"Hop David" wrote in message
...


Paul F. Dietz wrote:

Cables are popular because they're *cheaper* than satellites
(per unit of delivered bandwidth) what with the incredible advances
in fiber optics.

Paul



Perhaps for large metropolitan areas. I live in a little podunk place 120
miles from Tucson or Phoenix. Folks on the nearby rez who'd have no way
of getting fiber optic or cable are getting dishes.

However the metropolitan markets are much more lucrative. Don't know if
reaching the planet's rural areas justifies comsats.

--
Hop David
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html

It's a really dicey proposition. The number of people required in an area to
make it feasible to put in a terrestrial solution tends to be much less than
that required to make the comsat solution viable. While you can get greater
coverage area with comsat than a terrestrial install, you tend to need to
limit your coverage area anyway to raise the power level in your area of
interest to something considered usable by the customer (ie. they want a
small dish!). So it gets hard to get a satellite solution going with a
chance of long-term viability. Companies are still trying though - most
fascinating! :-)

Ken