Which is better - 4G or satellite internet?

A satellite internet service offers a number of different subscription packages including unlimited data options.

However with most types of satellite internet, only a small "priority" monthly data allowance is actually delivered at full speed. Once this has been used up (and in most households, it very quickly will be), your satellite internet connection speed will immediately and automatically be throttled right back to frustratingly slow levels for the rest of the month.

With our 4G internet service, although a 'fair use' policy does apply, this is set at more than twice the average household's monthly data usage, so your connection should operate at the maximum speed available all of the time.

Find out more about our best 4G broadband plans.

Fast 4G Broadband

A satellite internet service offers a number of different subscription packages including unlimited data options.

If you're lucky enough to live near a mast that's been 4G+ enabled, with our equipment you could potentially experience 4G internet speeds in excess of 150 Mbps. That said, when measured across the UK as a whole, the average 4G internet performance that customers can expect is around 25 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload.

But as mentioned above, if you're using satellite internet, only a small so-called “priority” data allowance is provided at full speed each month. Once this has been consumed, your satellite internet connection will automatically be throttled to a fraction of this initial performance until the start of the next month.

If you'd like to find out how the performance of your current broadband connection measures up, check out our quick and easy broadband speed test.

Speed Test

As might be expected, a “wired” broadband connection to a property will always be more reliable than wireless technology, which can be affected by external factors like high winds, heavy rainfall or snow.

Satellite internet relies upon a wireless connection to a satellite that is anything up to 36,000km away. As such, a satellite-based connection is far more likely to be adversely affected by factors such as poor weather, tree growth or any minute movement in dish alignment.

In contrast, 4G internet is delivered via mobile phone masts that are typically no more than 8km away, so your service will be much more robust and weather conditions would have to be remarkably severe to impair performance.

This is slightly technical, but we'll try to explain this in simple terms!

Latency is an important factor in internet connection performance. It's the time it takes for an online resource (like a website) to receive a request and respond. It's usually measured by a ping test in milliseconds or ms. Latency with traditional landline broadband is typically around 10-20ms.

For a 4G internet connection, the latency will usually be a little higher - typically around 30-40ms. Unless you're a fanatical gamer where split-second feedback is desirable, this minor increase won't have any noticeable impact on your online experience.

However, latency with satellite internet can run far higher, with levels of around 400ms not being unusual. That's because all your internet communications are running both ways through a satellite that's in orbit around the earth. That means a round trip of thousands of kilometres - and even at the speed of light, that induces a significant and frustrating delay while waiting for things to load. This is another important consideration to be aware of, when weighing up what broadband service is right for you.

This may well be important to you if you're in a rural setting.

If there's strong 4G signal where you are, all you'll need to receive a 4G internet service is a normal sized 4G WiFi router that sits inside your property. And even if you're in a weaker 4G coverage area, we'll fit an unobtrusive outdoor 4G antenna to your property, measuring just 11.5 inches by 7 inches. This small yet very effective device latches onto and amplifies the best available 4G signal before piping it down to the 4G router installed inside your property.

Our antenna really does make a world of difference and lets us provide fast and stable 4G internet at locations where smartphones report the available 4G signal as being very poor. You can find out more about our 4G antenna and router here.

Our Equipment

Things are very different with satellite internet. For that, you'll need a large 30 inch diameter dish with protruding arm fitted to the outside of your property. This is much larger than a Sky TV satellite dish and is also solid metal rather than mesh, so it will be very conspicuous.

An outdoor 4G antenna

A satellite broadband dish