Satellite Internet Speeds & Latency Compared

LEO vs GEO: Why Orbit Height Matters

Traditional satellite internet (HughesNet, Viasat) uses geostationary satellites at 35,786 km. At that distance, the speed of light alone imposes ~480 ms minimum round-trip latency — real-world latency is 600–700 ms. This makes GEO unsuitable for video calls, gaming and real-time apps.

LEO constellations like Starlink orbit at 340–570 km — roughly 1/60th the distance — reducing latency to 25–60 ms, comparable to cable broadband. This single difference is the most important factor in comparing satellite internet providers.

Speed Comparison: All Providers (2026)

Note: Starlink speeds vary significantly by region and time of day. In less congested areas, users routinely see 150–220 Mbps. In dense suburban areas during peak evening hours, speeds may drop to 25–50 Mbps. Kuiper figures are pre-launch targets based on Amazon's FCC filings and prototype testing.

Which Provider Is Best for Your Use Case?

Not all satellite internet needs are equal. A remote worker on Zoom has fundamentally different requirements from someone streaming Netflix. Here's how each provider stacks up by use case:

What Affects Satellite Internet Speed?

Subscriber density is the single biggest factor affecting real-world speeds. Satellite internet shares bandwidth across all users within a cell (approximately 15–25 km diameter for Starlink). More subscribers in your area means less capacity per person. This is why rural Starlink users consistently report faster speeds than suburban users.

Ground station proximity matters because data must travel from your dish, to the satellite, then down to a ground station connected to the internet backbone. Areas far from ground stations rely on inter-satellite laser links (OISL), which add latency. Starlink's laser link network now covers most of the planet, but routing through multiple satellite hops adds 5–15 ms.

Weather can attenuate satellite signals, particularly at Ka-band frequencies used by most providers. Heavy rain reduces speeds by 10–40% temporarily. Snow accumulation on the dish is also a factor — Starlink dishes have built-in heating to melt snow, which draws significant power.

Obstructions cause momentary dropouts. Trees, buildings, and other objects blocking the sky view interrupt the signal. Starlink requires roughly 100° of open sky for reliable service. Even a single large tree in the path can cause 30-second dropouts every few minutes.

Time of day follows predictable patterns. Speeds are highest in early morning (02:00–08:00) and lowest during evening peak hours (18:00–23:00). The difference can be dramatic — 200 Mbps at 3 AM vs 40 Mbps at 9 PM in the same location.

Latency Deep Dive: LEO vs GEO

Latency is often more important than raw download speed for user experience. A 50 Mbps connection with 40 ms latency feels faster than a 100 Mbps connection with 650 ms latency, because every click, scroll, and interaction responds almost instantly.

The physics are straightforward: light travels at 299,792 km/s. A signal to a GEO satellite at 35,786 km takes ~120 ms one way, plus the return trip, plus processing — resulting in 600–700 ms round-trip. A Starlink signal at 550 km takes ~1.8 ms one way, resulting in 25–50 ms round-trip including processing.

This 15× latency difference is transformative for any interactive application. GEO latency makes video calls feel sluggish (participants talk over each other), online gaming impossible (actions happen half a second late), and even web browsing noticeably slow (each resource request adds 600 ms of overhead).

Speed Trends: Is Starlink Getting Faster or Slower?

Starlink median download speeds have followed a pattern: they increase when SpaceX launches new capacity (new satellites or new orbital shells), then gradually decrease as subscriber growth outpaces capacity. In 2023, Ookla measured median Starlink downloads at approximately 65 Mbps in the US. By early 2025, this had improved to ~85 Mbps as V2 Mini satellites added significantly more capacity per satellite.

The long-term trajectory depends on the race between subscriber growth and constellation expansion. SpaceX's Starship, once operational for Starlink deployments, will enable much larger V3 satellites with substantially more capacity — potentially pushing median speeds above 150 Mbps even with continued subscriber growth.

How We Test Satellite Internet Speeds

Speed figures in this comparison are sourced from Ookla Speedtest data (the largest independent speed testing platform), FCC Broadband Data Collection reports, provider disclosures in FCC filings, and community-reported benchmarks. Where possible, we cite median rather than peak speeds, as medians better represent typical user experience.