# Why do Americans think satellites are required for Internet to function? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 7, 2019, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115 "2019-11-07T11:44:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/21 "2019-11-07T23:53:48Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Yep, that. Some people have no idea what a cell tower is for. I have friends who can’t understand the difference between a cordless phone (needs a base station, range of a few hundred feet) and a cellphone (uses a tower, longer range, can handoff to other towers). ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/22 "2019-11-08T00:11:41Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Can I just ask, its this that common of trope? Because I can’t think of any other examples. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Gravity, but I think that line wasn’t meant to be serious. In Louis CK’s famous [“Everything is amazing and nobody is happy”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUBtKNzoKZ4) rant, he talks about how cellphone signals are “going to space” which may have been an intentional misunderstanding to make the joke funnier but at least leaned into people’s conceptions that wireless communication happens via satellites. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/23 "2019-11-08T00:13:54Z")
Would an airborne nuke set to deliver a knockout EMP pulse to North American wired systems also be unkind to geosynchronous satellites within visibility? That would be a two-fer, right? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/24 "2019-11-08T00:15:58Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > When I was young, we would have loved to have experienced satellite delay. We had to light a series of flaming beacons placed along mountaintops. Crazy delay, plus the message was pretty vague when it got through. Lucky dog. We had to rely on Smoke signals. When Unca Joe quit smoking cigars we were Incommunicado for weeks. Missed the twins wedding. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/25 "2019-11-08T01:39:33Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > You had flaming mountaintop beacons? Well, la dee dah! _We_ had to use [carrier pigeons](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers)! Just watch out for packet loss (see the linked article…) Send an email via IPoAC and you’ll never complain about slow wifi again. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/26 "2019-11-08T01:45:31Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > When I was young, we would have loved to have experienced satellite delay. We had to light a series of flaming beacons placed along mountaintops. Crazy delay, plus the message was pretty vague when it got through. Crazy annoying when we found out it was just a selfie. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/27 "2019-11-08T02:04:39Z")
wasnt about 10 or 15 years ago some satellite smashed into something else and it messed up the cell phones? i remember it messed things up for about 4 phone companies… ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/28 "2019-11-08T02:06:49Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Just watch out for packet loss (see the linked article…) > > Send an email via IPoAC and you’ll never complain about slow wifi again. Well, the latency does tend to vary with the weather conditions, but as you mention, packet loss tends to rise with predation levels. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/29 "2019-11-08T05:19:29Z")
Would that predation be properly labeled “hackers” or “snackers”? We’re sorry, the call you have signaled cannot be completed as dialed. Please put out your fire and try again. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/30 "2019-11-08T06:18:01Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > Would that predation be properly labeled “hackers” or “snackers”? Yes. 🙂 > [@DorkVader](#): > > We’re sorry, the call you have signaled cannot be completed as dialed. Please put out your fire and try again. “Mom! (cough cough) Larry’s hogging the internet again! (cough)” “Children! Play nice! Don’t make me come in there and set off the sprinklers!” ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/31 "2019-11-08T06:59:57Z")
I love this misconception. When I did support for AT&T and Cingular I’d often diagnose a problem that just required the customer to turn the phone off and back on again. Of course, they’d have to hang up to do that, so they assumed I was just trying to get rid of them. Instead of “Turn it off for 10 seconds, turn it back on, problem solved”, I’d go with “Turn it off for 5 minutes while I relocate the satelite, problem solved”. That was an acceptable level of effort on my part, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/32 "2019-11-08T07:40:02Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > wasnt about 10 or 15 years ago some satellite smashed into something else and it messed up the cell phones? i remember it messed things up for about 4 phone companies… An Iridium satellite collided with a retired Russian spy satellite back in 2009. (Well they claim it was a comm satellite, but we just know they’re really all spies. You can’t fool us, you commies.) Anyway, that would have degraded the Iridium system to some extent until they replaced it with a spare. If other phone systems were also using Iridium, they’d have the same degradation. But I don’t think it would take all that long to replace it, since I understand they keep a few spares in orbit. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/33 "2019-11-09T01:24:58Z")
> [@Qwertol](#): > > I mean when I’m thinking “international network of computers” I don’t really think about space or satellites, it seems as a barely connected concept to me… I think they are far more connected than you realize. The traditional problem with satellites is higher latency (due to high orbit), but that doesn’t mean there aren’t satellite networks that provide the same type of connectivity as a fiber network or cell network (Intelsat, o3b, probably others). There are multiple companies (e.g. spacex w/30,000 satellites, and others) launching low orbit networks that will solve the latency issue, so in the near future even more internet data will flow through satellites. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/34 "2019-11-09T02:54:38Z")
I’m ignorant of this shit, but I’m pretty sure there was a long stretch where this was a ‘dish only’ internet place. Hey, as long as I got my porn, I didn’t care how it got here. 😃 (No. Porn didn’t work on that dish shit. Lucky to post a few words here. And you all wonder why I do 3 word drive-bys. That’s ALL I COULD EVER FUCKING DO, GODDAMMIT!!!) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/35 "2019-11-09T07:24:11Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” The first words Eve said after eating the apple. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/36 "2019-11-09T07:27:51Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Back in the day, international telecommunications was mostly done through satellites. Even international phone calls - I still remember the days when international phone calls had a noticeable time lag. So I think people who grew up in that era (i.e. born in the 1970s or earlier) still associate any global communications with satellites. If I remember the class I took while working for the phone company correctly, it was common to send one side of a conversation by satellite and the other by undersea cable, which was a good compromise in terms of cost and time lag. And AT&T was still running undersea fiber optic cables in the '90s. They required really special, really expensive lasers as repeaters. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/37 "2019-11-09T08:00:18Z")
Part of the confusion is probably because some people in remote or non-wired areas get their internet access via satellite. Download speeds can be decent, but upload and ping time is really bad. Also, there are satellite phones, again for use in remote areas without cell coverage. Another factor, especially in this day of wi-fi and 4G/5G, it’s easier for some people to believe that all that great download/upload speed must be over the air versus through copper or fiber optic cables. After all, they were able to transmit video “through the air”\* from the moon in 1969! \*Yes, I know there’s no air and almost no atmosphere on the moon! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/38 "2019-11-09T14:54:28Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Would an airborne nuke set to deliver a knockout EMP pulse to North American wired systems also be unkind to geosynchronous satellites within visibility? That would be a two-fer, right? No. They are way too far away. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/39 "2019-11-09T20:38:27Z")
For the record, part of the genesis of The Internet was research into figuring out how to build a distributed communications system that could keep running even in the face of massive infrastructure loss. There are some small countries which have “lost their internet” but, I suspect that if you looked, they simply lost access to the non-domestic portion. Internally, everything was working just fine, I imagine. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115/40 "2019-11-09T22:42:13Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > For the record, part of the genesis of The Internet was research into figuring out how to build a distributed communications system that could keep running even in the face of massive infrastructure loss. > > There are some small countries which have “lost their internet” but, I suspect that if you looked, they simply lost access to the non-domestic portion. Internally, everything was working just fine, I imagine. Not if the primary servers are outside the Wide Area Network left behind after the global internet access was lost. Then it’s just a WAN. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-think-satellites-are-required-for-internet-to-function/843115.md?page=3)