I always wonder that internet is basically to the core connected computers/network etc.. but how does satellite internet work? Do they have some towers on earth that send signal to satellites?
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On the ground, your mobile phone works approximately like this:
– A mobile carrier operates a network of base stations. These base stations are connected into the phone network so they can make and receive calls to other mobile carriers or a landline provider.
– Each base station is connected to a few towers (typically by wire), spread geographically apart for coverage.
– A mobile phone is always registered to one tower, although it can move and re-register at a different tower, possibly with a different base station.
– To request a web page, for example, the mobile phone transmits the request to its tower, which sends it on to the base station, and from there into the Internet. The response travels along the same route back to the phone.
For satellite-based Internet service:
– There’s no tower. The satellite is the tower.
– There’s still a base station, which the satellites talks to. Unlike the link between a ground tower and the base station, this segment would have to be wireless.
– Satellites in orbit are much farther away than ground towers, so the transmission has to use more power. Antennas are typically bigger and use more battery.
– The distance also means the transmission will take longer to travel up to the satellite and then back down to the base station, even though it’s at the speed of light. This is perceived as a lag by the user.
– Instead of the phone possibly moving, unless your satellite is in geosynchronous orbit, the satellites are also constantly moving at high speed.
– Instead of towers permanently tethered to its base station, (non-geosynchronous) satellites will come in and out of view of each base station, so satellites will have to switch base stations constantly.
So while it’s similar in block diagram form, there are a lot of technical differences that make it a lot harder.
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