Review by mfwalker  - Location: Mount Pleasant,Titus,TX
- Cost: $60 per month (12 month contract)
Bad "Never got close to promised speed"
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We signed up based on reviews from others and speaking with Millenicom's customer service rep. Our situation is that we are in a rural area and have limited internet options. To make matter even more challenging, we live in a metal barn/home. Our local electrical coop had a satellite agreement with Wild Blue and we tried that for a year. It was still very slow (.5 to .8M download)to non existent during bad weather. Also, due to the delay in the satellite, Skype and Voip would not work. So we opted for the Millenicom. It seemed like the best deal for the money and, like I said, the reviews were generally good.
From day one we struggled to even reach the poor speeds of the satellite. After many calls to customer service ( I will say they were always polite and tried to help) we decided to install about $600 worth of cell reception and repeater enhancements. I get 5 bars everywhere in my home, but my Millenicom is still putting out .5 or less!
Millenicom would blame Verizon, Verizon, of course, did not give a hoot! Gave up after a year and checked out the satellite services again. Hughes net now promises 5M+ on downloads. We went through Dish TV to take a bundling discount and WOW. Only up for a week, but we are averaging 20M on the downloads! We are not real heavy users ( how could we be with .5 or less, right?) but with 20K per month, plus 20 bonus for non prime time downloads, that is more than 10k on our Millenicom plan. We are paying a whole buck more per month. End the end, I call to cancel my Millenicom plan on the 4th of the month, and they stick me with the entire months charges!! NOT cool, but hey, they think the got the last bite, too bad. They may have a great service in an urban area, with great prices. I do not know. But I do know this... based on their parting shot, I will never do business with them again.
member for 61 days, 0 visits, last login: 61 days ago
updated 61 days ago
Comments:
1 edit | good luck I'm in a rural area as well, less than 3 people per square mile, 60 mile round trip to the closest store to buy clothes, need binoculars to see the neighbor's houses, etc. 8 miles from the cell tower, roughly 1/4 mile of thick trees directly behind my house and several shelter belts between that and the tower. I just got the speed test below, I consistently get over 20meg down, with about $100 worth of a directional antenna and cabling I pieced together connected directly to my Internet device, no booster. When the area was still 3G, I consistently got over 2 meg. Without the antenna with barely a signal I was getting 7 meg on 4G.
Are you in a 4G area, like it shows on the Verizon coverage map for much of your area (if you're not in a dead area), did you have the 4G hotspot plan? If you can get 5 bars with a booster, makes me think you're ~relatively close to a tower. Have you checked Internet speed on smartphones in your home (borrowed one if you don't have one)? Should be the same or similar, too bad you couldn't do that before your install. Verizon is the service Millenicom runs on with some of their plans, so yes Verizon is who is providing the service, Millenicom just resells usage, they have no control over where Verizon puts towers or how good the coverage is. Boosters are hit or miss with Internet speed, and none out now meet the new laws that are coming into effect. Prepaid companies are that way with their service charges, most any I know of. Trade-off for not having contracts or having to run a credit check when signing up.
You say plan price $60, so I'm guessing you didn't have a 4G plan, which ~should have performed MUCH better. Plus gotten you better service/reception, if the difference here is any indication on how much easier it was to get a good signal.
Anyway, good luck with Hughesnet....
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