How Does Satellite Internet Work?

Satellite Internet is the ability to transmit and receive data from a relatively small satellite dish on Earth and communicate with an orbiting geostationary satellite 22,300 miles above Earth's equator. The orbiting satellite transmits (and receives) its information to a location on Earth called the Network Operations Center or NOC (pronounced "knock"). The NOC itself is connected to the Internet (or private network), so all communication made from a satellite dish to the orbiting satellite will flow through the NOC before it reached the Internet.

This simple diagram above shows how data moves through a satellite network.

Data communication via satellite is not much different than someone using a land based data provider, at least from the standpoint of the Internet user. The key to remember is that once the satellite system is configured by the installer, satellite service acts nearly identically as any other ISPs and may be configured as such.