Residential Satellite Broadband Provider Cost Comparison

Introduction

When it comes to a choice of satellite-based internet service provider (ISP) for your home or business, it can be tough to sort out a balance of monthly subscription fees, initial up-front cost (typically, that's gear and installation), features and reliability. Naturally, most of us want to get the most bang for our buck. To assist you, we offer a price/performance comparison chart for the three major players in the Satellite ISP business. This is not easy to present. Because of the way the respective services are structured, we're making what in some cases amounts to apples-to-oranges (well OK - oranges to tangerines) comparisons with respect to price and speeds alone. This comparison examines three broad classes of performance - entry level, residential and small office/home office. Please don't hesitate to contact us for more information. WildBlue, StarBand (now SpaceNet) and Hughes all offer business and enterprise-class service levels and equipment. We represent two of the three. Ask us why.

Price Isn't Everything (and neither is speed)

The correct choice for your particular needs does not and should not rest upon price alone. For example, none (let me repeat that - NONE) of the three consumer-class providers - that's WildBlue, HughesNet and StarBand - support VoIP or VPNs Other sophisticated remote-access protocols such as Microsoft's Remote Desktop and Citrix Metaframe clients may work, but not well enough to be worthwhile. The exception to this is StarBand, whose lower-latency VSAT network does make Microsoft's Remote Desktop and Citrix Metaframe clients workable. If your livelihood depends upon any of these things, then it doesn't matter how cheap the consumer-grade services are - you're not going to get what you need. So, while you may pay more for what looks like slower speeds when you compare StarBand or BroadSky Networks offerings versus WildBlue or Hughes, it won't matter at all if you need what StarBand and BroadSky Networks can do versus what WildBlue and Hughes can't do. What follows are some of the less-obvious but vitally important considerations that merit your attention:

Remote Access Capability 

This is something that makes or breaks your ability to work from home. Example: you must be able to access your company network from a remote location. There are many different ways to accomplish this, most of which make use of communications protocols that are either not well supported or not supported at all by satellite ISPs. So if you want to work from home or telecommute - you must be very, very careful and well-informed when you choose a satellite ISP.  StarLAN Consulting Services specializes in remote access technologies, and we can make sense of your requirements and recommend a specific service that will get you where you need to go.

Contention Factor

Then there's the issue of contention factor - that is, the number of people contending for a given resource. This has a direct bearing on the performance of things like VPN connections, VoIP and other real-time remote access applications. Low contention factor numbers are better, higher ones are worse. Contention factor is one of the primary factors that separates the common run of consumer-grade satellite ISPs from the business and enterprise class providers.

Committed Information Rate / Service Level Agreement

CIR, or Committed Information Rate is something that you get only with some, but not all commercial satellite ISPs.  A CIR is a guarantee of a certain level of performance, and this is usually written into a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that is part of your contract. There's a reason why residential class satellite ISPs advertise their speeds as "up to" a certain rate. That's because they will not and cannot guarantee the speeds they advertise. Now, most of the time you get pretty close to what you pay for, but if you don't, well - too bad. No SLA or CIR, no guarantee. A prolonged outage or inconsistent performance may get you an adjustment on your bill if you complain enough, but that's not much consolation if you can't get your work done. So let's say it again: No existing residential-class service offers a CIR of any kind.

Weigh the Intangibles

Finally, there are the less tangible, but equally important issues of service, support and local representation. For example, StarLAN Consulting Services is one of the only dealer/installers in the inland Northwest with an extensive IT and data security background. The majority of your local satellite internet dealer/installers are primarily TV and cell phone dealers. Put it another way: who would you rather have install your system - a $10/hour TV installer who will just hand you an Ethernet cable and walk away or a certified network engineer and Microsoft Partner who will do the whole job?  It does make a difference.

Support  - is it local, is it US-based, and do they speak English as a primary language? That too, makes a difference.

For a more comprehensive comparison of the features that satellite ISPs offer, go to Sat Services Compared on this website.

Disclaimer and Caveat - This list is both limited in scope and changes may occur faster than we can update them. This is as accurate as we can make it.

Note: Certain types of SSL-based VPNs may work with the StarBand and WildBlue services. Neither company explicitly supports any SSL based VPN clients and users should check with the software manufacturer to identify the type of VPN client they are using. If IPSec-based VPN solutions work at all with any of the consumer-class satellite services, they do so at dial-up rates. Neither WildBlue, StarBand nor HughesNet will support or troubleshoot VPN issues. Consider yourself warned. BroadSky Networks is the only satellite internet service provider that can transparently and effectively handle the full range of VPNs and VoIP with the LinkStar and iDirect systems.

*         Promotions may or may not be on offer, and are usually of limited duration when they are available. Always ask.

**       WildBlue has adopted a lease-only model. Startup costs for a 'standard' installation are $125-$150 depending upon promotions.

***     WildBlue monthly subscription rates include a $5.95 lease fee. Thus, $49.95+$5.95 = $55.90

1. Contention factor - 30
2. Contention factor - 250
3. Contention factor - 150/250
4. Contention factor - >400