Satellite > HughesNet Satellite > HughesNet Gen4 Buyer Beware

HughesNet Gen4 Buyer Beware

there is a 9.99 PER MONTH LEASE FEE for the equipment.

that's not hidden.

so, you are more than likely getting the 49.99 plan for 2 years, PLUS the $9.99 fee added for the lease of the equipment.

So, that equals ~ $59.99.........

did you CLARIFY that it was 59.99 PLUS 9.99???

They have not clarified anything yet, including they want to charge me the $99 that I was told would not be charged when I signed up on Monday and they charged my credit card $50 for the first month's service. They cancelled my sign-up from Monday and want to resign me up at new rates and installation charges. I told them I would not sign up for the upgrade if they changed the deal I signed up for and paid the $50 for on Monday and got an email confirmation for on Monday.

Sandy T - try sending this post in an email directed to Ellen.martz@hughes.com. I'm sure we can figure this out to make it worthwhile for you.

Amazing this was sent from verizon.net...... Someone immitating Ellen Martz at ECC. how hilarious!

by the way, corporate addresses are hns.com, not hughes.com

Sandy T - as I said, please try to reach me. If the Gen4 ordering process needs fixed we can help you. FYI Hughes has a social media presence today and we frequently scan all media.

»gen4.hughesnet.com/explore-plans clearly shows the Gen4 Power plan as discounted to $49.99 and that the $99 activation fee is waived. But this is for new customers only, and expires 12/31/12. Roughly three months. After that the plan reverts to $59.99 with no activation waiver. Those early adopters will see their bill go up in January. The two year thing must somehow have gotten confused with the 24 month commitment. The same page also clearly states the $9.99/mo equipment lease.

Personally, I'd pay for the hardware up front. If I'm not mistaken, the purchase price will - after the $200 rebate - be about what a lessee pays in the first 18 months.

//greg//
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HN7000S - 98cm Prodelin/2w "pure" Osiris - ProPlus - G16/1001H - NOC:GTN - NAT 67.142.115.130 - Gateway 66.82.25.10 - DNS 66.82.4.12 and 66.82.4.8 - Firefox 15/MSIE9 - AV/Firewalled by NIS2012

reply to compuguybna

reply to Sandy T
Sounds to me like the wires on this deal got crossed. i.e. the offer you describe appears to be what HN offered for HN 9000 spaceway service and not the Gen 4 service. Hard to say for certain.

reply to PCsongBird
well, my contact was William.Smouse@hns.com, so its possible hns.com, hughes.net, or hughes.com goes to the same address/person, depending on how their mail server is setup.

However, its probably a longshot that Ellen Martz is scouting the dslreports forum using an ANON user id, and posting from a verizon.net.

anyway, anyone that's every dealt with ECC probably has a list of email addresses they've corresponded to.

I think we've been trolled.

reply to compuguybna

reply to grohgreg

Well, I probably helps that I'm a retired telecommunications/satcom engineer. But my point was not reliability, it was cost. But it should be noted that I've owned Hughes hardware that lasted 6+ years without failure. I've been a Hughes subscriber for 12 years now, so I do have a pretty good frame of reference.

I was actually addressing the long term cost of lease vs buy. Again, I don't have the exact dollar figure to buy this new stuff. But historically - when rebates are considered - I can buy the hardware for one up-front payment equivalent to ~18 months of lease fees. After that, you're still paying. I'm not. Plus, I'm also protected by the regular hardware warranty for 24 months as well. After that - like you said - I have the option to buy a "better alternative"

//greg//
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HN7000S - 98cm Prodelin/2w "pure" Osiris - ProPlus - G16/1001H - NOC:GTN - NAT 67.142.115.130 - Gateway 66.82.25.10 - DNS 66.82.4.12 and 66.82.4.8 - Firefox 15/MSIE9 - AV/Firewalled by NIS2012

reply to Sandy T
The poor quality of HughesNet's auto-notification Emails sent to new customer sign ups are the problem. They are not very descriptive and do not include any mention of discounts or special offers, nor does it include local taxes.

I answer this question frequently after I place an order. Here is an exerpt from an auto-otification sent to a Gen4 pre-sale customer:

Thank you for your order.
Please print this email for your records.

The Summary of your order:
Order Number: 434XXXX
Payment Option: Lease -
Service Plan: HughesNet Gen4 Power - $59.99
Site Account Number (SAN): DSS3026XXXX
PIN #: XXXX

Dear HughesNet Member,

Congratulations and thank you for signing up to be among the first to upgrade to HughesNet Gen4!

In Fall 2012, Hughes is rolling out its 4th-generation high-speed satellite Internet service – HughesNet Gen4 – to give you more of what you need, including dramatically improved performance and support for high-bandwidth applications like video and music.

You don't only have to beware of the contract price. We were with HughesNet for years and years and had trouble with equipment constantly. But worse...the advertised download speeds were a joke. They were not even near what was advertised and you can just google to find that complaint everywhere. So I am extremely wary of the advertised download speeds of Gen4 until I see quotes from actual people that it is as advertised (notice that they say 'up to' 10Mbps). The 20Gig/month allowance is especially what got my attention. If download speeds are truly as advertised then the 20Gig/month allowance beats Verizon's 5Gig/month allowance!

reply to BajaSat
I am on Exede as of today and cancelling my Hughes account. I was tired of all the drama. Called Exede las Friday, I am up and running this morning on the Exede 12 plan, @79.99 a month, 15GB unlimited nights, all my emails are up and running, no issues yet. Nice speeds so far, not HOT, but not cold either.

I prepaid the lease up for two years and saved $40.00. So far so good.

So far, right now, yes they will reinstate the lease fee at the end of the contract. And of course today Hughes came out with the purchase option. ha ha. I will call Exede tomorrow to see if they plan to follow Hughes or not. See what I get told.

But I planned to cross the bridge when I get there. So far this is working very good though.

reply to Sandy T
I understand Sandy T. I've been lied to since day 1. I've called Hughesnet and the local Hughesnet seller Entersource and have been mislead on both ends. I was going to get excede when I started my service a month ago, but they guaranteed me Hughesnet was going to be fast and they would waive the $199.99 setup fee because I was already a customer. They told me they had been to conferences and trainings on it and it was guaranteed. Did they follow through with it when I called back again? NO. I was even told my first month would be waived when I was first looking into signing up with Hughesnet. When I went to sign up the next day they told me that it is impossible and that their are "no notes" on my account to back up this claim.

Now here we are with gen 4. I called Entersource and they said call Hughesnet. I call Hughesnet and I'm told it is impossible and there are "no notes" to back up this claim. I had went to entersource multiple times and even talked to the VP and they told me "No need for notes to be added. It will happen automatically guaranteed! This was promised to me by the VP, the saleswoman and the installer. I even talked to another salesman there a few days later who also guaranteed it . Now all Im hear is that stupid comment of cant do it and no notes mentioning I was told that again. I'm starting to regret the day I ever signed up.

What you hear from a re-seller isn't always going to be what the corporate entity allows. A re-seller is nothing but a re-seller. They have no control what so ever over costs. They usually get paid incentive per each customer, so chances are, they are lieing out the rear end to get you to sign up through them instead of the actual company or another seller.

Never take a resellers words, always do your research when buying.