Norris Watkins wrote:

Hello:
1. When you make an international phone call - say from NY to China -
how does the voice data travel ? Does it have to be send to the
satellite and then received at teh ground, some distance away, then
sent to another satellite till it reaches the destination country. ? I
mean is there any direct satellite to satellite communication. Or is
it always bouncing between teh satellite and the ground at an angle.

2. Is this true for international television programming too ? I know
there are live television from Arab countries, Japan etc, in US.

Thanks
--sony

Sometimes there are *multiple* satellite hops, depending.

For a one-way broadcast, it doesn't matter much, but a few years ago,
I had occasion to watch a Presidential address where multiple
televisions were present, and tuned each to a different network. No two
were in sync, implying different speed of light delays between the point
of origin in Washington D.C., and the local stations.

Then there's the noticeable delay on a news program when the anchor
is in 'live' contact (espically with videophones) with the reporter in
the field....


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