Satellite TV provider Dish
Network has mounted what appears to be a two-pronged effort to bring satellite
television to homes via the Internet. The company announced it will offer
satellite broadband service aimed at rural users starting Oct. 1, and at the
same time, the company is said to be negotiating with content providers and TV
networks to offer their channels in their entirety over the Internet.
Dish says it will offer
satellite-delivered broadband service priced in two tiers. The first will cost
$39.99 per month for 5Mb per second (Mbps) download speed and 1 Mbps upload
speed, and a 10GB per month cap on the amount of data you can use. The second
tier, for $49.99 per month, offers twice the download speed (10Mbps) and a 20GB
data cap. If a customer signs a two-year contract with the company and signs up
for one of its more expensive TV plans, Dish will waive a $99 installation fee.
The global average of broadband
download speed (according to speedtest.net) is 11.89 Mbps — and the U.S. broadband
average speed is now 6.7Mbps, according to Akamai. If Dish can deliver those
speeds as advertised, rural customers who currently can only use the Internet
via antiquated dial-up service would see significant improvements in their
network connectivity. Dish’s pricing is competitive with other satellite
Internet companies such as ViaSat, offering its Exede Internet service at
similar rates.
