Anybody have experience with ViaSat internet?

[comfortably_numb]

Started seeing new ViaSat dishes pop up around town the last month or so. They have a promo for "unlimited" 50/3 internet for $100 per month. I know the latency is probably not good, but the price is becoming competitive with my phone company's DSL.

Anybody have experience with ViaSat? Anybody ever hit the "soft cap" and been throttled?

 

[JSheridan]

Started seeing new ViaSat dishes pop up around town the last month or so. They have a promo for "unlimited" 50/3 internet for $100 per month. I know the latency is probably not good, but the price is becoming competitive with my phone company's DSL.

Anybody have experience with ViaSat? Anybody ever hit the "soft cap" and been throttled?

How much experience do you want? I've personally installed hundreds and have a modem sitting here about 3 feet away from me right now.

Latency is usually about 625 to 800ms. The performance all depends on the satellite and beam that you are using. If you can get a 50 meg download speed then that's probably on the new Viasat 2 satellite that's just opening up. (I don't have any experience with Viasat 2 yet as they haven't opened up in our area). Check what the soft data cap is on the plan you're interested in and be sure that $100 isn't only for the first 3 months. After you hit the cap you get 'prioritized' which means they slow you down and if you still use a lot they really slow you down.

 

[comfortably_numb]

How much experience do you want? I've personally installed hundreds and have a modem sitting here about 3 feet away from me right now.

Latency is usually about 625 to 800ms. The performance all depends on the satellite and beam that you are using. If you can get a 50 meg download speed then that's probably on the new Viasat 2 satellite that's just opening up. (I don't have any experience with Viasat 2 yet as they haven't opened up in our area). Check what the soft data cap is on the plan you're interested in and be sure that $100 isn't only for the first 3 months. After you hit the cap you get 'prioritized' which means they slow you down and if you still use a lot they really slow you down.

I called this morning and they said they have up to 100/3 available in my zip code. The dishes they’re putting up here have a big square shiny LNB on them

 

[JSheridan]

I called this morning and they said they have up to 100/3 available in my zip code. The dishes they’re putting up here have a big square shiny LNB on them

Yup, that's for Viasat 2 for sure. Lucky you. There aren't going to be very many areas that have 100 meg beams.

Your performance should be very good at least until they start to fill up your beam and/or ground gateway capacity.

If you do decide to go with them then you should order from a local retailer if you can as your chances for a good install are much better that way.

And one more thing just FYI. We get a free show room Viasat account with a 150GB monthly cap and a free Hughesnet Gen5 account with a soft cap at 50GB and guess what, we pay for 10Mbps DSL which is what I use most all the time.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Yup, that's for Viasat 2 for sure. Lucky you. There aren't going to be very many areas that have 100 meg beams.

Your performance should be very good at least until they start to fill up your beam and/or ground gateway capacity.

If you do decide to go with them then you should order from a local retailer if you can as your chances for a good install are much better that way.

And one more thing just FYI. We get a free show room Viasat account with a 150GB monthly cap and a free Hughesnet Gen5 account with a soft cap at 50GB and guess what, we pay for 10Mbps DSL which is what I use most all the time.

Yeah, this is a big deal for my town of 998 people, where until now all we’ve had access to is 20/1.5 DSL. The Verizon tower in my back yard has copper feeding it; I get 50/25 on my cell and hotspot. But for a main ISP, 100/3 is huge here.

 

[JSheridan]

Yeah, this is a big deal for my town of 998 people, where until now all we’ve had access to is 20/1.5 DSL. The Verizon tower in my back yard has copper feeding it; I get 50/25 on my cell and hotspot. But for a main ISP, 100/3 is huge here.

To be honest because of the latency you'll probably get better overall performance with the 20/1.5 DSL.

 

[Bobby]

Hah, my AT&T max DSL is 1.5 down, .6 up. That’s why I have Comcast. This is from an AT&T retiree...

 

[comfortably_numb]

I’m getting 116/48 off the Verizon tower in my yard right now

 

[JSheridan]

I’m getting 116/48 off the Verizon tower in my yard right now

View attachment 132401

Holy crap! You might better just stick with that.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Holy crap! You might better just stick with that.

Trust me, if Verizon had a legit, unlimited LTE hotspot, I would!

 

[comfortably_numb]

This is what the dish for ViaSat 2 looks like. They are easy to spot because the tria is so shiny that it really reflects the sun

 

[HipKat]

Not to make anyone mad, but….

 

[JSheridan]

Not to make anyone mad, but…. View attachment 132403

Not mad, just sad.

 

[brejust]

hi read this thread.

anyone heard of this for isp? kinda expensive but promises for rural areas.
someone posted this link there
Viasat Launches 100 Mbps ‘Platinum’ Tier with Unlimited Data

 

[comfortably_numb]

hi read this thread.

anyone heard of this for isp? kinda expensive but promises for rural areas.
someone posted this link there
Viasat Launches 100 Mbps ‘Platinum’ Tier with Unlimited Data

Thanks. I had forgotten about that thread, and specifically, the fact that ViaSat throttles video on every plan except the 100/3. I have a VPN so I can get around it, but it still rubs me the wrong way that they tell us what we can and can’t do with their pipe.

 

[JSheridan]

Thanks. I had forgotten about that thread, and specifically, the fact that ViaSat throttles video on every plan except the 100/3. I have a VPN so I can get around it, but it still rubs me the wrong way that they tell us what we can and can’t do with their pipe.

Most VPN's are pretty slow on satellite internet because of the latency.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Most VPN's are pretty slow on satellite internet because of the latency.

That makes sense. Adding more hops. Anyways, glad I started the thread. Made up my mind to keep the DSL.

 

[fmj77]

You're probably better off staying with the slower DSL connection, especially if it's stable. I've had Viasat for years now since it's the best internet I can get in my area. It slows down to a crawl during primetime hours and you really have to watch your data to keep from going over. I have a 150GB/month plan for $100 and am usually close to hitting the cap at the end of each month. I'm a gamer and with games getting huge nowadays, it's hard to stay withing 150GB.

 

[navychop]

What kind of games could you possibly play with that kind of lag?

 

[fmj77]

What kind of games could you possibly play with that kind of lag?

Most games will work except for a lot of first person shooters. I don't do a lot of online gaming anyway. I'm more of a single player campaign person. Games on Steam and GOG have gotten massive in size the last few years. Some pushing 60GB.