the various satellite-based broadband services.