If cable and fiber internet are a distant dream, Viasat satellite internet might be your best bet to live in the country and still get your streaming fix. It’s got quite a few plans to choose from (depending on where you live), and it has higher speeds that often ring in at a lower price than your other satellite internet choice, HughesNet. That said, Viasat does come with a price hike after three months when your promotional price ends, plus a few other caveats that might make you hesitate. So let’s dig into the details and find out if Viasat is the best rural internet provider for you. That’s why if you have a choice between satellite and other types of internet connections, we pretty much always recommend the other types. (Unless it’s seriously just dial-up or DSL speeds slower than 25 Mbps.) For example, Viasat’s Liberty plans are available to a smaller portion of the US than its Unlimited plans. So, depending on where you call home, you might have only a few Viasat internet speeds to choose from—and you may not be able to choose a Liberty plan. That said, here’s a look at all the Viasat satellite internet plans to give you an idea of what’s out there. For most (but not all) of its plans, Viasat jacks up your prices pretty dramatically after your first three months of service. After that, your price locks in for the rest of your two-year contract, but that initial jump is a pain in the wallet. But even with the surprise price hike, Viasat’s prices are better than HughesNet’s prices if you need more speed and data. HughesNet plans often cost more even though you get a slower speed (25 Mbps) than you would with Viasat (which goes up to 100 Mbps). And while other ISPs tend to cluster their service around big cities, Viasat’s satellites can reach rural and remote areas that may not have any other internet service to choose from. But, like we mentioned, which Viasat plans are available to you depends on your location. The best way to check is to use our zip code search tool below or take a look on the Viasat site.
12 Mbps: Good for one person who uses the internet to browse social media and send emails. 25–30 Mbps: Good for two to three people who browse the internet, occasionally stream videos, and play role-play games on the side. This speed can also support a home security system with no cameras. 50 Mbps: Good for three to four people who browse the internet, stream video, work from home, and/or game online. These speeds can also support a basic security system with no cameras. 100 Mbps: Good for up to five people who browse the internet, stream video, work from home, and/or game online. This speed can support a home security system with cameras.
If you’re lining up a shot in a first-person shooter (FPS), the latency that comes with satellite internet might be the difference between landing the shot or missing and needing a res. Find out more in our guide to gaming on satellite internet. Take the most expensive plan for Viasat, Unlimited Platinum 100, for example. It costs the same per month (to start out, at least) as HughesNet’s most expensive plan, 75 GB. But it offers a lot more download speed and data. We’re talking kiddos with tablets, home security systems, dad checking the latest football scores on his cellphone, or your partner streaming The Bachelor while you watch Family Guy reruns in the other room. Not to mention any smart gadgets you have hiding around the corner. (Shhh, don’t say “Alexa” or you’ll wake her up.) Bottom line: The more devices and people using your internet, the more data and faster speeds you’ll need.
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View Viasat Internet Plans | Compare Satellite Internet Providers That’s just the unfortunate truth thanks to the way satellite internet works. It’s going to take time for your signal to travel to a satellite sitting 22,200 miles above your house. Satellite internet isn’t known for amazing upload speeds either. In fact, all of Viasat’s plans cap out at a slow 3 Mbps upload speed. So if you hope to use your Viasat internet to upload large files or livestream, it’s going to be a painfully sluggish experience. On the bright side, you won’t notice latency or upload speeds as much for slower-speed internet activities, like scrolling through Instagram. Just don’t try to play Fortnite on your Viasat connection. Just a note: these low rankings are likely due to how we weighted our scores. We take into account download speeds, upload speeds, and latency for each ISP. That leaves satellite internet at a huge disadvantage, since it has slow download and upload speeds, plus high latency when compared to DSL, cable, and fiber internet. Here’s a look at how Viasat’s speed scores compare to HughesNet, CenturyLink (a DSL provider), and NextLink Broadband (a fixed wireless provider). Bottom line: Based on what we’ve heard and what we know about the technology, we think it’s best to temper your expectations when it comes to satellite internet speeds. And if your connection keeps sputtering out, try some of these tips to speed up your satellite internet before you hop on a call with customer service. Let’s take a look at the Liberty plan data caps first. And what about Viasat’s Unlimited plans? The Unlimited plans technically give you unlimited data, but that doesn’t mean you get unlimited high-speed data. Depending on which plan you have, you’ll get 45 to 300 GB of data that lets you connect to the internet at (or near) the download speed your plan advertises. But if you go past your data threshold, your speeds could drop to 1 to 5 Mbps during times when there’s a lot of internet traffic. You also can’t add data to a Viasat Unlimited plan. (Frustrating, we know.) Find out more about how streaming on satellite internet works in our guide. You can also keep track of your data usage using Viasat’s app, which you can download in either the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. If you plan on keeping your internet for at least two years, then we recommend just going with the contract. There’s no need to pay half a grand just to be off the legal hook if you do decide to cancel your service. As for the equipment price, that depends on whether you choose a monthly lease or a lifetime lease.
Viasat equipment rental fee: $12.99/mo. Lifetime lease price: $299.99 one-time fee
By the way, it would take almost 24 months for the cost of the lifetime lease to make the one-time payment worth it. But if you can afford the up-front cost, it might be worth it. Especially if you plan to keep your service for longer than two years. Viasat modem or gateway You can use your own router with Viasat, or you can grab the ISP’s WiFi Gateway. The gateway acts as both a modem and a router, which is great for connecting multiple devices to the internet through Wi-Fi or with an Ethernet cable. Viasat’s gateway also acts as a voice adapter. So if you have Viasat voice service, you don’t need an additional adapter connected to your phone. Decluttering? Marie Kondo would be proud. Viasat satellite internet installation Plan on the Viasat installation process taking two or three hours. The technician’s exact arrival time can be here or there, so we’d say just take that whole day off if you can. When the technician gets there, they’ll attach the satellite dish to your roof (or a wall) and make sure it’s pointed in the right direction so it can communicate with the orbiting satellite. Once the technician finishes installing the dish and your modem, you’ll be good to go.
Installation fee: $99.99, but if you’re a new Viasat customer, you should ask about free installation Late or unreturned equipment fee: $300.00 Early termination fee: $15.00 per month for every month left on your contract Service call fee: $95.00 if a technician needs to visit your home (unless you enroll in EasyCare) Dish relocation fee: $200.00 and must be at the same address
EasyCare costs $8.99 a month, and it offers these perks:
Service calls: No $95 fee for any visits from a technician Priority customer support: You’ll get access to a special customer support phone number Satellite receiver relocation: Need to relocate your dish? You can move it once a year for $95 (normally it costs $200)
Also, if you’re a new Viasat customer, your first 90 days of EasyCare are free. Viasat didn’t earn a specific rating from the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) report. But we can look at the report’s “All Others” rating to get a general idea of how good (or not good) Viasat’s customer service is. If you look up Viasat or even Exede internet reviews (since some of us still refer to it as “Exede”), you’ll notice that a lot of Viasat customers aren’t happy campers. Many complain they don’t get the speed they paid for, among other things. Jeff from Dubuque, Iowa, got stuck with slow internet on game night. Needless to say, he was frustrated. “Tonight I am trying to watch some college football and I can’t even connect to Hulu,” he said. “I ran an internet speed test and it says I have 0.23 mbps download speeds. I have run it multiple times and the highest I got is 0.38 mbps.“2 If your Viasat internet is sputtering along too, there are a few things you can try to speed things up before you ring up customer service. Here’s how you can get a hold of Viasat customer service:
Viasat customer service phone number: 1-833-242-1877 Online chat Twitter: @ViasatInternet Facebook: @GetViasatInternet
Speaking of your early termination fee, you might be in for a rude awakening here. Most Viasat contracts are two years long, and if you cancel before your contract is up, you’ll pay $15 for every month left on your contract. Yee-owch. Summed up, here’s what you’ll need to do to cancel your Viasat service:
Prices and plans: Viasat has a better price than HughesNet if you need more speed and more data. But if you’re good with bare-minimum speeds and data, give HughesNet a good look. Speed: Viasat’s max advertised speed of 100 Mbps is one of the fastest download speeds you can get from satellite internet. But whether you actually get those internet speeds is another story. Data caps: You’ll get up to 300 GB of data per billing cycle with Viasat, but you can’t add data to the Unlimited plans. Liberty plans, on the other hand, have smaller data caps but you can purchase data tokens for them. Contracts, equipment, and fees: The price to ditch Viasat’s 2-year contract ($500) is a bit outrageous, and fees for installation, dish relocation, and even service calls can add up fast. Customer service: No ISP is known for excellent customer service, so take a deep breath before you call your Viasat rep.
We think Viasat is a good fit for the following types of people:
Anyone who can’t get DSL, cable, or fiber internet Those who use the internet mainly for email and web browsing
And on the other hand, here’s who probably won’t like Viasat:
Anyone sharing internet with a lot of other people Families who stream lots of videos, game, or use video chat software like Zoom Anyone who can get a DSL plan with fast speeds—or cable or fiber internet
In the end, your Viasat download speeds are probably zippier than dial-up. So keep using those AOL CDs as DIY art installations. EarthLink satellite internet however is powered by Viasat, as well as AT&T, CenturyLink, and Frontier. Customers have the option to use EarthLink to get service from major internet service providers without having to deal directly with them. As with any company name changes, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your monthly bills to make sure you’re not double charged by your provider under both the new name and the old name. One Viasat customer noted they were charged for both WildBlue and Exede service back in the day. Yipes! How slow is Viasat after you reach your data cap? With a Viasat Liberty plan, your internet speed will drop to 1–5 Mbps at all times if you go over your data cap. If you’re on an Unlimited plan, you might still see speeds of 1–5 Mbps during times when a lot of other people are using the internet once you go over your high-speed data allowance. Otherwise, the Unlimited plans’ speeds stay the same. The nice thing about the Liberty plans is that you can add data. On the other hand, Viasat Unlimited plans won’t let you pay for more data. That said, Viasat now offers a Flex plan that combines satellite internet with DSL internet—and DSL internet travels over phone lines. So to get Viasat Flex (and potentially better internet speeds), you’ll need a phone line. That said, satellite internet isn’t known as the speediest internet connection on the block. Even Viasat’s “unlimited” data plans come with a data cap. You’ll still get to browse the web, but your speeds will slow down to 5 or even 1 Mbps. That is slow. We cover Viasat’s data caps and slowed speeds in our guide to Viasat data. If you’re still under your data cap for the month, you might want to update your modem’s and router’s firmware, then take a look outside at your cables and satellite dish. We’ll walk you through what to look for in our tips for speeding up your satellite internet. Even fog and humid weather can technically disrupt your satellite internet signal, but Viasat claims that light rain or dry snow shouldn’t affect your service. Still not sure about streaming Netflix with Viasat? We’ve got more helpful details on streaming with satellite internet. Ahem, but if you have Viasat internet installed at a home that you live in only part of the year, you can opt for the Hibernation plan. You’ll need to be a Viasat customer using one of its eligible plans for at least one month before you can enroll, but after that it costs $9.99 a month to keep your Viasat service active while you’re away. Here are a few more details you should know:
Call Viasat at 1-833-242-1877 to switch your service into hibernation or wake it up from hibernationCosts $9.99 a month plus your monthly equipment fee and any other Viasat servicesSuspend your service for 2–6 months, up to a total of 6 months in any 12-month periodMake sure you’ve finished up any tasks that require internet before you call! Viasat says your service turns off immediately after you hang up the phoneYour internet access is blocked while on the Hibernation plan, but if you have Viasat Voice service, you can continue to use it
