Japan to launch 1.2Gb/s satellite broadband

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 26th February 2008
Comments (25) Stumble
The Kizuna satellite will offer downstream speeds of 1.2Gb/s to those equipped with suitable antennae.

The Kizuna satellite will offer downstream speeds of 1.2Gb/s to those equipped with suitable antennae.

This past weekend saw everyone's favourite technology leader Japan launching a new communications satellite it hopes will give gigabit-speed internet connections to people across the Asia-Pacific region.

Dubbed 'Kizuna', the satellite is an updated version of the WINDS – Wideband InterNetworking engineering test and Demonstration Satellite – launched back in 2005. The satellites aim to offer 155Mb/s downstream and 6Mb/s upstream connections to anyone with a suitable antenna, and will allegedly reach up to 1.2Gb/s downstream for those lucky enough to be able to strap a five meter antenna to the side of their house.

Part of the i-Space space infrastructure development project, the satellite is part of Japan's aim to promote the increased use of artificial satellites in Internet communications, disaster countermeasures and the much-vaunted Intelligent Transport Systems we're all still waiting for.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency – JAXA – has high hopes for the project. In a statement issued Saturday the Agency stated that the new satellite will “make possible great advances in telemedicine, which will bring high-quality medical treatment to remote areas, and in distance education, connecting students and teachers separated by great distances.”

Not a single mention of BitTorrent. Surely some mistake?

The service is expected to go live this July following a period of set-up and configuration once the satellite has reached its stable orbit. As per usual, no information on pricing was made available.

Tempted on relocating to the Far East to get a taste of gigabit-speed 'net, or does the inevitable delays of satellite communication rule it out as anything other than a backchannel? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Quote p3n 26th February 2008, 09:21
Got latency? The older style satellite connections relied on a normal connection to queue up http downloads to be delivered by your massive satelite pipe, wonder if they've improved that - either way theres no way around the latency...
Quote rjkoneill 26th February 2008, 09:33
my xbox live and pc games run well on my connection
i only use torrents occasionally

i wouldnt make use of the extra speed tbh
Quote DougEdey 26th February 2008, 09:41
I'd rather have Parisian Fibre....
Quote DXR_13KE 26th February 2008, 10:06
i would like to see the latency on that.... IMHO cheap fiber is the way of the future....
Quote samkiller42 26th February 2008, 10:09
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougEdey
I'd rather have Parisian Fibre....

Aye, likewise, however, they could make a mobile dish receiver, so you can connect it to your laptop for 'on the go' mobile browesing, handy:D

Sam
Quote hawky84 26th February 2008, 11:10
The benifit of the sat is that they wont have to dig up roads to lay out the fibre network and then in another 10 years when we get 1000Gbit net they can just replace the orbiting sat. and the US can even do a bit of target practise on the old one :)
Quote Agent_M 26th February 2008, 11:48
it seems like a good idea for places that have regular earthquakes, like when the majority of the far east got cut off from the internet after one.
Quote Burnout21 26th February 2008, 11:49
as we all know Sky television can throw pissy fits if its cloudy or windy, well any type of weather tbh. so id rather have a nice fibre connection!
Quote mikeuk2004 26th February 2008, 12:58
Well japan is so far ahead of us, will be another 30 years before we get something close to that.
Quote Faulk_Wulf 26th February 2008, 14:59
Ain't that the truth. *sigh*
Quote naokaji 26th February 2008, 15:41
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeuk2004
Well japan is so far ahead of us, will be another 30 years before we get something close to that.

we still have to catch up to certain countries in northern europe... *jealous mode on* 100 Mbit up and down in Finnland for example *jealous mode off*
Quote MrWillyWonka 26th February 2008, 15:52
Quote:
Originally Posted by Agent_M
it seems like a good idea for places that have regular earthquakes, like when the majority of the far east got cut off from the internet after one.

I think that is a very good point, a few seconds latency on web viewing surely is enough to compensate for the weeks without Internet after an earthquake? Also allows people in very remote regions to gain internet access.
Quote Arkanrais 26th February 2008, 22:53
pr0n at 1440p h.264
"theres the money shot"
Quote The_Beast 26th February 2008, 23:02
that is pretty sweet

15 miles out in the boondocks and you can get Internet service
Quote Fly 27th February 2008, 00:43
wow, just think of how much pr0n!!!
Quote evox 27th February 2008, 03:08
damn, imagine your seed ratio on trackers...

*Drool*
Quote Steve-0 27th February 2008, 03:28
30 years from now, it'll be 10-14gb/s
Quote Hydra 27th February 2008, 05:10
There needs to more than one of those...

I'm in the middle of the US, and the only high speed around here is $50 a month for a lousy 768kbps connection. It's outrageous.
Quote HourBeforeDawn 27th February 2008, 06:30
okay we need a sat like this for the US lol now I dont need anything in the gig range I would be happy with 50mb down 10mb up range would be great for my needs.
Quote The_Beast 27th February 2008, 22:38
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hydra
There needs to more than one of those...

I'm in the middle of the US, and the only high speed around here is $50 a month for a lousy 768kbps connection. It's outrageous.


I can't even get a 768kbps where I live and I only live a mile outside of town
Quote HourBeforeDawn 27th February 2008, 22:41
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Beast
I can't even get a 768kbps where I live and I only live a mile outside of town

were I am at I have to use clearwire which is better then dial up but what makes me mad is two streets to the right of me is frontier DSL and three streets to the left of me is ATT DSL and neither of them want to come into my street as they dont want to step on each others toes >_< I am so pissed about that...
Quote The_Beast 27th February 2008, 22:44
WOW that really sucks

only a few hundred feet from fast Internet


AOL sent us a letter saying 768kbps was in our area, when I went to check it it wasn't even close
Quote tranc3 27th February 2008, 22:45
>.< Dang them i just got sucked in to gettin satilite i had dial up for since. well for ever. and i dsl. and cable refuse to come where i live. (even tho i am pretty far from town) but still thats good that we're making prograss in things other then wired conections.
Quote HourBeforeDawn 27th February 2008, 22:55
well I know here in the states they with the analog signal being dropped that they want to use some of the spectrum to provide nation wide "highspeed" internet, not sure how fast it really would be but it would be better then dial up speeds and that would also mean that the 56% of Americans that cant get high speed will be able to get some form of it, but it will probably be 2-5 years before we see that happen.
Quote The_Beast 28th February 2008, 22:48
since it's the government more like 5-7 years
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