hughsnet?

[ekimmoke]

Thanks for all the info... very helpful, think Ill cancel that appointment with the installer.

 

[wcampbell47]

I was an IT manager for 17 years before moving to the boonies. I have dealt with connections from 300 baud to multiple T1's, including DSL.

When I moved to the boonies I got Hughes so my wife could download recipes. LOL. About 18 months into the contract the modem went out. I had to deal with techs in 3rd world countries where English is a second language. They wanted me to pay $160 for a new modem. They wanted the old modem back when I shipped them the system after my contract was up.

I switched to a USB cellular modem with Virgin Mobile (Sprint) as my provider. Because I live in a "dead zone" as far as cell phone calls go I acquired a Wilson Electronics booster. That did three things.

Doubled my download speed on the air card.
Improved my cell phone calls inbound and outbound.
Saved my marriage because the wife can still get her recipes.

I am sending my customers to Millenicom for their USB modem. Cheaper than Hughes and you can get an unlimited download package.

I am 17 miles from my tower. If you have a similar situation with no obstacles check out Millenicom and Wilson boosters.

 

[Western]

I have heard nothing positive about Hughes from anyone, I have the 3g Verizon mifi which has been working out pretty well for me, way better than dial up. Verizon is now transitioning in many areas to 4g which is supposed to be up to ten times faster than 3g, I am not holding my breath but when it becomes available and reliable it will be a big leap forward.
Al

I just got the 4G as a free upgrade, (Verizon MIFI 4g lite) Though I'm not currently in the 4g coverage, it works for both 4&3G, so when it gets this far , I will be good to go. I can still get 4G if I take the mifi mobile too.

I was an IT manager for 17 years before moving to the boonies. I have dealt with connections from 300 baud to multiple T1's, including DSL.

When I moved to the boonies I got Hughes so my wife could download recipes. LOL. About 18 months into the contract the modem went out. I had to deal with techs in 3rd world countries where English is a second language. They wanted me to pay $160 for a new modem. They wanted the old modem back when I shipped them the system after my contract was up.

I switched to a USB cellular modem with Virgin Mobile (Sprint) as my provider. Because I live in a "dead zone" as far as cell phone calls go I acquired a Wilson Electronics booster. That did three things.

Doubled my download speed on the air card.
Improved my cell phone calls inbound and outbound.
Saved my marriage because the wife can still get her recipes.


I am 17 miles from my tower. If you have a similar situation with no obstacles check out Millenicom and Wilson boosters.

Thanks for that tip!! Verizon techs told me that wasn't possible, but I have also read similar info on other "tech" sites. Should work well with Verizon too, right?

 

[TedBell]

Does anyone know the status of Broadband over Powerlines (BPL)? This is enabling broadband over existing electrical lines and seems anyway to have the advantage of having the infrastructure already in place. I know there were objections by HAM radio operators due to interference but was hoping the technology would progress to address the shortcomings.

Just wondering......

 

[General Lee]

I guess that I am in a small minority that is very happy with Hughesnet. We had dial up for about 10 years and it was so slow that we couldn't really use the internet at home. We tried a wireless card from AT&T (which has great cell service at our home) but the speeds were horrible.

Thanks to the Reinvestment and Recovery Act (or something like that), we were able to get Hughesnet installed for at no cost and instead of the $60 or $70 per month for the lowest tier of service, we have it for $40.

I am absolutely satisfied with what we get, but it may be just because of what we had before. It is also probably the manner in which we use the internet. We don't do any "twitch" gaming, we don't do much uploading, and we don't watch streaming shows or movies.

We can watch video clips, download files, music, etc. We installed a download monitor so that we can see how much usage we have remaining in our rolling 24 hour period. You also get one "free" token per month so if you use up all of your allowance in a day, you can recharge it. You can buy additional tokens for $5.

They have recently added another 50 megs to our daily allowance and have also changed the the way your "bank" works to let you use up to twice as much in one day (example: if you didn't use it at all yesterday, you get double today - but you can only bank up to 2 days, so far).

At this point, I couldn't be more happy with Hughesnet. Yes, it does go out during inclement weather (same time as my Dishnetwork signal does). Sometimes its faster than other times, but, in my case, it's cheaper than a wireless plan and is much, much faster.

I cannot comment on service, because we haven't had any problems (it was just installed in July). I will be able to comment on this shortly, because we are going to have to have the dish moved due to a building expansion, so I'll post how that goes.

I do definately seem to be in the minority, but I assure you, I'm not a "plant".

Good luck and take care.

This is kinda how I feel. I have it and its OK, better than dial up. In my experience, I notice slower speeds at peak times such as evenings. For general browsing and such its ok. Movies and streaming..it sucks plus you could never do netflix because of the daily download limit. But to sum it up.........if asked what I thought of hughesnet I probably say.....Eh.

 

[rekees4300]

Does anyone know the status of Broadband over Powerlines (BPL)?

That was the future for rural America a few years ago but I think it's now more or less dead due to the expense of implementation, technical problems and competition from wireless.

 

[grsthegreat]

i just checked my internet speed today. its 4.4Mbps download ans 1.75 Mbps upload. super fast and around $70/month as i recall.
There is NO max download bandwidth allotment for the day or month... its unlimited.

I had to cut down 2 large trees when i installed it 3 years ago., and its mounted on my roof.

this is like 200X faster than dialup....

 

[Ken45101]

i just checked my internet speed today. its 4.4Mbps download ans 1.75 Mbps upload. super fast and around $70/month as i recall.
There is NO max download bandwidth allotment for the day or month... its unlimited.

I had to cut down 2 large trees when i installed it 3 years ago., and its mounted on my roof.

this is like 200X faster than dialup....

And, unfortunately AFAIK, not available here...or in many places

Ken

 

[grsthegreat]

And, unfortunately AFAIK, not available here...or in many places

Ken

I'm not sure why... i live in an area with 300 residences....mopuntains with many many trees and there are 3 different companies offering it.

i thought it was widely available

 

[daveshoot]

The local wireless "microwave" services don't reach down into our little valley- homes at the top of our short private drive can get it, but those of us near the bottom cannot.

My neighbor has Hughes, and hates it.

ATT just put a 4G cell tower about 150 yards from my door, so I got their WiFi Hotspot modem for my laptop. It works fairly well... I really miss true broadband but it sounds like I'm better off than the guy with Hughes... wish I lived up on top of the hill!

Hard to believe I am in San Diego county in 2012 with no real internet, but then it was my idea to live in the country. Worth it, anyway.