The Best Satellite Providers of 2023
Satellite internet is a type of internet connection and service that utilizes satellites and receivers to ensure that you, as a user, have access to the internet and all that it offers. It allows for global coverage by utilizing a satellite to reroute an internet signal from your internet service provider (ISP) to you, and all you need is a powered receiver and some other equipment. It’s quite the marvel if you think about it, and it’s likely available to you.
Yet there are pros and cons to it, and you should be aware of all that you can before making a choice and committing to any internet service provider (or going through the stress of making a change). Here’s what you need to know about satellite internet and the three major providers operating in the United States:
What You Should Know About Satellite Internet
Before we introduce the best satellite internet providers you can find in the United States, it’s better if you know about the benefits and limitations of satellite internet as it currently stands. It also helps to know how satellite internet works and what you could expect from satellite internet service.
How Satellite Works
In general, satellite internet works by the ISP utilizing radio waves and equipment to communicate with satellites and relay a signal to those satellites orbiting above the earth (either at a higher or lower orbit). These signals are then relayed to satellite dish receivers owned and powered by users. A modem translates these signals into an internet service (to simplify it), and the process is constantly repeated.
The minute details might change depending on the provider, and both dish and satellite technology are regularly improving, but that’s the general outline of how it works. There is a difference between low-altitude and high-altitude satellites in the location of the satellites and how many satellites there are, with different effects as a result. However, we’ll talk about those later.
Practically speaking, how it works and is set up translates into being used much more heavily in remote and rural areas. In those places, there aren’t that many other options, if any, meaning satellite internet, despite some disadvantages, is the only option to maintain decent contact with the outside world. And since it is getting better, it is only getting more viable as an option for people in rural areas and more popular.
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Satellite Internet
Like every other connection type, satellite internet has its advantages and disadvantages, which you should know about. Here are the main items to be aware of.
Things We Like About Satellite
• The main advantage and sticking points of satellite internet are that it is available practically anywhere. The satellites are not constrained by wires, cables, infrastructure, or much of anything else. As long as there is electricity, a place to put a receiver, and a clear line of sight to the sky, satellite internet can work.
• Specifically speaking, at least one provider works in the United States, Puerto Rico, Alaska, and Hawaii. The entire continental United States is covered by at least two providers. However, it should be noted that coverage and speeds might not be equal everywhere with both providers, making research necessary.
• While the weather can be a slight problem in some cases whet it comes to service, downed lines and infrastructure issues are not a huge problem for satellite internet users. A thunderstorm on earth isn’t going to bring down any high-altitude satellites. This makes satellite internet an option in rougher areas and in cases where a constant connection is required, however unstable it might be.
• Satellite internet is improving and is improving every year in one way or another. The potential for satellite internet is still there, and it is possible that speeds can improve for users still or prices can go down (or at least stay the same while service improves). Starlink is looking promising as it plans to launch more satellites and create a much faster satellite internet service. At the same time, both ViaSat and HughesNet are both investing in new satellites, which plan to be launched soon, improving their services as well.
Things to Look Out For
• Satellite internet isn’t cheap or necessarily a good value, no matter how you look at it, especially when compared to other service types. The price per Mb of download speed is not that great. Essentially, this makes satellite internet a specialty option only to be used when there is no other option. If cable or fiber internet providers are offering services in your area, satellite internet is a hard sell.
• When it comes to regular usage of satellite internet, latency is going to be the biggest issue for most users. And while Starlink has reasonable latency, it isn’t widely available yet. That means that most users of satellite internet will have latency well into the hundreds of milliseconds. That is far too much for stable online gaming, video calling, or anything live online.
• Download speeds have improved over the years, but as a general rule, they do not match what other types of internet service can offer. As for upload speeds, even the best satellite plans only have acceptable upload speeds. If speed is your primary concern, satellite internet might be your last choice.
• The data caps per month with most satellite internet plans are the other main issue most people have with it. While many ISPs will put a cap of 1TB per month on users, this is usually well more than what the average household uses. The smallest cap for satellite internet plans can be 15GB. That isn’t enough to lead a normal online life. And the more data you want, the more you’ll have to pay for it.
