On Tue, 20 Mar 2001, Paul Lussier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Any idea what the performance is like? They quote upto 500k
> downstream connection, but what about latency?
>
> Speed is great, but it's the latency that'll kill you. I.e., don't
> underestmate the bandwidth of a C-5 Galaxy loaded with magnetic tape
People say latency for it is about 1 sec (much but not all of that is
speed of light up and back to geo sync). That will be terrible for
interactive things (e.g. ssh) or things with many, many small
transactions (e.g. starting up a remote x-client: it has many
initial transactions with the X server).
But for web browsing, email, and file downloads it should be
"tolerable". The packets are buffered on the network, so it can stream
data at the advertized rates: latency plays a 2ndary role. Dialup
latency is roughly 0.3 sec, so not "too" far away from the satellite
value. This value is the point where interactive response starts to get
frustrating, so forget ssh with the satellite system unless you are
very patient. For some people & situations it will be worth it for the extra
download speed.
Karl
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