Jim_Arkansas
Premium
join:2006-05-09
White Hall, AR
| [HN7000S] Early Termination Fees?
I've been a DirecPC/Hughes customer since Dec 2003. In Oct 2007, not thinking we'd get EVDO any time soon, I reluctantly (and foolishly) "upgraded" both to an HN7000S modem and to the ProPlus plan. Now we have Verizon and Alltel EVDO available.
I went to the hughes.net web page on Termination Fees at
»go.gethughesnet.com/HUGHES/Rooms···37C084]]
but I want to make sure I understand it correctly. Would I in fact have to pay both the $400 Equipment fee AND the $300 Early Termination Fee ($700 total)? Or, would I "only" have to pay the $300 Early Termination Fee?
BTW, a friend brought over his Verizon UM150 modem today, and with it I got about the same download speed (avg 1035 kbps)as with Hughes (avg 1101 kbps); however the upload speed was higher (577 kbps vs. 112 kbps). What really improved was latency (138 ms vs. 624 ms.); the increased "snappiness" (faster web page loading after clicking its link, etc.) gave this user a sense of much higher performance.
TIA for clarifying (or confirming) my understanding of the Early Termination Fees.
Jim |
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J o e
@direcpc.com | Yes you have to pay both.
BTW...do you u have sucker written on your forehead? |
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Jim_Arkansas
Premium
join:2006-05-09
White Hall, AR
| Thanks for your kind reply, Joe. 
I just checked, and I can confirm that I do have sucker written on my forehead. Do you have something that rhymes with it written on yours? One might infer that from the tone of your reply.
But I digress...I did a search on this subject before my post, and one hit seemed to suggest that I'd only be liable for the $300 Early Termination Fee. |
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Jack_in_VA
Premium
join:2007-11-26
Mathews, VA
| said by Jim_Arkansas  :Thanks for your kind reply, Joe. I just checked, and I can confirm that I do have sucker written on my forehead. Do you have something that rhymes with it written on yours? One might infer that from the tone of your reply. But I digress...I did a search on this subject before my post, and one hit seemed to suggest that I'd only be liable for the $300 Early Termination Fee. Did they make you take a new 2-year contract when you upgraded? Mine was for 15 months and I cancelled with no problem at 15 months. I think HN extended the contract period to 2 years soon after I got my system. I did not have any problems with HN Billing. Call them and ask. |
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or270
Premium
join:2007-03-13
Lookout, CA
edit:
May 7th, @11:17PM
| If you got the modem upgrade you should only have to pay the $300 ETF. and it should only be a 15 month commitment.
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HN7000S/G3C 95W 1120/.98 2 watt/Sig 79/ProPlus
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J O E
@direcpc.com | reply to Jim_Arkansas
Seriously, I am in a 2 year contract and hughes tells me if I want out I have to pay $400 for the equipment and $300 for the early termination fee.
Joe |
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or270
Premium
join:2007-03-13
Lookout, CA
 ·SkyFx
·HughesNet Satellit..
| You must have bought you system on the monthly payment plan, the $700 would be correct.
Now if you got just the HM7000S modem upgrade for $25.00 plus 15 month commitment, the $300.00 price would be correct.
Now if you are having service problems, they have on occasion
differed from this policy.
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HN7000S/G3C 95W 1120/.98 2 watt/Sig 79/ProPlus
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Jim_Arkansas
Premium
join:2006-05-09
White Hall, AR | I just checked with HN Billing via online Chat, and they told me I would have to pay $300.
Thanks to all who replied to my post.
Jim |
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or270
Premium
join:2007-03-13
Lookout, CA | you should be able to get a $100.00+ for your modem on eBay.
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HN7000S/G3C 95W 1311/.98 2 watt/Sig 90/ProPlus
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Pesimist
join:2007-07-09
Valley, AL
·HughesNet Satellit..
 ·AT&T Southeast
| reply to Jim_Arkansas
Do the math! If you feel like paying $79.00 per month for your remaining 8-months of the 15-month contract; its $632.00. If your service is as bad as mine was, I'd recommend you drop them to cut your losses - you'd be $332.00 better off.
Plus: If you've got speed tests showing poor download/upload speeds, there is a very good chance they'd refund the $300.00 early termination fee (especially if you also sent in a complaint to the Maryland Secretary of State. |
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Jim_Arkansas
Premium
join:2006-05-09
White Hall, AR
| They said I still have 16 mos left in a 24-month contract. So, $79.99*16.
I'm just nervous about making the switch to Verizon, because I'm afraid that as soon as I do, they'll become oversubscribed or have some other issue. I can also get Alltel here, but they aren't Rev A yet, so the upload speed wouldn't be much better than what I have. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm afraid I'd be trading one set of aggravations for another. Also, unless I commit to another contract with a wireless provider, I'd be out another $300 or so for an EVDO modem + more for a router.
Decisions, decisions... At least now I know that it'll cost me $300 to leave HN, and I guess that's true whether I do it now or anytime in the next 15 months. |
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ALHILLDIRT
join:2007-08-14
Attalla, AL
·HughesNet Satellit..
| I have had Verizon EVDO since October 2007 in addition to Hughes. I can say most emphatically that Verizon has only improved their service -better signal strength, speed etc.-while Hughes on the other hand has continued to wallow along with their less than satisfactory performance. The biggest advantage with Verizon, is that it's SO MOBILE. I recently made a 1200 mile trip. There were only a few times crusing down both interstate and highways, that my signal failed completely, and speeds where consistently better than Hughes. When my contract with Hughes is up, I intend on investing in a router for the Verizon modem and saying goodbye HN |
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somdguy
@myvzw.com
| reply to Jim_Arkansas
Keep in mind also with VZ you can sign a 1-2 yr contract and the early termination fee is only $175. Also that $175 goes down each month of your contract that you fulfill. Its prorated if you decide to terminate via the length of the contract.
I have had VZ EVDO for 18 months after dropping Hughes and I have never once looked back!
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jimbo5169
join:2008-05-21
Finleyville, PA
| reply to Jim_Arkansas
Add me to the list of unhappy HughesNet customers. I'm attempting to cancel my service within the 30 day window and Hughes is throwing everything they can at me to stop me from leaving.
They claim the 30 day cancellation window only applies to new customers and not to us that upgraded to the HNS7000 running Pro. I upgraded 28 days ago and they are trying to assess a $300 charge.
I've gone to a Sprint air-card for $59.99 per month, unlimited usage, and it works much better than Hughes ever did.
Has anyone had any luck in getting the Early Termination fee waived? |
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Pesimist
join:2007-07-09
Valley, AL
·HughesNet Satellit..
·AT&T Southeast
| Yes, they waved my early termination fee - but not initially. It took a letter to the Hughes Corporate office which included a copy of a letter I mailed to the Maryland Secretary of State.
I did document many weeks of poor download/upload speed tests as well as copies of the chat sessions I had with Hughes.
Within two weeks, I received a full credit for the early termination fee. |
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ahammer
join:2008-01-06
Maricopa, AZ | reply to Jim_Arkansas
keep in mind that v has a 5gb a month fap cap..
and alltel does not. |
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Jim_Arkansas
Premium
join:2006-05-09
White Hall, AR
| Hi, my name is Jim. I have been HughesNet-free for two minutes.
I sure hope I don't end up having to eat crow and crawl back to them. I signed up with Verizon a week ago; with Verizon, I get about the same download speed (when HughesNet is having a good day), but about triple the upload speed and about an 1/8 of the ping time; this is using both speedtest.net and the speed test here on dslreports. I am nervous about Verizon's 5 GB limit, though. I can also get Alltel here, but they don't have RevA yet.
Thanks to all for your great support the 4.5 years I've been with DirecPC/HughesNet. Good luck to you all!
Jim |
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