Satellite internet used to mean slow pages, choppy video calls and a data cap that ran out by the third week. That has changed a lot — but not for every provider. Two of the three companies selling satellite service to homes today still bounce your signal off a satellite parked 22,000 miles up, and you can feel that delay on every video call. This guide compares the plans on price, real-world speed, data rules and contract terms, then walks through the household situations where the choice gets tricky.
Quick Answers Most Shoppers Want First
These are the questions that decide whether satellite will feel like “real internet” in your house — or like a compromise you pay too much for.
Only Starlink consistently clears the bar. In Ookla’s independent speed tests, Starlink’s median U.S. download was about 130 Mbps, while Viasat and HughesNet both landed in the low-to-mid 40s. By late 2025, roughly 45% of U.S. Starlink users were hitting the FCC’s full broadband benchmark of 100 Mbps down and 20 up — a number that has climbed steadily as more satellites went up. Viasat and HughesNet advertise “up to” 100–150 Mbps, but typical results run well below that.
Latency is the delay before anything happens after you click or speak. Viasat and HughesNet satellites sit about 22,000 miles above the equator, so every signal makes a very long round trip — usually 600 milliseconds or more. You won’t notice it much while streaming a movie, but on a video doctor visit or a FaceTime with the grandkids, you’ll talk over each other. Starlink’s satellites orbit only a few hundred miles up, and delay usually runs 25–40 ms, close to what cable customers get.
Yes. Starlink reorganized its home plans into three tiers early this year, then raised all three in June. Standard U.S. pricing is now $55 a month for Residential 100 Mbps, $85 for Residential 200 Mbps and $130 for Residential Max, which gets the fastest speeds and top network priority. Promotions and one-time congestion charges vary by address, so the checkout page for your address is the final word.
Usually not for a home plan. Starlink has moved most new Residential customers to a rental kit, often with nothing due upfront, though the terms have changed more than once this year and differ by area. The trade-off: you don’t own it, you must send it back if you cancel, and rented kits can’t use Starlink’s low-cost Standby mode. If you only need internet part of the year, owning the hardware may save you more over time.
Starlink’s Residential plans have no data cap. Viasat Unleashed is sold as unlimited, but very heavy users can be slowed when the network is busy. Viasat Essentials includes 150 GB of full-speed data, and HughesNet plans include 100–200 GB of priority data before speeds drop sharply for the rest of the month. For a household that streams TV every evening, those allowances disappear faster than most people expect — one hour of HD video uses roughly 3 GB.
Heavy rain can slow any satellite service for a few minutes, and wet snow piling up on a dish causes trouble too; Starlink dishes have a built-in heater that melts light snow. Trees are the bigger problem. Starlink needs a wide view of open sky, while Viasat and HughesNet need a clear line toward the southern sky. A single tall pine in the wrong spot can cause dropouts every few minutes, which is why checking the site before you order matters more than picking the right plan.
Not on Starlink. The FCC’s Lifeline program takes up to $9.25 a month off phone or internet service, but only from participating companies, and Starlink isn’t one of them. The larger Affordable Connectivity Program ended in June 2024 and hasn’t been replaced. Many households use Lifeline on their cell phone plan instead, which frees up money for the home internet bill.
Almost always, yes. Fiber and cable beat satellite on speed, delay and price, and 5G home internet from T-Mobile or Verizon is often cheaper than Starlink where the signal is strong. Satellite earns its place when those options don’t reach your road — which is still true for millions of rural addresses. The FCC’s National Broadband Map shows what’s actually offered at your exact address.
Satellite Broadband Plans Side by Side
Standard monthly prices below. First-year promotions can knock $10–$70 off some plans, so compare what you’ll pay in month thirteen, not just month one.
| Plan | Monthly Price | Typical Speed | Delay | Data | Contract | Best Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starlink Residential 100 Mbps | $55 | Up to 100 Mbps | 25–40 ms | Unlimited | None · 30-day trial | 1–2 people, email, telehealth, streaming |
| Starlink Residential 200 Mbps | $85 | Up to 200 Mbps | 25–40 ms | Unlimited | None · 30-day trial | Families, work-from-home |
| Starlink Residential Max | $130 | Fastest available, top priority | 25–40 ms | Unlimited | None · 30-day trial | Heavy users, busy areas |
| Viasat Essentials | From $39.99 intro | About 50 Mbps typical | 600+ ms | 150 GB full speed | Varies by plan | Light users on a budget |
| Viasat Unleashed | About $70–$100 (by area) | Up to 150 Mbps advertised | 600+ ms | Unlimited, may slow if very heavy | None | Where Starlink can’t see enough sky |
| HughesNet (Lite to Elite) | From $39.99 first year | 25–100 Mbps advertised | 600+ ms | 100–200 GB priority | 24 months · termination fee | Lowest first-year bill, light use |
| Amazon Leo | Not announced | Not yet tested | Low-orbit (expected low) | Not announced | Not announced | Join the waitlist, don’t wait on it |
Viasat and HughesNet prices shift by address and promotion; equipment lease fees and taxes may apply. Starlink may add a one-time charge in high-demand areas.
What You Get From Each Provider
The headline speed tells you less than the fine print. Here’s what living with each service is actually like.
SpaceX runs by far the largest satellite network in orbit, and it shows in the results: Starlink accounts for about 97% of all satellite internet speed tests worldwide. The dish points itself, the router is included, and many people have it running within an hour of opening the box. Every Residential tier includes unlimited data; the difference between them is top speed and how much priority you get when your area is busy in the evening. The 100 Mbps plan is enough for most retirees and couples — it handles HD streaming, video calls and a few phones at once.
Two things to know going in. Customer support works mainly through tickets in the app rather than a phone line, which frustrates people who prefer to call. And in a few high-demand areas, Starlink either limits new sign-ups or adds a one-time charge.
Viasat now sells three home plans: Essentials, Unleashed and a newer top tier called Unleashed Max. Unleashed drops the old data caps and the long-term contract, and standard installation by a technician is free — a real plus for anyone who doesn’t want to climb a ladder. The catch is physics. Viasat’s satellites are in high orbit, so the 600-millisecond delay stays no matter which plan you choose. Streaming and web browsing work fine; video calls and anything interactive feel sluggish. Because its dish aims at one fixed point in the southern sky, Viasat sometimes works at wooded homes where Starlink keeps dropping.
HughesNet’s first-year prices look friendly, and its plans include extra overnight data during off-peak hours. But most plans lock you into a 24-month agreement with an early termination fee, promotional pricing jumps after the first year, and priority data runs out at 100–200 GB. More important for anyone signing a two-year deal: in a late-2025 securities filing, the company warned it lacked committed funding for the next twelve months, and its parent, EchoStar, has said it is shifting toward business customers. That same filing described a program to refer HughesNet customers to Starlink. HughesNet still works, but it’s hard to recommend a long commitment to a service whose owner is pulling back.
Amazon’s low-orbit network, formerly called Project Kuiper, had nearly 400 satellites in space by September — a fraction of the more than 3,200 it plans for its first generation. The company describes an initial service rollout this year that grows as coverage fills in, and a waitlist is open. There is no published home pricing yet, and early service is expected to reach northern regions before the rest of the country. If you need internet this year, don’t hold out for Leo; pick a no-contract plan now so you’re free to switch when it arrives.
Find Your Situation
The “best” service depends on who’s in the house, how you use the connection and what’s standing between your roof and the sky.
This is the situation where high-orbit satellite hurts most. Even on a fast Viasat or HughesNet plan, the half-second delay makes meetings awkward and can break the tools some employers use to connect to work systems. Starlink’s Residential 200 Mbps plan at $85 a month handles video calls well for one or two remote workers; step up to Residential Max if your area is crowded in the evening or you upload large files. Keep your phone’s hotspot or a cheap cellular backup plan for outages — every satellite service has an occasional bad hour, and a client call is the worst time to find out.
You don’t need the top plan. Starlink’s $55 Residential 100 Mbps tier handles telehealth appointments, streaming and video chats without the lag that makes high-orbit satellite frustrating for face-to-face calls. If $55 is a stretch, look first at whether a cable company or 5G home internet reaches your address — those are often cheaper and may accept the $9.25 Lifeline discount. If you qualify for Lifeline through SNAP, Medicaid, SSI or a Veterans Pension, applying it to your cell phone bill still saves you about $111 a year. Ask a family member to handle the Starlink app setup if screens aren’t your thing; the dish itself mostly takes care of itself.
First, find your contract start date on your bill or account page. HughesNet’s early termination fee typically shrinks each month you’ve paid, so if you’re 18 or 20 months in, the remaining fee may be small enough to simply pay. Order Starlink during its 30-day trial window and confirm it works at your house before you cancel anything. Viasat customers who have already moved to the no-contract Unleashed plan can usually leave without a fee, but leased equipment has to go back — ask for a prepaid return box and keep the tracking number.
Before ordering anything, download the free Starlink app and run its obstruction check from the spot where a dish could go — the roof peak, a shed, or a pole in the yard. It uses your phone’s camera to map how much sky is blocked. If the result shows heavy blockage everywhere, mounting the dish on a tall pole or a detached building often solves it; a local installer can do this for a few hundred dollars. If nothing clears the trees, Viasat’s single fixed aim point sometimes threads through a gap to the south that Starlink can’t use. Cutting trees should be the last resort, not the first — try elevation first.
A rented Residential kit is a poor fit here, because rental customers can’t drop to Starlink’s cheap Standby mode between visits — you’d pay the full monthly rate or cancel and ship the dish back. If you’ll be there several months a year, buying a kit you own lets you switch between full service and Standby. Also know that a Residential plan is tied to one address; if the internet needs to travel between two homes, a Roam plan with a Starlink Mini is built for that and can be paused when you’re not using it. HughesNet’s 24-month term makes it the worst match for part-year use.
Streaming TV eats data fast: a family watching three or four hours of HD a night can go through 300–400 GB a month. That rules out HughesNet’s priority allowances and Viasat Essentials’ 150 GB almost immediately. Starlink’s unlimited home plans are the natural match, and live TV services like YouTube TV run smoothly on them. Set your streaming apps to “auto” quality rather than 4K; the picture difference on most living-room TVs is small, and it keeps things smooth when the network is busy in the evening.
Possibly. The federal BEAD program is sending billions of dollars to states to connect homes without good internet, and after the rules were changed to allow any technology, several states assigned their hardest-to-reach addresses to satellite providers, including Starlink. Where that happens, the equipment and setup may be covered — but you’ll typically still pay a monthly service bill. Your state broadband office can tell you whether your address is on the list, and it costs nothing to ask. Be wary of anyone who calls you first offering “free government Starlink” and asks for payment details.
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Five Checks Before You Order
Each of these takes a few minutes and heads off the complaints we hear most often.
It lists every provider that reports service at your exact address, including cable, fiber and 5G home internet you may not know about. If a wired option shows up, call and confirm — it could save you $20–$50 a month over satellite.
Write down the price after promotions end, any monthly equipment fee, and taxes. A plan that starts at $39.99 can cost more over two years than a $55 plan with no promotion at all.
Rented and leased dishes must go back when you cancel, and unreturned gear is usually billed at full price. Keep the box, and photograph the serial number label when it arrives.
Networks are busiest between about 7 and 11 p.m. During Starlink’s 30-day trial, run a speed test and make a video call at night. If evening performance isn’t good enough, you still have time to return it.
Satellite internet stops when your power does. A small battery backup (UPS) for the router and dish power supply keeps you online through short outages — important if you rely on Wi-Fi calling or a medical alert device that uses the internet.
Check Availability and Sign Up
Official sites only. Prices and offers depend on your address, so always check there before paying.