Viasat vs. Frontier Internet Providers Compared

Viasat offers a variety of price points and speeds to fit your budget

Viasat offers much higher speeds than its longtime competitor, HughesNet. While HughesNet only offers download speeds up to 25 Mbps, Viasat offers download speeds up to 150 Mbps in select areas. For the first-tier Viasat internet plan at 12 Mbps download speed, you will pay an introductory price of about $50/month.. For the 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload plan, you will start with a $70/month charge. These Viasat internet plan prices are comparable to HughesNet prices and cheaper than Starlink prices. Viasat features many more plan options than HughesNet, and much higher allowances for monthly high-speed data. All Viasat plans come with unlimited standard data, so you don’t have to worry about overage charges. And where HughesNet will only grant you up to 200 GB of monthly high-speed data, Viasat has plans that go up to 500 GB/month. To give you a rough idea of how much data that is, you can watch about 500 hours of HD movie streaming with 500 GB. The highest data plans from both HughesNet and Viasat will cost you more, of course. The 200 GB plan from HughesNet is $150/month. The 500 GB plan from Viasat is $300/month. But as you can see from comparing those prices, Viasat’s top plan gives you more for your dollar. And if you just really need a lot of high-speed data, Viasat is the clear choice. Be aware that like HughesNet, Viasat requires a two-year contract. If you cancel early, you will pay an early termination fee. You can get a no-contract plan for a non-refundable upfront payment of $500. Viasat has also launched plans called “Liberty” plans, which have free, unlimited data from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. “Choice” plans are on the way with a slightly different pricing structure as well, deploying as the new satellite begins service. So Viasat customers will have no shortage of options. You can type in your zip code here at CompareInternet.com to see details of all the Viasat plans available to you. If you work from home, you have a great new option from Viasat. Viasat Office Hours is an optional service that allows you to use standard work-related applications from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time without consuming any of your High-Speed plan data. You will be able to use Google, Office 365, Adobe programs, Sharepoint, Zoom, MS Teams, and many other popular applications. Viasat Office Hours is currently available for an additional $40/month, and many employers may be willing to reimburse you for the plan given its exclusive business focus. Office Hours is a pricing offer unique to Viasat, and could be a game changer for remote workers.

Frontier will give you a good deal on fiber, but DSL varies widely

Frontier is the 8th-largest internet service provider in the United States, with 2.8 million broadband subscribers [1]. The company has a total of 9.9 million copper passings and 5.5 million fiber passings, which means that in mid-2023, over 64% of their potential customers had only a DSL option [2]. Frontier’s main distinction among fiber internet providers is that you will get faster speeds compared to the competition. For example, Frontier’s first-tier fiber plan costs about $50 per month at present, like many of its rivals. But that Frontier plan will give you 500 Mbps download and upload speeds, where the other fiber providers tend to start at 200 Mbps and 300 Mbps. With modem-router rental included and no data caps, Frontier Fiber offers the kind of simple, clear pricing that earns high ratings from us. The only drawback is that Frontier Internet (the name for their DSL plans) does not provide the same kind of bargain. Frontier pricing is just average for DSL in the industry at $49.99/month. Plus, the DSL speed you will be able to get at your address will vary depending on infrastructure. (DSL usually ranges from 3-50 Mbps download and 1-3 Mbps upload.) Average DSL pricing in the industry is not a great deal for customers compared to cable and fiber pricing. That’s why Frontier and many other providers are moving away from copper-based service in favor of fiber.

Viasat delivers fast, reliable internet with ever-improving technology

Viasat recently launched the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite, which will increase bandwidth and speed for Viasat customers [4]. The Viasat fleet will continue to grow in 2023 and 2024, keeping Viasat at the head of the industry in geosynchronous satellite technology. You’ll get a solid, reliable internet connection from Viasat. Keep in mind that the military uses satellite internet for their operations. That’s because satellite internet survives in circumstances when cable or fiber internet might be out for days or weeks. Satellite internet can’t be harmed by an earthly accident, a weather catastrophe, or an attack on wired infrastructure. So in that sense, satellite internet is more reliable than wired internet. That’s why Viasat offers special “backup internet” plans for small businesses to minimize service disruption from outages. It’s true that heavy rain or snow can sometimes cause “rain fade,” which is a weakening or interruption in the satellite internet signal. But rain fade is only temporary. The one caveat about your Viasat internet speed is that your maximum speed will vary depending on where you live. Your plan options can vary from 12 Mbps to 150 Mbps download speed. That’s a wide range, but your speed may be better than DSL in many instances. Upload speeds from Viasat will remain consistent for all plans at about 3 Mbps.

Frontier Fiber offers speed and reliability, but their widespread DSL lags behind

Just like pricing, performance for Frontier plans is heavily split depending on whether you get fiber or DSL. With Frontier Fiber, you can get anywhere from 500 Mbps to 5000 Mbps symmetrical upload and download speeds. That’s right up there with the top few providers in the fiber internet business. And $99.99/month for the 2 Gig plan is cheaper than comparable offerings from other ISPs, as is the pricing for the 5 Gig plan. These multigigabit speeds will be more than sufficient for very large households with many devices all streaming or gaming simultaneously. Even 500 Mbps is still a lot of speed and will be more than capable of supporting a five- or six-person home and all the devices in it. DSL performance will be unpredictable, but the only constant is that it will not deliver fiber-like performance. If you’re very lucky, you’ll get a speed above the FCC’s standard of broadband internet (25 Mbps/3 Mbps). With that speed, you’ll be able to do most standard internet activities such as streaming and browsing, though you’ll have to watch how many devices are online at once. But if you get a speed that’s 10 Mbps or lower, you may find your service glitching or freezing during heavy-data tasks.

Viasat equipment: buy upfront or take option of monthly rental fee

If you want to buy your Viasat dish and modem/router upfront, it will cost you $299. That will save you some money if you don’t have to pay the monthly rental fee of $13 for two years. For customers whose credit scores qualify, installation is free. But all others will pay a $100 installation fee.

Installation fees

Frontier provides your basic modem/router at no charge when you get DSL or fiber internet. For both tech types, standard installation fee is $100. At present, though fiber installation cost is included at no cost with the fiber plan order. There’s an odd quirk about Frontier installation, though. Usually, companies that offer both DSL and fiber are more likely to have a free self-install for the DSL, and mandatory tech installation for the fiber. But in Frontier’s case, the self-installation option is for some fiber plans, not for DSL Some fiber customers can self-install their own fiber if their household is eligible for a self-install kit. For any multi-gig fiber plan, though, (2 Gigs and up) a tech installation is necessary.

Viasat’s customer satisfaction average, but 24/7 customer support is strong

On many popular online review sites, Viasat tends to score slightly above average for customer satisfaction. When customers are not satisfied, their comments are often related to the innate differences of satellite technology. It’s true that satellite speeds cannot approach the speeds of cable or fiber. That’s why it’s not too surprising that Viasat has some customers online who are not happy that their speeds are not fast enough. But it’s hard to get a more objective read on overall customer satisfaction, because Viasat does not appear in the J.D. Power 2022 Survey of Residential Internet Service Customer Satisfaction. Viasat does provide extensive online and phone support, with live reps available 24/7 to help with any issues. The online resource library is clear and on target with common types of information that customers might need. Viasat also has a convenient online portal called My Viasat to manage any aspect of your service. My Viasat also works through an app that you can download on your smartphone. The EasyCare service may also be worth the $9/month you will pay to have all your service calls covered ($95), a dish relocation covered ($200), and premium customer support with the dedicated EasyCare line.

Frontier Fiber shows strong performance in customer satisfaction

Frontier's reviews have improved greatly with increased fiber service, as is reflected in higher rankings in the J.D. Power Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction study [3]. Frontier's sharp rise in the rankings is a promising sign that if you get Frontier Fiber, you will be happy with your choice. In addition, Frontier outranks even strong fiber competitors in the well-regarded national survey known as Net Promoter Score [4].