Your supervisor wants to replace the office's fiber-optic connection with a less-expensive satellite Internet service. The office depends on the link for VoIP phone calls, email, and cloud-based file storage. After researching costs you discover that a satellite plan is indeed cheaper. Why would you advise against making the change?
You don't-saving money with no performance change is a great idea.
Switching to satellite would require rewiring the entire LAN, which would erase any cost savings.
Satellite links cannot be encrypted, creating a compliance and security problem.
The high latency of a satellite connection would degrade VoIP call quality.
Geostationary satellite links introduce very high latency (often 500 ms or more) because every packet must travel about 35,000 km to space and back. That delay causes noticeable echo and talk-over on VoIP calls and degrades other real-time applications such as video conferencing. Satellite service is also susceptible to weather outages (rain-fade). The indoor satellite modem usually presents a standard RJ-45 Ethernet hand-off, so rewiring the local network is unnecessary, and normal IP-based encryption (HTTPS, VPN, etc.) works over satellite just like any other medium.
Ask Bash
Bash is our AI bot, trained to help you pass your exam. AI Generated Content may display inaccurate information, always double-check anything important.
What is latency and why does it matter for VoIP?
Open an interactive chat with Bash
How does weather affect satellite connections?
Open an interactive chat with Bash
What are some alternatives to satellite connections for better performance?