Kizuna Satellite Internet Is The Answer

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the commercial launch of Japan’s Kizuna satellite that will provide satellite internet for the Asia Pacific Region. At this time, DSL is the most popular internet connection we have in the Philippines. It’s not perfect (a gross understatement) but it gets the job done. Although a lot of folks are already quite content with what’s currently available. I do think that things can be a lot better. I’ve been to a few countries outside of the Philippines and some of these countries although smaller in size have internet connections that can only make me drool.

Some folks have been proclaiming the advent of fiber optics as the savior of the internet in these parts but I sincerely doubt that it would work in this country. Haven’t we had enough of all those diggings and the overhanging wires that actually makes the Metro look like a wired jungle? I do think that the solution will come from heaven– via satellite internet.

Satellite internet does not require huge cabling or telephone connection to access the internet. The speed of the internet is also constant as satellite internet uses two way high speed internet.

A lot of experts however shake their heads at this concept. There are three major reasons why these folks scoff at the idea. First is satellite internet’s performance during inclement weather. Whenever there’s heavy rains or winds, existing satellite internet services tend to be significantly affected. Then there’s latency or delay. And the nail that they believe will seal the satellite internet coffin is cost. Satellite internet is costly.

So far, the Kizuna Satellite has passed the first two objections. Those who proclaim that satellite internet will never be faster than DSL are now eating their words. The recent test showing upload/download speeds of 1.2Gbps is droolworthy. Latency was a non-issue.

The only thing that can keep the Kizuna at bay will be the cost of its service. That and the politics governing its domestic usage in Japan’s neighboring countries.

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4 Responses to "Kizuna Satellite Internet Is The Answer"

jessie May 25, 2008 11:54 am

Javi,

You said it right, the DSL and the hype about the fiber optics technology ek-ek is nothing but publicity stunts by DSL providers in the Philippines.
durano Lawayan May 28, 2008 7:03 pm

Hi Technojavi,

I’m sure you’ve researched what you said and I believe you. But I think the implementation will find a lot of opposition from the “providers” here as I suspected all along.

There is no follow through to what you asked as the Philippines’ stand on the Kizuna satellite and that’s disturbing.

Is it possible for Pinoy bloggers to create noise on this and use our numbers to lobby for the country’s inclusion in the Kizuna’s coverage? :-) –Durano, done!
dabutoy June 3, 2008 9:05 am

Mga Bro,

This would be great oppurtunity for filipino’s to be within the region where KIZUNA operates, hopefully our goverment take charge and make advantage on the oppurtunity. We still have some remote provinces that are not reach with even telephone lines for dial-up connection and with satellite broadband connection it can be used for almost any connectivity possible (internet, VOIP, and even TV streaming) and for even for 1Mbps connection and above all those application are all considerably descent.

Hope anyone can update for subscription details for this new sat.

Dab’s
zeek February 26, 2010 3:35 am

are you saying that the Kizuna satellite will have no latency issues? I live in Papua New Guinea where it is outwordly expensive to have good internet, or internet for that matter. Satellite internet is the cheapest available here, but it is really slow and doesn’t perform during rain/cloudy days.
I can believe that the Kizuna network has solved the bad weather adversity in Ka band networks. But I find it hard to believe that there will be low latency. From what I understand, satellites are 22,000 miles above the Earth’s surface, this means that the data will have to travel 44,000 miles (back and forth) to transmit data from one’s location to the server. Then that data, if not originating from the server location, has to be sourced from somewhere else. 44,000 miles at the speed of light will still take some time. Yeah ok light is fast, it travels at 186,000 miles per second…but that would leave you with a minimum latency/ping of like 400ms. That is NOT including the ground networks latency. For online gaming, that is considered heavy lag.
Please explain how this network has solved the problem of latency.

Thanks