Satellite Internet Articles. Ku and Ka band.
Ku and Ka band satellite internet - which one is right for me?
As noted, the band that your satellite internet provider operates on is critical to in making a decision as to your needs and profile. Generally, ku band (HughesNet) currently operates in this spectrum. Conversely, Wildblue operates in the ka band spectrum. So how does band make me an educated decision?
Here are some questions in evaluating your decision as to what provider to choose.
1. Do I live in an area that gets a lot of precipitation throughout the year, rain and/or snow?
If so you may lean toward HughesNet. Remember that Ku band is less susceptible to loss
of signal quality due to adverse weather conditions. If you live in the southwestern US
where the weather is more stable year round this may not be as much of an issue.
2. Do I need this service exclusively for a real time application such as twitch gaming, voice
over ip or a virtual private network (VPN)?
All these applications require a low latency or small delay response time from the satellite.
Generally, the ka band will have less latency because the ku band satellites are
closer to the earth in their orbital position. This does not necessarily mean that you would
have better success with Wildblue than HughesNet when running these specialized
applications because the standard home plan consumer offerings for both do not
really have the infrastructure to support these apps. It is difficult to recommend one over
the other without testing on a case to case basis. Without testing, the most sound
recommendation is HughesNet's larger business class offering. This utilizes a more
powerful antenna transmitter and tends to mitigate the some of the problems you
experience tying to run real time appications in the home class offerings.
| Ku Band | 11.7 - 12.7 GHz |
| Ka Band | 18.3 - 20.2 GHz |
| Ku Band | 14 - 14.5 GHz |
| Ka Band | 27.5 - 31 GHz |
Ready to order? You can order online , or call 1-800-673-9409 to sign up.
Email: continental@hughes.net
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