Out of the two, Viasat is the fastest satellite internet with speeds up to 100 Mbps and larger data caps that go to 150 GB. HughesNet, on the other hand, starts at $74.99 a month (after 6 months) for slower speeds of 25 Mbps and smaller data caps. SpaceX’s Starlink is finally out of beta, though its only residential satellite internet plan is over $100 a month and only available in 33 states. But features like unlimited data and fast advertised download speeds make it worth keeping an eye on Elon Musk’s satellite venture. If you’re still hung up on which provider is best for you, we understand. Sometimes it’s not as cut and dried as price versus speed when it comes to satellite internet. Let’s dig into the features so you can choose the best satellite internet provider for your needs. That said, if you’re looking for alternative ways to get rural internet, we’ve got a few different options in our guide to the best rural internet service. Even so, internet providers are expanding their networks all the time, and new, local providers continue to crop up. So it’s worth looking to see if you can get a non-satellite internet provider like AT&T, CenturyLink, Suddenlink (now Optimum), or even a smaller, local provider. But if satellite is truly your best hope for a reliable internet connection, here are a few things to consider before you subscribe. On the other end of that spectrum, you won’t get fast upload speeds with satellite internet. Viasat and HughesNet advertise 3 Mbps upload speeds—that’ll make uploading a YouTube video or other large file a fairly lengthy process. And Starlink’s residential plan’s upload speed is barely better at around 5 Mbps. Some providers let you add data, like HughesNet, but you’ll end up paying more. It’s worth noting the reliability of satellite internet service. In the event of a natural disaster like a tornado or earthquake, for instance, satellite internet service can’t be interrupted by broken cable connections. Monthly rental fees for your satellite equipment aren’t too bad, but if you’d rather buy the equipment outright, you’re looking at a cost of $300 to $500, depending on which provider you go with. On top of that, you’ll need a professional installer to set up your dish if you go with Viasat or HughesNet. (Starlink has a self-installation kit.) That usually costs around $100, but sometimes free installation promos are available. Don’t forget too, that if you ever need to move your satellite dish to a new location, it’ll cost you. Viasat’s dish relocation fee is $200—that’s a hefty price. Your best bet is to check which plans are available by entering your zip code below or by calling the provider you’re interested in. That’s why we recommend HughesNet as a cheap alternative to Viasat, but only for the 15 and 30 GB plans. Offer ends February 22, 2023 In addition to budget-friendly small-data plans, here are a few more reasons to give HughesNet a good, long look. HughesNet data token prices
3 GB: $9 5 GB: $15 10 GB: $30 25 GB: $75
We cover all the steps to buying data tokens in our HughesNet data guide, so give it a read if you’re coming up short on data at the end of the month. And for comparison’s sake, it’s worth knowing that Viasat doesn’t offer anything similar to the HughesNet Bonus Zone. (At least that we’ve seen.) Not to mention that HughesNet was faster on average than Viasat, even with Viasat’s faster maximum speed of 100 Mbps. But because HughesNet’s plans all come with the same 25 Mbps download speed and its data caps are much lower than Viasat’s, you might prefer Viasat if you need faster speeds and more data. That means if you use up all of your data allowance, your internet speed might get throttled to 1–5 Mbps during times where there’s lots of online traffic. Oh and, you can’t buy more data with the Viasat Unlimited plans. Still, the Unlimited plans offer the most data and fastest internet speeds by far—even compared to HughesNet. Viasat does offer a 2-year price lock guarantee, so your “standard pricing” will stay the same for 24 months after you activate your service. But just be aware that the advertised price you see for Visasat plans is not what you’ll be paying long-term. If you plan to have your equipment for more than 30 months, the lifetime lease can save you some money. But you should also know that it’s not the same as purchasing equipment because you still have to return your equipment if you ever cancel your service. Along with the fastest max speeds, here are a few other perks Viasat offers:
Unlimited data plans Cheaper Liberty plans EasyCare service program
That’s enough speed to connect lots of devices to the internet: cell phones, tablets, smart TVs, your home security system—you name it. You might also get to stream in HD or 4K, but watch your data usage. We should mention, though, that Viasat ranked just below HughesNet in our look at the fastest ISPs in the US. This could be attributed to HughesNet’s steady 25 Mbps speeds across the board, since Viasat speeds start at 12 Mbps. Though you technically don’t get unlimited high-speed data, you do still get a hefty high-speed data allowance each month. And if you happen to use all your data, your speeds get slowed—but only if there’s a lot of internet traffic. If you need the most priority data Viasat has to offer, go with the Unlimited Platinum 100 plan. It comes with 150 GB of data each month, not to mention 100 Mbps speeds. The Liberty plans offer 12 Mbps download speeds, plus anywhere from 12 to 50 GB of data. And you can add more data to your Viasat Liberty plan. Just know that, while the price is much lower, the Liberty plan speeds are likely too slow for you to optimally stream videos or connect more than a few devices to the internet at the same time. If something goes wrong, a service visit could cost you $95. But if you enroll in Viasat’s EasyCare program, it’s free (though the program costs $8.99 a month). (And we found the Viasat EasyCare program refreshingly simple compared to HughesNet’s similar Express Repair program.) And if Starlink is available in your area, expect to pay a fairly steep up-front cost. Along with your monthly service cost of $110, you’ll need to pay at least about $600 plus shipping and handling to get your satellite dish. And all that comes with unlimited data (for now), zippy speeds, and low latency. (Satellite internet usually has high latency, which can look like a laggy connection.)
And for any real big spenders out there, Starlink recently released its High Performance hardware, which costs an even steeper $2,500. The High Performance hardware is meant to have better satellite visibility, almost two times better snow-melting capabilities, and three times better speeds at more extreme temperatures Our shipping and handling added up to $50. So you’re not looking at too steep a cost there, especially when you consider you can self-install Starlink and avoid what’s usually about a $100 installation fee for satellite internet.
Starlink satellite dish and modem cost: $599 + shipping and handling
The only thing is you can also buy a lifetime lease for your satellite receiver and modem from Viasat for $299.99 or buy your equipment from HughesNet for $499.98. Or you can rent from either of those providers instead, if forking over a few hundred dollars isn’t in your budget. With Starlink, there is no equipment rental option (yet), but hopefully, that gets added in the future. And SpaceX is fully aware of how costly its equipment is for those of us interested in beaming Starlink from our own homes. SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell has noted that Starlink aims to cut the cost of its satellite dish and modem by about half.8 We bet you agree that paying around $250 for your user terminal is much easier to swallow than $600. But even with that mountainous up-front cost, Starlink still boasts a lot of great features. If you’ve also got some curious pigeons hanging about, try some humane deterrents like plastic predators or light and sound devices to keep them away. That could be the difference between a smooth, frustration-free Zoom call with your boss versus your sound lagging out and you missing out on critical information. Or scoring the winning play of the game in Overwatch and lagging out so bad you get roflstomped by the enemy team. Starlink is able to get such low latency thanks to its low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, which sit lower in Earth’s orbit than Viasat’s or HughesNet’s satellites. And with the addition of laser terminals and crosslinks to all future satellites, Starlink hopes to reduce latency even further.8 Laser crosslinks will reduce the satellites’ reliance on ground stations by requiring fewer connections between the satellites and ground stations. So once you’ve paid the up-front cost for the Starlink “dishie” satellite receiver, you’re looking at a potentially lower price for satellite internet. Apart from Starlink, no other satellite internet provider currently offers a data cap that even comes close to unlimited data. The next biggest data cap comes from Viasat’s Unlimited Platinum 100 plan, which offers 150 GB. There’s also the issue of Starlink receivers shutting down due to extreme heat.4 That might seem like an issue that affects only a small group of people, but not having internet for half a day or more due to weather can really put a kink in your plans. (Trust us, we sat without internet for whole afternoons at a time due to bad storms in Georgia.) Even so, Starlink is still very new, which means things could improve in the future. And even in beta, this new satellite internet provider is offering what could be a better option for folks in rural areas. Viasat is a great pick if you want to get the fastest possible satellite internet speeds and unlimited data, while HughesNet offers excellent value in the form of lower prices for slower speeds and lower data caps. We chose to include Starlink in this review even though its service is fresh from its beta testing phase. We felt that, despite its limited availability and slow rollout, Starlink brings new features to the satellite internet table that shouldn’t be disregarded. This includes unlimited data, lower latency, and potentially faster download speeds compared to Viasat and HughesNet. And though Starlink could clearly be a superior satellite internet choice for some, we mainly focused on Viasat and HughesNet as proven satellite providers with countrywide availability. Want to get the full picture? Check out our full guide on how satellite internet works. For HughesNet, you’ve got the option of 25 Mbps download speeds—and that’s it. With Viasat, you can choose anywhere from 12–150 Mbps for your download speed. And Starlink’s max speeds top out near 100 Mbps for its residential plan. Of course, those are the advertised download speeds. There are a lot of factors that can influence your speed, including your modem and even how many people are using your internet. If your satellite internet speed is slow, there are a few tips you can try before calling your ISP’s customer service department. Check them out in our video below, or read our guide to speeding up your satellite internet. That’s because modern satellite equipment is built with weather in mind, and snow, ice, or rain are usually not a big deal. And even if you lose connection during a bad storm, it should be a short disruption. Check out our list of the online activities that use the most data to figure out how much data you need. HughesNet automatically adjusts video quality to a lower resolution to help you use less data. Yup, you won’t be watching anything in 1080p. Instead, expect all your Netflix shows to play in 480p. Viasat offers a Video Data Extender tool that lets you tone down video quality to 480p too. The best part? If you want to watch the new photorealistic version of The Lion King in all (or most of) its glory, you can turn the Video Data Extender off. Want more details? Check out our guide to streaming with satellite internet. If you want to stream Netflix in 4K on satellite internet, be wary of your data cap. You’ll also want one of Viasat’s faster plans that come with 50 or 100 Mbps. HughesNet’s 25 Mbps speeds are technically enough to stream Netflix in 4K, but you’ll likely see a lot more of the buffering icon than you want to. Satellite internet isn’t a great choice for gaming because of its notoriously high latency. It takes a long time for your internet signal to reach your house from the satellite hanging out about 22,000 miles in outer space, then back to the satellite and on to the game server. That’s going to cause a lot of in-game latency, also called “ping” or noted as “MS” on your game interface. Even Starlink, with its promises of lower latency, ran into issues when people tried to game on it.7 But gaming on satellite internet isn’t all bad news. We’ve got some recommendations and tips in our guide to satellite internet gaming. Viasat early termination fee With Viasat, you’re stuck paying $15 per month for every month remaining on your contract. For example, if you cancelled your service only a month after installation, it would cost you $345 in early termination fees. It’s not cheap. On the other hand, you could get your Viasat satellite internet service with no contract. But it’ll cost you $500 up front. HughesNet early termination fee If you cancel your HughesNet service after installation but before your contract is up, HughesNet can charge you $15 for every month you have left on your contract, up to $400. But be warned, the equipment and service plans for RV-ready satellite internet will likely be much more expensive than what you’d pay to slap a dish on your cabin roof. Check out all the options in our guide to satellite internet for your RV. And the dish can be used for more than just RVs. Elon Musk said new terminals will be optimized for aircraft, ships, large trucks, and RVs.11 (But they’ll still be too big for smaller cars like your Tesla.)
More on Viasat’s data policy: Instead of disconnecting your internet service if you go over your data cap, Viasat slows your download speed during times when there’s a lot of internet traffic. We cover more of the details in our Viasat data guide. For Viasat and HughesNet, you have to choose professional installation. But with Starlink, you’ll get a self-installation kit and use an app to set everything up yourself. One thing to note: Viasat and HughesNet might offer free installation in one location but charge a fee in another. Most of the time, though, installation should be free. As for the actual pro installation process, it’s usually done by third-party contractors. So feel free to ask your satellite internet provider lots of questions and make sure to look over the paperwork carefully. And if you live in a townhouse, condo, or any other living situation with a homeowners association (HOA), double-check that you’re allowed to install a satellite dish before you schedule installation.
