Most people will tell you not to bother gaming on satellite internet. They’re wrong. With a few tweaks and adjustments to your expectations, you can most definitely game on satellite internet. Let’s take a look at how satellite internet’s latency, data caps, and download speeds affect your gaming experience. Plus, we’ll share some troubleshooting tips and recommended video games. (We don’t recommend flipping your desk, though. We have too many gamer friends who’ve ruined keyboards, headsets, and more expensive tech doing that.) Latency, which is also known as ping, is a measure of the time in milliseconds (ms) it takes for your keyboard taps or mouse clicks to travel from your end of the network to the game’s server, and then back. With satellite internet, this means that your button presses or mouse clicks have to travel thousands of miles to a satellite orbiting the Earth, then down to the game’s server, back up to the satellite, and then get beamed down to your console or computer. Now it makes sense why your character may not cast its ultimate skill right when you hit that key combo. To give you some cold, hard data, here’s what typical satellite internet latency looks like compared to the latency of DSL, cable, and fiber internet connections:
Close other programs. You might enjoy some “get hyped!” music while you game, but closing programs like Spotify, Google Chrome, Netflix, and YouTube will free up your internet connection to focus on nailing those skill shots. Don’t game on Wi-Fi. A wireless connection can slow down your gaming experience. If you’re able to, hook your computer or console up to your router or modem with an Ethernet cable (also called a wired or hardwired connection). Update your router. First, make sure your router has the most current firmware installed. This can help fix bugs and other issues that might slow down your connection. If your problem persists, it’s probably time to upgrade to a new router. Pause or cancel downloads. Are you about to charge into a nail-biting boss battle? Make sure you pause those Steam downloads and ask roommates or partners to stop their downloads too. At least until you’ve won the game.
Yes and no. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recommends at least 3 to 4 Mbps download speeds for gaming,2 but that likely won’t cut it. Why? Well, you probably aren’t just gaming on your internet connection. You’ve probably got your cell phone on the Wi-Fi, and your partner might be streaming Altered Carbon one room over. You may also have children gaming on their own consoles or doing homework online. (Likely story?) To make sure everyone in your home doesn’t get hit with buffering or disconnects, you need faster download speeds—or more bandwidth—to keep that internet connection going. But unless you’re gaming in 4K (which we don’t recommend doing on satellite internet), your game shouldn’t need much in the way of download speeds. Sound like a typical day at your home? Then either a HughesNet or Viasat plan should keep you connected. If you’ve got more than a few people hopping online at a time, have a smart home system, or your home security system includes several cameras, you’ll want speeds of 100 Mbps or faster. Does this describe your happy clan of gamers? You’ll want to grab a Viasat satellite internet plan since its max download speeds go up to 100 Mbps. Check out our guide to speeding up your satellite internet for several troubleshooting tips. But don’t forget that you might need to download your game or download patch updates, and those things can eat up a good chunk of data. And if you go past your satellite internet data cap, your game downloads might just inch along at a mind-numbing speed of 1 to 5 Mbps. Data caps may not mean a lot to someone on a DSL, cable, or fiber connection, but unlike its counterparts, satellite internet comes with some pretty low data caps. Viasat (formerly Exede) gives you anywhere from 12 to 150 GB of data per month, while HughesNet gives you 10 to 50 GB of data each month. That’s not a lot of data, and it gets worse. If you use up all your data allotted for the month, both Viasat and HughesNet can slow your download speeds to 1 to 5 Mbps. Just no. On the other hand, HughesNet offers only one download speed: 25 Mbps. That might be too slow if you have a medium- to large-sized family or if you own a lot of connected devices. And HughesNet’s max data allowance is 50 GB, which is far less than Viasat’s max of 150 GB. You’ll also end up paying more if you want a 30 or 50 GB data cap from HughesNet, even with Viasat’s three-month price bump. Of course, this takes into account gaming only. You’ll need more data for anything else you do online: browsing the web, checking email, watching Netflix, and, of course, downloading new games from Steam.
Look for role-playing games (RPGs). RPGs are a little more forgiving than first-person shooters (FPS) if you lag or rubberband due to high latency. Get into singleplayer mode. You may not need an internet connection to play in singleplayer. So if completing a solo campaign quenches your thirst for quality gaming time, you’re in luck. Avoid player versus player (PvP) content. Sorry, all you PvP fiends. Lagging out during a PvP match has to be one of the most frustrating things ever. We say just avoid it. Try out support roles in multiplayer games. Instead of being on the front lines, try out a less critical support role if you want to load up a multiplayer game.
Not sure where to start even with those suggestions? Here are four video games we recommend for satellite internet.
