While all Viasat plans come with unlimited data, they each have different download speeds and data thresholds to meet the needs of every customer. Viasat’s data thresholds function differently from data caps found in plans from other satellite internet providers, which will either cut off your internet when you reach the data cap or surprise you with extra charges on your next bill. The data threshold on Viasat plans means that you have a certain amount of data that gives you prioritized download speeds each month. Once you surpass that threshold, you can continue to use the internet for as long as you want without any additional charge, but your data will be prioritized behind that of other customers during peak network congestion. That said, with plans offering data thresholds anywhere from 15GB to 300 GB, there will certainly be a plan that meets your satellite internet needs.

How Much Data do Different Activities Use?

Browsing: you will use about 1 GB for every 5.5 hours of browsing the web. That’s not a lot of data, but if you browse this much every day, the 30 GB of data used will surpass the data thresholds of Viasat’s smallest plan, which offers 15GB of prioritized data each month. If you work from home and use the internet throughout the day, Viasat’s smallest plans won’t leave much room for other internet activities, such as streaming, for when your work day ends. In this case, choosing a plan with more data would be a good idea.

Streaming music: you can listen to a lot of music without eating up a lot of data. It would take about 18 hours of continuous listening to use 1 GB of data. This means that even on Viasat’s smallest plan, you can stream music for 9 hours a day continuously without going over your data threshold.

Streaming video: this is where it’s possible to eat up a lot of data fast. Watching one movie in SD will use around 1.4GB of data. Watch that same movie in 4K definition and you’ve used enough data to surpass a 15GB data threshold in one swoop. Streaming platforms give you control of the video quality, which if used wisely can greatly lengthen your streaming hours each month. On top of this, Viasat offers a free data period early every morning. This is a time when internet traffic is low, so any internet activity won’t add to your monthly Viasat data usage. You can take advantage of this window to download videos to watch offline later. If you expect to do a lot of streaming, choosing a plan with a higher data threshold is a good idea. Whatever your data needs are, Viasat has a plan for you.

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