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Review by BoonieBoy 
UPDATED: 59 days ago
member for 59 days, 2 visits, last login: 46 days ago
 Ava,Douglas,MO
 Contract price not specified.
 "Much better than dialup. Space-age."
 "Cost. Typical inept corporate spaghetti logic customer service."
 "If you need/rely on/love the internet it is a good thing."
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I have internet through Hughes because I have no other choice. A little digging tells me that the other satellite company in the area, WildBlue, is much worse than Hughes. I have the medium-speed version which costs about 70 dollars a month. For me this is worth it because I never watch TV, I am an information junkie, I am a night owl (when the internet is fastest), I am isolated in the middle of nowhere. I have to say that when I stopped comparing satellite internet with DSL, I found that much of my anger with Hughes was unfounded.
I've had many many problems with the company but they have always made sure everything was fixed. The help people in India are friendly and articulate, and they are as helpful as they are allowed to be. Hughes is really no different than any other large modern corporation. All that matters is profit. To have a good relationship with their employees and customers is a silly waste of money. Sometimes you get lucky when a bone is thrown your way.
If cable or DSL were available I wouldn't be using Hughes unless the price was competitive. I tried an EVDO setup through Altell which was a total disaster. I knew that cell signals are very weak here but Altell promised me that by utilizing a booster they would provide, everything would be fine. It wasn't.
The biggest problem for me is the Fair Access Program or FAP. I am suspicious in that Hughes does not provide any way to monitor your status. No warnings when you're about to get punished. I can't see how it would be very hard for them to provide some type of monitor. It seems to me that they are relying on a certain amount of cutoff opportunities to appease everyone. People say they have oversold the bandwidth they have. I am hopeful that soon this FAP will be eliminated when more satellites will be used and as the country gets more thoroughly wired for DSL and cable, etc. The internet is fast becoming the new TV which means serious amounts of data must be moved.
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Review by mark700
Posted: 76 days ago
member for 76 days, 5 visits, last login: 56 days ago
Talkeetna,Matanuska Susitna,AK
Contract price not specified.
"It works off-grid, best option available"
"Have to buy the equipment, pay for install in Alaska"
"Best you're going to get out in the sticks."
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We tried cellular for internet, excruciatingly slow, voice has priority over data at towers. We pay 10 bucks more per month now ($60) for the basic service, 700kbps down, 128kbps up, and it screams compared to cellular. There's only one dealer for Alaska, Alaska Satellite Internet, up in Fairbanks. He has installers scattered around the state in most populated areas. Ordering was easy and a local installer was referred to me. He came out and did a site survey, gave me an estimate for the install. He came back on the scheduled day, did the install, we were up on the 'net with no problems. We got the standard dish (.74 meter/ 1 watt transmitter). No real problems, we've had to reset the modem a couple times (it seemed 'stuck').
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Review by feustond
Posted: 83 days ago
member for 83 days, 0 visits, last login: 83 days ago
Muncie,Delaware,IN
Contract price not specified.
"fast and so far very reliable!"
"if you live in a rural area than i would get this!"
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i live in the country and this is all i can get and i was very skeptical after reading all the bad reviews..but we got it anyways and wow this is a very good connection. its fast and reliable so far and the installer did a good job. i tested my speeds and they are what we ordered. we have the hn9000 modem. so far so good!
Followup comments:  deepdiver
join:2002-06-23
Cullowhee, NC
| HughesNet The first installer said i had to cut some trees. My tree guy said I didn't. The second installer got it done very easily, I receive at 174. I get what I paid for 1MB/120KB. Downloads of files is good but ... the actual surfing using real websites is still slow, not much better than dialup. Is this due to the 520ms latency? | |
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Review by Kaptklutz
UPDATED: 160 days ago
member for 6.5 years, 350 visits, last login: 8 days ago
Forest Ranch,Butte,CA
$59 per month (12 month contract)
 about 22 days
"Better than dial-up"
"Iffy connection reliability and the dreaded FAP lurking in the background"
"Rural bliss...We can can have our broadband and live in the mountains too!"
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Basic Direcway 2 way Satellite package
Recent upgrade from 1 way system
Install was confusing for the tech, too many trees, but in the end we succeeded.
Dynamic IP for now. May change as our needs grow.
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 Review by Arion
UPDATED: 325 days ago
member for 3.3 years, 1446 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Marquette,Marquette,MI
Contract price not specified.
"Always on, no disconnects. Reasonable FAP. Great off peak speeds. It's been dependable for me."
"Poor to non-existent customer service. Off shore csr's reading off of a script. Overloading of gateways and transponders."
"For those of us in the boonies, especially when your stuck on dial up, it's the best way to go."
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First of all I purchased the system used off of Ebay and installed it and commissioned it myself!! Yes, it can be done. This is a DW6000 system and I got the modem, dish, mount, ect for $120 bucks. I have installed KU band dishes before and they are much more sensitive to aiming than a pizza pan dish. I followed the install manuals and was very careful on grounding and other requirements. My setup consistently provides performance which exceeds the plan specifications for a DW6000 with a home account.
Because of being a self install I have no experience with the sales people or installers. IMO the biggest problem with these systems are overloaded transponders and gateways. You can pretty much expect your great system speeds to be during off peak times. Mainly between 10pm to around 10am. However peak speeds is always better than dial up. My peak speeds are usually around 125kbps/35kpbs.
Many of the problems with the systems are do to very poor installs. The installers are taking shortcuts and not being careful enough. The best thing for you to do is to be proactive. Learn what the installer is expected to do and then be their for the install and let him know that you know how it's susposed to be done. If you have a good installer then chances are you will have a good experience. For example, if the installer fails to ground the system or grounds to an receptacle box instead of bonding back to the service entrance it will effect your speeds (especially upload) and reliability of service.
Also you need to understand what satellite internet is and what it is not. It is not anywhere close to cable modem speeds or performance. Bottom line__if you have been on dial up and your out in the boonies with telephone wire that Thomas Edison himself might have put up in the air, and if your proactive....you will probably be rather satisfied with the system. Boards such as these get a lot of people that are having problems so you might be tempted to think that the systems are all bad. That's not the case. Human nature what it is we tend to complain when things are not working the way we expect them but we seldom report when things are good. And yes!!, I would do it all over again. No question about it. 
Update 4/07
I took advantage of the "free" HN7000S upgrade for $25 shipping and handling. I got the modem in 3 days and got a power supply, lan cable and new base along with an install CD. You usually only get the modem with an update and use the same power supply ect. The upgrade went pretty smoothly except I never got an email from customer service which has a 28 digit ID that you have to put in to do the upgrade. A quick call to customer service fixed that.
With the new FAP policy in place that a lot of people are upset about I decided to upgrade to the pro package for an extra $10 a month. You get an extra 175 MB a day to play with and that should keep me from fapping. If you Fap now your on a 24 hour slowdown which would stink. I was pleasantly surprised that I was put on an 8-psk gateway. I didn't think IA-8 had any 8-psk capability so that was a plus. I ran a speed test at 12pm noon and was getting over 1mb in DL speed. That is quite an increase from the DW6000 and the residential package. So I am still overall pleased with the service.
Update 9/07
After having the new modem for 5 months I can say that overall I'm pretty pleased with everything. My speeds meet or exceed the plan speeds of 1000kbps on the download and about 170kbps on the upload. There is some degradation during peak times but rarely below 500kbps and that only lasts for a few hours or so. The new Fap policy that allows for unlimited downloads between 3am to 6am has gone a long way towards remediating the complaints that many have had about the fap policy. I think they have found the sweet spot in balancing service with network demands and I have no real complaints.
Update 6/08
The system continues to perform very well and as advertised. I'm still on the pro plan and get very close to my advertised 1000kbps down most of the day and evening. As a matter of fact quite often in running numerous testmy speed tests I get 1200 to 1300 kbps down. I do occasionally have some DNS issues where the system is unable to resolve a DNS address but this problem is spotty and not a real impediment.
Update 12/08
Upgraded to the proplus plan and so far so good. Customer service is using a more streamlined phone tree that put in me touch with a live person in about 3 minutes. This person sounded american based and we went through the procedure to upgrade to the next level of service. After re-running the registration routine the modem downloaded the new keys and files and I was back up. Performance immediately improved to the listed 1.5mb download speed and speeds have been consistent. The slowest peak time speed I've seen has been about 800 kbps. Being on G28 I have a 5 hour fap free window every night which has been welcome. Due to the new phone tree system I upgraded my tech support rating to a 3 from a 2.
Followup comments: 
FKKD
@direcpc.com
| Hughes Satellite 1. Of the B/B ISPs in area (aDSL:Frontier, Cable:RoadRunner, Satellite:DirecPC, Hughes) --
Hughes is the most expensive, though slight fluctuations with specials for DirecPC and Hughes.
2. Best (but limited) DL is 350 Kbs; this is NOT sustainable. Typical is 60-70 Kbps.
3. I am unable to utilize DSL or Cable as their delivery area falls 2-miles short of my residence!!!So I am locked into the $atellite trip.
4. Latency can destroy some connectivity (eg, I cannot access my business network because latency is too high)
5. I can surf and send eMails fine....
6. Except when the new profit-tool from Hughes kicks in: Called "Fair Access Policy", it is a mechanism to keep usage minimal (surf and email) by penalizing significant usage( download large files...100-300 Mb, DL video, etc). FAP means your BW automatically, without warning, gets cut to effectively 0 (they turn off your connectivity) for 24-hours.
7. This does not affect duffers and little old ladies who do not use the internet seriously, but just for program and patch downloads, this is serious constraint of business.... | |
| Shrle
join:2009-01-05
| FAP Problems We have 2 computers hooked up via a router. It's wired because that is the only way we knew to do it.
We surf. We do NOT watch movies, download movies or music and we are not gamers.
Being over limit on bandwidth is a chronic problem and nobody understands why. We have upgraded from the 400 to the 6000 to the 7000s and now have the 9000. I pay extra money for having the small business account in order to have more bandwidth. There is no business but this looked like a possible solution but here I sit with over limit FAP. We have been fighting this problem for years.
I have extra modems and was wondering if 2 modems can be hooked to the same dish and eliminate the need for a router. Having a network is of no benefit and I have long thought this might be the source of our problem although we live in a rural area. Having two computers working independently seems more secure and easier to monitor. We are just a couple of senior citizens who get our learnin' from AARP. It doesn't cover this but I'll bet someone knows the answer. We pay $70 a month and are on the verge of giving up this daily fight for an internet connection. Suggestions would be appreciated. | |
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SterlingJ85
Obama 2008
join:2000-11-19
Millville, NJ
 ·PHONE POWER
1 edit | Re: FAP Problems If you have cellular phone service where you are, contact the providers that you get signal with at your location.
Almost all cellular companies now offer data cards, and more rural providers are still offering service with no cap on bandwidth (larger carriers - Sprint, AT&T, Verizon all have a 5 GB monthly cap).. but service is also only $60 a month, so you could probably get 2 cards for each of your computers!  | |
| | | Shrle
join:2009-01-05
| Re: FAP Problems Sterling, I definitely want to talk to you but have to be away for a few hours. You couldn't possible write the answers to all of my questions so can you email me at
shrlelwry@yahoo.com
Your email may be here but I'm not sure what I am doing.
Thanks | |
| | | | Shrle
join:2009-01-05
| Re: FAP Problems I checked AT&T while I was out. It has a cap and is $60 a month per card with a 2 year contract.
I had no idea this service existed until you told me so now I have options to check. I have no idea what other carriers are available in this area of TX. | |
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Review by WI Fire
UPDATED: 329 days ago
member for 4.8 years, 193 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Hudson,Saint Croix,WI
Contract price not specified.
"It's a must if you live in an area that doesn't have DSL or cable."
"Higher cost, lower throughput than DSL or cable."
"ANYTHING beats dial-up!"
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When you live in a rural area that doesn't have DSL or cable, and need more than dial-up speeds, satelite is the only way to go. there are a couple of WISP's in my area, but they are more expensive or less reliable that HughesNet.
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Review by bobb4jesus
Posted: 347 days ago
member for 347 days, 51 visits, last login: 45 days ago
Salineville,Columbiana,OH
Contract price not specified.
"Speed, uptime, signal strength, professional installation, U.S. made equipment."
"FAP, cost."
"Great alternative to dial-up."
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Living out in a rural part of the country, we have highly limited options for broadband. So after waiting for 5+ years, we decided to bite the bullet and go with satellite.
The installer arrived about five days after scheduling the install. He was professional and helpful, reviewing some of the main points and limitations of satellite. Anyway, to make a long story short, he was done in about 2.5 hours. Once done, he hooked up our one pc directly to the modem and after putting all the tools back, he was gone. We immediately tested our service on www.speedtest.net and found a connection speed of 973 Kbps, or 27 Kbps slower than we paid for. We were highly impressed since this was the middle of the day and we were expecting peak hour slowdowns. Anyway, we tested the connection on several computers at once over the course of the next several hours.
Then we hit the FAP. Our speeds dropped like a brick. At first we didn’t know what happened. We knew about the FAP but didn’t know that we would run over it that quickly. Our speeds were sub-dial-up. We were about to give up on it and were trying to decide whether we would cancel the service when, 27 hours later, our speed was back. It hasn’t left us again yet.
Another thing I have to give Hughes great credit for. Every single component of our system manufactured by Hughes is made in the United States. The tri-mast roof mount, the dish itself and the modem. Since hardly anything computer related is made in the U.S. today, that highly pleased us.
The only thing I can’t say good about the service is the cost. At $60 a month, it is a hefty price to pay. But with multiple computers needing access, broadband was something we needed to have. And considering the price of manufacturing satellites, I guess we can’t complain too much.
So, about a week into our agreement we are enormously pleased with the way satellite has served us thus far. Not to say that our service won’t degrade in the future, because we are on the Spaceway 3 and as more subscribers jump on, our speeds will likely go down. But so far, satellite has been a truly worthwhile investment.
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Review by logicsol
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 5.5 years, 78 visits, last login: 171 days ago
Corbyville,ON
Contract price not specified.
"Good Value for remote internet"
"latency"
"Best alternative to wired service"
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I have the Spaceway service from Galaxy Broadband in canada and I am very happy. At $59 per month and speeds of 1M it is a better alternative to the unreliable wireless services in the area.
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Review by john_pulliam
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 1.2 years, 1 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
Mckinney,Collin,TX
Contract price not specified.
"Pretty reliable, good tech support, works decently in some rainy weather, excellent FAP policy."
"lag is high compared to land lines, worthless for online gaming, bandwidth limits pretty severe"
"If you're in the middle of nowhere (or the middle of somewhere too far from the CO and no cable), this is your ONLY option."
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Forget WildBlue--their Fair Access Policy (FAP) is so restrictive, they will lock you down to ***26Kbps*** up and down for the remainder of the bleepin' MONTH!!
Hughesnet is alot more human: they FAP you to 56Kbps up/down for 8-12 hours, if you're not a repeat offender, longer if you do it too much, but they will ALWAYS talk with you and give you a chance to amend, and move up in plans if you need. They also have a good "FAP-Free Zone", between 3am and 6am CST, where you can download as much as you can get without it affecting your daily bandwidth limits (320meg for my plan, $75 a month, 1Mbps down/256Kbps up).
HugesNet does limit download speeds based on demand and peak times, but it seems to be faster overall when in Linux or on a Mac. And they're pretty much spot on with the claims.
I sprang for the $5 per month service plan, well worth it since the warranty is only a year, and you're basically purchasing the equipment, and it covers situations where the dish might get bumped and misaligned.
Overall, it's a good value if you're in an area where dialup is the only other option, and cable doesn't even exist.
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Review by trevorcl
Posted: 1.2 years ago
(review was emailed from domain windstream.net)
Cleveland,White,GA
Contract price not specified.
"NEW HN9000 systems are here!"
"this in definitly faster than past satellite internet"
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I am a local hughesnet dealer in cleveland ga. I wanted to let everyone know that i have installed 30 new 9000 systems and all my customers that upgrade are very happy.The hn9000 is faster than the hn7000 and is noticable. Plans up to 5 meg now. Give us a call Clayton satellite 706-969-2318
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