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hugheshostag
join:2008-01-14
Suffolk, VA
 ·HughesNet Satellit..
|  [DW7000] Slow speed - Take action
Hello to all fellow sufferers of Hughesnet. Its amazing reading the posts how many people have experienced the same problems and used the same means for an attempted resolution that I have. My problem started on day one with slow downloads and was finally resolved 5 months later or so I thought. I too have been affected by the slowdowns experienced by others since November and was also told by Tier IV the problem was with shared bandwidth and there was nothing they could do. That’s great after paying $79.99 for month for downloads between 95 – 225 Kbps. I’ve seen a lot of talk and emphasis on the fact Hughes does not guarantee download speeds but have not seen where anybody has pointed out a written statement that appears on their website advertising their home service, you know the one with all of the “happy” Hughesnet customers saying how “great” and “fast” their internet speed is. In the FAQ section Hughes states the following concerning speeds:
03) Q: What connection speeds will I typically get with HughesNet?
A: With the HughesNet® Home service plan, you may enjoy download speeds up to 700 Kbps, with typical speeds of about 500 Kbps to 600 Kbps during peak times. Upload speeds, which are capable of reaching 128 Kbps, are typically 70 Kbps to 80 Kbps during peak hours.
With the HughesNet Pro plan, connect to the Internet with maximum download speeds of up to 1.0 Mbps, with typical speeds about 650 Kbps to 750 Kbps during peak times. Upload speeds, which are capable of reaching 200 Kbps, are typically 100 Kbps to 125 Kbps during peak hours.
With the HughesNet ProPlus plan, connect to the Internet with maximum download speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps, with typical speeds about 750 Kbps to 800 Kbps during peak times. Upload speeds, which are capable of reaching 200 Kbps, are typically 100 Kbps to 125 Kbps during peak hours.
Considering I’m paying for the Pro Plus plan and getting downloads between 95-225 Kbps I would say that is false advertising at the least regardless of their statement of speeds not being guaranteed. Anyway I’m asking all of Hughesnet’s hostages to take a minute and make a complaint to the Maryland Consumer Protection Agency. Because this is a Maryland based company they are the ones that will have the most influence over Hughes. I’ve been told by them in the past they determine the level of action or investigation by the number of complaints they receive. Well if everyone reading and posting here about their slow downloads would take time to complain to them maybe the Attorney General’s office will open an investigation into this company’s fraudulent business practices.
For anyone thinking they’re not being screwed over by this company here is what they said in their news release for their 3rd quarter earnings:
“HNS delivered strong all-round financial performance with record third quarter revenues, EBITDA* and net income,” said Pradman Kaul, president and chief executive officer. “Revenues increased to $234 million in the third quarter of 2007 for an increase of 11.5% over the third quarter of 2006; EBITDA increased by 6% to $35 million, and net income increased to a strong $12.4 million in the third quarter of 2007.”
“The consumer/SMB and mobile satellite businesses continued to be the key contributors to our revenue growth,” said Kaul. “Over 37,000 new subscribers were activated in the third quarter of 2007, resulting in the consumer/SMB subscriber base growing to approximately 365,000 at September 30, 2007 for a growth of 17% over the subscriber base at September 30, 2006. Revenue from our mobile satellite business showed a strong 74% growth in the third quarter of 2007 over the third quarter of 2006. Our North American and International enterprise businesses continued their steady revenue contribution with combined growth of 3% over the third quarter of 2006.”
Kaul continued, “The third quarter of 2007 was also strong in new orders. We were awarded $284 million of new orders in the quarter compared to $183 million in the third quarter of 2006.
17% subscriber increase with no capacity increase. $284 million of new orders and no capacity increase.
Anyway the only way anything will get better is if we can get a regulatory agency to take action and that is only if enough people complain. Here is the website for MD Consumer Protection.
»www.oag.state.md.us/Consumer/complaint.htm | |
kingpin317
Premium
join:2007-12-05
Pope, MS
| said by hugheshostag  :Hello to all fellow sufferers of Hughesnet. Its amazing reading the posts how many people have experienced the same problems and used the same means for an attempted resolution that I have. My problem started on day one with slow downloads and was finally resolved 5 months later or so I thought. I too have been affected by the slowdowns experienced by others since November and was also told by Tier IV the problem was with shared bandwidth and there was nothing they could do. That’s great after paying $79.99 for month for downloads between 95 – 225 Kbps. I’ve seen a lot of talk and emphasis on the fact Hughes does not guarantee download speeds but have not seen where anybody has pointed out a written statement that appears on their website advertising their home service, you know the one with all of the “happy” Hughesnet customers saying how “great” and “fast” their internet speed is. In the FAQ section Hughes states the following concerning speeds: 03) Q: What connection speeds will I typically get with HughesNet? A: With the HughesNet® Home service plan, you may enjoy download speeds up to 700 Kbps, with typical speeds of about 500 Kbps to 600 Kbps during peak times. Upload speeds, which are capable of reaching 128 Kbps, are typically 70 Kbps to 80 Kbps during peak hours. With the HughesNet Pro plan, connect to the Internet with maximum download speeds of up to 1.0 Mbps, with typical speeds about 650 Kbps to 750 Kbps during peak times. Upload speeds, which are capable of reaching 200 Kbps, are typically 100 Kbps to 125 Kbps during peak hours. With the HughesNet ProPlus plan, connect to the Internet with maximum download speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps, with typical speeds about 750 Kbps to 800 Kbps during peak times. Upload speeds, which are capable of reaching 200 Kbps, are typically 100 Kbps to 125 Kbps during peak hours. Considering I’m paying for the Pro Plus plan and getting downloads between 95-225 Kbps I would say that is false advertising at the least regardless of their statement of speeds not being guaranteed. Anyway I’m asking all of Hughesnet’s hostages to take a minute and make a complaint to the Maryland Consumer Protection Agency. Because this is a Maryland based company they are the ones that will have the most influence over Hughes. I’ve been told by them in the past they determine the level of action or investigation by the number of complaints they receive. Well if everyone reading and posting here about their slow downloads would take time to complain to them maybe the Attorney General’s office will open an investigation into this company’s fraudulent business practices.... 17% subscriber increase with no capacity increase. $284 million of new orders and no capacity increase. Anyway the only way anything will get better is if we can get a regulatory agency to take action and that is only if enough people complain. Here is the website for MD Consumer Protection. » www.oag.state.md.us/Consumer/complaint.htm I already submitted an online complaint to BBB, but I will follow up with a complaint as you suggest to the Attorney General. This is such BS!
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HN 7000S ProPlus/89W/1270MHz/Sig 63/1Watt/.74 m/Rate 256K 2/3(TC)/1A8/16TR/ | |
Total Obliv
join:2006-06-28
Hattiesburg, MS
| reply to hugheshostag
I submitted a complaint to the BBB some time back in '06. I got a sweet 200 dollars back for troubles. I didn't have any troubles until a few days ago... Hughesnet strikes me again. Hughesnet should learn: strike me once, shame on you... Strike me twice, damnation upon you! | |
Taz480
join:2006-09-13
Swisshome, OR
| reply to hugheshostag
And once these regulatory agencies take action, what do you expect to be the outcome? Do you think someone down at HN is going to go into the back room and flip a magic switch that gets EVERYONE their plan's max speeds 24/7??
HN bends over backwards and tries their best to provide what they can with what they have. Yes HN is a little side-shifty, yes HN dances around your questions, yes HN hides behind their logos and TOS. The truth is, the only thing HN is guilty of is way overselling their product. They are very strict about getting out of contract just as any company is or would be. Stop making your car payments for about 3 months, you'll see what I mean. The service is not always the best for every customer on every transponder on every satellite but the service is still first in it's class. Don't forget that HN is trying very hard to make more room by launching another bird. They didn't exactly just drop a couple hundred bucks on it. It costs a lot more than you can imagine to put that bird in the air. Yes it's possible they could do a little more to help things but they are trying very hard. You can't get blood out of a turnip. So I ask again, what do you expect the outcome to be?? There is no magic switch. The most that will happened is HN finally get sued big time being forced to go bankrupt and you no longer have your service you hate and have to go back to 24K dial up. Either that or go to WildBlue and get even worse sat service. My service has the same problems too but you know what? Thanx, but I'll keep my service. I'll take crappy satellite over my 19.2k dial up any day! Some of us REALLY DON'T have any other option.
Also remember, every business has just as many happy customers as they do unhappy customers. You only see the unhappy ones here because this is a "HELP" forum. That doesn't mean there aren't just as many if not more happy customers.
Your situation is not unique. I've been there, too. I've been through three transponders and I don't know how many gateways. They a go up and down. It all pans out in the end. If you don't like what you're getting, do a down grade to Pro. Maybe you'll end up on a transponder /gateway assignment that gives you no less than 600-800K ALL day long like I was on 1130. Or, you may even get a worse one. But it never hurts to try.
Yes, satellite is what it is. If you have another option besides dial up, then by all means, jump on it and let us have your bandwidth. If not, just be content that you at least have the best sat service in the industry regardless of the current evolutionary changes they happen to be going through at the moment. One thing that isn't going to make it any better is pissing and moaning about it to some agency that isn't going to do crap about it. If all you wanna do is piss and moan, do it here if you like. A good portion of this forum is rants just like yours, anyway, and pretty much all of them go nowhere. But quit thinking that passing your rants on to government agencies is going to force HN to do something they aren't capable of doing. That little magic switch doesn't exist. They're doing "ALMOST" everything they can.
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Satmex5(117West)-1170MHz/256k-4/5/DVB-S2/ProPlus 1.5Mbps down-200Kbps up/.74M Dish/1 Watt/HN7000s-Installed 9-27-06/Linksys WRT54G/2 machines-1 Laptop,Wireless, Vista HomePrem.-1 Desktop, Wired, XP HomeSP2/FF2.0/IE7.0/avast!Home4.7 | |
hugheshostag
join:2008-01-14
Suffolk, VA
·HughesNet Satellit..
| Taz 480 I don't like being screwed over by anybody and I'll fight to keep it from happening. No there is no magic switch but Hughes loves customers like you who will just shut up and take it...I'm not one of them. They advertise and charge for speeds they can't deliver. They have finally admitted what everyone already knows, they have a capacity shortage, but have they stopped advertising their services to potential new customers? No. Have they done anything to eliminate the shortage? No. Are they making millions selling something they don't have? Yes. New satellite means re-pointing your dish - think they'll do it for free? No. Some say they plan on moving higher end customers to the new satellite and free up bandwidth for residential users - how long will it take to re-point all of those dishes? Are they giving you credit for something your paying for and not receiving? No. Maybe your willing to give Pradman Kaul your money for something his organization is not delivering but I'm not. I only hope others voice their dissatisfaction and maybe this monopoly will finally get some oversight and the working man living in the country will stop being screwed over by Pradman Kaul. | |
my turn
@direcpc.com
| reply to hugheshostag
Taz if you do a Google search you will discover Hughes didn’t spend money on sending their own satellite up solely to better serve customers they did because all the current satellites they use they do not own They are leasing the transponders and are paying a huge amount for them. Contracted transponders coming due are not in their plan to be contracted with those companies. For them it is the bottom line how to increase their revenue or margin. Welcome all to cooperate America, all companies today are about the price per share of their stock and the dividends paid. Hughes is no different from any other cooperation with one exception if you need to connect to the internet and you live where there is no other choice then they have you good service or not. Don’t believe they don’t realize this.. | |
interesting
@direcpc.com
| said by my turn :
Taz if you do a Google search you will discover Hughes didn’t spend money on sending their own satellite up solely to better serve customers they did because all the current satellites they use they do not own They are leasing the transponders and are paying a huge amount for them. Contracted transponders coming due are not in their plan to be contracted with those companies. For them it is the bottom line how to increase their revenue or margin. Welcome all to cooperate America, all companies today are about the price per share of their stock and the dividends paid. Hughes is no different from any other cooperation with one exception if you need to connect to the internet and you live where there is no other choice then they have you good service or not. Don’t believe they don’t realize this..
If Hughes is not planning to renew leases on transponders on the existing satellites, it will be interesting to see how they go about that. If Hughes has over 300,000 customers on those satellites now, the cost to Hughes of re-pointing all of those customers to Spaceway III would be over $30 million. I can't imagine that it would be cost effective to re-point that many people. As time passes and as there is attrition of existing customers, Hughes certainly can reduce the number of transponders that it is leasing on each satellite and can, therefore, move customers to the remaining transponders, but it would seem like it would be quite some time before they would be able to completely get to the point where they would not need at least a few transponders on each of the existing satellites. | |
Taz480
join:2006-09-13
Swisshome, OR
1 edit | reply to hugheshostag
hugheshostag.......
"Hughes loves customers like you who will just shut up and take it"
Shut up and take what?? I haven't shut up and taken anything. My system works great, always has. Every system has some down times. I get my plan's max speeds from around 9PM to around 2-4PM and never drop lower than about 300Kbps during peak time. That's how satellite works. If you don't like it, don't get sat. That's how it is with all providers. My pastor just upgraded to 7 meg DSL from his old 256K DSL. Various speed tests done at different times of the day vary anywhere from 3Mbps to 6.5 to 7Mbps and once in a while even as low as 2 meg due to other customer's usage. Satellite just happens to be a little worse at it.
"They advertise and charge for speeds they can't deliver"
They deliver it to me!
"Have they done anything to eliminate the shortage? No."
Yes. That's why there's a new bird in the air. Which by the way has a capacity that more than dwarfs all of HN's other sats put together.
"I only hope others voice their dissatisfaction"
By all means, please voice your concerns and complaints. We even have a special forum for that, here. It's the Rants, Raves and Praise forum. That's where this thread should be. Instead it's in a general HELP forum and it isn't helping anyone, least of all, you.
my turn......
"Taz if you do a Google search you will discover Hughes didn’t spend money on sending their own satellite up solely to better serve customers they did because all the current satellites they use they do not own"
Really? No kidding! It's a mutually beneficial move.
"For them it is the bottom line how to increase their revenue or margin"
Really? And how do you suppose that will increase their revenue? Someone gonna pay them money because they have a big pretty, shiny satellite in the sky? No. It will increase their revenue because it will allow them to do two things. One it will give them more room for new customers and a lot of the business account customers and two, there by eliminating much of the stress on the rest of us and start evening things out so customers are more happy and they stop losing customers or potential customers who decide to opt out after reading the kind of piss and moan crap posted in this thread.
interesting.....
I have no idea where they got the idea that HN will not renew the contracts on current transponders. If that happened, everyone's service would stop. That's not their plan. Your latter theory seems very feasible, though. And of course it's going to take some time. It's not going to happen over night. Other people need to be patient and realize that.
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Satmex5(117West)-1170MHz/256k-4/5/DVB-S2/ProPlus 1.5Mbps down-200Kbps up/.74M Dish/1 Watt/HN7000s-Installed 9-27-06/Linksys WRT54G/2 machines-1 Laptop,Wireless, Vista HomePrem.-1 Desktop, Wired, XP HomeSP2/FF2.0/IE7.0/avast!Home4.7 | |
my turn
@direcpc.com
| reply to hugheshostag
interesting read form this web site »www.space.com/spacenews/archive0···406.html
Half of its $817 million in satellite-transponder lease obligations are due in 2006, according to the SEC filing.
Hughes currently has about 275,000 subscribers to its HughesNet Ku-band broadband services in North America, provided aboard satellites operated by Intelsat, PanAmSat, SES Americom and Satmex. HughesNet is a new name for HNS's DirecWay service. The DirecWay brand name is the property of DirecTV, which used to own Hughes, and Hughes was obliged to stop using the name April 22.
Hughes is working on the assumption that it can gradually move its current customer base off the conventional Ku-band satellites and onto Spaceway 3, thus removing these hefty transponder-lease payments from its balance sheet as the contracts expire. To switch from the current system to Spaceway 3, all Hughes customers will need new equipment that is operable with Ka-band signals. | |
Mdoc
Ehh... munch munch... what's up, Doc?
join:2007-03-27
Sterling, VA
| reply to hugheshostag
said by hugheshostag :Taz 480 I don't like being screwed over by anybody and I'll fight to keep it from happening. No there is no magic switch but Hughes loves customers like you who will just shut up and take it...I'm not one of them. They advertise and charge for speeds they can't deliver. They have finally admitted what everyone already knows, they have a capacity shortage, but have they stopped advertising their services to potential new customers? No. Have they done anything to eliminate the shortage? No. Are they making millions selling something they don't have? Yes. New satellite means re-pointing your dish - think they'll do it for free? No. Some say they plan on moving higher end customers to the new satellite and free up bandwidth for residential users - how long will it take to re-point all of those dishes? Are they giving you credit for something your paying for and not receiving? No. Maybe your willing to give Pradman Kaul your money for something his organization is not delivering but I'm not. I only hope others voice their dissatisfaction and maybe this monopoly will finally get some oversight and the working man living in the country will stop being screwed over by Pradman Kaul. You're not being screwed, because everyone who is a Hughesnet subscriber has the same problem. Here's why: bandwidth. I'm not talking about Internet bandwidth, I'm talking about frequency bandwidth. The satellite has a limited bandwidth in its uplink frequency, and if you're using Ku-Band transmitter, you only have 500 MHz bandwidth to play with in the satellite. I dunno how they assign frequency allotments for each channel or how wide each subscriber channel is or even if they're multiplexing the channels, but 500 MHz is not that wide. That's why the FAP imposed on subscribers.
As for pointing to a new bird, is really not that difficult if you know how to do it. Best way is to use a spectrum analyzer and an accurate way to determine the look angles (Azimuth and Elevation). Another way is to get a guy from a satellite communications equipment store or a friend who is an RF engineer or technician do the pointing for you.
If you have a dish mounted on a pole, the pole must be spot-on plumb vertically. | |
Taz480
join:2006-09-13
Swisshome, OR
2 edits | reply to my turn
said by my turn :interesting read form this web site » www.space.com/spacenews/archive0···406.htmlHalf of its $817 million in satellite-transponder lease obligations are due in 2006, according to the SEC filing. Hughes currently has about 275,000 subscribers to its HughesNet Ku-band broadband services in North America, provided aboard satellites operated by Intelsat, PanAmSat, SES Americom and Satmex. HughesNet is a new name for HNS's DirecWay service. The DirecWay brand name is the property of DirecTV, which used to own Hughes, and Hughes was obliged to stop using the name April 22. Hughes is working on the assumption that it can gradually move its current customer base off the conventional Ku-band satellites and onto Spaceway 3, thus removing these hefty transponder-lease payments from its balance sheet as the contracts expire. To switch from the current system to Spaceway 3, all Hughes customers will need new equipment that is operable with Ka-band signals. Heh, if you're going to post articles to back your statements, you might be taken more seriously if you choose one that isn't almost 2 years old. LOL!!!
Any of those contracts that have expired have obviously been renewed. HN still has the same sat base they had in 2006 if not more. I really highly doubt they're going to drop all of their Ku band birds to move everyone to Spaceway when there will always be issues of line of sight and older systems that people still use. That would require losing a lot of customers which would negate the efforts to raise revenue. It may be a nice long run goal as the technology continues to evolve and may certainly be a possibility in the future but not the near future. It's not going to happen any time soon.
Further more, your postings would be taken more seriously, PERIOD, if you were actually a registered member.
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Satmex5(117West)-1170MHz/256k-4/5/DVB-S2/ProPlus 1.5Mbps down-200Kbps up/.74M Dish/1 Watt/HN7000s-Installed 9-27-06/Linksys WRT54G/2 machines-1 Laptop,Wireless, Vista HomePrem.-1 Desktop, Wired, XP HomeSP2/FF2.0/IE7.0/avast!Home4.7 | |
Mdoc
Ehh... munch munch... what's up, Doc?
join:2007-03-27
Sterling, VA
| reply to my turn
Re: [DW7000] Slow speed - Take action
said by my turn :interesting read form this web site » www.space.com/spacenews/archive0···406.htmlHalf of its $817 million in satellite-transponder lease obligations are due in 2006, according to the SEC filing. Hughes currently has about 275,000 subscribers to its HughesNet Ku-band broadband services in North America, provided aboard satellites operated by Intelsat, PanAmSat, SES Americom and Satmex. HughesNet is a new name for HNS's DirecWay service. The DirecWay brand name is the property of DirecTV, which used to own Hughes, and Hughes was obliged to stop using the name April 22. Hughes is working on the assumption that it can gradually move its current customer base off the conventional Ku-band satellites and onto Spaceway 3, thus removing these hefty transponder-lease payments from its balance sheet as the contracts expire. To switch from the current system to Spaceway 3, all Hughes customers will need new equipment that is operable with Ka-band signals. Although they've already discontinued their DW6000 modems and the DW7000 already supports Ka-Band frequencies, they're not going to dump their customers off contract renewal with support for Ku-Band because DW7000 supports Ku-Band, too. (C-Band, too.) So something's wrong with your premise, unless something else is in play. | |
Mdoc
Ehh... munch munch... what's up, Doc?
join:2007-03-27
Sterling, VA
1 edit | reply to Mdoc
Re: [DW7000] Slow speed - Take action
said by Mdoc :said by my turn :interesting read form this web site » www.space.com/spacenews/archive0···406.htmlHalf of its $817 million in satellite-transponder lease obligations are due in 2006, according to the SEC filing. Hughes currently has about 275,000 subscribers to its HughesNet Ku-band broadband services in North America, provided aboard satellites operated by Intelsat, PanAmSat, SES Americom and Satmex. HughesNet is a new name for HNS's DirecWay service. The DirecWay brand name is the property of DirecTV, which used to own Hughes, and Hughes was obliged to stop using the name April 22. Hughes is working on the assumption that it can gradually move its current customer base off the conventional Ku-band satellites and onto Spaceway 3, thus removing these hefty transponder-lease payments from its balance sheet as the contracts expire. To switch from the current system to Spaceway 3, all Hughes customers will need new equipment that is operable with Ka-band signals. Although they've already discontinued their DW6000 modems and the DW7000 already supports Ka-Band frequencies, they're not going to dump their customers off contract renewal with support for Ku-Band because DW7000 supports Ku-Band, too. (C-Band, too.) So something's wrong with your premise, unless something else is in play. Whoops, forgot about the transceiver. Gotta swap out the Ku-Band transceiver with a Ka-Band transceiver before you can use a Ka-Band satellite. Sorry. But that's a problem for customers and I don't think Hughesnet'll force the change unless they come out and do the swap for them. | |
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