Hughes satellite internet gets a little help from its (wireless) friends

Hughes has been offering geosynchronous (GEO) satellite-based internet service for a couple of decades. It has more than 1 million internet subscribers in the Americas. But now it’s boosting its service with the help of some terrestrial wireless providers. HughesNet Fusion is a new home internet offering that combines satellite and wireless technologies to improve latency. Plans are currently available in select areas, with expanded availability expected in the coming year. Mark Wymer, senior vice president with Hughes, said that Hughes has partnered with some unnamed wireless carriers in North America for Fusion. The problem with GEO-based internet has always been the vast distances that traffic must travel – 23,000 miles from Earth to a satellite and back. This causes latency in the connection. “The wireless eliminates that initial latency," said Wymer. He explained that when a user initiates a data session, the call for that data will simultaneously go to the satellite as well as to a nearby wireless network. Hughes refers to this as “multi-path” technology. Once the internet session begins, it will switch over entirely to the satellite connection. Of course, there needs to be a terrestrial wireless service in the area of the customer. And there may not be. A lot of customers who are using HughesNet for their internet service are doing so because they’re in such remote areas that there are no other providers.