A satellite communications system (10) includes a hub (14), a satellite (32), and any number of remote terminals (16). Each remote terminal (16) includes a remote receiver (38), a monitor (40), and a network access controller (42). Each remote receiver (38) is configured to receive and down convert the system's entire spectrum of interest from which channels are accessed by the remote terminals (16). The monitors (40) independently perform FFT processes over this entire spectrum, but at a low frequency resolution which is no higher than needed to distinguish channels. Based on these spectral analyses, uplink/inbound channels are independently selected by the network access controllers (42) at each remote terminal (16). Remote terminals (16) immediately transmit data to the hub (14) as soon as they select an uplink/inbound channel.