Not quite VSAT, but in the bad old SA days (pre-demicracy), I did some work for a company that used a UK-based satellite provider for data to the client (data was sent in the VBI), and dial-up for the traffic from the client. Still relied on a local provider for the dial-up, though, so could be censored. Before TICSA, I also looked at buying a private (pirate) satellite earth station. The Russian government were selling off surplus 8-wheel-drive military satellite earth stations, and I was thinking of parking one in my back garden (I lived on a farm). paul
On Jul 9, 2020, at 12:44 PM, Mark Tinka <mark.tinka@seacom.com> wrote:
On 9/Jul/20 17:51, Joel M Snyder wrote:
Oh man I wish that were wholly true... Satellite/VSAT has another very very important attribute: it's not subject to the whims of the local government or regulators. So when there's an election or some unrest or coup or the prime minister has very bad flatulence, and some person says "turn off the Internet," your non-terrestrial connection is there so that you can continue to do business.
Very true, except there are still a few countries that require a single operator to have all "gateway" access out of the country, even via satellite. So yes, install, for sure. But if someone does the rounds and catches an "unlicensed" installation, that could be interesting.
(Plus, there are also still many places outside of capital cities in the world where the Internet is truly awful and if you want bits, you have to bring your own)
I did mention that use-case, already, in a previous post.
Simple applications such as ATM's in remote locations is still quite typical.
Mark.