Profits and Costs of Broadband Links in Satellite Networks

This paper presents an analysis of speedup advantages noticeable by users of satellite networks when these users are offered higher bandwidth satellite links. The final outcome of the analysis is that the maximum advantages for interactive and transactional communication are limited and become unnoticeable when a critical bandwidth value is achieved. These limits cannot be overcome with any system, software, or hardware design. As a result, offering increased link bandwidth above some boundary may not make sense due to insufficient profitability. This critical boundary is determined in this paper. Various orbit altitudes, network loads, and usage scenarios are considered.