Review by jakerweb 
member for 4.8 years, 25 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
updated 2 years ago
 Sebastopol,Sonoma,CA
 Contract price not specified.  "Get ONE good point: SOME form of, eh: Broadband (?)... NOT!!!" "FALSE advertise claims: speed; low FAP; Expensive; Support inept + run-around till you "give-up"!!!" "HughesNet: Not good choice if you have other broadband around."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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Well, it's a New Year, 9 Feb. 2010 and it has gone from painful to unbearable dealing with the LACK of ANY fix for the basic underlying issue with HughesNet.
I just have downgraded from the now "discontinued" "Business Plan" which was offered on the old Ku band satellite. It WAS supposed to be 2-Mbps DOWN, 500-Kbps UP with a daily FAP download allowance of 1.2-GB. When I signed up years ago for this plan, I BOUGHT the 1-meter dish w/2-watt transmitter, plus a new(est) at that time HN-7000S modem (even though I had just recently paid for a DW-6000 Ethernet type modem, which works with exactly the same speeds as the newer HN-7000S modem I was told I HAD to buy with the new 2-watt dish... A lie, a subsequent tech trouble visits by techs, had them substitute my OLD "DW-6000" modem, for troubleshooting, and was told that it is absolutely the same as far as compatibility with 2-watt transmitter and EXACTLY the same speeds obtained). I digress, as usual.
So, now, after paying for the "Business Plan" which WAS $199.99/month for years, then dropped to $179.99/month, and all the pain and suffering with multiple tech visits, many many tech phone calls some of which went on for weeks, on top of NEVER ONCE getting over 1.5-Mbps download speeds on this so-called 2-Mbps Business Plan; So I just dropped it as according to HughesNet, the "ProPlus" is good for 1.5-Mbps downloads, just what I was getting in the best of times in 1 ~ 5am hours only...
So what happened when I switched to the $79.99 ProPlus plan? In the wee hours of the AM, I get the exact same speeds I got on the $199.99/month Business Plan! I do not care about upload speeds, as I do no FTP or Video conference or other two-way UP and DOWN speed dependant type uses. I just want download speed. What I have ended up with, is the same UN-USABLE internet connection during the day hours, especially from 3pm ~ 9pm PST.
Speed tests on HughesNet own speed test links, from the "Tools" link on their Customer Care webpage, will not even work most days, during those hours. Funny, as later in the pm, say after 8pm or later, things pickup, and I can run speed tests, even though I do not really need to as I can see that the browser pages are loading quicker anyway.
Yes, I do have network monitoring tools, in addition to the good ole wothless Microsoft "Taskmanager" (WHY doesn't the Networking tab, offer to do UPDATES on a 1-second basis, instead of "High, Normal, Low"? Also, there is no choice to use "mega-bits-per-second" instead of the "Mega-Bytes" per second, seems like a simple programming change to the network stack monitoring, eh? Doesn't Microsoft know or care, that everyone buys their network plan based in Mega-Bits-per-second, not Mega-Bytes? For those of you who do not know, it takes 8 mega-bits to equal 1 megabyte).
Well, as usual, I have two incident tickets going, with "Skyways" who got my trouble ticket this time, have not responded to me, in 2-weeks since they sent out the supposedly TOP tech they have in all HUGHENET land: This fella that was sent, TEACHES/INSTRUCTS techs on doing on-site trouble shooting and fixes! He was up to speed in tech for the most part, I can tell by talking to him (I am FCC 1st Class license holder since 19-years of age, now I'm 61... Was Chief Tech for 4th largest cable TV system in N. America; ran 3 TV studios, etc, been in electronics from Microwave to Satellite to you name it since I was 11 years old when I started... I can smell a rat when they come here telling me how much they know and that they KNOW what is what, etc).
Now, I get unusable internet until about 7 ~ 9pm each day, and every night in the early AM hours, I get the same 1.5-Mbps downloads that I got on the EXPENSIVE so-called "Business Plan". So, the lesson learned, is that no matter what plan and speed you are paying for, you will get crap on the Ku band satellite. I have told them, it is THEIR responsibility to give me what I have been paying for here since 2003... I will not spend one more dime. UPGRADE me to the 9000 series, give me years worth of money back, buy back my over $2,500.- spent on buying the equipment to date, and let's move on. But, they have told me that I would be contacted by the Corporate big wig, but, false promises, again, hasn't happened.
All this, from a company who took over $12,000.- in monthly fees and equipment purchases, lousy LOUSY support with NEVER ANY help in getting my system working up to some sort of CLOSE to plan agreement speeds. Purchase a service, plus buy equipment based on promises, and the company just keeps running me around in circles, with no serious try to resolve my really bad service.
Really, I'm game for a lawsuit, anybody else?
Thanks for reading my rants...
jakerweb
15 October 2009. NEW INFO, NOW IT GETS REALLY INTERESTING: The ongoing multi-year saga!
Oh yeah: Today speeds are 40~85 - Kbps Downloads; 25~50 - Kbps Uploads... On my "Business Plan" w/2-watt/2-meter dish w/HN7000S modem, speeds sold to me as: 2-Mbps Down & 500-Kbps Up. What a ripoff, this was ALL DAY! And MOST DAYS!
Greetings again, fellow HughesNet Subscribers: A "NEW" policy for their Techs to determine if you have a "PROBLEM" with their service or not... They now determine if your Satellite connection is "OK" or not, if your "RESPONSE TIMES" are within a certain spec of time THEY determine is good enough or not. IT IS NO LONGER ABOUT SPEED OF YOUR DOWNLOADS OR UPLOADS, and this is true if you have ANY level of bandwidth account with them.
Let me see... You can spend less for a "lower speed" plan, and they will make a decision if your setup is working within spec or not, the same as another person who is paying tons more money for more bandwidth, but their "RESPONSE TIMES" are "OK"??? (or NOT as is the case with me ~ 40% of the time, yet they still say I am "within specs", we will not esculate you to a trouble ticket")
It is amazing to me, that now, a decade plus since I first signed up for their first effort at satellite broadband called "DirecPC" using a MODEM for uploads... Then, to the years later upgrade to the dual-USB "Transmit" and "Receive" boxes with 1-watt small dish... Then, to go what THEY claimed will "IMPROVE" my speeds and internet experience by using their new DW-6000 Ethernet Modem (which only throttled me DOWN; from that upgrade onwards, I never was able again to use "available bandwidth during off peak periods as I could with the USB modems, going up to 2-Mbps with the old USB equipment on a "Home Plan" of 500-Mbps maximum download, supposedly. Now, the DW-6000 gave them the technology to keep strict limits on download speeds even if the satellite had available bandwidth!)... ULTIMATELY, to bite the bullet and go UP to their recommended "1-meter dish with 2-watt transmitter" plus ANOTHER new Ethernet modem named the HN-7000S, this despite the fact that I had just purchased the DW-6000 Ethernet modem less than 9 months prior. The kicker here is, I had their own techs instruct me to SWITCH the newer HN-7000S modem for the older DW-6000 modem, during a troubleshooting call when I called to complain I was getting WORSE speeds than before I went UP to the new 1-meter dish with 2-watt transmitter AND the new HN-7000S modem: The tech (top level, senior at HughesNet!) told me, that the DW-6000 was almost identical to the HN-7000S, and would give the same speeds! Indeed, during our trouble shooting calls, the DW-6000 was identical in speeds, latency, etc, to the HN-7000S newer modem I spent almost $400.- on! To this day, to see if the HN-7000S modem is ok or not, I can just plug in my DW-6000 modem, and voila, all tests are identical.
But I digress: I have been getting such horrible speeds that during 2pm ~ 7pm PST, often I cannot even use the internet. Even on HughesNet own speed test site, I OFTEN see the UPLOADS "Time-out" and return a speed of "0"; with downloads 25-Kbps ~ 80Kbps at the same time. I have complained so many times to them, that it is ridiculous. I now have a stack of speed tests which is over 3 inches thick. In the last year since somewhere in 2008, they stopped using a continuous spreadsheet format to display your speed test, and now you have to click "Next" to get the test results for the previous page, each of which only contains exactly 20 results. This is the same for either the "SPEED" test results, or the new "RESPONSE" test pages.
As I already mentioned, they will not FIX you with any tech service, if you RESPONSE times are adequate, as THIS is the new yardstick for gauging if your connection is ok or not.
Whew, what is a business level account to do?
I have had to give up on my Oracle owned service called "Netledger" for full business WEB-HOSTING of: SFA (sales force automation), CRM (customer relationship management), web-hosting of the website, with Multiple Currency support, multiple warehouse, all inventory management, all online sales directly posting to the customers account with all aspects of running an international business, etc etc... All DATA hosted and updated to the website in realtime, by Netsuite. and so our international business is run through a Web Browser! The response times for an administrator or other user, was just horrible at this location, me being the CEO, President and founder of the company... I could not even run my own company from here with my ONLY internet option via Satellite as I am on 25 acres on a Mountaintop on the Coast range just north of San Francisco. My manager had good response, but then, he had cable internet access in the office...
Enough said.
I am now both:
1) Video recording my keystokes, my full monitor and mouse activity
2) Printing my speed tests from HughesNet immediately, as they keep issuing me a new account, which "wipes-out" my past speed test history.
3) Notifying HughesNet when I call, that the conversation is being recorded.
4) Going to put up a domain to ask people who are feeling dissatified with the service, to join a class action lawsuit.
5) In the meantime, HughesNet is throttling me back horribly, to unusable speeds.
6) Also, I cannot use their own speed test site anymore, as they "reset" the connection to my browser every time I try, and I cannot even get onto the page...
7) They have been totally unresponsive to my getting "0's" for uploads, and 25-Kbps ~ 80-Kbps DOWNLOADS, despite them auto-debiting my checking account every month, for a 2-Mbps down and 500-Kbps Upload plan speed... A bloody "BUSINESS" plan after all.
8) This has been the pattern from HughesNet ever since I upgraded years ago, to the 1-meter/2-watt dish, with the HN-7000S modem, plus the $495.00 "install" fee.
I feel that due to the time I have had to deal with so many calls to them, stay home while they sent someone out to do, what, NOTHING whatsoever, my hours and hours to do requested speed and now RESPONSE (latency + speed!) tests, that I have had enough from one company. It is going to be up to the legal system to decide if "what an average person would consider within reason" given their marketing, actual user experiences, etc.
Thank you all,
jakerweb
PS: A BIG "KUDOS" goes out to the admins or webmasters here at "DSL reports", for your comments, and saving my earlier posts!
PSS: Are you able to pull out my old speed tests also, from years past? I will need those in my pursuit for justice.
Mahalo and Aloha!
PSS: The "NEW SOLUTION" as put forth by HughesNet: I "ditch" my two year old $1,500.00 investment in upgraded equipment, and MOVE onto their new satellite which offers faster speeds. Unfortunately, this new satellite is on a different "band", and my current equipment will not work. Plus, they want over $350.00/month for a 5-Mbps download plan, which by the way only offers a 500-MB download daily limit! Hum, my current plan has a 1.25-GB daily download limit... WHAT business would only use 500-MB per day? It is a much pricier group of plans for what you REALISTICALLY get (based on what I see from tests on the web, at least...), but the clincher is the download limit "total" being so low. Heck, I can do an "Open Office" download, and updates from Microsoft, and that's it for one day. What if you wanted to go to the home page for Yahoo, and views news clips in video format, at a lousy 1-Mbps download rate? I leave my "REALTIME" Lan or Ethernet Monitoring tools running all the time, as well as Microsofts own "Taskmanager" with the "Networking" tab selected, and under "Options", then make sure that "Show Cumulative Data" is checked... And EVERY day, just with my Norton 360 ver.3 updates, my various programs updates such as Acrobat, Firefox, Java, etc etc, I EASILY use up 500-MB in just less than 1 or 2 hours. What if one were to actually download some photos, watch news video clips in those small windows, or ACTUALLY use HughesNet for BUSINESS??? (I am on a Business Plan, after all!)
It is a complete lack of reality on their part to offer a business account yet not offer any real speed as solicited in their marketing, their website, nor on the web.
I resent that I am told to throw away such a large investment after only such a short time, as a solution to what is THEIR problem.
I continue, as always, to be very unhappy with the corporate attitude and business tactics employed by HughesNet.
- jakerweb
THIS I POSTED BACK IN 2007 !
jakerweb correction: When I signed up, it was $199.-/month + tax for Business Plan, now they have reduced it to $179.99/month + tax. Text below states the earlier higher price, sorry.
From: jakerweb
Long but informative post from one who knows a bit about Hughes Net and other internet providers plus good electronics and Network knowledge. Read the first part to see my past experience, then I go into the Hughes Net experience, next their "cut and pasted" text from their own website; with an ending of my opinion re the whole Hughes Net situation.
Just a preface about myself to lend some credibility to what I write:
I started in electronics at age 11, when I built my first "Heath Kit" ham radio. I majored in Electronics in college, even "jumping" a full year of 3rd year courses, as the teacher saw I already knew more than his class would teach.
ALL my "cable TV" references below are with the 4th largest cable TV one city system in North America, the company was "Cablevision".
While in college studying Electronics, I got a job as the sole "Night System Technician" responsible for keeping ~ 60,000 RF amps and tens of thousands of miles of system "big" 3/4" > 1.5" main and feeder lines up and working correctly by maintaining the "head-end" with its Micro Wave and RF "Proc-Amps (processing the signal for chroma, stair-step, audio, all sorts of signal levels and qualities), as well as going out and fixing whatever went amiss during the night in ANY technical way, etc etc. I was only 19 years old. By age 20, I had been promoted to "Senior Technician" in charge of good size group of technicians. By age 21, I was the "Chief Technician" and then quickly offered "my own" system to run: Be the "General Manager", anywhere in the "Cablevision" new outlets in the state/city of my choosing, as they were growing rapidly. I have continued my electronics and computer work my whole life, now being more experienced. I have installed Satellite dishes in Hawaii for both DirecTV and Dish Network AND DirecPC (Hughes 1st foray into "broadband"); was able to achieve getting ALL the satellites on both TV companies even with a "LOOK-ANGLE" over the Horizon of only 12%. I achieved this by sourcing super SUPER "low noise LNB's", ie: The sensors which picks up the satellite signal directly from the dish. The Satellite signal must be a certain level HIGHER than the BACKGROUND "Noise" or there will not be signal reliably. I also found very efficient DISHES which were larger than even their commercial dishes, end result, successful full programming when I was told by "Professional" dish/satellite companies it was "impossible" to get the signals from the satellites I did, in Hawaii. I have extensive Microwave; Proc-Amps, etc, all equipment knowledge of a large cable companies "head-end" or distribution and signal processing center. I am adept using tools such as "Time Delay Reflectometers", "Sweep Spectrum Analyzers", RF /micro-ware signal meters naturally, plus all diagnostic knowledge to troubleshoot ANY circuit, be it a satellite navigation system on-board a multi-million dollar yacht... I am able to design from "scratch" a circuit, then "etch" the circuit board and then source the parts/put it all together and test it completely, and I mean quite complicated circuits, not some little hobby project.
Not trying to impress anybody, just giving doubters of what I wrote below having validity, that maybe I know something I write about.
What I write below is rather detailed and long, but contains fact and info which many customers are not aware of. I wish it is all hopeful and mostly, helpful!
I was one of the FIRST to adopt "Hughes DirecPC" quite a few years ago, back when UPLOAD was only via a dial-up modem thru your "landline" ISP. I have upgraded over time: Years later, I went "UP" to their 2-USB boxes (Receive and Transmit box); then just barely 1.5/2 years ago, to the 6000 Ethernet modem: This was great, as building a private network or Networking via Ethernet is a breeze, compared to USB!
NOW, just over a month ago, Hughes Net said the following to me:
Was told by first customer service then Supervisors then Tech Support, I HAD to start a NEW account if I wanted the "BIGGER" 2-watt w/.98meter dish (yes, the transmitter which sends the signal UP to the satellite, is in the DISH, not the modem) plus the brand new HN-7000-S modem. The "UPGRADE": It cost me $987.00 with a "standard" installation.
Interesting point: The original "DirecPC" which needed a modem for upload, was capable of over 2-Mbps downloads, even using a modem for uploads. I have/had network "tools" to see exactly all my connections, their speed, their IP and port number plus port name plus the WHOIS info in real time, with company info behind it all, plus if was a redirect packet(s) etc etc. I am able to launch 10 simultaneous LARGE/Medium/Small (my choice, to see how large vs small file speeds are being affected by their network) file downloads and see both each Kbs speed plus the total network speed through the DNS (Domain Name Service/Server) router which is built into a HN-700-S Hughes Net Modem.
Many do not realize this is in the modem, as there is only ONE Ethernet port output: All "hubs", "switches" and other devices such as a WiFi access point/router, are given an IP address by the HN-7000 modem, same as was done by the older 6000 model.
My existing "Old ~ .65meter dish" with USB boxes, got me up to 2-Mbps downloads off-peak, and this on the standard home plan! The upgrade to "6000" Ethernet modem, put an end to faster speeds than advertised, and NEVER got the speeds advertised by "DirecWay", not ONCE in ~ 2-years; always 20 ~ 75% ONLY, of advertised maximum plan speed. The average speed from test sites is usually ~ 200 ~ 450-Kbps download, and often FASTER uploads usually between 60 ~ 400Kbps! This upload speed is what most HOME plan users complain about, as they often only see 20 ~ 80Kbps which in reality means they could get a better site response from a good ISP phone line MODEM connection! Sure, if the site has any substantial images or substantial files sizes to download to show the page, the Satellite will pull ahead in a hurry. But often, simple text pages with minimal graphics will load faster on a dialup modem, IF the ISP is not bogged down! Take the basic "home page" of Google for instance: I have seen it pop up faster on a modem with my old laptop, faster than on my dual-core, 10,000-rpm Raptor hard drives in RAID "0", with a 1-gigbit network card connected directly to the Hughes Net 6000 or now the HN-7000-S new modem! Google has just some very small image files with some text in the middle of the page, all else is blank. Smart of them, as we mostly just want it to SNAP up in a hurry so we can type in our search keywords, right?
Now, I'm on their "TOP OF THE LINE" equipment and BEST SPEED plan unless you sign up for an "Enterprise Plan Custom Solution", which is just ridiculous for a simple "home office" or ANY home user. I am getting pretty good UPLOADS sometimes close to advertised 500-Kbps, but DOWNLOADS are pathetic, frequently LESS than the UPLOAD speed! And it costs me ~ $220.-/month with taxes, just unbelievable.
NOW the interesting part: My downloads on Hughes Net PRIVATE "customer only" test site, shows that I often am getting 1.2 ~ 1.5Mbps downloads (2-Mbps is what I pay for yet ANY hour of day or night or wee morning hours NEVER more that 1.5-Mbps), with 400 ~ 500-Kbps uploads... Good that uploads are close to advertised speeds, but I am not doing WEBSITE "FTP", "RAS" (Remote Access to your home computer which DOES need good upload speeds!), file-sharing or any other upload intensive stuff, so I would be happy with ~ 100-Kbps uploads!
Heck, even on their own private customer speed test site, I often see download speeds in the 60-Kbps, 90-Kbps, 150-Kbps... Some are in the 300 ~ 700-Kbps range, but wait! Didn't their own website "FAQ'S" page state that I would see ~ 1.2-Mbps during PEAK periods? I have logged over 100 speed tests at Hughes Net own test site, and have NEVER seen over 1.5-Mbps no matter what hour of the day. I have done MANY test in the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6am time period, and it just does not help, NEVER over 1.5-Mbps: It is ALWAYS the same speed within 100-Kbps of my max which is only 1.5-Mbps NOT the 2-Mbps I pay for. Then, even on their OWN test servers, I have over 30 results of my ~ 100 tests with them in 1.5 months with download speeds between 30 ~ 200-Kbps! HA, caught!
What is this, feels like a problem to me, but tech said all is ok after having me do all sorts of things. Just that's the speed you get on the satellite, they said: We do NOT push your speed issue up the ladder unless you are getting consistent 180Kbps! How is this possible, when I pay for what is a 2-Mbps max and SUPPOSEDLY minimum 1.2Mbps ~ 1.5-Mbps during peak periods, if you are to take their text on their website seriously. What, is this a consumer fraud issue or what is it? I have cruised all over the web forums, and I see everyone is unhappy with what they get in speeds from Hughes Net, not what they were told nor sold on when they signed up.
Well, problem is, the HughesNet "SPEED test server(s) are at the "NOC" (Network Operations Center), NOT outside their infrastructure and on then connected to the actual web BACKBONE outside their own infrastructure! So, their speed tests mean nothing for "real world experience on the web", except that your Dish is in proper communication Up and Down to their Satellite AND passing into their NOC ok. That's all this speed test means, it does not represent what you can get out on the web, even if you do a speed test at a major "Server Farm Hosting Site" with a huge PIPELINE into the web...
There are some SPEED test servers connected with the biggest pipelines to the web; some original science labs which NASA used/uses, so-called private science servers which feed "Super Computer" results to the global scientists on the project, some of the BIG networks on the web are interconnected to accomplish unified computing power from servers all over the globe with FAST pipelines, or even some Universities from the old days... Plus some secret servers one has to have the inside scoop to access and do a speed test (on Maui, the host ISP did some speed test on the at that time "BIGGEST pipeline" to the backbone anywhere in the USA: Why was it so broadband?, turns out that the Star Wars "Super Computer" (fastest SUPER computer on the planet at the time!) was hosted on-site, and needed to give scientist and whomever else was needing access in real time to see what this computer was spitting out worldwide. My DirecPC was able to achieve over 3-Mbps with a bloody modem when given this "special test" phone line plugged directly into a T-3 going right into one of their web servers (the ISP was a friend of mine, and indeed, hosted my company website as well: I even "GAVE" him a computer to "USE" in return for a special price and website hosting connection, ie: Speed!).
Bottom line: NOW, it does NOT matter what size pipeline you test through when actually on the web: Your speed test with Hughes Net will ALWAYS come in much lower than the Hughes Net website speed test, as they are giving their speed servers "full speed bandwidth" to the NOC, thus the satellites, so customers will not freak out! What they SHOULD do, is put the speed test servers on a big pipe, somewhere out on the web, this would give a more accurate result. Now, after you send a request packet for a website, all traffic has to go through their own "NOC" NETWORK bandwidth distribution servers... So we are all being flushed through the same "NETWORK distribution routers/software/servers routines and rules". But really, even OFF PEAK like at 2am ~ 5am, the results are identical... This means the satellites are saturated ALL THE TIME! Their only recourse is to distribute bandwidth according to which Plan you have, and even at that, they are incapable of delivering the higher "Business Plan" speeds without severely hurting all those HOME PLAN or PRO or PRO-PLUS accounts, with those customers expectations. And for the HOME PLAN customers or PRO or PRO-PLUS plan customers, you are all being held back in speed to a sorta "good enough" average so everyone has enough to do web surfing, better than a modem, but still not as advertised, they cannot give us full speed or they will have to stop signing up new customers, plus they are already over the limit if you throw in the Enterprise "QOS" contracts with all of us! A new satellite plus a change in the NOC processing, bigger pipe to the web, is all needed. Maybe they even really need 2 new satellites?
They are PURPOSELY throttling BACK our speed, thus we do not see what is the plan speed advertised. They do just what they think they can get away with, with just a certain amount of customer bitching to them, so they can continue to spread out the customer base and grow... This will allow them (or FORCE them) to launch more satellites for bandwidth. But as a company policy, NOW it is not possible to get your advertised speed as they are allocating bandwidth to fulfill their "Enterprise Customers" QOS contracted speed agreements (QOS = "quality of service" contracted speed minimums) plus keep their satellites from hitting full and total saturation: What if a QOS Enterprise who paid for 6-Mbps tried to update servers across the nation for their different stores or distribution centers, and they spied they were only getting 2 ~ 3-Mbps? Hughes Net would certainly be sued and this is not good business.
Consumers will take ALLOT more abuse than corporate heavy hitters, before they get into the organized "Class Action Lawsuit" position, and believe me, big corporations decision makers who are in charge of keeping the company out of trouble with consumers, know EXACTLY how far they can push the envelope, vs the "Cost/benefit" ratio if they DO get a class action lawsuit levied against them, and then they lose the case... In the meantime, they have made so much money by signing up customers, and charging $200.- month for a lousy so-called "2-Mbps" connection, when in fact, the customer usually only uses up 200 ~ 700-Kbps of bandwidth VERY INTERMITTENTLY as one loads website elements... Also, the idle time while you read the web page, is bandwidth they can SELL AGAIN, even though you PAID for it! I never run up against my FAP (Fair Access Policy, distribution of bandwidth which ALL customers are subject to on a time-line basis) with this "Business Plan", I got it not for lots of bandwidth usage, but to have an acceptable web browsing experience. The result is, I can detect virtually NO DIFFERENCE in most normal web site downloads or page-load completions, due to the nature of "IP" packet transfer: Each packet must report BACK to the server that it was received in full without any errors, or else the server will have to RESEND the packet. Anyway, the latency due to the limit of the speed of light of a satellite which is 25,000 miles in space, up and down from their NOC, to satellite then to your dish on your house, makes it easier for Satellite providers to "Cheat" on the "persistence" of the home computer to any particular website server... They can just cover up lack of PERSISTENCE causing more lag with some additional latency, further keeping bandwidth for their use, and SELLING to more and more people.
Now, one has to factor in the saturation of both the web itself which your request for IP packets would LIKE to follow as most "DIRECT-PATH" to the server (which may have limited bandwidth available plus more; saturation with the "get in the line and wait your turn to be served!) which hosts the web page you wish to view. The web does a very good job of routing traffic and keeping bottlenecks to a minimum given the bandwidth demands put upon it, by using the available "backbone" or main bandwidth circuits in the most efficient manner, but it is flawed, since your packet request could go some additional thousands of miles due to this "Bypass" bottleneck process web routers use. More latency or wait for response to you!
SO, every speed site I have found on the Internet, even paid subscription servers with OC-3 to 12 connections right on Internet backbone, show that I am NEVER at ANY time of day or night, ABOVE 900Kbs download, with max 400Kbs uploads. The other factor which is really a pain: Doing a "ping" test to see how LONG it takes to do a round-trip to a server IP address, is just horrible with Hughes Net: Most internet connections be they via modem, DSL, or Cable have ping times in 30 ~ 200 milliseconds. On HughesNet, I see at least 700 milliseconds up to multiple whole SECONDS for a response! It is NOT unusual to see 1,200 ~ 1,800 millisecond response times for your "ping" signal to be returned from the IP address you test to. True, many servers are much slower than others, but if you take a major server "farm" such as "google" or "MSN" or "yahoo" or your OWN website, you will see what I am talking about. The NOC, network, servers, routers which Hughes Net runs are NOT optimized for speed, rather, to give some sort of lower "average" consistency as they are doing a balancing act constantly with available satellite bandwidth, again, not serving the customer in their best interest for a speedy internet experience, but to just keep us off their back and let them continue to grow...
This is just frustrating, to the point that I feel that Hughes Net should have a "Class Action Lawsuit" against them (I see on web that there is already one started?).
To NOT be able to "upgrade" my equipment and account to new better equipment, which forced me to pay almost $1,000.-, is just another "bad" policy of Hughes Net. I am especially ticked off, that after spending hours on phone with tech support, they could not do ANYTHING, just admitting that the satellites are getting saturated, yet they keep running the ADs on DirecTV as well as on NETWORK TV channels! This forces the situation to worsen, 99%+ of the time resulting in them making false promises.
The stated speed as worded on Hughes Net own website is the following:
DIRECT "COPY AND PASTE" FROM THEIR WEBSITE 12 April 2007:
03) Q: What connection speeds will I typically get with HughesNet?
"With the HughesNet Business Internet plan, connect your office to the Internet with maximum download speeds of 2.0Mbps, with typical speeds about 1.2Mbps during peak times. Upload speeds, which are capable of reaching 500Kbps, are typically 300Kbps during peak hours.
A: With the HughesNet™ Small Office service plan, you may enjoy maximum download speeds of 1.5Mbps, with typical speeds of about 800Kbps during peak times. Upload speeds, which are capable of reaching 300Kbps, are typically about 185Kbps during peak hours".
(don't you love the words "enjoy maximum download speeds of 1.5-Mbps? Anyway, they continue...)
"Because No One Wins By Waiting
You’re in business to succeed—and HughesNet™ can get you the results you want faster. How fast? With accelerated download speeds of up to 2 Mbps, HughesNet’s satellite broadband gives you back more hours per workday, to manage what you do best… your business!
See the HughesNet difference for yourself!"
I'd say, to not get the PEAK speeds even during the middle of the wee morning hours, is crazy as they claim the above "TYPICAL" speeds. One is SUPPOSED to get the "Maximum" plan speeds, during "off peak" or at least somewhat close to it!
To read this, and see the test results I get, means they are violating their contract, and yet, they will not offer ANY sort of adjustment in spite of acknowledging the fact I am not getting what I BOUGHT based on their own published text on the website.
I am not only frustrated, but upset and at times angry when I could have got a download or website to load FASTER on the old USB Modems with small dish, on the $59.-/month HOME PLAN. Worse yet, I could get LESS latency via the original "phone line modem ISP" method, as there is not as much latency for IP/Packet requests when they enter the web via a Local ISP who is connected well to the web with a good pipeline. Even the Analog modem translation in a digital format does not come close to taking as much time as the UP and DOWN satellite plus the NOC plus their network utilization rules which further slow down our pings, latency and computer to computer "persistence" (this is like keeping the door open to let the person just behind you enter your house, without having to re-open the door. HughesNet does a poor job at keeping the computer to computer persistence "open"... Thus forcing new packets to be resent to open the door again. More time lost, more latency or delay in your viewing web page experience.
I cannot comprehend how it is possible for an FCC licensed company WITH Federal rules as to their performance vs published advertising, can continue to do that they do... What about all of us who are paying over $200.-/month, and getting lower than base "cheapest plan" "DSL" speeds?
Just amazing. If I had ANY other choice, I would jump ship even though I now have over $2,000.- invested for service equipment with HughesNet over the years.
IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER CHOICE, BE IT DSL OR CABLE, DO NOT SIGN UP FOR HUGHESNET, YOU WILL NOT BE SATISFIED NOR GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR IN SPEED or BROWSING EXPERIENCE, EVER!!!
Signed: jakerweb, member of "Broadband".
Comments:
 | | me too!!  I agree i got hughes net an it suxs,it's faster than dail-up i had but the cost an 300mb per day download limit sux!!!!!!!!!! | |
|  | | | Re: me too!! 1000% agree this company is a ripoff.
Everytime I get one the phone I ask why there isn't a Official Forum for hughes.net?
They keep telling me there is a FAQ i can read.
I said I don't want a FAQ to READ I want to see what others that own this service have to say.
Normally gets ignored or they talk about the issue or try to get me to cough up 125 bucks for some guy to come out and say it looks like its a NOC issue.
I hope you do get ur site up man. | |
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| | They don't want a forum so you can discuss how they STINK! My speeds between 6 pm and 9 pm are slower then dial up. I work all day and only get home in time to not be able to use the Internet. But in my case, out in the boonies its all I have. We have FAPed two weekends in a row by simply cruising the Internet. no downloads, or uploads. Just checking out facebook and running my ebay store. I emailed them to see if they have any plans to raise the FAP limits. HA - they responded if I wanted them raised I would have to buy the next version up. Already paying 89.00 a month...JEEZ... | |
| | | Alternative Im not trying to advertise but my brothers friend had HughesNet and I told him to try out Millenicom.
»www.millenicom.com/
They run over 3G Networks and in some areas a 4G network. They do not have usage limits (last time I checked) and are much faster than HughesNet, according to him.
Kevin | |
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