I've had it with HughesNet!!! Need Advice

[NuBota]

Eddie, EVDO would be the first thing I would look at. If you get good cell phone reception at your house, then find out which provider has EVDO coverage. I did a quick look and it looks like All-tel has coverage near Tyler. Even if you can only get 1xRTT (slower than EVDO but it you have a cell phone - you have it too) it's 60-90K speeds

That said, you can take it further than just a USB or PC card device in your PC. Once you buy the device and service, you can get a router and/or "base" antenna. There are also amplifiers. I have a coworker that has this setup because his only other choice was satellite and he loves it. I will find out what he is using

Not sure this is the best site out there - but did a quick search and it has some good info

What is EVDO : EVDOinfo.com

I has info about all the cell companies and EVDO and also a "store" for all the add-on gear. It has coverage maps as well.

The cell phones companies are constantly upgrading the network. This is more encouraging than cable, telco, etc. And no matter how good they make the dishes and modems, them satellites ain't getting any closer - and the latency is the killer.

I had DirecWay for about 12 months back in 02-03. Cable company decided to extend to our area, so switching was a no brainer - but I feel your pain. Satellite does well for what it is - but the support was bad then too. Luckily I could fix most issues myself - or direct the support folks (I'm in IT) and found one tech that was very good and always requested his Company if I needed a "qualified" tech to visit.

There may be other wireless companies near you, but they will be small and probably spotty as well. And even if ADSL isn't available from your telco, there may be other vendors offering other flavors of DSL - but it will be a crap-shoot as well since they still depend on the telco infrastructure.

Good luck
-Eric

 

[JMER817]

I too had used a local wireless service company and after continued problems decided to try something else. I went with the Sprint broadband card and so far it is performing well. They offer a 30 day money back trial period. I've attached some comparison data. Keep in mind that they limit you to 5G of download a month...which is a lot unless you are downloading videos all day. There is a router at Best-Buy that will allow you to use both your desktop and laptop at the same time, but it is rather expensive right now ($250). I'll wait for that price to come down and just swap the USB Sprint modem back and forth for now.

 

[Lasgambler]

I thought I was the one with the most problems with Hughesnet. I had it for almost 5 years. Never seemed to work right. Had the 3000, 4000, and then the 7000 modem. 4000 was hit by lighting.

I was out of contract, so as Eddie said, $125. for him to drive up the drive way. We lost service and it took almost 5 weeks for them to schedule a tech to come out to the middle of nowhere. When they finally scheduled, I told them to "Forget it"

I now have a Sprint mobile broadband card in my laptop, its slow but I love it.
I also have a USB card for my wifes PC. So now instead of $60 per mo. We are paying $120 per mo.

Anybody want to buy a couple of sat. internet dishes and a box full of modems? lol

Eddie there is another option besides Hughes and Wild Blue and that is Starband. I know someone that has it and seems to do O.K. with it.

Good Luck.

 

[riptides]

Check the web site mentioned earlier. They support all three major vendors. Your interested in signal strength and coverage. They can walk you through what is best for you.

I use EVDO on the farm and when I am mobile. Plus, for security reasons we run secure networks over it. Something satellite cannot do without more dollars.

That web site should really help you out, they have coverage maps available for Sprint and Verizon too. You should be able to see if your in the EVDO available area.

Good luck.

 

[jaybrad]

I have a wireless card for work - and for a couple years it was an AT&T wireless card (EVDO?). When I was someplace with a strong good signal, it was about as fast as a slow DSL connection. Unfortunately I found many times and places that it did not work at all, so I switched to a US Cellular 1x card, which seems to be about the same in most of the places I've gone - and it has consistently had better coverage in our rural state.

I've heard lots of good things about the new 3G system, but haven't personally used it.

At home I have a cable internet, which is both reliable and very fast. The only downside is that I have to deal with Time Warner Cable, which has about the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

But that's another story for a different thread.....

Good luck!

Jay

 

[ScottAR]

I have city owned cable in town but I have a friend out in the county and he has the Sprint service. He loves it compared to satellite and it seems faster.
Download and upload are slightly slower than cable but it's not noticable.

It will run his Xbox Live account with no problems. I dunno how good a connection one would need, but it seems that it would be fast.

One can see the cell tower from the front porch. That may be a factor in his
signal.

 

[EastTexFrank]

Eddie, I had dial-up for years at the house , it was all I could get. I did a lot of research and decided against satellite for all the reasons you mentioned and the fact thet the installer would not listen to me when I was explaining what I wanted. It was more a case of what they were going to give me. Ran them off. In the end I went with a local ISP which is basically a wi-fi system. They have aerials set up all around Mineola and service is good within 10 or 11 miles of the antenna but it is line of sight. Ours is mounteed on the local water tower. I had our receiver mounted on the TV mast and it works really well. It is about 25/30 times faster than dial-up but about 10 times slower than a good DSL connection. Not usually any weather related problems except when their antenna was hit by lightening. Check and see if anybody offers such a service around Winona. It's relatively cheap, around $35 a month and it's the best solution I've found for us folks that live in the boonies.

 

[ronjhall]

If my memory is right. Your area is very good for AT&T wireless. My system has work well for me since I picked it up during a visit to txdon's place.
Do I recommend AT&T. Not necessarily. But the air cards are getting better all the time.
Some of our fellow RVers use Verison with great success. I have investigated the different systems. Like the Verison (EVDO) with a "N" router. At a rally we attended recently one person had this setup. Several RV's were connected to the router with great success. Getting access to a forum similar to TBN. The site linked above has lots of info and may be one of the lowest priced sites.
One of the reasons I have not upgraded yet is the "N" router final format is not finalized yet. Will not happend until November at earliest.

 

[sellercreek]

As described by EASTTEXFRANK, fixed wireless broadband is the cheapest and best option. Some local ISPs provide connection speeds that are comparable with DSL and cable.

#2 choice would be one of the cellular providers. Performance is generally good and the downside is monthly pricing. Upside is you can use it anywhere you have cell service.

There are very few happy campers in the satellite group. Wild Blue technology is better than HughesNet, but it oversubscribed in many areas. Despite the advertising on tv and in magazines, satellite from either provider is usually disappointing.

 

[jinman]

Eddie, as EastTexasFrank suggested, I think you should try to check out a WISP provider, but you might be limited because of all your trees. These systems are line-of-sight and you might not be able to see a signal from Tyler or Lindale. It might take one in Winona as Frank suggested. Here's a link to a provider in Lindale.

Gower Net Provider

I am thinking of changing to one of the cards like Ron Hall has. Our WISP provider's antennas are lightning targets it seems and lately they seem to drop out when the temperature goes above 100. Since they are the only provider in this area, the air-card is about the only other satisfactory choice.