Explainer
Why old satellite internet lags
It’s distance: every click travels to a satellite about 22,236 miles up and back, twice. Here’s the math, what it does to your day, and what changes with low orbit.
Answer first · current to
HughesNet’s latency (lag) is so high because its satellites are so far away. They sit in geostationary orbit, 35,786 km (about 22,236 miles) above the equator, and every request and its reply each go up and down: at least 143,144 km, about 477 ms at the speed of light before any equipment adds its share. In Ookla’s US tests for Q1 2026, median lag was 674 ms on HughesNet, 750 ms on Viasat and 39 ms on Starlink, whose satellites fly far lower.
How far away is a HughesNet satellite?
A geostationary satellite circles the Earth once a day, exactly as fast as the Earth turns. Seen from your yard, it hangs still over one point on the equator. That’s why the old dish is bolted in place and never moves. In Hughes’ words, it needs an open line of sight to the southern sky, because the dish points at one satellite parked over the equator. Viasat works the same way.
The catch is height. That kind of orbit only works at one altitude: 35,786 km, or about 22,236 miles.
Why is HughesNet latency so high? Follow one click
When you click a link, your request doesn’t go straight to the website. It goes up to the satellite, down to a Hughes ground station, and out over the internet. The answer comes back the same way. Four trips through space, each at least the satellite’s full height:
| Leg of the trip | Distance, at least |
|---|---|
| 1. Your dish up to the satellite | 35,786 km |
| 2. Satellite down to the ground station | 35,786 km |
| 3. The reply, ground station up to the satellite | 35,786 km |
| 4. Satellite down to your dish | 35,786 km |
| Total | 143,144 km |
Radio signals travel at the speed of light, and even light needs about 477 ms for that distance. That’s the floor, not the real figure. From the US, the satellite isn’t straight overhead, so each leg is a longer, slanted path. The modem, the satellite’s electronics, the ground station and the internet beyond it all add their own time.
US median lag (latency), Q1 2026
- HughesNet
- 674 ms
- Viasat
- 750 ms
- Starlink
- 39 ms
Medians from Ookla’s US satellite report for Q1 2026. Lower is better.
Hughes doesn’t dispute it. In its bankruptcy filing of Aug 2, 2026, Hughes told the court that its kind of orbit means a round-trip delay of about 600 ms.
What lag does to calls, games and web pages
- Video and phone calls. Each of you hears the other late, so you talk over each other, then both stop. At HughesNet’s median of 674 ms, every reply arrives about two-thirds of a second late.
- Online games. Fast games need your move to reach the server in a blink. With geostationary lag, the other players see you late, every time. Slow, turn-based games are fine.
- Web pages and apps. Before a page starts to show, your device and the website trade several messages: finding the site, opening a secure connection, asking for the page. Each one pays the full delay, so a few of them add up to seconds, even on a fast plan.
- Work logins, VPNs and remote desktops. Every click waits for a reply, which makes them feel like they’re stuck in mud.
- Doorbell and camera apps. Live view starts slowly, and talking through the doorbell lags behind the person at the door.
Why a faster plan doesn’t fix lag
Speed and lag are different things. Speed (in Mbps) is how wide the pipe is: how much can flow at once. Lag is how long the pipe is: how long anything takes to get through. HughesNet’s plans offer up to 100 Mbps download and up to 5 Mbps upload, depending on the plan, and a bigger plan widens the pipe, but every trip is still the same length. It’s like adding lanes to a highway to a faraway town: more cars fit, but the drive takes just as long.
How low orbit changes the math
Starlink’s satellites fly roughly 340 to 570 km (about 210 to 355 miles) up, depending on the orbital shell. A geostationary satellite is about 60 to 105 times farther away than Starlink's satellites. For Starlink, it’s about 5 to 8 ms of pure travel time for a satellite straight overhead.
Real-world lag is higher than that, because the signal still goes through ground stations and out over the internet, and the satellites are rarely straight overhead. Ookla’s independent median for Starlink was 39 ms in Q1 2026. Starlink says that in June 2025 its US median latency at peak hours was 25.7 ms, and under 1% of US readings topped 55 ms. Hughes agrees on the general point. Hughes told the court that low-orbit satellites deliver latency typically in the range of 20 to 40 milliseconds.
Low orbit has a cost, too. A low satellite crosses your sky in minutes, so the dish keeps switching between many satellites spread across a wide patch of sky. That’s why Starlink needs much more open sky than an old dish that stares at one point to the south. Will Starlink work where your dish is?
When lag doesn’t matter much
Some things barely notice it:
- Email, news and shopping. There’s a pause before each page, but everything works.
- Streaming video. Lag only delays the start. Once a show is playing, the app keeps a few seconds stored ahead, and speed and data limits matter more.
- Downloads and updates. These depend on speed and your data allowance, not on lag.
If that’s most of what your household does, lag on its own isn’t a strong reason to change providers. Data limits and evening speed may still be. How data limits compare
Reality check
Lag alone isn’t a reason to switch if…
- Your household mostly emails, browses and streams, nobody video-calls or games, and your plan is affordable and working.
- You’re early in a contract with a large early termination fee. Work out the fee before anything else.
- Trees or buildings block most of the sky around your house. Low-orbit service needs a wide open view.
What switchers ask
Can I lower my HughesNet ping?
Only a little. Use a cable instead of Wi-Fi for the device that matters and pause big downloads during calls. Most of the delay is the distance to the satellite, which no setting changes.
Is Viasat’s lag better than HughesNet’s?
No. In Ookla’s US medians for Q1 2026, Viasat’s lag was 750 ms and HughesNet’s 674 ms. Both use geostationary satellites, so both start from the same long trip.
Does Viasat’s new satellite fix the lag?
No. Viasat's ViaSat-3 F2 satellite entered service over the Americas on Sept 17, 2026. It sits in the same geostationary orbit, so the trip is just as long. More capacity can help speeds at busy times, not lag.
Is Starlink’s lag low enough for video calls and gaming?
For most households, yes. Ookla’s US median for Starlink was 39 ms in Q1 2026, low enough for video calls and most online games. It varies by area and can rise at busy hours.
Where these facts come from
We took every figure and rule on this page from the pages below; the oldest reading dates from . Terms move often, so confirm with the provider before you cancel or order.
- CODATA Value: speed of light in vacuum
- Declaration of Robert Del Genio in Support of Chapter 11 Petitions and Requests for First Day Relief (Doc 4)
- FCC Gives SpaceX Approval for 7,500 More Starlink Gen2 Satellites
- Hughesnet Subscriber Agreement (new services ordered on or after July 8, 2025)
- Hughesnet: Satellite Internet for Rural America
- Ookla's 2026 US Starlink speed report
- Starlink network update page
- Starlink support: moving your service address
- Starlink support: the referral program
- Starlink's US Residential price list (no address)
- Starlink's US Roam price list (no address)
- Types of orbits
- ViaSat-3 F2 Enters Service, Expanding Capacity and Enabling Growth Across the Americas
Checking method: each price, fee and rule here links to the provider’s or regulator’s own page, dated the day we read it. No internet provider pays for a place on this site; the only income is the Starlink referral explained on our money page. Our fact-checking · How we make money · Corrections