About Starlink Best Effort vs Viasat: Choosing the best internet when living in rural areas can be daunting since not many ISPs venture there.
However, recently, Starlink joined Viasta and other satellite ISPs to ensure a plethora of choices for remote area internet.
While both have a differing mode of operation, they offer reliability and several plans to suit your needs.
In today’s article, I will compare Starlink’s best effort vs Viasat to help you choose the most suitable.
Starlink Best Effort vs Viasat: Definition
Before we can check how they compare, let’s first discuss what both these services are.
What is Starlink’s Best Effort
As you may already know, Starlink introduced its LEO satellite internet in 2019 in the US and expanded to Canada.
By 2022, the ISP had gained so many subscribers that it could not satisfy them all.
Seeing people struggle to get out of waitlists in full-capacity areas, Starlink introduced the best-effort plan.
While the service costs the same as residential, many loved it due to its ability to pause and restart.
You can also use it until residential Stalink becomes available, in which case Starlink upgrades you automatically.
Starlink antennae on the ground
What is Viasat
On the other hand, Viasat is an American ISP with headquarters in Carlsbad, California.
Like Starlink, Viasat is also a satellite internet company targeting rural areas.
While its speeds are also tremendous, they are averagely lower than Starlink.
The explanation is that the ISP uses Geo Satellites, far from the earth’s surface, unlike Stalink, which uses LEO satellites.
Starlink Best Effort vs Viasat: Performance
Now that you know the definition of both services, let’s see how they fair in terms of performance and price:
Availability
As we said earlier, Starlink Started its services in the US and expanded to Canada, Mexico, and other parts of the world.
The company continues to launch more satellites, aiming for global coverage, especially in underserved areas.
By writing this, the ISP had launched over 5000 satellites with an ultimate aim of 42000 to ensure global reach.
Having done so, it is now available in Africa, Europe, Asia, and many other markets.
It is correct to assume that its best efforts are theoretically available globally.
However, you can only get the best-effort plan if your area is fully operational.
Viasat is also available globally, albeit with less reach than Starlink.
With that said, expect to experience the service in several countries and continents, including the US, Australia, and Europe.
Speed and Latency
The good thing about Starlink’s best-effort speed and latency is that it’s way better than Viasiat and Hughnet.
The ISP uses LEO satellites, which are just 550km from the earth’s surface, thus shortening signal travel distance.
Therefore, expect the speed to be up to 220 Mbps for downloads and 10-25 Mbps for uploads.
This speed is the one that residential users experience at any time.
The latency is between 20 to 40 ms, which is excellent for recreational gaming and streaming; however, since best effort is always deprioritized during congestion.
On the other hand, Vista is also a decent ISP with internet speeds ranging from 25 to 100, depending on your plan.
While this performance may seem good, it comes with various data caps depending on the plan.
The upload speeds are between 2 and 5 Mbps, while the latency can clock even 600 ms.
The disparity with Starlink is because Viasat uses satellites over 25000 Km from the Earth.
Internet speed concept
Pros and Cons
| pros | cons | |
| Starlink best effort | Low monthly cost High-speed internet Low latency | Expensive equipmentDepriritized during congestionWanting customer care |
| Viasat | Affordable equipmentDecent speed With various plans Excellent customer care | Expensive monthly cost Comes with data caps and contactsHigh latency |
Price
If you go for Starlink’s best effort, you typically incur the same cost as the residential package users.
That said, expect to pay $599 for the Starlink kit, including a dish, router, stand, and cables.
The monthly price is $120, but the good thing is you can pause and restart the service at your convenience.
Additionally, the plan is mainly temporal, and Starlink upgrades your internet to residential once a slot becomes available.
In contrast, your price for Viasat service depends on your chosen plan. For instance, the cheapest plan, choice 25, costs $69.99, a basic internet plan for one person.
The next is choice 75, which offers 150 GB of high-speed data at 75 Mbps for $149.99.
From there, you get 300 GB of high-speed data for $199.99 at 100 Mbps. Lastly, the highest plan of 100 Mbps for 500 GB data costs $299.99 monthly.
While you can use basic data when you exhaust the high-speed data, what puts most people off is the 2-year contract.
Additionally, the ISP requires you to lease the equipment for $9.99 per month or buy it permanently for $299.99.
As you can see, Starlink looks cheaper when you compare it with the premium Viasat monthly plan.
Installation
In my experience, Starlink is an easy self-installation kit. After all, it comes with a stand and a manual to aid installation without requiring a technician.
However, for custom installation, you may need to hire someone and purchase specialized equipment such as mounts.
When it comes to Viasat, the company requires professional installation.
Amazingly, it sends you a technician who installs the equipment in your house at no cost.
Note that you may need to buy some accessories to facilitate a custom installation.
A man installing a Stalink antenna
Contacting Customer Service
As in all ISPs, sometimes you need customer care to solve issues such as connection or payment.
When that time comes, nothing pisses me off like an irresponsive customer care service. With that said, I found Viasat to have the better customer care of the two ISPs.
You just need to call them using their phone number and get your issue resolved. Interestingly, I tried it, and it worked.
In contrast, my research found Starlink customer care is not that responsive.
Plus, it is very tedious that you will have to visit their website and fill out a form explaining your problem.
Another put-off is that you must wait for some days for a response or solution. They do not have a dedicated number or email, making their customer care inferior.
Viasat vs Starlink Best Effort: Which Is Better
Sometimes, choosing the best service between the two is not that straightforward due to preference.
For example, some consider a budget, while others want performance and availability. In my research, anyway, I found the Starlink best effort to be the better option.
It has no contracts or data caps, and its monthly price and performance are better than Viasat premium.
Wrap up
You can see that the best effort is better than Viasat, especially if you use the internet heavily. The good thing is you get an automatic upgrade to residential, and you can pause and restart it.