Potential Disadvantages of Satellite Data Systems - Quality of service

From INVESaTWIKI

Quality of service

Satellite systems cannot provide full quality of service (QoS) or bandwidth controls. In wireline systems, QoS can be finely controlled since each user has a separate entry point into the network, providing a control point for flow management. With a satellite system, all users beam their data to the satellite, which relays the data to the ground to be routed. Since there is no control on the amount of traffic a single user can send based on the traffic already being sent by other users, several simultaneous high-bandwidth users can consume the satellite and effectively block other users. There are some rudimentary controls in place to provide some limits, and some vendors have proprietary solutions (e.g., SkyCasters) to provide some QoS, but these solutions are not as good as what today's wire line systems can offer and improvements may be difficult to achieve due to the nature of the satellite system.
Satellite transmission is subject to interference from rain and fog, as well as interference from terrestrial microwave systems operating in the same or adjacent frequency bands. Interference can reduce the signal quality resulting in an additional power requirement, increased bit error rate, or loss of carrier signal altogether. [1],[2]

References

[1] more.net
"An Introduction to Satellite-based Data Services".

[2] Pioneer Consulting
"Abridged executive summary".