Do You Tunnel With Your Computer?

Do you work from home by connecting to your companies network, access school assignments through your schools network? If so, you may be tunneling or connecting through a VPN.

VPN or Virtual Private Network is a computer network that is implemented in an additional software layer, on top of an existing larger network for the purpose of creating a private and secure computer communication into an insecure network such as the Internet.

The connection between nodes of a virtual private network are formed with virtual circuits between hosts of the larger network. The Link layer protocols of the virtual network are described as tunneling through an underlying transport network.

VPNs are often used by organizations (companies, schools, etc.) to provide remote access to their secure network. Because VPN connections are more complex in nature than say a point-to-point connection, they require authentication and must maintain that handshake of sorts for the duration of the connection. VPN administrators will do things such as masking the IP address of the individual computers within the Internet in order to, for instance surf the World Wide Web anonymously or access a locations restricted services.

VPN connections are possible for folks with even slower dial up connections, but not possible with satellite Internet services, even though the connections are some 10-30 times faster than dialup. The problem with satellite Internet is transmission latency. This is merely a half second delay when a satellite modem transmits a signal into outer space to a satellite, which then returns the transmission to earth. It is unnoticeable to the end user except when that user attempts to use things such as VoIP (Vonage), or real-time games such as World of Warcraft and VPN.

The problem with satellite Internet latency and VPN connections is basically authentication related. Because VPNs allow connections only from known trusted users, said users are provided with appropriate security privileges to access resources with the network. Users need to authenticate themselves to join the VPN and must maintain that “handshake” through the connection. Satellite Internet transmission latency, that mere half second delay, causes in a sense, the tunnel to collapse and forces the end users to constantly authenticate to the VPN. Although dialup is painfully slow, the connection is constant and therefore can sustain itself through a VPN tunnel.

That is probably way more than most Internet users ever needed to know about how they may or may not connect to resources from home outside their ISPs network, but hopefully it can help some consumers decide between whether they can go ahead and drop the “trailing edge” technology that is dial up service for something much better such as satellite Internet service.

WildBlue Satellite Internet - The Broadband Satellite Leader

In June 11 2009 WildBlue revealed the future of Broadband Satellite Internet with a hands-on demonstration of its “next generation” satellite capabilities in the Washington D.C..

The demonstration showcased download speeds of 18 Mbps, nearly 12-times faster than satellite internet providers current capabilities. Members of Congress got to compare than enhanced Wild Blue speeds with their current service. Why was Congress involved, you might ask. Because WildBlue provides high-speed Satellite Internet access to nearly 400,000 Americans in rural parts of the United States, that currently have no other options, other than dialup service available to them.

Congress believes that access to high-speed Internet provides Americans with; increased access to information and technology, which will lead to more Internet commerce, education, news, and social interaction. What is a good thing for its citizens, will most assuredly to be for the government.

The United States Departments of Commerce and Agriculture will provide $7.2 billion in federal stimulus funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, in a inititaive to provide universal broadband access to all customers, regardless of how rural.

So, why Satellite Internet and not cable or DSL. The customers that are in need of the increase in technology are rural citizens, whose local Cable or DSL providers, can’t or won’t provide the means to bring those customers current. Satellite Internet needs no infastrucure to provide service to customers. A Satellite dish, a Satellite Internet modem, and a clear view of the southern sky is all that is required. WildBlue has been an active advocate in Washington, D.C. for the advancement of their Broadband technology.

In August WildBlue applied for and received $30 million in Broadband Stimulus, which helped subsidize Satellite Boradband connections for about 10,000 homes in Colorado and Wyoming and another 10,000 in Arizona. The areas mentioned all were out of reach of the high-speed cable, fiber and DSL lines. Wild Blue will continuing effort to provide Satellite Internet access to customers is centered around the launch of the WildBlue 3 satellite, at a cost of $300 million and a development and activiation timeline of nearly three years.

The Satellite Internet industry and the efforts of WildBlue to provide high-speed Internet access to everyone without, came into focus in October when ViaSat acquired Wild Blue for $568-million. The merger should strengthen Broadband Stimulus efforts.In acquiring WildBlue, ViaSat gains one of the most successful and fastest growing wholesale and retail broadband service providers in the United States. In less than five years, WildBlue has become one of the top twenty broadband U.S. ISPs. WildBlue pioneered the use of “unprocessed” Ka-band spot beam technology to increase capacity and lower bandwidth costs, portending the value potential for the technology innovations ViaSat-1 will make possible.

ViaSat, a satellite communications equipment maker for defense and consumer markets will boost WildBlue’s service and technolody levels and bolster the chances of getting government money earmarked for Broadband solutions. ViaSat and WildBlue applied for $500-million in stimulus funds. Both companies have recently partnered with satellite provider EchoStar Communications on seperate bids for grants and loans under the Federal Broadband-Stimulus program.

ViaSat is scheduled to launch a satellite, ViaSat-1, in the first quarter of 2011 that will enable WildBlue to offer speeds of 2 Megabits per second to 8 Megabits per second— closer to those offered by cable operators. Currently, WildBlue’s speeds top out at a DSL-like 1.5 Mbps. ViaSat plans to hold prices essentially the same for consumers, which range from $39.95 to $79.95 a month for speeds of 512 kilobits per second to 1.5 Mbps. The higher speeds will enable easier downloads of videos and other multimedia for WildBlue’s clients.

The Internet – A Gamers Paradise

For most gamers, the Internet has become a virtual playground offering a wide variety of gaming options. Whether it’s online poker, a huge virtual world, or a good old shoot’em up, the Satellite Internet delivers to all. You can play almost any game no matter what your Internet connection is. Unfortunately the type of Internet can affect the quality and speed of the game play.
Online games can range from simple text based games to games incorporating complex graphics and virtual worlds populated by many players simultaneously. Many online games have associated online communities, making online games a form of social activity beyond single player games.
There is an endless amount of games that can be played with a dial up connection. The downside is that dial up speeds are only able to support low quality games. High quality games require download speeds of 256 kbps (kilobits per second) to run smoothly. Dial up Internet can only run at speeds of 56kbps. So if it’s a simple card or puzzle games that you love to play and you don’t mind the slow speeds, then dial up will fit you just fine.
For the average online gamer, card games just won’t cut it. Most people are looking for that action packed virtual world when it comes to their online gaming. If this is the case, then you will need a Cable or DSL Internet connection. This will give you much cleaner images, (no blurring) quicker loading when going from level to level, and reduces the chance that you will get a system error.
Most online games like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI and Lineage II charge a monthly fee to subscribe to their services, while games such as Guild Wars offer an alternative no monthly fee scheme. Many other sites rely on advertising revenues from on-site sponsors, while others, like RuneScape, the games made by Artix Entertainment and Mabinogi, let people play for free while leaving the players the option of paying, and unlocking new content for the members.
More of the “hardcore” gamers like to use the high-tech pay sites to play games online, like Xbox Live, Playstation Network or World of Warcraft. With these sites you are able to play with other gamers across the globe. Trying to use this type of gaming on a dial up speed is pointless, and simply will not work. They require a Cable or DSL Internet connection to be run.
Online gaming has become more of a technology rather than a genre, a mechanism for connecting players together rather than a particular pattern of game play. One advantage of online games is the ability to connect to multiplayer games, although single-player online games are quite common as well.
Massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) were made possible with the growth of broadband Internet access in many developed countries, using the Internet to allow hundreds of thousands of players to play the same game together. Many different styles of massively multiplayer games are available, such as:

• Role-playing games
• Real-time strategy games
• First-person shooter games
• Social games

The advancement of technology allows online games to imitate the complex ecological, sociological, economical, and political dynamics of real life societies.
So what category you fall into when it comes to gaming, depends largely on the type of Internet connection you have. Hopefully this should help you pick the Internet provider that fits you best.

Satellite Internet – Your Health May Rely On It

Internet service has become essential to have greater access to health information, products and services. Though this may seem ordinary to us, rural communities have long faced challenges in getting adequate local health care, let alone the benefits of acquiring information we take for granted. The ability to acquire high-speed broadband Internet access would almost assuredly transform small rural communities in terms of economic benefits by reducing transportation time and expenses, reducing missed time at work, increasing the effectiveness of lab and pharmacy work and provide savings to health facilities.
The funds set aside by the Government in the Broadband Stimulus plan to provide rural Internet users with options better than dial-up services, is not the first interest the Government has taken here. The USDA has administered many programs aimed at improving medical technology through the use of Broadband Internet access and the 2008 Farm Act also helped to expand these programs to rural America.
Studies have shown that Telemdicine, which can only be practiced through a high-speed Internet connection, had an immediate and dramatic cost-benefit to facilities that practiced it. Because rural hospitals are almost always at least partially funded by local sales taxes, the community in which they serve found greater economic savings due to the advancement of broadband technology and the efficiency of Telemecidine.
Telemedicine mainly benefits hospital savings by reducing the outsourcing of specific procedures, transportation costs associated with outsourcing of patients, income savings from reducing the time missed from work, and the increased abilities and proficiencies of laboratory and pharmaceutical work. All of these factors improved patient turnaround and was the greatest benefit noted by hospital staff members.
Broadband Internet’s value in rural areas was estimated to be nearly $400,000 annually when considering the cost savings of patients and their employers. The savings due to increased efficiencies and the increase of business the hospitals realized due to Telemedicine.