I have changed my internet carrier from a mobile device from Verizon to Hughes Net satellite, mostly because of a cost savings of about 50% if this works out like it was pitched to me by a very aggressive sales person, I could save almost $60 bucks a month if this device works as advertised. Have any of you had dealings with Hughes Net in the past year or so and if so how is it working out?....Tedd

 

I changed to Comcast cable, 29.00 for 30mbs.

 

I would be very interested to know how this works out for you. My sister lives in a rural area with no cable TV, so she gets TV from satellite and internet via Verizon's wireless network like you used to. The problem is that the Verizon signal itself isn't all that strong where she is, so her internet is slow. She's been thinking of getting HughesNet herself.

 

I didn't have any problems with my Verizon speed (maybe I don't know what fast is) and I installed a booster to increase the signal so that wasn't a problem but the cost per GB was killing me. With my phones and internet it would sometimes run near $200 a month. My concerns are how well the Hughes system holds up after time and how much weather affect the signal, rain and snow and is there any hidden costs that jump up unexpectedly. I'll keep any one interested posted if I here something from another forum. Thanks ...Tedd

 

Are you using Hughesnet now? Is it at least as fast as what you had with Verizon?

 

Yes I'm using it now ....But I have had a problem loosing connection, a tech came out yesterday and thought he found the problem(bad connector)and proclaimed it fixed. Today I again lost the connection. I'm starting to have doubts on this company's equipment or their reliability. It could be something very simple and fixed easily but when I purchase a service I expect it to work at least at first.

It appears to be working at least as fast as my old Verizon when it works....Tedd

 

When you lose the connection, how do you restore it? Reconnect to a wireless network? Reboot your computer? Reboot a router? When the tech found a loose connection, where was it?

Thanks.

 

He found the connection at the horns at the top of the dish, he said it was tight but would not make constant contact.This could be but I have the same problem with it being disconnected again today.

To regain service I unplug then replug the power source to the Hugh's modem. This will work at times other times it is dead for an hour or more. It would be neat if this system would work reliably as it would save about 1/2 or more of what Verzion cost me now...Tedd

 

Hughes Net is a service of last resort IMO and using a cellular hotspot is not too much better as far as performance. If you can't get DSL or Cable, then HN is better than dial-up but not by much. If you live in an area like oldscutlass does, where the atmosphere is charged up with electrical storms, especially during tornado season, then your connection will either trickle to nothing or disappear completely during a storm. Satellite dishes are also prone to loose their line of sight if it is not secured properly. During a good wind storm it can move. All it takes is about 1/4" and boom, no Net.

I also have a personal bias against dish reliability because I am a systems analyst and work from home most of the time so I absolutely need 99.999% service always, a dish and hotspot just doesn't cut it for me. I would surpass a 2GB monthly limit in about 2 days so a hotspot is out.

If I was out in the sticks, and no other line of sight internet was available (like Clearwire, Google "line of sight internet providers") then I would choose HN because of the data limitation of a hotspot.

In the rare instances where I loose Internet, I unplug the modem (and the router if you have one), wait 10 seconds, plug in the modem, then the router and service should be restored within a minute or so.

 

Tedd and Chris, thanks for the insights. My sister's options are limited to something like Hughesnet, dial-up, or what she does now, which is use Verizon's cellular network. But she gets a weak Verizon signal, which she's not happy with, so she's looking around.

 

Hughes is better than dial up or the Verizon cell hot spot. My criteria is tighter than most because my job depends on it but for most in that circumstance Hughes would probably be fine. I would just make sure that the tech who installs it gets the best signal possible and nails that sucker down tight. Good luck!

 

According to the tech who worked on my system two days ago my signal was better than normal(what ever that means) and this was at the time that I had no service at the computer, something is taking a dump from there to their modem is my thoughts but I know nothing about these systems to me this stuff is one step above black magic.

This system was down again last night and only came back on line a hour ago just as we were calling Hughes Net to try and get a tech up here to fix this vudu machine seems they can't do much if the system is running fine when I call .

I've got about seven days left to back out of contract or things get complicated and expensive. I would like to keep the system if the bugs can be worked out but it's about to hit the greef factor of 10 right now.....Tedd

 

Sorry to hear this, Tedd. Keep us posted. I'd like to know if it is ever resolved to your satisfaction or if you decide to dump the service and go back to what you had.

 

Well it went out late last night again and my wife spent a hour and a half on the phone doing what we have done three times before. The system seems to go down intermittently at the modem but shows a good signal at the dish. It's hard to get Hughes phone service people to send a tech till they have exhausted all the test they can from their site but finally they agreed to authorize a service call.

Tech came today(same guy that came Wednesday)and of course the system started working a half hour before he got here so he just about replaced everything from the dish to the computer.Seems to be working fine so far, time will tell....Tedd

 

Satellite and wireless internet is horrible. HughesNet's ads show a bespectacled 70 year old farmer's wife, saying in a country twang "It's faster than dialup!" Maybe so, but that's kind of like being king of the third grade.

If you're serious about the net, you need cable, dsl or fiber if you can get it.

 

I live on top of a mountain,no cable dsl or fiber, my options are very limited but since about 12 o'clock It's been holding up, fingers crossed....Tedd

 

Two days later and no problems, we may have it whiped.....Tedd