The satellite-Internet sales pitch to telecommuters is unusually honest: Come to us if you can’t get anything else.

“I always say, cable first for residential customers, then DSL, then high-speed wireless. If none of those three are available, it’s pretty much us,” says Jeff Johnson, who handles technical sales for Nationwide Satellite, which sells and installs the HughesNet satellite service.

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It’s not that satellite Internet is terrible. It’s slower than cable and DSL because the signals must travel farther. But satellite potentially will have less downtime, says Gartner analyst Patti Reali, who directs Gartner’s technology and service provider research. She says telecommuters shouldn’t consider satellite unless the only other option is dial-up Internet access. In-orbit satellite failures are rare, and providers can be expected to have backup satellites for emergencies, she says.

Taking the VPN challenge

The big challenge for telecommuters using satellite systems is accessing employer computer systems through virtual private networks (VPN),  which use encryption that provides security but also slows down service.

“There is encryption that needs to happen by satellite, which can slow it down,” says Stephanie Lovett, director of marketing for satellite provider WildBlue Communications. “It needs to be encrypted and unencrypted in order to be secure, so it’s going to be slower than cable modem or DSL.”

Speed will drop 50% to 75% when using VPN, Nationwide Satellite’s Johnson says, noting that the performance penalty varies depending on which VPN technology an employer uses. A satellite hookup designed for residential customers won’t have enough bandwidth for most VPN users, he says. Telecommuters thus need to purchase more expensive plans designed for their high-bandwidth needs.

Despite using one of the pricier plans, HughesNet customer Jim Davis says he noticed “quite a bit of degradation” when he accessed his employer’s intranet, although speed improved after his Cisco VPN was upgraded. Davis works from home in Shelbyville, Tenn., 50 miles outside Nashville, as a director of field engineering in the healthcare division of Sage Software Davis switched to satellite in March after relocating to Shelbyville, in a rural area without cable or DSL access. “It’s a little bit slower than my cable [was],” he says. “If you’re running on it just using normal Internet applications, it’s fine. It’s not as fast as cable but it’s acceptable.”