New generation satellite broadband Internet services: Should ADSL and 3G worry?

In the context of Internet access technologies, satellite networks have traditionally been considered for specific purposes or as a backup technology for users not reached by traditional access networks, such as 3G, cable or ADSL. In recent years, however, new satellite technologies have been introduced in the market, reopening the debate on the possibilities of having high-performance satellite access networks. In this paper, we describe the testbed we set up - in collaboration with one of the main satellite operators in Europe - and the experiments we performed to evaluate and analyze the performance of both Tooway and Tooway on KA-SAT (or KA-SAT for short), two satellite broadband Internet access services. Also, we build a simulator to study the behavior of the traffic shaping mechanism used by the satellite operator. In terms of performance, our results show how new generation Internet satellite services are a promising way to provide broadband Internet connection to users. In terms of traffic shaping, our results shed light on the mechanisms employed by the operator for shaping user traffic and the possibilities left for the users.