High Network Latency and Satellite Internet – Globalcom

How High Network Latency Can Affect You While Using Satellite Internet

Latency is simply a big technical word for the amount of time consumed by data transmission from Point A to Point B. Latency is also experienced by cable and DSL Internet connection but especially by satellite Internet, considering how the latter essentially works. With data packets having to travel – literally – thousands of miles and across earthly boundaries before being transmitted back to your computer, latency is sure to be something satellite Internet users will experience.

What Online Activities Will Be Affected by High Network Latency
How much latency you will have to suffer from will basically depend on the nature of online activity you are performing

Surfing and Emailing
These are the simplest activities one could perform online. If these are your main objectives as well when accessing the Internet, you should be pleased to know that high network latency will not greatly affect your time. Although delays may be more than a few milliseconds, they will be rarely noticeable and shall not deter you from completing your work as scheduled.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Video Streaming
If you often use the Internet to make phone calls through VoIP, expect to encounter slight delays in transmission and reception caused by high network latency. Voice data, after all, is heavier compared to data transmitted when you upload or download text or access basic HTML pages. Such delays will be even more noticeable during peak hours and weekends to the extent of being problematic if the other party is a considerable distance away.

The same problems may arise when it comes to video streaming. Videos consume even more bandwidth than voice calls and as such, delays are more noticeable. Besides peak hours, other factors that could contribute to further delays would be the size of file you’re downloading and the bandwidth limits of the website or individual you are streaming or downloading the video from.

File Downloading
High network latency will at the most cause you a few minutes more when it comes to downloading small files. It is only when you are downloading full-length movies and applications that latency could be a substantial problem.

Online Gaming
Finally, satellite Internet is good for a lot of things, but it’s not a suitable Internet service for online gaming. Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games not only have high requirements for PC specifications but have set equally high standards for their players’ Internet speed. At the very least, their connection speed must be stable as more than a few seconds’ delay could cause disconnection from the game server.

HughesNet and Network Latency
Due to the essential framework of satellite Internet, even HughesNet suffers from occasional network latency. This, however, does not affect the overall speed of your Internet connection. Moreover, availability of connection from HughesNet is also more comprehensive compared to what you could get from ADSL companies like Globalcom.

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