Can You Stream with Satellite Internet?

The amount of data you need each month depends on how often you stream and what quality you stream in, along with what other activities you do online, of course.

No matter how much you stream, we recommend doing it in SD. That’s because streaming in HD or better uses 2.5 to 8 GB of data per hour.

That’s not a sustainable amount of data usage if you’re on a satellite internet plan with a low data cap. Higher video quality uses a lot more data, so you’ll gobble up your data cap quicker than a marathon runner gobbles up a protein snack after a run.

As a baseline, we think 25 GB of data each month is the bare minimum you’d need for streaming with satellite internet. That’s enough for a few two-hour movies (even if you stream them in HD), some episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and other online fun, like browsing through Facebook.

But we mentioned before and we’ll say it again: how much data you need depends on what you do online. So if you’re working from home while you catch all the 90s vibes watching several episodes of The Simpsons, you’ll need a lot more data each month than someone who watches Back to the Future in SD and sends a few emails.

To give you a better idea of how much data you might need each month, here’s how much data a two-hour movie and a 45-minute TV episode need depending on what quality you stream in.

If you need more data, you can add more—at a price. Both Hughesnet and Viasat let you add more high-speed data to your plan. You can buy up to 50GB of extra Hughesnet data or up to 60GB of high-speed Viasat data. Find out more about satellite internet data tokens in our guide to Hughesnet data and Viasat data.

If you reach your monthly data cap, your satellite internet provider can slow your download speeds. Typically, both Viasat and Hughesnet will slow your speeds to around 1 to 5 Mbps, which puts a severe damper on your streaming dreams.

However, there are some differences in how Viasat and Hughesnet approach their data caps.

Viasat’s plans technically don’t come with a set amount of monthly data, but instead, you get a data “soft cap” to work with. If you haven’t exceeded your data soft cap, you’ll continue to cruise along those digital highways at 35 to 150 Mbps, depending on which plan you have.

Once you exceed that data soft cap, Viasat says it might slow your speeds down to 1 to 5 Mbps during times when there’s a lot of internet traffic. So, if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to keep streaming Succession at 35 to 150Mbps. We recommend Viasat's Unleashed plan for users who never want to worry about slow speeds. It offers 850GB of high-speed data each month. You won't be able to buy additional data, but we don't think users will need to.

Hughesnet is more straightforward when it comes to data caps: you get 100 to 200 GB of data per month, depending on your plan. After that, your speeds are slowed from 50–100 Mbps down to 1 to 3 Mbps.

Those speeds make us cringe even more than the, uh, inspired creations featured in Nailed It!. And those speeds certainly aren’t optimal for streaming either.

There is one saving grace to Hughesnet, though. It gives you an extra 50 GB of data to use at 50 Mbps each month. But you’ll need to sign in to your Netflix during the Hughesnet Bonus Zone hours to get it—and those Bonus Zone hours are 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. local time. We hope you’re an early bird.

Satellite internet is notorious for high latency (also called ping), but that shouldn’t affect your video streaming much.

Latency measures how long it takes for data to travel from your device to your internet provider, then on to the streaming service, and back to your device.

Because Viasat and Hughesnet deliver your connection through satellites sitting thousands of miles above Earth’s orbit, that travel time can take a hot minute. This extreme distance is why high latency is pretty much a given with satellite internet.

But high latency mostly affects online activities like gaming, where the time it takes for you to press a button and for that button press to register in the game can mean the difference between your character’s life and death.

With video streaming, this kind of responsiveness is less critical, so you shouldn’t be too bothered by high latency. (However, if you plan on live streaming on YouTube, Facebook, or Twitch, you’ll see a lag between your actions on camera and your video feed.)

We recommend Viasat as the best satellite internet provider for streaming. That’s because Viasat comes with faster speeds of up to 150Mbps and higher data caps (up to 1 TB of priority data per month) than your only other option, Hughesnet. And those faster download speeds plus Viasat's higher data caps earned it our Editor's Choice award.

Starlink is another excellent satellite internet choice, but it's not yet wide-spread available. That means not everyone can install it, so keep that in mind and double-check your address before you commit.

Viasat is our top pick for satellite internet thanks to its fast speeds and high data caps.

We recommend the Viasat Unleashed plan for streaming because you’ll get way more data and faster speeds. Plus, with 850GB of high-speed data, Unleashed users won't need to worry about slow download speeds if they end up using too much data in a month.

You can learn more about why we recommend Viasat in our in-depth Viasat (Exede) review.

Yes, you can stream Netflix (and Hulu, Disney+, and many others) with Viasat satellite internet.

Netflix recommends the following speeds for streaming its latest original shows and fan favorites:

• Standard Definition (SD): 3 Mbps
• High Definition (HD): 5 Mbps
• Ultra HD/4K: 25 Mbps

So all of Viasat’s internet plans offer enough speed to stream in SD and HD, and its Unlimited plans come with fast enough download speeds for 4K.

But heads up: we recommend streaming in SD if you’re on a satellite internet connection.

Hughesnet’s internet plans come with 50–100 Mbps download speeds, though you'll have to pay for the most expensive plan to get 100 Mbps. Otherwise, you'll get 50 Mbps download speed, which means you can technically stream in up to 4K. But you’ll want more data and faster download speeds to keep a large home and family connected.

Still, Hughesnet may be a better deal if you’re looking to spend less money and don’t need faster speeds or more data.

Want to dig in a little more? Give our full-length Hughesnet review a look.

Yup, Hughesnet’s 15–50 Mbps download speeds are fast enough to stream Netflix, Hulu, Paramount+, or whatever streaming service you prefer.

Here are the speeds Hulu recommends for streaming:

• Hulu library (SD and HD): 3 Mbps
• Live streams (SD and HD): 8 Mbps
• 4K: 16 Mbps

Of course, while Hughesnet speeds would technically cut it for HD and 4K streaming, we recommend sticking to SD streaming with satellite internet.