Fixed Wireless vs Satellite Internet

One question we typically get from customers that first call us: “Is this Satellite Internet?”

Great question!

It is easy to see how people would confuse Fixed Wireless with Satellite. Fixed Wireless and Satellite BOTH need a dish mounted to the property. Both need clear line of site, both are more readily available in rural areas and both can get you online. That is about where the similarities end.

The biggest difference (and the one that most people care about) is latency. Yes, you will hear that word a lot on this blog, because latency is a BIG deal. The short version: latency has to do with how fast something loads. For example if you hit ‘GO’ on a website, the latency is how fast that website can respond. All of this happens in milliseconds (ms) which is fast; but if there is A LOT of data that needs to go and come back, all those milliseconds add up to seconds and becomes noticeable.

According to Wikipedia, Satellite Average Latency is 550 ms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_Internet_access).

In contrast, Alyrica Fixed Wireless Average Latency is > 25 ms. What that means in real life is that the website comes back 25 Times Faster on Alyrica Fixed Wireless than over Satellite Internet! That will be a noticeable difference!

Why such a big difference?

Simple, when people send a signal to a satellite it needs to travel to space (over 22,000 miles above earth) and then it needs to come back down. Even at the speed of light, that’s a LONG way to travel. When someone is on fixed wireless, the signal needs to travel to one of our towers (between 5-10 miles away) and then to one of our data centers right here in Oregon (Portland or Eugene). That’s not even a hundred miles in most cases! This means that ‘the internet’ is approximately 22,000 miles closer via Fixed Wireless than Satellite.

This difference is so extreme in fact that many people who work remotely (especially if it is a US government position) are not allowed to use Satellite Internet as it is not practically functional. Yes, even though you are able to get 25 Mbps download via satellite, it isn’t as helpful as a 3 Mbps connection via fixed wireless due to the high latency.

Who would use satellite then?

Satellite Internet is great for people that have no other options.

That’s where Alyrica comes in!

Chances are, if you are reading this, Alyrica can be your best option over satellite.

Alyrica has helped people move off of Satellite Internet in rural areas throughout the Mid-Willamette Valley who thought that there was no other option available. The difference is drastic, and these customers that we have helped cannot say enough great things about how Alyrica Fixed Wireless has been a game changer for them!

How do I know if I can get Alyrica?

Alyrica Fixed Wireless does need clear line of sight (LOS) in order to make sure you can get signal. The dish that we mount needs to be able to clearly see the tower that we are connecting you to. By checking our website or giving us a call, we run a path analysis which give us accurate information to see if we would be able to get you online. The path analysis isn’t perfect, but it gets us in the ballpark to know if we should send an installer out to do an install.

Even if you’re surrounded by trees; we have installed dishes in trees all over the valley in order to get customers online!

Solution Oriented, Friendly Customer Service; that’s Alyrica!