Hughes Network Systems' new high-capacity satellite Internet service — HughesNet Gen4 — is now activated and available for new subscribers. The satellite-to-home service delivers speeds up to 15Mb/s and greater download capacity.
Hughes is targeting consumers living in areas where high-speed landline connections are not available. That number is estimated to be 19 million.
For $50 a month, customers will get 10Mb/s download and 1Mb/s upload with a 20GB data cap, while $80 a month buys a 30GB limit and 2Mb/s upload. For $100 a month, the user gets the full 15Mb/s down, 2Mb/s up and a 40GB storage allowance.
“Our new fourt- generation high-speed satellite Internet service is an industry game changer,” said Mike Cook, senior vice president, North American Division at Hughes. “HughesNet Gen4 continues our long tradition of innovation to bring the many benefits of high-speed Internet access to people everywhere across America — no matter where they live or work.”
HughesNet Gen4 uses the new EchoStar XVII satellite with JUPITER high-throughput technology. Built by Space Systems/Loral, it was successfully launched July 5, 2012, by Arianespace and is now in its permanent geosynchronous orbital slot of 107.1° West longitude. The Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 5 ECA launcher.
Employing a multispot beam, bent-pipe architecture, this next-generation Ka-band high-throughput satellite provides significant additional capacity — over 100Gb/s. The new satellite employs an enhanced version of the IPoS/DVB-S2 standard, the world’s leading broadband satellite standard approved by ETSI, TIA and ITU.
