Where to begin? Well, here, today, now.
I want to share my experiences with the HughesNet (supposed) "high-speed" internet service with readers. At best, the service can described as an overpriced and average performing ISP. Sometimes, while I'm waiting for the page to load, it can be best described as dialup-over-the-satellite (yes, it's that s-l-o-w).
And they won't do a thing about it.
I've had it for over 3-1/2 years. It was originally named DirecWay (I don't know if that makes a difference) and last year they switched the name to HughesNet. I live in an area where the only alternative is dialup (all you can eat for $20/month). HughesNet costs $60/mth.
Originally, it came with a fifteen-month contract, which included the price of the satellite dish and the modem you had to buy along with the service. That totaled about $160/mth. After the contract expired, it's been a month-to-month service for $60/mth.
And they have traffic limits too. Today, they're more restrictive than ever; about 190MB/day and continuing to vary, usually downwards. Originally, it was limited to 475MB over a 4-hour period. But sometime this year, that changed without any warning. And if you exceed that limit, they'll shut your service down for 24-hours. Want to hear something laughable? Call HughesNet Customer Service (it's routed to India), and try to get them to tell you what the limits are and what your traffic is. It's a secret. They can't / they won't tell you. Only a "finger-wagging" accusation that you've exceeded their traffic limits. Shame on you!!!
Pretty damned expensive service for what you get.
I'll have other thoughts about my experiences which I'll add soon. But my recommendation based on my experiences, is that if you can avoid HughesNet, do it at all costs. Otherwise, you'll find the same frustration that I and plenty of other users have found it to be.
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2 comments:
I've had the service for over 5 years, and frustration does not adequately describe my feelings about this company. I'm to the point that I want to call one of those TV lawyers to find out if there is a class action lawsuit possibility to get back some of the money I've wasted on this "service". There are so many people in "rural" areas that have no other choice. I'm only one mile from a BellSouth access point, but because I live on the county line I'm restricted to service by Windstream and they honestly said it's not "cost effective" for them to provide DSL service.
Hughesnet knows they have a monopoly on the satellite business, so they don't have to get better.
Anon at 7:35p
I hear ya.
My local phone company is Frontier Communications and they say it will be a good 10 years before they can offer high-speed service. They stop about 5 miles away. A local high-speed service (which is pretty good) stops about 10 miles away. And the AT&T service is about 10 miles away.
It's also interesting that if google "Hughes Net, on the 2nd page of results, you start to get comments like
this and this.
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