Dr. Joshua Kim 

When people think about moving, typically one of the first things they consider is the distance between the new home from their place of employment. How long will the commute be? Will there be long delays due to traffic congestion? Finding that perfect home in a turbulent real estate market and weighing the impact on one’s commute can make a move very stressful.

However, when Dr. Joshua Kim and his family decided to make their move to the country, commuting wasn’t the top issue. Dr. Kim works out of his home and uses broadband Internet access to communicate with colleagues and students. What concerned him was getting a high-speed connection in a rural area. Thanks to HughesNet high-speed satellite Internet service, Dr. Kim was able to move to a very rural area in New Hampshire, keep his job, and do what he loves—teach students who are business professionals at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.

Lesson 1: Bandwidth

For Dr. Kim, not only was having high-speed Internet service important, but having a service that could handle the quantity of video and audio files he routinely uploads and downloads was also important. For his classes, Dr. Kim doesn’t rely exclusively on textbooks, but rather sends the majority of his assignments and lectures to his students using voice-over lecture applications and video blogging. “My students are business professionals and don’t have time to read textbooks,” Kim stated. “I keep lectures, notes, and assignments online, enabling them to access the information from almost anywhere.”

In addition to Dr. Kim using the HughesNet service to send out lecture notes, students send their assignments to him and correspond with him via an online course management system called Blackboard. With more than 25 students submitting work at the same time, having a high-speed connection that allows Dr. Kim to download content quickly was also a major necessity.

“I don’t want to wait forever to get my students’ work once they have uploaded it to the site,” Kim said. “This way I can download their responses quickly and get on with my work without having to wait and wait for the download to complete. And, if students have pressing questions, they don’t have to wait for me to respond to them either.”

As Dr. Kim added new applications and online tools to his curriculum and needed higher download and upload speeds, he has upgraded his HughesNet service to the small business/ home office plan. This has enabled him to use a whiteboard application and Web conferencing tool for some of his lectures.

Lesson 2: Availability

When searching for a broadband solution for his new home in New Hampshire, Dr. Kim was amazed at the fact that DSL and cable weren’t available, but he was more amazed at the fact that people didn’t know they could receive high-speed broadband in their area by using satellite. “Not too many people know that they can get broadband via satellite despite the fact that many have satellite dishes {for television viewing}. They don’t even consider it {satellite broadband}—they just stick with dial-up.”

The beauty of the HughesNet satellite broadband service is that it is available everywhere. All one needs is a clear view of the southern sky to enjoy the benefits of a broadband connection.

Lesson 3: Homework Complete

Moving to New Hampshire was a great opportunity for Dr. Kim, but might not have come to fruition if Dr. Kim had not been able to find a broadband service that could meet his online needs.

Not only does HughesNet allow him to keep teaching, but it allows him to do one other very important thing—keep a healthy work-life balance. “HughesNet has given me the best of both worlds. It has allowed me to continue doing the job I love while spending more time at home with my family,” said Kim.