These dishes can be as small as 15 inches in diameter, but the most common sizes are actually closer to 1 meter. For boats, this means a satellite dome with a dish inside that uses gps sensor, gyros and motors to stay pointed in exactly the right direction at all times as the boat or ship moves, pitches, rolls, tacks, etc. VSAT services in general, and Viasat is no different, require a relatively large dish antenna that points at the satellite at all times. Since it is satellite based, Viasat service works on more flight routes and can also provide more bandwidth to each plane. Viasat has also recently been deploying their services on airplanes, gradually replacing the older, slower, land-based, GoGo Inflight internet service. Note: DirecTV and Dish Network satellite TV are similar, they just broadcast using a different radio technology. There are advantages and disadvantages to low and high frequencies, but generally you need higher frequency to support higher speeds. VSAT systems typically operate in the Ku- or Ka-Band of radio frequency, from 10-15Ghz or 17-31Ghz way higher frequency than wifi, cellular, and slower satellite broadband systems such as Iridium (Iridium operates on L-Band, ~1.6Ghz) 1. From a fixed point like a house, you can point an antenna at the satellite, and it will stay pointed at the satellite more or less forever without having to adjust it. For reference, geostationary satellites are orbiting at ~22,000 miles of altitude over the Earth’s surface and follow the earths spin, so they appear from a viewer’s perspective to always be in the same place in the sky. The “Very-Small” refers to the dish size being less than 9ft in diameter. KVH sometimes calls their own service mini-VSAT. All of these providers offer a service referred to as VSAT (Very-Small Aperture Terminal). In the maritime world, you may also be familiar with Inmarsat and KVH, both of which also offer satellite broadband via geostationary satellites for boats, yachts, and ships. Both Viasat and HughesNet offer satellite Internet for homes and businesses as an alternative to cable, fiber, and DSL. Viasat is one of several satellite broadband providers operating with geostationary satellites.

Amazing Right? We all want that! And you may be wondering what they actually installed, and whether it’s something you can get also? Read on for the details! Finally, they run a speed test with amazing speeds and then they stream their own Youtube videos via satellite. They show Brian installing a little rack of networking equipment below decks and then the team hoisting a large dome onto the center of their solar arch. In the video, Delos crew are joined by a team from Viasat to install a satellite broadband internet system. If you are a subscriber of Sailing SV Delos YouTube channel you may have seen their recent episode showing their new high-speed satellite Internet installation.

(note: this article was updated for 2021 on )

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