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DHolCr
@direcway.com

DHolCr

Anon

Don't Go HughesNet!

Just weighing in on the Sat Internet discussions. I've been with HN far longer than I'd have preferred. We live out in the country and don't have much selection. We had the old HN system for awhile and it rain like dialup. Had Gen4 "upgrade" installed and now it doesn't run at all. Someone referred to the tokens...yes....that's their scam. You redeem their tokens and then they're happy to draft extra money from your account. You either do that or get on the phone with them for three hours at a time. Last month they drafted $193.00 out of my bank...which is how I found this discussion...searching desperately for any other answer besides HN. Do yourself a favor... buy a dove...tie notes to his ankles. The process will work much faster than HughesNet "highspeed" internet.
tomupnorth
join:2005-01-14
UpperMidwest

tomupnorth

Member

said by DHolCr :

buy a dove...tie notes to his ankles.

Ha, ha! How you gonna stream (or download) movies with a dove? HD movies are the only possible way you could use $193.00 in extra bandwidth in one month.
Xtreme2damax
join:2007-03-21
Port Byron, NY

Xtreme2damax

Member

quote:
Ha, ha! How you gonna stream (or download) movies with a dove?
Step 1.) Train dove in basic knowledge of economy and money exchange.

Step 2.) Train dove how to fetch movies from a store, video rental place etc..

Step 3.) Tie money along with a note on the doves ankles, send it on it's way and wait a while.

Step 4.) Success!

Well it's not streaming but think carrier pigeons before snail mail and email existed. :P

gwalk
Premium Member
join:2005-07-27
West Mich.

gwalk to DHolCr

Premium Member

to DHolCr
The other option of course is to pick a plan of a size that fits your needs better, and then monitor your usage.
Its just like putting gas in you car. Just because the tank is full doesn't mean you have to run it all out in a day or two.

Here is a list of a number of "tools" and resources to help you manage your data allowance:

Here is my list of "Hughesnet Tools"

#1
Usage Meter in SCC: (192.168.0.1)
Always available but limited to a displayed accuracy of .1 Gb or 100 Mb.
Far from being a "fine" enough readout to parcel out usage on the smaller plans.

#2
Download Usage Meter: (»my.hughesnet.com)
A nice little "companion" to the SCC meter, sits in your computers Notification Area.
It resolves to 1% increments, 1% of a 15 GB plan is 150 Mb. Just not fine enough for parceling out data on a daily basis. Or you may open the application and it will show to the nearest 100 Mb. Still not good enough for effective management.

#3
Traditional Hourly History Usage page:
Found under TOOLS/CHECK USAGE at »customercare.myhughesnet.com

A nice tool, but it is a History page, giving delayed, after the fact info that Rocky's answer tells me is totally useless in trying to track and control a subscribers usage.
The other big issue with it is, it is getting very rare that the page is accessible when you need it.

#4
The Histogram style Hourly History Usage display.
Found, if you are able to open the page, at »my.hughesnet.com

Totally useless, a pretty display of delayed usage divided into separate graphs of upload & download.

Again useless as a tool to help a subscriber monitor and control usage as the answer that Rocky passed onto me has shown.

#5
The "Usage At a Glance" Meter also found within the seldom accessible my.hughesnet.com webpage.

This is the meter that should be "native" to the usage display in SCC.

The big one here: Maybe the page where it resides will open and maybe it won't.

Details of Gen4:
»legal.hughesnet.com/FairAccess...

Two non-Hughes programs to monitor your usage:

Networx:
»www.softperfect.com/products/n...

Net Guard:
»www.cucusoft.com/netguard.aspx...

I found the "Statement" function within Net Guard to be of value
Xtreme2damax
join:2007-03-21
Port Byron, NY

Xtreme2damax to DHolCr

Member

to DHolCr
Hughesnet really needs to better adjust data caps especially without an unlimited lnfz with their Gen4 service. Seven or more years later and data caps haven't changed much and in some cases seem to have been scaled back. I get that satellite service isn't as cheap to provide and afford unlike other solutions, for an internet service being touted as a replacement for terrestrial home broadband in rural areas the data caps are quite pathetic. Data caps need to be more than just slightly better than cell phone data caps for home broadband solutions.

If they wanted to get rid of the unlimited lnfz the caps should be adjusted like so..

15GB Basic Plan
25GB Power Plan
50GB Advanced Plan

Right now I bounce off of my parents wifi for their Gen4 service. If I eventually decide to bite the bullet and get satellite internet of my own it will be through Excede since they still have an unlimited lnfz. For any real time latency dependent online activities I might invest in Millenicom 3G and a 20GB plan until someone decides to extend 4G/Wimax/LTE or Wireless out here.

gwalk
Premium Member
join:2005-07-27
West Mich.

gwalk

Premium Member

Hughes has always been a "connection of last resort".....and always will be.

Why should they cut into Token sales profits as you suggest with those data limits ?

If anyone had ANY other option they need to take it . Period.

The Hughes infrastructure can't handle the customer data load now.
Exede seems to cut off sales in a given area when their system capacity is reached .... Hughes style is Sell, Sell, Sell.

They will continue to treat their subscribers that way, becase they can.

As to the OPs post he has limited options:

If their is another ISP, take it !

Drop Hughes completely.

Or learn how the system works, how to get the best out of it.
Xtreme2damax
join:2007-03-21
Port Byron, NY

Xtreme2damax

Member

Tbh that's kind of ignorant to say. I made a very valid point. I'll leave it at this for right now because I don't have time to type out a well thought out rebuttal.

gwalk
Premium Member
join:2005-07-27
West Mich.

gwalk

Premium Member

I don't disagree with you at all on the pitiful limits.
Its just that Hughes is not in business to provide Internet, they are in business to make money. Hughes will cheat their customers at every turn.

Example, up untill late November I had 7000 system with a ProPlus, 475 MB/day and unlimited late night.
Hughes killed that, so now on Gen4 with a Power Pro 15/15 Gb plan.
That is 500MB/day if you divide it up and uploads count.
I have less today than I had before, only I can if i dont practice restraint, burn right through that and have to fill the Hughes coffers with Token $$$$$.

That is the same issue the OP has.

Hughes is not going to change..there is no money in it for them to do so.

If we as rural subscribers have no other choice of ISP other than Hughes we have to either drop them ...or learn to get the best out of what data allownce we have .....or spend a fortune .
pvtpilot94
System
Premium Member
join:2001-11-23
Bucyrus, OH

1 edit

pvtpilot94 to DHolCr

Premium Member

to DHolCr
While it may be a connection of last resort, In some cases, such as mine. I was looking for a connection that is most affordable. I have DSL at the moment and it is much more expensive than Hughesnet. If the GEN4 system had worked properly for me I would have stayed with Hughesnet.
I just couldn't see paying Hughesnet for their service when at times was like dial-up.
I know there are lots of folks that would much rather have an alternative to Hughesnet, but for me
it is much more of a cost factor than anything. I am sure there are areas where DSL and wireless are
alot cheaper than Hughesnet, but not around here.
Even though it had issues now and then, I was happier with the 7000S modem before I got the GEN4 system.
Looking back, I wonder why Hughesnet didn't offer to move me to a GEN3 Spaceway system rather than losing a customer altogether.
Hughesnet must not have liked me
Xtreme2damax
join:2007-03-21
Port Byron, NY

1 edit

Xtreme2damax to gwalk

Member

to gwalk
Yeah I misunderstood. You are right they are trying to make as much money as they can, they got those with no other choice by the balls. Doesn't make it right though, they just better hope that no law is passed that declares reliable high speed terrestrial broadband a utility like electric, gas and telephone. Things are heading that way with how computers are being integrated into our daily lives more and more as time goes on and bandwidth requirements for mere web pages goes up. When the web was young pages were mostly all text and maybe some low quality images later on. As the web evolved we now have high quality gifs, video and audio streaming services, digital download services. Some folks livelihood depends on working or taking classes online and often times depending on what you are doing could require transfers of large files. Most have a choice where they decided to live, some others don't have much choice and get dragged out in the middle of nowhere by family or friends.

For me I am lucky to have some other choice. I chose to live out here but at least I can get 3G, a whopping one or two bars at 20% - 40% signal but that is fine for me. I use the 3G so I can play Team Fortress 2 and use satellite for everything else since my 3G only gives me 6GB /mo.

james1979
Premium Member
join:2012-10-09
Quinault, WA

james1979 to DHolCr

Premium Member

to DHolCr
said by DHolCr :

Had Gen4 "upgrade" installed and now it doesn't run at all. ... Last month they drafted $193.00 out of my bank

I don't know if the $193 figure you quoted includes your monthly plan charge, but still, it seems like your Gen4 system is running a little better than "[not at all]" if you're able to use that much data.

But yes, part of HughesNet's business model does seem to be selling tokens. I much appreciated the idea when it was first introduced around 5(?) years ago. As has been noted, with Gen4, HN increased the "up to" speeds, but then lowered the data caps. Note that the Exede service has a similar business model.
james1979

james1979 to pvtpilot94

Premium Member

to pvtpilot94
said by pvtpilot94:

If the GEN4 system had worked properly for me I would have stayed with Hughesnet. I just couldn't see paying Hughesnet for their service when at times was like dial-up.

HughesNet still hasn't addressed the problem of speeds collapsing during the evening for those of us with that problem. Today I watched my download speed drop from my "up to" 10 Mbps progressively down to 0.731 Mbps.

Oh, let's welcome the latest Unnaturally Happy HughesNet Club Members who showed up in my mailbox!




HughesNet's "Optimization Wizard" obviously worked for those two!
Elkhorn
join:2009-12-31
Lyons, OR

Elkhorn to DHolCr

Member

to DHolCr
I think the average consumer assumes satellite internet is just like any other internet provider. "Satellite" even sounds high tech. And, Hughesnet does a great job of making it sound just like it's regular internet. It's after purchase that certain constraints become apparent, so the only choice is to either cancel or educate yourself on what you can or cannot do, when you can do it, and how many times you can do it.
Case in point, one of the cabins in our neighborhood was recently sold. The new owner naturally assumed he could hook up tv and internet after he moved in. He couldn't, his only options were satellite, and 100 ft fir trees on a neighbors property totally obscured each and every satellite.............he moved out 3 months later.....