2025 Satellite Internet Showdown: Starlink vs Viasat vs HughesNet vs OneWeb & More

Satellite internet is entering a new era in mid-2025. From SpaceX’s Starlink LEO constellation grabbing headlines to established GEO providers like Viasat and HughesNet rolling out faster plans, consumers and businesses now have more options than ever. This report compares the most popular satellite internet services worldwide – covering both home/consumer plans and enterprise solutions – on key factors like coverage, speeds, latency, pricing, equipment, data caps, and special features. Whether you’re a rural homeowner seeking broadband or an enterprise needing connectivity at sea, read on for a comprehensive comparison.

Comparison Table: Top Satellite Internet Services (Mid-2025)

Table Notes: Starlink pricing varies by region (e.g. $90 in some areas) and additional plans exist for RV/roaming, maritime, etc. OneWeb is sold through distributors with custom plans for each client. Inmarsat GX is now part of Viasat (merged 2023) but we list it separately as a distinct service. Latency values are approximate average round-trip internet latencies.

SpaceX Starlink (LEO Satellite Internet)

Starlink is a low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation operated by SpaceX, designed primarily for consumer broadband but also offering business and mobility plans. Service Type: LEO constellation (~4,500 satellites and growing) focused on high-speed, low-latency internet for home users, with specialized offerings for businesses, RVs, boats, and airplanes. Coverage: Starlink is available in over 50 countries across North America, Europe, South America, parts of Asia/Oceania, and Africa, with near-global coverage (including many remote regions) except for some extreme latitudes and countries pending regulatory approval europasatellite.com. Coverage continues to expand as more satellites and ground stations come online.

Speeds: Starlink offers broadband speeds rivaling terrestrial services. Residential users typically see download speeds around 100–250 Mbps, with uploads around 10–20 Mbps benton.org. In fact, median Starlink downloads in 2025 are about ~105 Mbps down and ~15 Mbps up benton.org, a significant jump from a few years prior. Starlink Business (using a larger “High Performance” dish) can handle higher throughput – up to ~350 Mbps or more (current hardware supports ~400 Mbps, and SpaceX plans to enable gigabit speeds via software upgrades in 2026) starlink.com. Unlike GEO services, performance is consistent across a wide area, though it can fluctuate with network load (Starlink explicitly notes “5–220 Mbps” possible on standard plans) highspeedinternet.com.

Latency: A key Starlink advantage is low latency. Typical latency is ~20–50 milliseconds, far lower than the 500ms+ of GEO satellites. Median latency in Q1 2025 was ~45 ms benton.org, meeting real-time application needs (video calls, online gaming). The very best locations see ~30–40 ms, while a few outliers (like Alaska, due to fewer satellites overhead) may hit ~100 ms benton.org. Starlink’s goal is a ~20 ms median in the future benton.org as it deploys more satellites and laser interlinks. This latency is only a few times higher than fiber and cable (~7–20 ms) and is virtually unnoticeable for most online activities.

Pricing: Starlink residential service costs $120 per month for the standard plan in most regions benton.org. In some areas, a lower-priced tier called “Residential Lite” is offered at $80/month with slightly lower priority (speeds ~45–130 Mbps vs 100–270+ Mbps on standard) benton.org. All plans currently have no data overage fees or hard caps (more on data policy below). The hardware (user terminal kit) is $599 upfront for the standard dish. However, as of 2025 Starlink has run promotions offering the kit free ($0) with a 12-month commitment in certain regions benton.org. There is no long-term contract required normally – service is month-to-month, and Starlink even offers a 30-day trial with full refund if not satisfied starlink.com. Business and mobile plans are higher cost: Starlink Business was initially ~$500/mo with a ~$2,500 high-performance terminal, but Starlink has revamped business offerings into “Priority” plans. For example, Local Priority (fixed area use) now starts around $250/month and Global Priority (global mobility) around $400–$650/month, with additional charges for large Priority data packages starlink.com starlink.com. Specialized maritime and aviation plans range from a few hundred up to several thousand dollars per month for dedicated service on ships or airliners.

Contract Terms: Standard Starlink has no annual contract – users can cancel anytime without fees viasat.com. (The only exception is if you took a promo like the free hardware, you’re asked to stick for 12 months or pay the hardware cost.) Starlink’s portability options (e.g. Starlink Roam, formerly “RV”) are also contract-free and can even be paused month-to-month. Business and maritime contracts are also flexible month-to-month, though enterprise customers may sign service agreements for guaranteed service levels.

Installation & Equipment: Starlink is designed for easy self-installation. The kit includes a motorized dish (“Dishy”) that automatically aims itself, plus a Wi-Fi router. Setup takes just minutes – you need a clear view of the sky, plug it in, and use the Starlink mobile app to find an optimal placement starlink.com. No professional installer is required for home use. The standard dish is compact (about 0.5 m) and can be mounted on a roof or ground pole. For business/mobility, Starlink offers a larger High Performance dish with better weather resilience and field of view – its metal enclosure is built to withstand harsh conditions (from Arctic cold to desert heat) and even in-motion use starlink.com. Businesses can also get accessories like wall/rooftop mounts and PoE adapters. Starlink doesn’t require special networking gear; it uses standard IPv4/IPv6 and comes with a user-friendly Wi-Fi router (or you can use your own). Support is primarily via the app and web (no call centers), and Business users get 24/7 priority support with an SLA starlink.com.

Data Caps: Starlink notably advertises “Unlimited data” – there are no hard data caps that cut off your service highspeedinternet.com. However, to manage network load, Starlink introduced a Fair Use Policy: on the standard Residential plan, if you exceed 1 TB (1,000 GB) of data in a month, your traffic may be deprioritized during peak times highspeedinternet.com. In practice, that means heavy users might see slower speeds when the network is congested, but there are no overage fees and no cutoff highspeedinternet.com. Notably, Starlink Residential Lite users are always deprioritized behind standard users (hence the discount) benton.org. For Starlink Business/Priority plans, instead of a cap, you purchase a set amount of “Priority Access” data (e.g. 2 TB, 5 TB, etc.) and after that is used, you can continue at a throttled 1 Mbps, or buy additional blocks starlink.com starlink.com. This ensures business-critical traffic stays fast under the data allotment. Essentially, Starlink’s approach is no strict caps, but rather a priority system to prevent a few heavy users from congesting the network.

Notable Features: Starlink’s biggest selling point is bringing truly broadband internet to locations “almost anywhere on Earth” that fiber or cell towers don’t reach benton.org. It works in rural farms, on boats at sea, and even in RVs on the move. Starlink is mobile by nature – the standard dish can be moved to different locations, and the Roam plan allows use across borders for vanlifers and travelers. There are also Maritime and Aviation solutions: yachts, cruise ships, and commercial airliners have begun installing Starlink for passengers, thanks to its high throughput. Another advantage is quick setup in emergencies or remote work sites – no need to wait for cables; a Starlink kit can be up and online in minutes. The network is also getting more robust: SpaceX launches new satellites constantly, and has begun deploying laser inter-satellite links to improve coverage in polar regions and over oceans (so data can hop between satellites without ground stations). Additionally, the Starlink dish has built-in heaters to melt snow and resist ice buildup, which helps it stay online in winter (albeit at higher power draw). Overall, Starlink delivers fiber-like speeds with a fraction of the latency of traditional satellite, making it a game-changer for remote connectivity benton.org benton.org. The trade-offs are the relatively high cost of hardware and the possibility of network slowdowns in very saturated cells (as more users sign on), but ongoing launches and planned next-gen satellites aim to alleviate that.

HughesNet Jupiter (GEO Satellite Internet)

HughesNet is a long-time satellite internet provider (a subsidiary of EchoStar) serving primarily consumer and small business users in the Americas. It operates geostationary (GEO) satellites, including the new Jupiter-3 high-throughput satellite launched in 2023 highspeedinternet.com. HughesNet has traditionally been the go-to for rural internet in the U.S., and with Jupiter-3 it has significantly upgraded speeds and data policies in 2024–2025.

Service Type: GEO satellite network (Jupiter fleet) focused on home internet in suburban/rural areas, plus small business and community Wi-Fi. HughesNet uses very high orbit satellites (~35,700 km) which remain fixed over the equator. This means higher latency but wide coverage. HughesNet’s service is consumer-oriented, sold in simple plans with built-in Wi-Fi modem, typically covering one home or small office per dish.

Coverage: HughesNet covers North America (all of the continental US, Alaska, Canada, Mexico) and much of South America, with parts of Latin America served via partners highspeedinternet.com. The new Jupiter-3 satellite expanded reach to ~80% of the population across the Americas highspeedinternet.com. (Prior satellites, Jupiter-1 and 2, covered the continental US, parts of Canada, and a Brazil-focused beam.) HughesNet does not directly serve Europe/Africa/Asia, but Hughes technology is used in some regional services (e.g., Hughes Express Wi-Fi hotspots in partnership with Facebook in developing countries). For this comparison, the focus is on HughesNet’s Americas consumer service.

Speeds: Until recently, HughesNet offered 25 Mbps down on all plans (the FCC minimum broadband definition). With Jupiter-3’s launch, HughesNet now offers plans with 50 Mbps and even 100 Mbps download speeds highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com – a first for the company. Upload speeds remain around ~3 Mbps. In the new lineup (as of 2024), the base Select plan is up to 50 Mbps, and the Elite and Fusion plans go up to 100 Mbps highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. Real-world speeds can vary, but these reflect the increased capacity of the Jupiter-3 satellite’s spot beams. It’s worth noting that these speeds are “up to” and not guaranteed; during peak times or for users who’ve exceeded priority data (see data caps), speeds may temporarily slow. Still, the availability of 50–100 Mbps service is a dramatic improvement from HughesNet’s older 5–25 Mbps experience, putting it closer to Starlink and Viasat’s range highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com.

Latency: Being GEO-based, HughesNet has high latency – around 600 to 700 ms for a typical ping. This is inherent to a 35,700 km satellite hop (approx ~0.25 second one-way, ~0.5 second round-trip). In practice, 600+ ms latency makes real-time online gaming or videoconferencing challenging (users will notice a delay). However, HughesNet introduced Fusion plans which use a hybrid approach: certain latency-sensitive traffic (like small data packets for gaming or VoIP) can be offloaded to terrestrial wireless networks when available highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. In Fusion service areas (about 70% of HughesNet’s footprint so far highspeedinternet.com), this can significantly reduce effective latency for interactive applications, making things like online gaming possible (something pure satellite couldn’t do well) highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. Still, for general browsing and streaming, the 600 ms latency is manageable – just a bit of delay loading pages or buffers. It’s the trade-off for the wide coverage of GEO satellites.

Pricing: HughesNet plans are typically structured by speed and data. As of mid-2025, HughesNet’s new plans start at $49.99 per month (promotional rate for 12 months) for the Select 50 Mbps plan highspeedinternet.com. The 100 Mbps plans are higher – around $64.99–$79.99 per month on promo for the first year, then standard rates apply highspeedinternet.com. For example, one source cites $79.99/mo for the 100 Mbps “Elite” plan after the first-year discount highspeedinternet.com. The Fusion 100 Mbps plan has been around $94.99/mo on promo highspeedinternet.com. These prices often include a $5 discount for using auto-pay highspeedinternet.com. All HughesNet plans require a 24-month contract and, after any promo period, the monthly fee increases (e.g. by $20 or so). So the ongoing cost might be roughly $75 for 50 Mbps, $95+ for 100 Mbps. HughesNet frequently advertises “$25 off for 6 months” or similar deals for new customers broadbandnow.com. There’s also usually a $99 setup fee that can be waived during promotions (especially if you lease equipment). Overall, HughesNet’s monthly pricing is in line with Viasat and Starlink’s base service, though high-speed plans can end up costing similar to Starlink for lower performance.

Equipment Fees: Customers can lease or purchase the HughesNet equipment. The equipment includes a roof-mounted satellite dish (~0.74 m) and an indoor modem/router (now Wi-Fi 6 capable) highspeedinternet.com. Leasing costs about $14.99 per month (or $19.99 for Fusion plans which include extra hardware) highspeedinternet.com. There’s a one-time $99 setup fee for leasing (often rebated). Buying the equipment outright costs $299.99 (standard) or $449.99 (Fusion) highspeedinternet.com. If you buy, you own the dish and modem, but still have a $199 standard installation charge highspeedinternet.com (installation is free for leasers). Most customers opt for the lease to avoid high upfront costs – and Hughes often pitches “Free installation” if you lease highspeedinternet.com. After cancellation, leased equipment must be returned. The new HughesNet modem (HT3000W) has built-in Wi-Fi 6 for better home coverage highspeedinternet.com, and an optional Mesh Wi-Fi node is available for $5/mo or $99 to purchase to extend the signal highspeedinternet.com.

Data Caps & Policies: Historically, HughesNet was known for strict data caps (e.g. 10–50 GB per month, after which speeds were throttled to ~1–3 Mbps). In 2023–24, HughesNet overhauled its data policy highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. Now, all plans have “Unlimited” standard data: your connection won’t cut off after a certain data use, and HughesNet no longer throttles you to dial-up speeds for the rest of the month highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. Instead, each plan comes with a large bucket of Priority Data (the amount depends on the plan: e.g. 100 GB on Select, 200 GB on Elite/Fusion) highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. Whenever you’re within that data allotment, you get top speeds. If you exceed it, you continue at the same speed if the network is quiet, but in times of congestion your traffic is deprioritized (so you may see slower speeds) highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. Essentially it works similarly to Starlink’s approach or cell carrier “deprioritization” – heavy users might notice some slowdowns during peak hours, but there’s no artificial speed throttle applied anymore highspeedinternet.com. The Priority Data amounts (100–200 GB) are quite higher than old caps (which were 10–50 GB), making the service more usable for modern needs highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. HughesNet also continues its Bonus Zone (2am–8am) unmetered usage – data used in those off-peak hours doesn’t count against your priority data highspeedinternet.com. Users can also buy extra Priority Data “tokens” if needed, but with unlimited standard data now, that’s mostly for those who need full speed during peak times even after using 200 GB+.

Contract Terms: HughesNet requires a 24-month commitment on all residential plans highspeedinternet.com. Early termination fees apply (typically $400 minus $15 for each month of service completed). There’s no month-to-month option for consumer plans. After 2 years, it goes to month-to-month automatically. HughesNet often offers a price lock for the first 12 months, then the rate increases in the second year (e.g. that $49.99 promo goes to $75). Make sure to read the fine print. As mentioned, if you got free install or other promos, you’re expected to fulfill the contract.

Installation: Professional installation is required for HughesNet. A certified installer will mount the satellite dish on your roof or an exterior wall and align it precisely to the satellite. This is included for free if you choose to lease (limited-time offer) highspeedinternet.com, otherwise it’s ~$200 for a standard install highspeedinternet.com. The installer also configures the indoor modem and tests signal quality. Since GEO satellites are sensitive to alignment, pro install ensures reliable service. The installation usually takes a couple of hours. HughesNet’s dish needs a clear view of the southern sky (for the northern hemisphere). Once set up, it’s fairly maintenance-free, though heavy snow on the dish can disrupt signal (some people buy inexpensive dish heaters or covers to mitigate this, since HughesNet dishes don’t have self-heating).

Notable Features: HughesNet is known for being widely available – if you have a clear view of the sky, you can likely get HughesNet, no matter how rural your location highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. This has made it a lifeline for many farms, cabins, and small towns with no cable or fiber. The service now being up to 100 Mbps means many rural users can stream HD video, participate in Zoom calls (with some latency caveats), and generally do what urban internet users can – a big change from when 5–15 Mbps was the norm. HughesNet’s new Fusion hybrid service is a unique offering: by blending satellite with terrestrial LTE, it addresses the latency issue for interactive tasks highspeedinternet.com. This is important for use cases like remote education or telehealth in rural areas, potentially allowing video chats with minimal delay. The Fusion service is expanding, thanks in part to Hughes’ parent EchoStar acquiring spectrum rights through a DISH Network merger highspeedinternet.com. Another feature of HughesNet is its integrated Wi-Fi modem – the latest generation is Wi-Fi 6, making it easier to support many home devices at once highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. The company emphasizes that it’s “built for rural” – focusing on reliability and coverage rather than competing for urban gigabit users highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. HughesNet has also partnered with community organizations to set up public Wi-Fi hotspots in remote villages (e.g., in Mexico, Indonesia) using its satellites, extending connectivity beyond just single subscribers. One more note: HughesNet includes Voice over IP phone service as an add-on for about $20–30/mo, which uses the satellite connection for home phone – useful if cell service is spotty, though the voice delay can be noticeable due to latency. Overall, HughesNet 2025 is much improved in speed and unlimited usage, maintaining its role as a “reasonably fast, everywhere” solution highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com, even as LEO constellations bring new competition. It’s particularly appealing for those who don’t want to pay high upfront costs (as Starlink requires) and are okay with a contract in exchange for subsidized equipment.

Viasat Satellite Internet (formerly Exede)

Viasat is a major satellite internet provider offering both consumer home internet and enterprise connectivity (including in-flight Wi-Fi). It operates a fleet of GEO satellites, including the ViaSat-2 and the new ViaSat-3 series. In 2025, Viasat introduced a simplified “Unleashed” plan with no hard data caps, aiming to compete directly with Starlink highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com.

Service Type: GEO satellite network (Ka-band) for consumer broadband, plus specialized services for business, aviation and government. Viasat’s consumer service is the successor to the Exede brand, delivering high-speed home internet via satellite. They also power many airline Wi-Fi services (you may have used Viasat internet on flights) and provide military satcom. For this comparison, we focus on the home internet service side, which now centers on the new “Viasat Unleashed” residential plan.

Coverage: Viasat’s coverage spans North America, parts of South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia with its current satellite fleet. ViaSat-2 (launched 2017) covers North America, the Atlantic ocean region, and part of Europe. Viasat also acquired the European provider Ka-Sat (covering EU) and has partnerships extending to Australia. The new ViaSat-3 satellites are intended to provide global coverage: one for Americas, one for EMEA, one for Asia-Pacific. The first ViaSat-3 (Americas) launched in 2023, but due to a solar array deployment failure it is delivering only <10% of planned capacity highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. Still, Viasat has mitigated some of that with ground spares and an insurance payout, and plans to launch the EMEA and APAC satellites soon highspeedinternet.com. As of mid-2025, the Viasat Unleashed plan is available in many areas of the US and southern Canada, and is being rolled out elsewhere as capacity allows. Some regions may still be served by older plans until ViaSat-3 coverage is active. In short, if you’re in the continental US, Viasat likely has service; for other global areas, availability varies but expanding.

Speeds: Viasat offers download speeds from 25 Mbps up to 100–150 Mbps, depending on location and plan viasat.com highspeedinternet.com. The new Unleashed plan simplifies this by automatically giving you the maximum available speed in your area (which could be 100 or 150 Mbps if the beam capacity allows, or 25–50 Mbps in areas with older coverage) highspeedinternet.com. Viasat advertises the Unleashed plan as up to “25–150 Mbps” range viasat.com. In practice, many customers on ViaSat-2 beams see ~50 Mbps, while those fortunate to connect to a less crowded beam or ViaSat-3 capacity might get near 100 Mbps. Upload speeds on Viasat are around 3 Mbps (sometimes up to 5 Mbps on the highest tiers). These speeds are “up to” and not guaranteed – weather, network congestion, and your data usage relative to the fair use policy can affect real throughput viasat.com. Still, even 25–50 Mbps is enough for streaming and standard usage, and the potential for 100+ Mbps in some areas is comparable to Starlink’s typical performance viasat.com highspeedinternet.com. Notably, Viasat’s satellites have a lot of total capacity (ViaSat-2 had ~260 Gbps total, ViaSat-3 designed for 1 Tbps), which is why they can offer these higher speed tiers to some.

Latency: As a GEO service, Viasat’s latency is similar to HughesNet – around 600 ms on average for a ping. This high latency is inherent to GEO distance and affects all applications: VoIP calls will have a noticeable delay, fast-paced online gaming is impractical, and web browsing has some added lag. Viasat doesn’t yet have a hybrid low-latency solution like HughesNet Fusion, though they have mentioned exploring LEO or other options (Viasat’s purchase of Inmarsat also got them some LEO plans in the pipeline, but nothing deployed yet). For now, expect ~0.5–0.6 seconds latency for any request to go up and down. For most streaming or downloads, this is not an issue (just a slight initial buffer), but for interactive use it’s the biggest downside of GEO vs LEO. In short: latency ~600 ms – fine for Netflix, not great for Twitch gaming.

Pricing: In May 2025, Viasat launched one primary plan, “Viasat Unleashed,” starting at $119/month highspeedinternet.com. This plan replaces the prior jumble of Bronze/Silver/Gold data-capped plans. The exact price can vary by region (some ads say $99.99/mo as a starting price viasat.com, others $119 – likely due to regional promos or slight differences in available speeds). For example, one report noted “prices for Viasat Unleashed start at $119 per month, depending on where you live.” highspeedinternet.com. It appears $119 is common, with some areas possibly seeing $99 or $109 as intro offers. Importantly, no long-term contract is required for Unleashed highspeedinternet.com – a big change from the old 2-year contracts. They’ve also scrapped installation fees for standard installs, and simplified equipment fees. The Unleashed plan pricing is flat (no separate data tiers), but behind the scenes Viasat still manages traffic via a fair use policy (discussed below). In some areas that don’t yet have Unleashed, Viasat’s legacy plans range $69 to $150/month depending on speed and data, but those are being phased out. Viasat often provides discounts for the first 3 months or so; e.g. a recent promo gave $20 off each of the first 3 months viasat.com. If you bundle services like Viasat Voice (home phone) or EasyCare maintenance, those have additional fees. Overall, $120-ish for unlimited satellite internet is now the baseline, making it competitive with Starlink’s $110–$120 service while eliminating upfront costs and contracts as barriers.

Equipment & Installation: Viasat supplies a satellite dish (75 cm) and a satellite modem with built-in Wi-Fi. Equipment rental is about $15 per month (industry-standard) highspeedinternet.com. They also offer an option to buy the equipment outright for around $300 (with a 2-year commitment previously; not sure if buying is still offered under Unleashed, since no-contract might default to rental). For most, leasing is easiest and Viasat often waives the initial install fee for new customers (the fine print mentions “free professional installation for credit-qualified customers” with Unleashed highspeedinternet.com). Installation is done by a certified technician, similar to HughesNet. Under Unleashed (no contract), they may charge a one-time install fee in some cases, but in marketing they emphasize “no installation fees” as a perk highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. The professional installer will mount the dish with a clear view of the southern sky and run cabling into your home for the modem. Viasat’s latest Wi-Fi modem supports dual-band Wi-Fi and can be paired with extenders if needed. There’s also an EasyCare option – a service plan ($8.99/mo) that covers any service calls or equipment issues, and even offers dish relocation if you move viasat.com. EasyCare is optional but nice for peace of mind since without it a truck roll could cost ~$95. In short, professional installation is included (or low-cost) and required, and the gear is typically rented to avoid large upfront fees – a contrast to Starlink’s DIY approach viasat.com viasat.com.

Data Caps / Fair Use: Viasat’s Unleashed plan is advertised as Unlimited data with no caps, a major selling point. Indeed, there are no hard data caps – they won’t cut off your service or charge overages viasat.com viasat.com. However, Viasat manages network capacity by monitoring “typical usage.” According to their Unlimited Data Policy, the threshold for “typical” is currently around 360 GB per month (which is the usage of about 70% of customers) viasat.com viasat.com. If you exceed that (~360 GB in 30 days), Viasat may reduce your priority, potentially halving your speeds during congested periods viasat.com viasat.com. If someone uses an extreme amount (the top ~5% of users, roughly 850+ GB/month), they may see significantly reduced speeds in peak times viasat.com. These measures ensure one heavy user (downloading 24/7) doesn’t hog the spot-beam capacity. It’s essentially a soft cap: use under 360 GB and you likely won’t notice any slowdowns; go beyond it and during busy evening hours your speeds might slow. Outside of busy times (late night, midday), even high usage users still get full speed highspeedinternet.com. Importantly, even if deprioritized, your connection still works – basic browsing and SD streaming remain feasible. This approach is similar to how terrestrial ISPs with “unlimited” plans manage their networks, as noted by analysts highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. By comparison, older Viasat plans had strict thresholds (e.g. 100 GB, then throttled to 1–5 Mbps always). Unleashed is a big quality-of-life upgrade for customers who can now use the internet more freely (e.g. download games or do big updates overnight without worrying about running out of high-speed data). For context, Viasat’s effective cap (~360–850 GB) is lower than Starlink’s current ~1 TB fair-use threshold highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com, but in practice few satellite users hit those levels due to the moderate speeds. Viasat clearly positions “no data caps” as a competitive point against HughesNet (which still has priority data limits) viasat.com viasat.com.

Contract Terms: Viasat’s move to no contract is notable. The Unleashed plan is available without a long-term commitment – it’s month-to-month and you can cancel anytime without penalty viasat.com viasat.com. This is a shift from the 24-month contracts that were standard. If you cancel, you return the leased equipment. The lack of contract makes it easier for customers to try Viasat or switch if needed (perhaps a response to Starlink’s flexibility and also to entice those wary of commitment). Do note that in some areas or for some promotions, they might still have contract options (for example, if you got a special deal or if Unleashed isn’t in your area, the legacy plans would be 2-year terms). But as of 2025, the flagship offering is contract-free. This also implies if you were on an older plan, you might be able to upgrade to Unleashed but you’d then operate without a term (or your term resets – details would be in the fine print). Be sure to read the subscriber agreement: even no-contract accounts likely require 30-day notice to cancel billing, etc. The lack of contract aligns Viasat with Starlink and 5G home internet providers that want to lower barriers for new customers highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com.

Notable Features: Viasat brings some unique strengths. One is experience and reliability – they have been in satellite internet for decades and claim robust customer support with live agents (whereas Starlink has mainly online support) viasat.com. Viasat includes built-in Wi-Fi with their modem and offers phone service bundles (their Voice service optimized for satellite). They also tout a “customer care” advantage, implying you can call a human for help, contrasting it with Starlink’s self-service model viasat.com viasat.com. Another advantage is professional install – some customers prefer a technician ensuring everything’s correct, rather than doing it themselves. Viasat also provides in-flight internet to many airlines; while not directly related to home service, it showcases their technology (and indeed, some of the same satellites serve both planes and homes). For rural users, Viasat can be paired with Viasat Voice (a VoIP phone line that works over the satellite link). And for those who truly need 24/7 consistent connectivity, Viasat offers an EasyCare option and even a backup dial-up or 4G in some cases (legacy offerings) to ensure you’re never offline – though these are niche. With the acquisition of Inmarsat in 2023 en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org, Viasat is evolving into a multi-orbit provider: in coming years, they plan to integrate LEO, MEO, and GEO solutions for even better coverage and possibly lower latency on some products highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com. While that’s outside the current consumer plan, it’s a sign Viasat is not standing still against LEO competition. In summary, Viasat’s new Unleashed plan offers a simpler, more user-friendly satellite internet – with no caps, no contract, up to 150 Mbps speeds highspeedinternet.com – making it a strong competitor in remote broadband. If you need internet and don’t have fiber or cable, Viasat is now a viable alternative to consider alongside Starlink and HughesNet, each with their own pros/cons.

OneWeb (Eutelsat OneWeb LEO Broadband for Enterprise)

OneWeb is a LEO satellite constellation that, as of 2025, is primarily targeting enterprise, government, and mobility markets rather than direct-to-consumer service. OneWeb completed its first-generation constellation of 618 satellites in low Earth orbit in early 2023, now under the joint ownership of Eutelsat and the UK government. It delivers high-speed, low-latency connectivity on a global scale via distribution partners.

Service Type: LEO satellite constellation (polar orbit) offering enterprise-grade broadband. OneWeb’s focus is on “wholesale” or B2B service – they provide connectivity to telcos, ISPs, maritime and aviation service providers, governments, etc., who then use it to serve end-users (e.g., community Wi-Fi, cellular backhaul, on airplanes, etc.). Unlike Starlink, OneWeb does not currently sell a “home internet” package directly to individuals; it’s more of an enterprise solution (though OneWeb has done pilot projects for schools and rural communities via partners).

Coverage: OneWeb provides near-global coverage, including up to very high latitudes. Because their satellites orbit polar trajectories, they can cover from the North Pole down to about 50° S latitude with full connectivity, and even beyond as the constellation and ground stations expand offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl. OneWeb notably offers service in the Arctic regions (above 60° N) where no other broadband options exist – for instance, they’ve connected communities in Alaska, Canada’s far north, and Arctic offshore platforms offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl. By mid-2025, OneWeb (now merged with Eutelsat) has achieved global footprint – recent tests demonstrated seamless handover worldwide, including polar areas worldteleport.org offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl. Coverage over open oceans is available, making it attractive for ships and planes. However, since OneWeb works through partners, availability to end-users depends on local providers offering OneWeb-powered plans. For example, companies like BT, Orange, and Telstra have signed on to use OneWeb for remote connectivity. In short, OneWeb can reach anywhere on Earth (with a slight exclusion of extreme Antarctic latitudes), provided you have the appropriate terminal and a service plan.

Speeds: OneWeb delivers broadband speeds comparable to Starlink, though with slightly different characteristics. Typical advertised speeds are up to about 150 Mbps download and ~15–20 Mbps upload per user terminal worldteleport.org offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl. OneWeb itself often states “hundreds of Mbps” can be delivered. For instance, maritime service providers cite “speeds of up to 195 Mbps down / 32 Mbps up” on OneWeb for a ship using a dual-antenna setup offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl. Another partner mentioned standard plans like 50 Mbps down / 10 Mbps up and 100 Mbps down / 20 Mbps up, often with some committed Information rates (QoS) of a portion of that satellitephonestore.com satellitephonestore.com. The exact speed a customer sees can depend on the plan they purchase (some may be contended or limited to 50 Mbps, others might allow bursting to 100+). In any case, OneWeb’s capacity per beam is high and can be allocated flexibly, meaning an enterprise could even get more than 150 Mbps if they contract for it. The equipment can also bond multiple terminals for higher throughput if needed. Overall, performance in real-world tests has shown solid broadband: during beta tests, users saw 100+ Mbps easily, and OneWeb’s network can support streaming, VPNs, and other demanding applications reliably offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl highspeedinternet.com. It’s a significant upgrade over GEO systems, though perhaps slightly behind Starlink in raw speed (Starlink has more satellites and frequency reuse so it sometimes exceeds 200 Mbps). However, for many enterprise uses, stable committed bandwidth with SLA is more important, and OneWeb is positioning itself as a “commercial-grade” provider with guaranteed service levels.

Latency: OneWeb’s LEO altitude (~1,200 km) results in low latency around 70 ms (one-way ~30–40 ms). OneWeb has stated latency “as low as ~70 milliseconds” for end-to-end connections oneweb.net offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl. This is slightly higher than Starlink’s ~30–50 ms since OneWeb satellites are in higher orbits and OneWeb lacks Starlink’s inter-satellite laser links (meaning some data travels via ground gateways which can add a bit of path length). That said, ~70–80 ms latency is night-and-day better than GEO’s 600 ms – it’s akin to normal terrestrial broadband ping times. OneWeb meets the requirements for most interactive applications; it’s fine for video calls, cloud applications, and even online gaming (certainly much better than GEO for gaming). In fact, OneWeb pitches itself for use cases like financial trading networks or military comms where low latency is crucial, implying confidence in sub-100 ms performance globally oneweb.net. One point to note: because OneWeb relies on gateways on the ground to route traffic, the latency can also depend on where your gateway is relative to you. For example, a user in a remote area might have their traffic go up to satellite, down to a gateway in say London, then out to the internet – introducing some extra ~20–30 ms if that gateway is far. As OneWeb adds more gateways worldwide (often co-located with data centers), this will improve.

Enterprise Plans & Pricing: OneWeb is sold through authorized partners and the pricing is significantly higher-end, reflecting enterprise service. There is no public “monthly subscription” like $100 for consumers. Instead, partners offer packages often with unlimited data and a fixed bandwidth. For example, a U.S. reseller advertises OneWeb Mobility Unlimited 50 Mbps for $9,599 per month satellitephonestore.com (with a 12-month term), and an Unlimited 100 Mbps Global plan for $18,799 per month satellitephonestore.com satellitephonestore.com. These plans include unlimited usage and full global mobility. While those price tags are steep, they are aimed at large enterprises, ships, oil rigs, airlines etc., who value the coverage and SLA. For community broadband or rural ISP uses, OneWeb can be more cost-effective on a per-bit basis (they might, for instance, sell 200 Mbps backhaul links to an ISP, which then serves many users). OneWeb has indicated they want to bring costs down and eventually also serve small businesses and consumers via distribution deals. But as of mid-2025, if an individual somehow wanted OneWeb at home, they’d be facing business-level pricing (i.e. thousands per month), so it’s not really a consumer option yet. Instead, one might access OneWeb indirectly (say, via a telecom company that uses OneWeb to connect remote cell towers or Wi-Fi hotspots). It’s worth noting these enterprise plans usually come with 12-month minimum contracts satellitephonestore.com and sometimes require paying a year upfront or other commercial terms. Also, the hardware is usually sold or leased separately (tens of thousands of dollars). The high cost underscores that OneWeb’s current target market is very different from Starlink’s.

Hardware and Installation: OneWeb user terminals are professional-grade equipment that require expert installation. There are a few types: OneWeb has worked with manufacturers like Intellian and Kymeta to offer different antenna solutions. Commonly, for fixed sites, a OneWeb Compact Terminal with an electronically steered flat panel or a dual-parabolic array is used – these can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000+ each depending on model europasatellite.com europasatellite.com. For example, an Intellian dual parabolic maritime OneWeb antenna system lists at around €20k europasatellite.com. These systems track the LEO satellites as they move (mechanically or electronically) and hand off seamlessly. They often are installed in pairs for redundancy (especially on a ship, so one always has clear view). Installation is typically handled by certified partners – for a ship, that might be done in port by marine communications specialists; for a remote land site, a field engineer would set up the terminals, point them (initial pointing for OneWeb flat panels is less finicky than GEO, but still needs configuration), and test connectivity. Power requirements are also non-trivial (these are not low-wattage devices). OneWeb terminals are weatherized and built for tough conditions – e.g., there are ruggedized units for Arctic cold and others for desert heat. In short, setting up OneWeb is not a DIY affair; it’s akin to installing a VSAT network. This is another reason it’s enterprise-focused for now. However, OneWeb is working on smaller, cheaper user terminals (including some that could be more self-install) to expand into wider markets. Over time, as production scales, hardware costs may fall.

Data Caps: OneWeb generally offers unmetered data on its enterprise plans – they are advertised as “Unlimited” usage satellitephonestore.com satellitephonestore.com. There are no specific data caps; instead, customers pay for a certain bandwidth tier (like 50 or 100 Mbps) and can use it fully. Because these are expensive dedicated services, OneWeb doesn’t need to cap usage – the number of users per beam is controlled by how many clients are sold service, and each client gets an SLA for the throughput they purchased. That said, fair usage policies or contention ratios could apply if, for example, a reseller oversubscribes a beam. But OneWeb’s marketing highlights “no data limit” type offerings and high reliability offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl. For community broadband scenarios, they might implement local data limits just to manage user experience, but that’d be at the ISP level. So effectively, OneWeb clients enjoy unlimited data (they are paying a premium for that).

Notable Features: OneWeb’s differentiators include its mobility and integration capabilities. It provides seamless connectivity for moving platforms – e.g., a yacht in the Arctic can stay connected 24/7 with low latency, something impossible before. Airlines are also eyeing OneWeb; it’s been tested for in-flight Wi-Fi and can deliver hundreds of Mbps to a plane assets.staging.oneweb.build. OneWeb is also marketed as “carrier-grade” – meaning it can integrate with existing network infrastructure, support QoS and VLANs, and offer Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that guarantee uptime and performance for enterprise clients offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl. The network is designed with high reliability – built-in satellite diversity (many satellites in view) and beam handovers to mitigate outages. OneWeb’s multi-orbit partnership with Eutelsat means they can also bundle GEO capacity (like Eutelsat’s GEO satellites or the upcoming Eutelsat Konnect VHTS) for a hybrid solution – for instance, offloading large bulk downloads to GEO and low-latency tasks to LEO, or providing backup to each other. The merger with Eutelsat in 2023 created a combined GEO+LEO offering that some customers find attractive for redundancy oneweb.net. Additionally, OneWeb has a focus on remote community broadband – they have an initiative to deploy small, solar-powered terminals to connect schools, clinics, and villages in hard-to-reach areas (often in partnership with local telecoms). These can be life-changing in places with no prior internet. Because OneWeb doesn’t require the huge dishes of GEO, even mountain villages can get a compact terminal that links to a Wi-Fi hotspot for the community. It’s also being used for military and disaster recovery communications, where quick setup of reliable comms is needed. With latency under 100 ms and global reach, OneWeb is bridging the digital divide in many novel ways europasatellite.com offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl. Finally, for developers and tech integration, OneWeb provides a digital platform for managing service and terminals via APIs, making it easier for partners to adopt (it’s more of a wholesale platform). In summary, OneWeb in 2025 is like a B2B cousin of Starlink – similar tech of LEO broadband, but packaged for enterprises and governments who need guaranteed performance, wide coverage (including polar), and are willing to pay a premium for it. As the ecosystem matures, we may see more consumer-facing products indirectly using OneWeb (for example, a rural ISP might sell you a home internet plan that is quietly powered by OneWeb backhaul). But for now, OneWeb is a top choice for mission-critical connectivity in remote places, from Arctic research stations to luxury yachts, offering fiber-like links where none existed before.

Inmarsat Global Xpress (GEO – Enterprise/Mobility)

Inmarsat’s Global Xpress (GX) is a geostationary satellite broadband network that provides global internet connectivity with a focus on maritime, aviation, and government users. Now part of Viasat (after a 2023 merger) en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org, Inmarsat GX continues to serve as a key enterprise service, often bundled as “Fleet Xpress” for ships or used for inflight Wi-Fi and remote corporate sites. It complements Inmarsat’s legacy L-band services (like BGAN and FleetBroadband) by offering much higher speeds in Ka-band.

Service Type: GEO satellite system (Inmarsat-5 and I-6 satellites) delivering high-speed broadband for enterprise. While not marketed to consumers directly, it is used via service providers for things like yacht internet, energy sector connectivity, news media uplinks, and airline passenger Wi-Fi. Inmarsat GX is essentially the “VSAT” offering from Inmarsat, with global coverage and a focus on reliability and service quality (including SLAs).

Coverage: Global Xpress covers almost the entire globe (except extreme polar areas above ~85° latitude) via a network of at least 5 GX satellites in geostationary orbit en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org. Each Inmarsat-5 (I-5) satellite has multiple fixed spot beams and steerable beams that can target high-demand areas en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org. Combined, they provide seamless coverage from roughly 82°N to 82°S en.wikipedia.org – essentially all inhabited regions and all major ocean corridors. This is one of GX’s selling points: a ship or plane can have continuous coverage on a single network anywhere it goes (with some gaps only in far polar expeditions). Inmarsat has ground gateways around the world so that traffic can exit the satellite network efficiently. The Fleet Xpress service leverages this by pairing GX for primary broadband and Inmarsat’s nearly global L-band for backup, ensuring even if a ship is under heavy rain fade or at the edge of a beam, it still has a low-speed link for critical comms inmarsat.com. The newest GX satellite (GX-5 and GX-6 series, launched 2019–2021) added capacity over Europe and Middle East, and more (GX-7,8,9) are planned to boost capacity over the Americas, etc. In summary, coverage is worldwide for practical purposes, making it ideal for international fleets and remote operations anywhere from deserts to oceans.

Speeds: Inmarsat GX provides up to 50 Mbps download and ~5 Mbps upload per terminal under standard service plans en.wikipedia.org. These figures have been cited in Inmarsat documentation and reflect the typical capability of a single GX Ka-band channel with a 60 cm antenna. For example, a cruise ship might advertise passenger internet “up to 50 Mbps” on GX. However, Inmarsat has been evolving the service: with newer satellites and larger antennas (or combined channels), higher speeds are possible. There are reports of GX Aviation (for airplanes) achieving ~100 Mbps to a plane using multiple beams, and the upcoming technology (GX+ Northstar, in partnership with OneWeb, and new I-6 satellites) aims for even higher throughput. But for a single standard user terminal, 50 Mbps is a good reference point en.wikipedia.org. Note that speeds can be guaranteed or shared: Inmarsat often sells service in tiers (e.g., a plan might guarantee 4 Mbps and burst to 20 Mbps, etc.). For BGAN (L-band) which is another Inmarsat service (portable terminals), speeds are much lower (~0.5 Mbps) en.wikipedia.org – but that’s separate from GX. It’s common for an Inmarsat GX setup on a vessel to include a FleetBroadband L-band unit as backup (which is slow but always on). When we say 50 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, that is broadband class – it supports HD streaming, video calls, etc., which is why many shipping companies use it for crew welfare internet. Keep in mind, real-world throughput can be affected by network congestion if many users share a beam, or by weather (rain can degrade Ka-band signals). Inmarsat tries to mitigate congestion by not overselling beams heavily and by using smart beam switching and even leasing extra capacity from partners if needed. They advertise 99.9% network availability on Fleet Xpress inmarsat.com.

Latency: Being GEO, Inmarsat GX has latency around 600–800 ms for round trips en.wikipedia.org. The official spec mentions ~700 ms en.wikipedia.org. Users will experience roughly half a second delay in interactive communications, identical to other GEO services. This is one area where GX cannot compete with LEO solutions: for example, in maritime, some high-end customers are starting to add Starlink for low-latency tasks while keeping GX for its reliability and coverage. That said, for most use cases like web browsing, email, or even buffered streaming, the 0.6s latency is acceptable. Inmarsat’s L-band backup actually has higher latency (~1000 ms) en.wikipedia.org but is usually only used for failover or very low data needs. For reference, a Zoom call over 700 ms latency is doable but one has to be mindful of speaking delays. In critical operations (like military C2 or remote drone piloting), that latency can be limiting; hence Inmarsat also offers some MEO/LEO partnership solutions for those cases (e.g., the Orchestra network concept). But within the context of mid-2025, GX’s latency is the same ballpark as Viasat or Hughes: high, but workable for non-real-time intensive tasks.

Pricing: Inmarsat GX is sold through various service providers (like Marlink, Speedcast, Satcom Global, etc.), and pricing is typically on the order of thousands of dollars per month for business plans. For example, one source shows maritime plans ranging from ~$2,430 up to $28,505 per month satmodo.com. These correspond to different usage packages – perhaps the lower end is a metered plan with a few GB of data, and the upper end is an unlimited, fully dedicated plan for a cruise ship. As an illustrative case, a standard Fleet Xpress plan for a merchant ship might be ~$3,000/mo for a committed 4 Mbps down/1 Mbps up plus bursting ability and maybe 100 GB of data at full speed. There are also “unlimited usage” plans where you won’t be cut off but if you exceed a threshold, speeds might be throttled (similar to FUP on others). Overall, GX is expensive relative to consumer services – it’s enterprise-grade pricing. However, it often comes bundled with value-adds: 24/7 network monitoring, SLAs for uptime (99.5% or 99.9% uptime guarantees), cybersecurity features, and the inclusion of L-band backup (FleetBroadband usage up to a certain amount). The cost also covers the leasing of the equipment in many cases. For aviation, airlines negotiate multi-year contracts which can be tens of millions of dollars for fleet connectivity (translating to maybe ~$10K per plane per month, as a rough guess). Because of this pricing, GX isn’t something individuals usually buy (aside from perhaps a very wealthy yacht owner). It’s organizations with mission-critical needs (or revenue-generating passenger services) that justify the cost. As Viasat now owns Inmarsat, there could be future changes or bundles in pricing, but for now, think of it as premium enterprise broadband.

Equipment & Installation: Inmarsat GX uses stabilized VSAT antenna systems, generally 60 cm to 1 m dishes for Ka-band. Common hardware comes from manufacturers like Cobham (Sailor 100 GX), Intellian, and others, often provided as part of a service package. A typical maritime setup might be a 1 m dome unit on the mast (for better rain performance) and an indoor rack with the modems and controllers. For aviation, special flat-panel antennas are used on aircraft fuselages (GX Aviation terminal). Installation is always professional – on a ship, a certified technician installs the radome, wires it to the below-deck equipment, and tests alignment. On land, GX could be installed at a remote site on a building or portable trailer, again requiring alignment to the satellite’s orbital slot. Because GEO satellites don’t move relative to Earth, once the dish is pointed correctly, it stays fixed (or in the case of a moving platform like a ship, the antenna’s motors keep it pointed). The cost of equipment can be substantial: a maritime GX antenna might cost $30k-$50k, but service providers often include it on a lease or with an upfront fee. Sometimes there are government subsidies or financing for remote community installations. Inmarsat’s terminals are known for high quality and come with global support – if something breaks, partners like Marlink or Inmarsat have field engineers worldwide to service it (which is factored into the service cost). Interestingly, Fleet Xpress inherently uses dual antennas: the GX for speed and an L-band FleetBroadband antenna for backup. The L-band antenna is smaller (~0.3m) and can connect even in heavy rain or if the GX is down, albeit at only ~0.5 Mbps. This dual setup provides unmatched reliability – a key selling point for maritime safety and operations inmarsat.com. No other provider had that combo until recently (Starlink now pairs with LTE as a backup perhaps, but not quite the same). Summing up: The equipment is specialized and pro-installed, with global support and often included under service contracts.

Data Caps & Policies: Inmarsat historically offered both metered and unlimited plans on GX. For example, a plan might include 20 GB of data at full speed, then throttle or charge extra beyond that. But many customers opt for “Unlimited” plans (especially in maritime, where usage can be unpredictable). These “unlimited” plans usually have a fair usage threshold – say 100 GB or 200 GB per month – after which the speed might be restricted (like down to 4 Mbps) to ensure network stability. The specifics are provider-dependent. In the Fleet Xpress realm, because it’s a managed service, they can prioritize traffic types: operational data might be separated from crew internet data, etc., each with its own allocation. 99.9% uptime SLA implies that data will be available virtually all the time, switching to L-band backup if Ka-band is unavailable (bad weather). The backup L-band is typically unlimited for critical use, but not meant for heavy data (some plans give a few MB free on L-band per month). In terms of usage, enterprise contracts can be tailored: some pay per GB (like $X per GB for government usage), others have flat rates for unlimited usage but shaped speeds after certain points. Because this isn’t a consumer service, these terms are all negotiable in contracts. The bottom line: no simple data cap number, but rather various “soft caps” or allowances. For comparison, a competitor like Iridium Certus or VSAT might explicitly cap data; Inmarsat GX tries to deliver a more continuous service even if slower after heavy use.

Notable Features: Inmarsat GX (especially in the Fleet Xpress package) is prized for its reliability and global support. With a 99.9% uptime SLA inmarsat.com, it means downtime should be less than ~45 minutes a month, which is critical for ships that rely on internet for navigation data, weather updates, engine monitoring, etc. The inclusion of an always-on L-band channel for backup and safety services is a big plus – Inmarsat is the provider of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), so every SOLAS-compliant ship already has Inmarsat terminals for distress calls en.wikipedia.org. Fleet Xpress integrates those safety services with broadband, so a captain knows even if the high-speed link drops, they won’t lose emergency communications. Another feature: global customer support network – Inmarsat (and its partners) have offices and spare parts in major ports and cities worldwide, whereas newer entrants might not. This means if an antenna fails mid-ocean, Inmarsat can coordinate a service at the next port. Security and QoS: GX offers private network options, including government-only beams and encrypted links for military. They even offer subscription services for cybersecurity filtering to protect maritime IT systems. In the aviation space, GX is behind the Wi-Fi on airlines like Qatar, Lufthansa, and Air New Zealand, often branded as “GX Aviation”. Passengers might experience 10–20 Mbps on a flight – enough for streaming – thanks to this. For broadcasters and NGOs, Inmarsat GX provides portable kits (like a Cobham Explorer terminal) to set up broadband in disaster zones or live broadcast from anywhere. While those are smaller aperture and thus slower (maybe 4–10 Mbps), they leverage the same satellite network. In summary, Inmarsat GX’s feature set is about trusted, regulated, always-available connectivity. It might not have the raw speed of Starlink or OneWeb, but it makes up for it with consistency (SLA), coverage, and integration with safety services. Now that it’s under Viasat, we might see it complementing Viasat’s offering (e.g., Viasat could sell multi-orbit packages where GX covers the gaps Starlink/LEO can’t, and vice versa). As of 2025, though, GX remains the gold standard for many critical maritime and aero communications, keeping ships online across the seas and enabling planes to get internet above 30,000 feet.

SES O3b mPOWER (MEO Satellite Network for Enterprise)

SES’s O3b mPOWER is a next-generation Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite system delivering high-throughput, low-latency connectivity for large enterprise, telecom, and government customers. It is the evolution of the original O3b network (the name O3b stands for “Other 3 Billion”, referring to connecting those without internet). While not a household name, O3b has been behind the scenes providing fiber-like links to cruise ships, island nations, and remote industries. O3b mPOWER, coming online in 2023–2025, massively increases capacity and flexibility.

Service Type: MEO satellite constellation (operated by SES) for carrier-grade data services. It’s an enterprise/backhaul network rather than a direct consumer internet service. The satellites orbit at ~8,000 km altitude (medium orbit), which is higher than LEO but far lower than GEO, striking a balance between coverage area and latency. mPOWER satellites are fully digital and high-throughput, able to create hundreds of steerable beams. SES sells managed bandwidth services over this network (e.g., to mobile network operators to extend 4G/5G to rural areas, to cruise lines for passenger internet, to cloud providers for connectivity in hard-to-reach locales). It often functions like a trunk line – connecting a remote site to the global internet backbone.

Coverage: The O3b mPOWER constellation when complete will have 11 satellites in equatorial MEO orbit (plus spares). Because they orbit around the equator, coverage is focused from about 50°N to 50°S latitude sessd.com. This covers the vast majority of the populated world (except far northern/southern regions). Many high-demand areas (tropics, mid-latitudes) are included, but polar areas cannot be reached due to the inclination. The equatorial orbit means excellent coverage for countries in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, etc., which were target markets for the original O3b. As each satellite moves relative to Earth, user terminals track them and hand off signals. There are multiple satellites in view at once for any given site near the equator; at higher latitudes (towards 50°) you might have fewer in view, but SES has ground stations and mechanisms to ensure seamless connectivity. Global (non-polar) coverage is achieved by overlapping satellite footprints and dynamic beam steering – SES can concentrate capacity where needed (for example, above a certain ocean region if a customer like a cruise ship is there). One limitation: very high latitude places (above ~60°–65°) won’t have service (unlike Starlink or OneWeb which cover polar), but SES’s strategy is to partner with other systems for those areas if needed. The network connects to numerous gateway ground stations, some co-located with cloud data centers (SES has partnerships with Microsoft Azure, etc., so that O3b traffic can directly enter cloud networks with minimal hops) ses.com ses.com. SES also operates a “fiber-like” backbone connecting these gateways. All said, while O3b isn’t global to the poles, it covers the bulk of the tropics and temperate zones and is especially beneficial for remote islands, offshore platforms, and moving platforms in those regions.

Speeds: O3b mPOWER is designed for very high throughputs – into the gigabits per second. SES can deliver up to 1.5 Gbps to a single end-point currently, uncontended sessd.com, and the system can scale even beyond that by bonding multiple beams or using bigger antennas ses.com. For instance, a single cruise ship terminal has demonstrated 500 Mbps to passengers easily, and SES claims multi-Gbps per ship is possible with the new system sessd.com. The datasheet for mPOWER indicates it can provide “uncontended, high-throughput connectivity up to 1.5 Gbps to a single ship, land site or base” sessd.com. In practice, SES sells tiers of service; a telecom customer might buy a 100 Mbps link, or an oil company might buy a 500 Mbps link with redundancy. Importantly, SES offers uncontended bandwidth with SLA – meaning if you pay for 500 Mbps, you get that full throughput guaranteed, not shared with others ses.com ses.com. This is a big difference from typical consumer satellite services. O3b mPOWER also has strong uplink capacity – it can allocate symmetric or even asymmetric links with very high upload if needed ses.com (in fact, it’s mentioned they can match or exceed forward path on return, which is unique) ses.com. This is ideal for applications like cloud syncing or sending large data from remote sensors. The flexibility of the network allows SES to dial bandwidth up or down for a client on-demand (e.g., a cloud provider might burst to multi-Gbps for a big data transfer then scale down). For context, the previous generation O3b (since ~2014) commonly provided 50–150 Mbps links to clients; mPOWER multiplies that capacity significantly. In one real example, the small nation of Samoa used O3b as backbone and got around 120 Mbps links; now with mPOWER they could get 10x that or more, bringing true broadband to their ISP. So effectively, speeds are extremely high – in the satellite world, only Starlink’s planned next-gen or some DoD systems approach these rates, and even those are shared. SES can funnel a full gigabit to one customer because each mPOWER satellite has terabit-class capacity and can form dedicated beams.

Latency: O3b MEO orbits result in latency around ~150 ms round-trip ses.com. SES specifically advertises ~130 ms to ~180 ms RTT (which is 2–3 times lower latency than GEO) ses.com. That is because at ~8,000 km altitude, the signal travel time is ~27 ms one-way vs ~120 ms one-way for GEO. Including routing and processing, ~150 ms is a fair average. In real terms, this latency is similar to long-distance fiber (for instance, a transatlantic fiber link is ~60–90 ms one way). So O3b latency can be as good as a terrestrial connection spanning continents. This low latency is a huge advantage for applications like real-time trading, online gaming for remote locations, or simply a snappier web experience for island populations. Unlike LEO constellations that have variable latency (due to more handoffs and packets traversing multiple satellites which can add jitter), SES touts “predictable low latency” because each link is usually one hop up and one hop down to a single satellite, and that path doesn’t vary as much ses.com ses.com. SES even argues that LEO networks suffer more from jitter and packet reordering due to multi-hop mesh, whereas MEO goes in one “reliable hop” to a gateway ses.com. In any case, ~150 ms is under the 200 ms threshold required by many latency-sensitive apps and is far superior to 600 ms GEO. It’s not as low as Starlink’s 30 ms, but for many enterprise uses (like connecting a remote mine’s corporate network) 150 ms is perfectly fine. Plus, being consistent and with fewer hops to ground (often one satellite hop straight to a data center) means high QoS. For example, SES is an AWS Direct Connect and Azure ExpressRoute partner, so they can offer cloud connections with guaranteed latency – great for enterprise cloud users ses.com ses.com.

Enterprise Service & Pricing: SES O3b mPOWER is sold as a managed service often custom-tailored. Pricing is not public, but tends to be very high-end, in line with the huge capacity delivered. For instance, a cruise line contract for fleet connectivity might be several hundred thousand dollars per month to provide gigabit internet to multiple ships. Smaller packages, like a 100 Mbps link for an island telecom, might run tens of thousands per month. Because SES deals often involve SLA commitments, dedicated bandwidth, and global support, the pricing includes those premium aspects. SES might charge on a Mbps-per-month basis for committed information rate (CIR). For an idea, older O3b links of 50 Mbps CIR were on the order of $~[redacted] (some info suggests $1,000-$2,000 per Mbps monthly for O3b, though bulk deals and volume bring it down). With more capacity, costs per Mbps might have dropped somewhat, but it’s still not cheap. However, for some customers like mobile operators, it can be cost-effective: instead of laying an undersea fiber to a remote island which could cost millions upfront, they can lease 200 Mbps on O3b to instantly upgrade an island’s broadband, then scale up as demand grows. The flexibility is a major value: SES offers the ability to ramp bandwidth up or down and pay accordingly, which is great for seasonal needs (like tourism peaks). Also, SES can arrange multi-year contracts that ensure capacity availability. The mPOWER service can also be sold through integrators (e.g., Maritime service providers will bundle O3b with L-band backup similar to Inmarsat’s model). So pricing might be hidden inside those offerings. Given the bespoke nature, the key takeaway is that O3b mPOWER is a bespoke, premium service – likely out of reach for single consumers, but a game-changer for ISPs, large vessels, mining camps, or military deployments that need high bandwidth in remote spots.

Equipment & Installation: O3b mPOWER user terminals are large, advanced antennas, typically SES-designed or partner-provided VSAT terminals. For stationary sites, antennas of 2.4 m or 1.8 m are common to achieve the highest bandwidth and link stability. For mobility (ships), SES has worked with partners to create stabilized maritime terminals, which historically were dual 2.2 m domes for O3b (because of tracking and blockage concerns). The newer mPOWER can work with slightly smaller antennas due to higher power satellites, but still likely in the >1.2 m range for full performance. Installation is a significant project: for a telecom operator, installing an O3b ground station might involve building an antenna mount, setting up an RF chain, and connecting to local infrastructure. However, SES has emphasized easier deployment: they mention that terminals are “designed to be installed by local SES-accredited teams in just one day” ses.com ses.com. That suggests the user terminal might be more modular now. Possibly a medium-size flat panel array could be used for some cases, which would simplify things. Still, given the throughput, most will use classic dish antennas with tracking. The terminals connect to SES gateway stations or can land directly at customer’s teleport if they have one (SES can offer a “private gateway” option for large sovereign clients, meaning the traffic lands directly in-country). The cost of hardware can be high (six figures easily), but often SES will provide it as part of a managed service contract. For example, a cruise company might just pay a service fee and SES installs and maintains the ship antennas. Professional installation is mandatory, as pointing these MEO tracking antennas and integrating them with network systems is complex. On the plus side, once set up, O3b terminals hand off satellites seamlessly, so from the user perspective it’s just an always-on circuit.

Data Caps & Service Levels: SES doesn’t impose “data caps” in the consumer sense. Since clients purchase dedicated bandwidth, they can use it 24/7 at 100% load if they want – it’s unmetered (truly unlimited) within the throughput they have. In a sense, your data cap is just your bandwidth * time. There is no throttling; instead, if you need more data, you buy more bandwidth capacity. SES offers strong SLA (Service Level Agreement) terms: typically guaranteeing a minimum throughput, maximum latency, and availability (they might guarantee >99.5% uptime, with rebates if not met, etc.). This is very different from best-effort residential service. They also might provide QoS controls, allowing the customer to prioritize certain traffic (for example, an ISP could prioritize voice packets on their O3b link). Some enterprise customers run layer-2 or layer-3 VPNs over O3b and manage traffic at their end. In short, no data limits – it’s a contracted bandwidth service. One potential issue is weather (rain fade on Ka-band); to maintain SLA, SES might allocate extra power or switch you to a different beam or gateway if heavy rain is hitting one path, thereby maintaining your link (they have adaptive modulation and other tricks). The system is designed to be resilient and flexible, which SES promotes as a key advantage over rigid networks ses.com ses.com.

Notable Features: SES O3b mPOWER’s standout feature is its “fiber-like” performance delivered wirelessly from space. It brings multi-hundred-Mbps and gigabit connectivity to places that are unreachable by terrestrial fiber. For example, many cruise ships now use O3b to provide passengers with streaming-capable internet at sea – previously unthinkable. The new mPOWER satellites will allow even more ships (or other heavy users) to be served simultaneously, with SES able to dynamically direct capacity where ships are congregating (e.g., Caribbean in winter, Mediterranean in summer). SES also targets mobile network backhaul: connecting rural cell towers or even entire 4G/5G networks in developing countries. Because of the low latency and high throughput, users on those cellular networks won’t even realize their data is hopping via satellite – it feels like normal broadband. This has already been done in Africa and Pacific islands with O3b, enabling hundreds of thousands of people to get mobile data service without fiber in place. Another feature is cloud integration – SES partnered with major cloud providers so that an enterprise can have a direct high-speed link from their remote site into their cloud VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) with minimal latency and high security ses.com ses.com. It essentially extends corporate networks to the edge. For governments and military, SES offers encryption, beam flexibility (anti-jam), and even the ability for a nation to have its own dedicated beams or gateways for sovereignty sessd.com sessd.com. They also highlight that unlike LEO constellations, MEO has predictable orbits, so the network planning is more deterministic (and they avoid some of the tracking headaches since fewer satellites are needed for global coverage). O3b mPOWER can scale client bandwidth up or down easily – SES can program the satellites to allocate more bandwidth to a certain terminal on the fly, which is useful if a customer suddenly needs a surge (imagine a disaster response scenario where they quickly need more connectivity at a field hospital; SES can boost that link’s capacity if available). The system’s design also aims to minimize packet loss and jitter, which is valuable for real-time services like voice or interactive video ses.com ses.com. All these features point to O3b mPOWER being a highly customizable, carrier-grade platform. It’s not directly competing for individual home users (Starlink handles those), but it powers the networks that many home users might ultimately connect to – for instance, via their local ISP or Wi-Fi hotspot that is backhauled by O3b. With 8 satellites launched (out of 11) by 2025 news.satnews.com, SES is starting services and scaling up. Their customers, like Carnival Cruises, Orange Telecom, Vodafone, are already lined up to use it ses.com ses.com. In essence, O3b mPOWER is bringing multi-gigabit connectivity to the hardest-to-reach places, complementing the direct-to-consumer revolution by Starlink/OneWeb with a more behind-the-scenes, but equally important, connectivity revolution for enterprises and communities worldwide.

Sources: The comparison above is based on official provider specifications, recent technical documentation, and industry reports for each service, including SpaceX/Starlink updates benton.org benton.org, HughesNet Jupiter-3 plan details highspeedinternet.com highspeedinternet.com, Viasat’s official Unleashed plan information viasat.com viasat.com, OneWeb partner documentation offshoreconnectivitypartners.nl satellitephonestore.com, Inmarsat GX references en.wikipedia.org inmarsat.com, and SES O3b mPOWER technical briefs sessd.com ses.com. These sources provide the mid-2025 data on speeds, pricing, latency, and features as cited throughout the report. Each service’s niche – from Starlink’s consumer focus to O3b’s carrier backbone role – underscores the diverse approaches in satellite broadband today.