The latency of Viasat satellite internet connections is not expected to change when Viasat 3 comes online. However, other qualities are expected to improve dramatically.

Latency and satellite internet

Latency can be a confusing topic and many people associate latency with having a slow or poor connection, but that isn’t the case. Latency is essentially the measurement of how long the connection is delayed. If two people were in a race and travelling at the same speed, but one of them starts before the other, then the person who starts first will finish first. That delay before starting is the latency here and it’s typically small enough that it’s measured in milliseconds. Satellite internet typically has a delay of about 650ms, or a little more than half a second.

Does latency matter?

For most people, a half second delay before a webpage or movie starts to load is going to go unnoticed. There are some exceptions though. Satellite internet isn’t very well suited to some kinds of online gaming. First-person shooters, for example, are going to be practically unplayable without quite a bit of frustration. Anything that requires precise timing and quick reactions isn’t going to work very well. There are plenty of other types of online games that are completely unaffected though.

If you aren’t a competitive online gamer, latency is probably not something you need to give a second thought. It will take longer for you to have that second thought than it will for a webpage to load.