> because they have more satellites I wouldn't characterize this as a function of having more satellites, but rather having fewer users per satellite (an admit

> because they have more satellites I wouldn't characterize this as a function of having more satellites, but rather having fewer users per satellite (an admittedly subtle difference). But, related to the above post(s), the smaller geographical area each satellite covers is a problem for coverage (you need more satellites in orbit), but is a benefit for speed -- you have less users vying for the full bandwidth of the satellite. And, because the geographical areas are smaller, instead of having one base station/uplink, you now have geographically distributed base stations, so you have multiple points to access the Internet. This also helps with bandwidth (instead of X total uplink capacity, you need X/n capacity for each site, where n is the number of sites). Once you get around the logistics of managing a fleet of satellites, many, many benefits flow from having lower orbits.