Jeremy_WV
@alter.net
| Help with Deciding...
I am stuck in the middle of West Virgina where the only Internet option is of course dialup. I have been on dialup for over five years, and finally getting tired of waiting for the empty promises of companies saying they are bringing broadband to our area. As my only choice is Satellite now, I have a few questions before making this jump. I understand every satellite company has a cap on what you can download. I do download a good amount of music from iTunes, as well as surf the net a lot. I also plan on downloading updates to my various game consoles (PS3, Xbox360, Wii) and occasionally download a game or demo from them. Which company (HughesNet or Wild Blue) has the best FAP? I have tried to research this but I am just not quite understanding it. From what I understand, or think I understand, possibly Hughesnet has the best FAP? Also, I have read on the forums here about free downloading time. However, I can not find it at all on any website. Is this still available? Any help with this would be GREATLY appreciated. |
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Mustang_tv
@direcpc.com
| I m user of Hughesnet for 2 Years ,, Things Are FAP Usage for u Do Surfing the Websites and Chatrooms and Pictures and others ,, U can not DO DOwnload Large File and Video and Music During FAP Time ,, here is TIP Are FREE time is 3 00 AM in the Morning to 6 AM of EP time are Best for View Videos and Music what u wanted ! u get to wake Up at 3 AM EP!!
Gamer u can Not have Connecting up to PS3 or Xbox 360 on this Hughenset bec of Ping too HIGHER , But WII I have Wii Gamer online but it is Pretty Slow to Download from WII gamer Shop
 I cant Wait to Get Out of HELL Hughesnet SOON when I get Wireless Internet become Available in my Area!! |
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jagraff
join:2006-12-02
Rindge, NH
| reply to Jeremy_WV
Basic difference between HN and WB is the time frame each uses to determine download thresholds. Hughesnet has a smaller "bucket" with 200-500MB every 24 hours. Wild Blue has a bigger "bucket" of 7.5-17GB threshold but it is calculated over a rolling 30 day period. Actually I think the threshold might be lower as they start to slow you when you hit 70% of the limit but not sure on that. With Hughesnet you go to internet jail for 24 hours while with Wild Blue you go to jail for weeks possibly. We have HN Pro and have never been Fapped over the past year, but we are light users, only download a few songs from Itunes here and there, normal surfing, a few 1-3MB files with email etc. I take the machines into our office for major software downloads etc. If I couldn't do that I would be finding a program to download during the FAP free period.
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74West/1250Mhz/Proplan/.76m dish/HNS7000S/LinksysWRT54G/WindowsXPsp2 |
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tobicat
join:2005-04-18
Tombstone, AZ
1 edit | reply to Jeremy_WV
OK with Hughes it works like this. Your FAP period is a sliding 24 hour window. You must not download more than your allowed amount during that time. A home plan is 200MB.
You can download all you can get for free from 3am until 6am eastern time. I am pretty sure you are on eastern time.
You will not FAP yourself for normal browsing You might if you do any kind of streaming video or audio at the same time. A few short youtubes or so will not fap you but if you try to watch long ones it will. Any PS3 download is probably gonna fap you unless you do it during the free time.
Having said that I usually only fap myself doing PS3 updates and it is not a big deal as it only last for 20 hours or so and I time it so most of that is at night.
The main problem with wildblue is if you accidentally fap yourself it could be for weeks. They also seem to be having problems with some sort of mystery downloads.
You pays your money and take your chance.
In any case the you can download files in minutes that would take hours on dialup. You just gotta think smart.
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9000 spaceway III, 7000S SatMex 5 1270, Dlink wirless |
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Jeremy_WV
@alter.net
| reply to Jeremy_WV
Thanks for the input everyone. I decided to go with Hughesnet. However, I have some more questions about the install. They assigned me the installer, they called the same day I ordered. I was very impressed, till I asked about the installation. I live in a "real" brick house, however they kept hinting that it would be best if I had the dish installed on a pole. For an additional $125.00 charge. I guess my question is, is it really that big of a deal to install the dish on the brick? I had no trouble, nor did the installer, of my DirecTV dish being on the brick. I just want to make sure I'm not getting pushed into buying something I do not need. Also, I am wanting to place the dish close to the DirecTV dish, which has a tree in the line of sight, but yet still gets upper 90's readings in signal strength. Will that tree pose a problem with the hughesnet dish? Again, thanks for the help! |
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jagraff
join:2006-12-02
Rindge, NH
| reply to Jeremy_WV
This is not a scam or upsell from HN. We have a pole-mount and paid that same price, I believe. Our installer (who wasn't that great) offered to install on the side of our house but it was too high up to access if we had any problems, so we went with the pole. The experts on the board can offer better technical advise but a few things to consider.
1.Weight...the HN dish and feedhorn is quite a bit heavier than direcTV...at least it looks like it's heavier
2.Dish movement...Even small movements of the HN dish will degrade your signal.
4.Access...Ability to check everything is much easier when it's on a pole. Also, we get a lot of snow and had to go out a number of times last year to clear off the dish.
5.Pointing...Our DirecTV dish and HN dish are pointed in slightly different directions (both southerly but Dircet TV seems to be on a satellite more to the west.)It's never good to have anything in the line of site.
Bottom line...I'm sure you have read here of all the potential problems customers can have...I would give my system the best possible chance for success from the get-go. If the $125 isn't a financial problem I would do the pole mount...might pay for itself down the road.
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74West/1250Mhz/Proplan/.76m dish/HNS7000S/LinksysWRT54G/WindowsXPsp2 |
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yolarry
join:2007-12-29
Creston, WV
 ·HughesNet Satellit..
| Hi jeremy_WV, I from West Virginia myself.
I was going to get wildblue but sales person says that Hughes is better because 60% people here have problems. It would be best if you put the pole yourself instead of paying a $125.
Also xbox 360 does connect to internet but not Live. Its a pain to set it up but it works. Just get a Live Silver account, skip the test connection and login. I only download demos and arcades from live market place at 3am to 6. you can set a time for xbox shut off for 6 hours. Do not download anything over a 1gb during FAP hours. I not sure about a PS3 but I did update my friends wii and check weather out on it 
I would recommend Pro for only 70-74 bucks a month is the best choice, anything higher or lower is plan ridiculous or sucks
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HN7000S - 99 West 1370 MHz - Pro - installed October 2007 - Linksys WRT54G V8 - Xbox 360, PSP-1001 CFW - 2 Vista Desktops - 1 XP Desktop - 1 vista Acer Aspire 3680 laptop |
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mitch5252
join:2008-09-03
Palmersville, TN
| reply to Jeremy_WV
We've been using Hughesnet for about 4 years now. It is a miserable service, to say the least. Our dish was mounted on the side of our house, right next to the DirecTV dish. A small stepladder will get you access. If the installer puts it on a pole, will he bury the line for $125? Or will that be your job? Or will you just mow around them?
I am happy to say that come Monday, I AM GETTING RID OF HUGHESNET! Our local phone company, Frontier, is now offering a new technology thing called AdrenaLine, which is a "line cleaner". The technical aspects are over my head, but I am desperate to get rid of Hughes! It will supposedly supply speeds up to 3Mb! I tested my Hughesnet speed this past Tuesday and got a whoppin' 350kb! Monday cannot come quickly enough. The initial cost to install the AdrenaLine is $125, and my monthly fee will be $45 with a 2-year commitment. That's a savings of $15/month over Hughes!
Here's a link to this new technology. If you'd like, I'll post my speed test results after it's installed.
»www.charlesindustries.com/main/a···ine.html
Regards,
Michelle |
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Jeremy_WV
@direcpc.com
| reply to Jeremy_WV
Hey everyone,
Thanks for the help in deciding. Today I finally have broadband, well if you consider hughesnet as broadband. I do have a few more questions lol 1. They gave me the 9000 Modem, is this the newest one? 2. Even with all my computers turned off, the receive light constantly blinks, is this normal? I don't want to go over my FAP if I am not downloading everything! 3. The installer done a speed check and it showed 1.2 mbps (Around 6 pm) now I just done one that's barely 500 kbps (10:15 pm), is that normal as well? Such a fluctuation in speed. Thanks for all the help everyone! |
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One more too
@direcpc.com
| said by Jeremy_WV :
Hey everyone,
Thanks for the help in deciding. Today I finally have broadband, well if you consider hughesnet as broadband. I do have a few more questions lol 1. They gave me the 9000 Modem, is this the newest one? 2. Even with all my computers turned off, the receive light constantly blinks, is this normal? I don't want to go over my FAP if I am not downloading everything! 3. The installer done a speed check and it showed 1.2 mbps (Around 6 pm) now I just done one that's barely 500 kbps (10:15 pm), is that normal as well? Such a fluctuation in speed. Thanks for all the help everyone!
Yes, the 9000 is the newest modem. That puts you on the Spaceway 3 satellite. You should be a lot happier there than on one of the other satellites because Hughes has not yet had enough time to oversell the available bandwidth on Spaceway. Unfortunately, you are going to see considerable variation of speeds, depending on the time of day. If you are on the basic home plan, you will probably see more variation because you are sharing bandwidth with a larger number of other users than if, for example, you were on the elite or elite plus plans. The more you pay, the fewer other customers you are sharing bandwidth with. Today, however, is probably not the best day to use to judge your system's performance. It is the second Tuesday of the month, and that is when Microsoft does its major monthly Windows updates. So, a lot of people will be using more bandwidth today, and this is usually likely to be the slowest day of the month. |
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K1DEU
160 ft Rohn 45g Tower
Premium
join:2007-10-30
Stamford, VT
3 edits | Jeremy; I am 11 miles away from AT&T (no cap/unlimited) using a 850 Mhz Sierra Air Card with an external antenna paying $60 per month.
Go here »evdotips.blogspot.com/ and check Coverage Maps (broadband capable) on the upper right, just in case. Staying up between 3-6 A.M. to check download progress with Hughes Net is more than disrupting.
study Millenicom here »Millenicom
and Sprint here »Sprint Mobile Broadband
Regards John
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»www.spiritualpeaceproject.com |
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kartek
join:2008-09-12
Nashville, MI | reply to Jeremy_WV
I wish you luck Jeremy, I went with Hughes and have regretted it ever since! A true broadband experience it isn't and if you exceed your FAP shut it down for 25 hours or so cause what they leave you with, leaves you wanting your dialup back. |
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storm58
join:2007-11-01
| reply to jagraff
Hey, I see you're from Rindge. You probably know and have checked and can't get it but there's wireless over there now.
»www.thegraniteconnection.net/
Shane from Harrisville  |
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jagraff
join:2006-12-02
Rindge, NH
| Hi Shane,
You guessed it...we had Granite do a site assessment just to see and their signal is not available here. Also, they said speeds of 500-1000 down, $200 install fee and $50 monthly. Not a super deal especially since they don't seem to have much of a track record.
I'm going to probably jinx ourselves but ever since we were repointed and moved to 74W(Horizons2)things have been very good. Consistent 1000kbs/220kbs daytime and maybe 400-800kbs down in the evening hours. Latency is what it is and for us really only affects SKYPE and secure connections. We aren't gamers and even if we did have a petter ping I don't think we'd let the kids use for gaming.
Best thing we ever did for our system was to find this forum. I'm hoping Fairpoint will make good on their promises and start installing DSLAM. We are too far from the CO in Rindge for regular DSL...but the bigger problem is Verizon never even bothered to install any DSL equipment in our CO in the first place!
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74West/1250Mhz/Proplan/.76m dish/HNS7000S/LinksysWRT54G/WindowsXPsp2 |
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storm58
join:2007-11-01
| reply to Jeremy_WV
We've been on dialup since we got a computer back in 98. We're too far away from the CO for dsl and no cable out here. I almost went with Hughes last spring, then I found out about wivalley. It sounded too good to be true and they came over and did a signal test and told me I could get it. $55 a month, but no fap - install was $400. Here's what I usually get for speeds. There's also faster speeds for $75 a month but I'm happy with what I have. They are expanding your way I think, here's thier website. www.wivalley.net
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jagraff
join:2006-12-02
Rindge, NH | reply to Jeremy_WV
Thanks! We'll keep an eye out for WiValley. Still have about 6 months on this contract with Hughes.
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74West/1250Mhz/Proplan/.76m dish/HNS7000S/LinksysWRT54G/WindowsXPsp2 |
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stenman
join:2007-03-07
Salinas, CA
 ·Verizon Wireless B..
| reply to Jeremy_WV
I have been a HughesNet sufferer for the past 6 years. The FAP is the worst part of their service. With a 200MB FAP I find myself driving to the local library and using the WiFi connection to download computer updates as it is impossible to do this with the HughesNet FAP.
With Wildblue I could download 400MB for an update or a new application and be fine as my daily usage is less than 50MB on average. With HughesNet I can start a download at 3:00 a.m. EST and hope that the download finished before the 6:00 a.m. cutoff.
There is nothing in a subscribers service agreement that precludes HughesNet from decreasing your service level for the plan you have and in effect forcing you to a more costly plan for the remainder of your subscription. They recently did this with the Home Pro plan where the reduced the FAP threshold by 20% with no notice.
WildBlue is not without its faults but on a day to day basis it provides a higher level of service and much less likelihood of being FAP restrained than HughesNet. And when the Hughesnet FAP is enacted your download and upload speeds are reduced to less than half the performance you would get with a 56K dialup connection.
In general with the latency involved with any satellite service the speed with which one can surf the Internet is no better than dialup anyway. It is only when doing large file downloads that there is an advantage to using a satellite ISP.
The only real solution is to move to a city or a 1st world country if you want decent Internet access speeds. I live 40 miles from Silicon Valley and my Internet access options are no better than that of my friend who has a house on a small island in Fiji - go figure. |
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