The Viasat Unlimited Platinum 100 plan is about as good as satellite internet can get. With speeds up to 100 Mbps and a generous data cap, you can get rural internet that will keep up with a modern lifestyle. The catch? Viasat's fastest plan isn't available everywhere. Although Viasat internet is available nationwide, the fastest speeds are offered only to select areas. You'll have to see which satellite internet plans are available where you live through Viasat.
If you just need an internet plan but don't plan on using it much, go with the HughesNet 30 GB Data Plan. You'll get speeds up to 25 Mbps, which is fast enough for a few people to do most things online. The price is also impossible to beat. Choose this plan if you just want your satellite internet to be available but not used very often.
Learn more about Viasat vs. HughesNet.
Satellite internet is wireless internet that beams a connection from a satellite in space to a satellite on your house. The satellite on your house then translates the signal through your router/modem, which beams satellite Wi-Fi through your entire home. Although it's available nationwide, satellite internet is more common in rural areas. Satellite internet solves the problem of how to get internet to small towns and rural areas, where fiber and cable infrastructure aren't in place. Take a look at how this year's best rural internet options compare to last year's fastest and slowest rural cities.
In urban areas, homes and skyscrapers are wired with cable and fiber lines that bring the internet to people living in cities and areas with dense populations. Installing fiber is cheap in an apartment building, where the cost per customer is minimal. But what about people who live beyond the city limits? Running fiber lines out to each home in rural America would be extremely costly.
That's where satellite internet comes in. Unlike most other types of internet service, satellite internet doesn’t need any land-based infrastructure running out to your home. Instead, a home satellite dish communicates with a satellite in space to provide internet service. So, unlike landline internet providers, satellite internet is available virtually everywhere. That means you can get satellite internet anywhere you are, just as long as you have a clear view of the southern sky and a place to install your satellite dish.
Data transfers from your home internet devices to the satellite in space and then to the Network Operations Center back on Earth. All of this happens in about half a second. Thanks to satellite internet, people can still enjoy internet access even if where they live lacks cable or fiber infrastructure.
What makes Starlink satellites different from existing satellite internet providers like Viasat and HughesNet is the type of satellites it uses. Starlink relies on low Earth orbit satellites, which means it has thousands more satellites that circle the Earth at a lower altitude, making it possible to offer faster speeds and lower latency. Providers like Viasat and HughesNet use a geostationary satellite network that operates in a higher orbit. However, there are limitations to low Earth orbit technology that may make Starlink by SpaceX service more spotty than Viasat and HughesNet.
Other players in the low Earth orbit satellite provider game include Jeff Bezos with Project Kuiper. Kuiper plans to offer a similar product to Starlink, but with a smaller terminal and at a more affordable cost. They want to make internet access affordable to remote areas. Kuiper by Jeff Bezos is not yet available as a satellite provider, but it will be within the next couple of years.
Learn more about how satellite internet works.