Questions & Answers
If your question(s) concerning Spaceway is (are) not answered on this page, please send us an email !
| Can I watch television with this system | No, satellite internet and satellite television require separate antennas due to the difference in technologies used by both services. |
| Can I use this Ka-Band service to be an ISP or offer internet to a large LAN / WAN | No, you can not use a Ka-Band satellite system to start an ISP or to offer the Internet to a large LAN or WAN. This is because your end-user agreement forbids you from reselling the service and also because bandwidth issues prevent you from running more than 5 or so computers on a single system. |
| How fast will you be able to install my Ka-Band system once I purchase it? | This will depend on the availability of a qualified installer in your area.
When you order your system, we will contact a qualified installer in your area to schedule the installation. If no qualified installer is currently available in your area (according to our lists), we will try to locate one for you. If we can not locate anyone qualified, we will have to consider special travel arrangements in order to perform your installation (this will add to your installation costs). Note (1): The installation of a Ka-Band system such as this one can not be left out to a poorly trained and/or poorly equipped installer. Note (2): If you are a qualified installer and if you would like to perform Ka-Band installation, please contact us ASAP. |
| Will rain-fade affect my Ka-Band system | Rain fade is a common issue for Ku-Band satellite reception.
Under heavy rain, you can experience temporary signal loss due to the "wall" effect caused by the rain in front of the satellite signal. In the Ka-Band, rain fade is also an issue, however your Ka-Band outdoor unit can compensate rain fade up to a certain point by adjusting its transmit power. The Telesat Canada gateways in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto can also compensate against rain fade up to a certain point by boosting the power of the uplink antennas and the satellite's transmit power. Note that "dry" snow (when it's very cold) will not affect your service. Heavy and wet snow on the other hand will have a similar effect on the Ka-Band signal as rain and may affect your signal for short periods of time. To conclude, you should not be that worried about rain fade. Yes, rain fade can affect your service from time to time (during the few minutes of a heavy summer downpour), but for most of Southern Canada, it should not be an issue for more than 20 to 50 hours during an entire year. For a rain fade chart, click here. |
| Is Ka-Band satellite internet secure | Yes, it is extremely safe. Because each receive antenna can actually see the "downlink" traffic of an entire region, the traffic for each individual user is protected by the modem and the Telesat Canada gateway using SMTS (Satellite Modem Termination System) encryption. Once your traffic leaves Telesat Canada, it travels over the internet like any other type of traffic - at this point, encryption is up to the type of browser (i.e. a non-encrypted vs. an encrypted web page), client, etc. you are using.
Note that due to inherent characteristics of internet via satellite (Ku-Band or Ka-Band), some VPN services may not work via satellite or may appear to be slow. Please contact us prior to making your decision if you plan to use a VPN on your internet via satellite connection. |
| Can I use my Spaceway service to replace my land based telephone line with VoIP | Although Voice over IP will work very well at some times, your Spaceway service should not be used to replace your land based telephone line. If you live in an area where land based telephony or cellular telephony is not available and you need to have Voice over IP via satellite, perhaps you should consider our iDirect platform. Spaceway monitors their network 24/7 and they have QoS (Quality of Service) parameters, but these parameters are aimed at web-browsing, emails and other non-streaming activities. In other words, Spaceway does not officially support VoIP. If the network load is lower than the limits they set, VoIP works, but when the load reaches the limits they set, it may not work very well.... or not at all. |
| Why is 2-Way high speed internet more expensive than residential cable or DSL? | This is in part due to the fact that a satellite is much more expensive than a local cable or DSL hub and also because there are only a few dozen satellites over the North American skies, as opposed to tens of thousands of cable or DSL hubs in each city served by cable or DSL. |
Will the subscription cost of 2-way high speed internet via satellite always remain above the subscription cost of cable or DSL? |
The answer is yes, because cable or DSL will never be available in the middle of the desert, the prairies or even ice fields, while 2-way internet via satellite is available anywhere, anytime. This may not matter to you if you live in the city, but it matters a lot to anyone where internet access is limited! |
Why is satellite television cheaper than cable television and why is it the opposite for internet via satellite? |
This is due to the fact that television and internet access are two completely different things:
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