Posted on 08/24/2006 12:12:06 PM PDT by FortWorthPatriot
I live in an area where DSL is not yet available, and have been here three years and still stuck on dial-up. I do not know when DSL will ever be available and have been considering satellite access through HughesNet.
What I wanted to know is does anyone out there have HughesNet, and if they do are they happy with it and would recommend it. I would also like to know the pros and cons if possible and any personal opinions.
Thanks.
Never EVER make a mistake on a vanity. You will pay for it.
I see it has already started (LOL)
That should say - they are switching to WildBlue. Avoid StarBand satellite, it is the worst.
I am too lazy to google -- what's FiOS?
FiOS is Verizon's fibre-optic network to the home. It is probably the best broadband network available for consumers, much better than DSL.
My nipples just got hard (/Tim Allen)
ping
While not that brand, my wife's business has satellite internet, and they are well-pleased with it, compared to the old dial-up service. Wireless network covers about 7 separate buildings on the grounds, and their guests love having the access.
We have HughesNet/DirecWay. I think the install was $600 (yikes!) and we had quite a few issues with the installers showing up, doing the install correctly, etc. Once all that was ironed out, we've been okay with it now that it's been used for over a year. If there's bad weather (storm, etc.) it won't work. And downloads are slow. Not as slow as dial-up, but pretty slow.
Ironically, we're moving out of West Virginia, back to civilization, next Tuesday, so I called to cancel and they accidentally cancelled our service while I was on the phone with them. Couple that with several of their satellites going down, and I've been offline the past 36 hours. But, that's the first major issue we've ever had in the year/plus we've had it.
Overall, it beats dial-up, but it's pricey ($97 a month), but out here in the sticks, it was our only option other than dial-up. I hope this helps!!
I have a friend who had DirecWay (which is now HugesNet) and was not happy at all. According to her, it was down all the time and not a whole lot faster than dialup. I'm stuck with dialup too. DSL is in the next town over which is about 10 miles, so hopefully its heading this way.
Sorry, I live in Illinois...
lol
If you have fiber optic cable TV, then their broadband is the way to go.
I have heard that some phone companies can give you a paired ISDN set and it can be much better than a dial-up but still slower than a DSL. Have you asked about that?
Thanks to you both for your replies. I appreciate your taking time to answer.
I hope it adds a little to what you need to know- I used to do some of the software updates there, and while it's not as fast as cable or fast DSL, it sure beats dial-up.
You might want to check out Wild Blue. I'm in the same situation, so opted to go with satelitte.
Having had both DSL and cable in the past, I can tell you that satellite is not nearly as good, but it's far better than dial up.
I'm paying $50 per month for Wild Blue. I put a router in the house, and have both computers hooked up to the same connection.
Good luck.
I do a fair amount of downloading, and haven't had any problems with Wild Blue. This would only be a problem for someone who does an exorbitant amount of downloading, which isn't going to be an issue for someone on dialup anyway. :-)
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