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Hughes Shakes Up Its Gen 4 Satellite Broadband Plan Pricing

HughesNet today announced new satellite broadband plans the company claims will usher in "a new generation of performance-enhancing innovations in downloading, browsing and data usage management." According to the company announcement, the new plans come alongside an improvement to the company's SmartFetch and SmartCompression technologies that try to create the impression of faster speeds.

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The company appears so proud of their new plan specifics and pricing, they've hidden them behind a prequal wall.

Plans vary depending on your area, though as the chart to the left notes, plans range from $50 for 5/1 Mbps to $90 for 15/2 Mbps, with monthly usage allotments ranging from 55 to 100 GB. Customers also get "bonus byte" data allotments that they can only use during overnight hours (2AM to 8AM).

HughesNet originally released their Gen 4 services back in October of 2012, and initially many customers complained that the service failed to deliver advertised speeds. Satellite broadband has traditionally been among the worst reviewed by our users due to low caps, slow speeds, and high prices.

Still, HughesNet clearly hopes these latest changes will have customers changing their tune.

"Hughes invented satellite Internet and is constantly innovating to enhance our customers' online experiences," said the company in a statement. "As the clear market leader, with over a million active users in North America, we strive to make HughesNet the best solution for people to enjoy all the benefits of high-speed Internet access no matter where they live or work—even in exurban and rural areas with limited terrestrial broadband."

There's some additional conversation about the plans in our HughesNet forum.
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ITALIAN926
join:2003-08-16

1 recommendation

ITALIAN926

Member

;)

HughesNet would be a great partner with Dish/Sling. No, wait, what? My head hurts.
bcltoys
join:2008-07-21

bcltoys

Member

Nope

None of these prices are good at my house.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

For people who hate their terrestrial ISPs

This may make HughesNet a viable option for people stuck with a terrestrial ISP who refuses to repair their service. Fortunately I don't have to resort to HughesNet but I've seen HughesNet/Exede dishes where cable options are available so Comcast/Charter must have really done something to piss the customer off into going to a satellite ISP.

There's a HughesNet dish on a duplex where I walk the dog, Comcast lines about 20 feet away. And in Ludlow, they have an Excede dish on a residence, Charter lines right on the street.

It takes the right gear to get a good connection. I have a Motorola SB 6183 and a Netgear AC3200 router.
TheRogueX
join:2003-03-26
Springfield, MO

2 recommendations

TheRogueX

Member

Re: For people who hate their terrestrial ISPs

said by IowaCowboy:

This may make HughesNet a viable option for people stuck with a terrestrial ISP who refuses to repair their service.

LOLOLOLOL

That was an awesome joke. Seriously. I mean it. Thank you for the laugh.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Re: For people who hate their terrestrial ISPs

I'll tell you I've dealt with Comcast repair, and short of vandalizing their equipment (which I would not do as I value my freedom) it is impossible to get them to fix anything. They always blame the customers equipment without troubleshooting theirs first. Comcast is great when it's working but their support/repair is bottom of the barrel in terms of quality. It's like support/repair is non existent. For all that matters when the cable plant rots in another ten years they'll fix things with trash bags. It's only in good condition because of the rebuild under AT&T Broadband.

diablo18926
R.I.P. Donald Lee Wise
join:2011-04-21
Friendly, WV

1 edit

diablo18926

Member

Re: For people who hate their terrestrial ISPs

IowaCowboy? Anything is better than hughesnet. CS is india people who read from scripts however they fix stuff ASAP (sometimes).

Hughesnet are fat liers and will scam you on you're caps. I wouldn't even recommend them over dial up.

It all depends on what you like to do with you're internet, gamer, web surfer, server host, business guy, etc. but hughesnet does not apply to any of these. With hughes you do NOT get VPN support and the ping is always very high and the connection will constantly drop every second due to the high latency so connectivity between you and a client is impossible or almost.

Say hughesnet is better than a land line again and I will personally come to you're house and have you deal with them from top of the spinal cord to the back of the foot.

xirian
Premium Member
join:2003-01-26
Beacon, NY

1 recommendation

xirian

Premium Member

Re: For people who hate their terrestrial ISPs

said by diablo18926:

you're

"Your".

But otherwise agreed, the idea of using satellite when wired is available is a bad one. Maybe its old people who got sucked into a contract or someone who thinks since their tv is satellite they should get their internet that way too. Either way unless you're out in the middle of nowhere, I'd never touch it.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Re: For people who hate their terrestrial ISPs

I agree that wired is better than satellite, and I'd resort to LTE/Verizon if I had to ditch Comcast for whatever reason but I'm wondering myself why there are HughesNet/Excede dishes in an urban area with a cable/DSL duopoly. Maybe they got kicked off of Comcast for copyright, or maybe they owe Comcast money.

xirian
Premium Member
join:2003-01-26
Beacon, NY

xirian

Premium Member

Re: For people who hate their terrestrial ISPs

Actually after I posted I had another thought. Maybe they had it before and switched, but left the dish. I know most people don't bother taking down the dish when they switch services.

why60loss
Premium Member
join:2012-09-20

why60loss to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy
said by IowaCowboy:

I agree that wired is better than satellite, and I'd resort to LTE/Verizon if I had to ditch Comcast for whatever reason but I'm wondering myself why there are HughesNet/Excede dishes in an urban area with a cable/DSL duopoly. Maybe they got kicked off of Comcast for copyright, or maybe they owe Comcast money.

Because my wired internet often failed me when I had the "choices" of Century link or Time warner cable who both had MUCH worse uptime than my very touchy Verizon LTE phone did.

I had Time warner cable, Verizon unlimited data with LTE via tether and AT&T unlimited H+/3G tethered to stay connected.

Yes I paid insane rates for all that, $70 for Verizon, $60 for AT&T and $100 to Time warner cable to keep the total uptime above %90 for less than 300GB of total use each month.

I would do about 80GB on TWC as it was down/very very slow most of the time, 80GB to 120GB on Verizon and 80 to 150GB a month on AT&T a month.

The AT&T connection nearly always worked, but I was breaking the TOS using them for home internet type use. Verizon had issues with drop outs and holding speed.

Now that I look back on that after having Comcast, yes Comcast I realize I should have never thought that was "just cable".

On Time warner cable due to very high upstream packet loss of around 60% it was nearly non-working all the time. On Century link they just said we will fix it on our own time. (Like allowing whole months of no internet service. Well the 10mbs plan sure did a whole lot of good then on a service that doesn't work.)

Just glad to not deal with that level of total BS anymore. Even if I know Comcast can be really bad in it's own right. Mostly billing like Verizon.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Re: For people who hate their terrestrial ISPs

See in your case you'd be a candidate for satellite and that's exactly what I'm talking about where the cableco refuses to fix their internet or blames the customer. I've had the same experience with Comcast.

It just depends on the local franchise, up in Maine Time Warner is good to deal with and I wish they were the cableco here and I wish it was TWC buying out Comcast.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: For people who hate their terrestrial ISPs

TWC is horrible compared to Comcast. Between their incorrect copy flags, and poor TA support, they are a nightmare.

diablo18926
R.I.P. Donald Lee Wise
join:2011-04-21
Friendly, WV

diablo18926 to xirian

Member

to xirian
said by xirian:

you're

BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy
It depends on the tech. I've had techs that were really good, and really knew what they were doing, and knew the plant they were working on inside and out, and others that were kinda clueless. They put their best people on business, if you're lucky enough to get a business guy that gets diverted to a residential support call, you'll likely have a better experience.
BiggA

BiggA to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy
They're either using them as backups to Comcast, or they are total idiots. No one in their right mind would trade even the worse Comcast experience for satellite. The area where it gets murky is if you have no cable, and you can only get 3mbps DSL vs. maybe 10-12mbps satellite, but with caps and much higher latency.

A DOCSIS 2 modem and WRT-54G will get a much better connection than satellite.

why60loss
Premium Member
join:2012-09-20

why60loss

Premium Member

Re: For people who hate their terrestrial ISPs

said by BiggA:

They're either using them as backups to Comcast, or they are total idiots. No one in their right mind would trade even the worse Comcast experience for satellite. The area where it gets murky is if you have no cable, and you can only get 3mbps DSL vs. maybe 10-12mbps satellite, but with caps and much higher latency.

A DOCSIS 2 modem and WRT-54G will get a much better connection than satellite.

In 2009 when I had Time warner cable and the worse experience on top of a 40GB cap, I would have thought about it. Century link was also really bad in that area so I might have thought about it then.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: For people who hate their terrestrial ISPs

But back then, satellite was a few hundred kbps with a cap of a few GB.
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry

Premium Member

Caps

When exactly are Verizon and AT&T going to decide to compete on monthly caps with their home LTE products?

AnonDude
@charter.com

AnonDude

Anon

Re: Caps

Verizon has 10 GB for $60, 20 GB for $90 and 30 GB for $120 and until just recently when Hughesnet started offering this that was better than what Hughesnet offered.
Slyster
join:2015-01-08
Sugar Grove, VA

Slyster

Member

Just plain bad..

You cant even watch netflix regularly with those caps... That is if Netflix even works with a ping as high as satellite offers.

AnonDude
@charter.com

AnonDude

Anon

Re: Just plain bad..

said by Slyster:

You cant even watch netflix regularly with those caps... That is if Netflix even works with a ping as high as satellite offers.

These services as well as LTE do not have the bandwidth for that. Someday people will get that. Why people still believe bandwidth is magical and runs on fairy dust I'm not sure. And Netflix doesn't have anything to do with ping.
HiDesert
join:2008-08-17

2 edits

HiDesert

Member

Re: Just plain bad..

Your wrong. My T-mobile can stream youtube, or netflix. Its fast enough its just I only have 2 GB data per month. But I can pay 80 dollars and have unlimited with T mobile if I wanted. Mostly just stream music which works perfectly. But LTE in many Urban areas have insane speeds... over 20 megabit at times. Some reports much higher then that. Wireless is much faster then Sat at this point. You better believe it. For many, LTE fulfills all broadband needs.

In fact the last time I checked the damn thing buffered a video over 25 megs in what seemed like seconds on LTE. At least in Albuquerque its scary fast. The bandwidth is there. Its just how much do you want and how much do you want to spend.

AnonDude
@charter.com

AnonDude

Anon

Re: Just plain bad..

said by HiDesert:

Your wrong. My T-mobile can stream youtube, or netflix.

T-Mobile doesn't have a LTE internet service. And even if they did they certainly couldn't handle millions of customers using 600 GB a month like I do.

xirian
Premium Member
join:2003-01-26
Beacon, NY

xirian

Premium Member

Re: Just plain bad..

said by AnonDude :

T-Mobile doesn't have a LTE internet service.

Yes they do, but the max cap is 11GB.

SysOp
join:2001-04-18
Atlanta, GA

SysOp

Member

Re: Just plain bad..

You can buy more non-smartphone data at $10 per GB.
Slyster
join:2015-01-08
Sugar Grove, VA

Slyster to AnonDude

Member

to AnonDude
I didnt say netflix had anything to do with ping. I said PING THAT SATELLITE OFFERS.

Also I have watched Netflix off of Verizon LTE. So you are wrong about that.
HiDesert
join:2008-08-17

HiDesert to Slyster

Member

to Slyster
Netflix is out of the question. I have a friend on Hughes and its not even You tube friendly. Sat is a last resort. Better to go wireless if you can. My friend lives in an area with no cell coverage. I think what's terrible is the daily limits. Or you wait until 2am. What a nightmare. I think they have a deal where once a month you can go over the daily limit. There are so many restrictions with sat. Its madness.

AnonDude
@charter.com

1 recommendation

AnonDude

Anon

Re: Just plain bad..

There isn't a daily limit any more. They have monthly caps now and have for a couple of years at least. Did you even read the article? Also cell isn't better. Verizon's LTE service is 30 GB for $120 and $10 per GB overage. At least satellite just throttles you to dial-up speed.
Slyster
join:2015-01-08
Sugar Grove, VA

Slyster

Member

Re: Just plain bad..

Might read as the same speeds but the ping makes it far worse than dial up. I had Hughesnet before and it is beyond horrible when you get throttled and when I had them they couldnt keep their usage meter working properly so I was randomly getting throttled daily.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to AnonDude

Premium Member

to AnonDude
30gb is proof enough beyond the other limits that wireless is never ready for primetime. That is barely a modern game off steam.
Slyster
join:2015-01-08
Sugar Grove, VA

Slyster

Member

Re: Just plain bad..

It would be if they didnt keep the prices absurdly high. They are making a killing and then some off of their current prices.

Anon1
@distributel.net

1 recommendation

Anon1 to Slyster

Anon

to Slyster
Ping times are not an issue for Netflix, and all but the lowest package above allow you to watch Netflix in HD quality. You can use a service such as NightShift (»www.aterlo.com/) to use your nighttime quota to download Netflix and then watch it during the day.
raydsltech
join:2004-07-04
Concord, NC

raydsltech

Member

table scraps

the table scraps of the broadband world. hey...take it or dial it up.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: table scraps

Or move. 50mbps internet is now a requirement for anywhere that I move to, preferably 500mbps symmetrical (even though that tier is absurdly expensive, and I'd never actually buy it).

AnonDude
@charter.com

AnonDude

Anon

Not this price or caps everywhere

My area show only 20 GB plus 50 GB bonus and it's $130 a month. Why should other areas get 30 more GB for $40 less? Sorry, but Wild Blue gives you 25 GB and unlimited data from 12 AM - 5 AM. so that is better if I had to choose between the two.

anon17268
@comcast.net

anon17268

Anon

Re: Not this price or caps everywhere

just think all 4 plans are a violation of fcc broadband law of 25mbit lowest tier allowed by law.

AnonDude
@charter.com

AnonDude

Anon

Re: Not this price or caps everywhere

said by anon17268 :

just think all 4 plans are a violation of fcc broadband law of 25mbit lowest tier allowed by law.

There isn't a law. The broadband definition is only applies to companies seeking government subsides to build out broadband. And the 25 Mbps level hasn't even been approved yet.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK

Premium Member

This would be the choice of absolute kast resort as in ZERO other choices...

The prices are high and the caps are murder.

Having said that if you can't get 3G/4G and have zero choices, it's better then nothing.....
fmj778
join:2014-07-02

fmj778

Member

Re: This would be the choice of absolute kast resort as in ZERO other choices...

My Exede service is a hell of a lot better than 3G. You're wrong.

jap
Premium Member
join:2003-08-10
038xx

jap

Premium Member

Re: This would be the choice of absolute kast resort as in ZERO other choices...

said by fmj778:

My Exede service is a hell of a lot better than 3G. You're wrong.

Depends. 3G isn't actually a thing. Was meant to be a set of defined standards but business interests co-opted the term and morphed it into hollow marketing speak.

The "good" 3g is HSPA & HSPA+ with speed capabilities varying wildly depending on tech implemented. I'm guessing most are in the real-world tech-capability range of 12/1 - 25/4 (down/up) mbit. It goes higher with dual-cell.

Of course very low latency, no issues with atmospheric conditions, and phone-as-modem mobility rather than tied to building-mounted hardware. Costs are crazy variable depending on market.

Probable KrK was thinking HSPA when he used the 3G tag.
mikesco8
join:2006-02-17
Southwick, MA

mikesco8

Member

For those with no other choice...

Satellite allows for service even in the remotest of locations, that is a freedom that should not be diminished. Yes, the latency keeps it from being viable for gaming or VOIP, but for most uses and occasional video streaming this is a viable service if you want to live away from it all and still be connected.

••••
bpratt
join:2006-10-24
Redwood City, CA

bpratt

Member

comparable to cellular if you can't get DSL or cable

sure, it's got usage caps and high latency, but cellular in many cases has worse caps. If your address isn't served by DSL or cable, why not consider satellite?

It's not just people in the boondocks who can't get good wired Internet. My house is less than 5 miles from Facebook's HQ in Silicon Valley, and I only got cable after spending years and more than $15K getting easements, conduit installed, etc. DSL/UVerse still isn't an option, and I don't have a good 4G signal. Until I put cable in 3 years ago my only choices were 3G or satellite, and satellite was the better primary option for me.

Personally, this is why I think regulating Internet service under the same rules as voice, including a requirement for universal service for wired Internet (or UNCAPPPED 4G) is important. If you have a house that you bought more than 10-15 years ago, you probably didn't think about Internet access, but if you now want to sell it will have a HUGE impact on your property value and ability to sell if ATT and Comcast (or whoever your local duopoly is) choose not to service your address. It's like not having a voice line 25 years ago.

Bob

neill6705
join:2014-08-09

neill6705

Member

No matter how high they get the speeds, there's still latency.

I was looking at some Gen 4 speed tests and the speeds are impressive for satellite, but the latency is still 600-700ms. I would never use that unless I had absolutely any other option. VoIP, gaming, and video chat would be impossible.

•••••••••

bockbock
@hcs.net

bockbock

Anon

What a crock

$50/mo for 5/1 or $60/mo for 10/1 service with very hard caps and crappy latency not even good enough for Netflix or Youtube?

No thank you. Even if I only had 3-6 mbps DSL available, that would be the clear choice. Otherwise, I'd fall back on dial up with a painful blow.
fmj778
join:2014-07-02

fmj778

Member

Re: What a crock

The new generation of satellite internet is leaps and bounds better than it once was. I have Exede with the free unmetered zone between 12AM and 5AM and have downloaded >30 GB of data during that period. You think that's possible on dial up?
SpectrumDude
join:2002-04-14
Kernersville, NC

SpectrumDude

Member

Maybe it's better

Hughes in its old form was s very bad residential service. I used to do outsourced tech support for Hughes from The Answer Group. Some days I was nothing more than a dispatcher setting up appointments for failed installs and badly aligned dishes. This is a good service for business but wasn't ready for residential use when I was there. So good luck if you have no other choice for Internet

SysOp
join:2001-04-18
Atlanta, GA

4 edits

SysOp

Member

Not as bad as you may think

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· wtVqGFXQ


After watching the video, it's not as bad as some people make it out to be. Obviously with satellite you can transfer large files much faster than dial up. And yes you can use it for gaming; game downloads, game updates, and game activations will all work seamlessly.

Sure, there is a slight lag when surfing between links but they render almost instantly as shown in the video. Same with streaming, once it buffers, you can't tell the difference unless you stop/start/switch streams.

As far as netflix goes, satellite tv has MORE than enough to wet your whistle and then some. You can always get netflix in the mail too. It just depends on what you want to spend you money on.

Exede Satellte »www.exede.com seems to be the better deal since during off peak you are not metered. Both providers offer SmartWeb, where most Web and Email don't count towards caps. »www.exede.com/documents/ ··· imer.pdf