Satellite Internet Is A Total Rip-off (You Have Been Warned)

Vanity | 07-12-08 | self

[gost2]

I knew it wasn't that good but I live behind a hill and can't get wireless from the local ISP. I decided to go with Hughes cause they are a big company and I figured they would do it right. 28kb per second dialup just wasn't cutting it.

WRONG!

$600 up front for the dish and installation and $70 bucks a month and one year later and I'm ready to rip the #$%&!@#!! dish off the wall and go looking for a Hughes executive to plant it in.

They don't tell you... in fact they lie lie lie but the truth is even with the 'pro' plan at $70 bucks a month you get 375MB in any 24 hour period and if you go over it you get thrown into 'fair access' for 24 hours and your download speed drops to like 2kb per second. Literally. IF I let my two computers go a couple updates too long and bammo ... the download kicks me over the liimit. Last night I downloaded an album off of iTunes (first time) and bammo ... 'fair access'. Now pics on websites ... even avatars don't load.

Even when its normal you get 100kb per second download tops. Usually less. It's a long long long way from 'high speed' as they are selling you on TV these days. Don't fall for it. Satellite Internet is caveman internet.

Hughes has been spending a lot on TV adds lately. Don't believe their BS. Satellite Internet is a last resort resource only. Like if you live at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

[Egon]

I used StarBand for three or four years, a few years back, because it was the only game in town (excluding dial-up).

As a satellite provider, I was quite happy with them. Satellite is what it is. Latency is high (no online gaming— web 2.0 applications suck), and it’s quite susceptible to weather. It is, however, decent for normal browsing, and it beats the hell out of dial-up.

When rural wireless became available, we switched to them, and never looked back. Now, we’re on DSL.

[Still Thinking]

Well, like he says, even Windows updates can get large, and anyone on the internet needs those, so...

[gorush]

We have since moved and can now have standard DSL. I am amazed by my download speeds in comparison. Just so you know. I have dogs in this fight.

[JRochelle]

Thanks for the warning.

I can't get cable or DSL where I live and was thinking about checking out satellite.

I guess I am stuck with dialup for the foreseeable future...

[w1andsodidwe]

Well I mostly use my Comcast connection and it is pretty good. I also have a Sprint Air card and an AT&T Air card. Yeah they spoil me at work. I can nearly always get a connection. Make that always.

[antiRepublicrat]

Who’s your nearest neighbor with cable or DSL? You might be able to work something out on the cheap.

[rface]

ping for my lovely wife to read.

[Graybeard58]

Thanks for the warning because I have been toying with the idea of sattelite internet, guess I’ll stick with my crappy comcast cable internet, it’s either that or dial up.

[centurion316]

I am a Wildblue subscriber and can attest to the limitations that have been mentioned. But when the only alternative is dial-up its a no brainer. Wildblue had big problems about a year ago when they only had one satellite and had oversubscribed their spotbeams. They also had a screwed up application for issuing IP leases and checking to see if your account was current. They failed to account for latency and everyone’s wireless routers were timing out. It was a mess.

But, things have been pretty good of late within the well known limitations. I’ve tried EVDO and get about the same performance at my location. I will definately go for WiMax when it becomes available.

[ponsdorf]

I switched from Direcway/Hughes to WildBlue (via coop) a coupla years ago and am much happier.

I can download large Linux distros or movies with ease. I get 1.5m downloads consistently.

Hardly perfect, but beats dial-up here.

[gost2]

1.5 MB per sec?!

Yer freekin kidding me right?

[KoRn]

You are right! I have done work for people who had satellite internet, and it was marginally faster than dialup.

[Noumenon]

Poorly installed and with competition from terrestrial providers like cable, DSL and local WISPs, tsatellite internet does indeed represent a poor value. But not always.

Check out my website for a comprehensive discussion of broadband connectivity as it compares among various providers.

HughesNet is the worst when it comes to reliablity, representation and installation quality. I've converted a fair number of Hughes sites to WilddBue (for the cheap seaters) StarBand (now a pretty decent product with near-commercial ping times) and ViaSat's LinkStar system.

For what it's worth, I run my business on StarBand's Nova 1500 service, and it's good enough for things like Citrix clients and RDP.

Installation quality is key for any of these VSAT services. When you've got jumped-up TV installers doing the job, you're going to get lousy results. Oh - don't hold your breath waiting for WiMax. And local WISPs come and go with depressing frequency.

[Mr Rogers]

Six years ago, I lived on Edwards AFB, CA. Typical download speeds in base housing were around 200-400 Bytes/second. Of course, sometimes it was slower...

Fortunately, those of us who don’t play games on the internet can handle modest download speeds.

[Noumenon]

In rural areas, and compared to 28k dialup (or worse), 1.5 mbps looks pretty darn good.

[gost2]

rumor

[RPKzors83]

I looked at Hughes,but I ended up going with Sprint. I live in a large valley, and I still get good reception,download speeds,etc. No sattalite, so it was cheaper than Hughes too.

[bobaloobob]

I feel for you!When you go to Hughes website they give you a big parade how great satelite is for businesses and the home.It is definitely a flim flam/sham/scam lie.The also put a big,big penalty for cancelation because nobody is going to like it...and they know it!

It was the worse nitemare experience..if I ever have to do dialup again..I’ll just do dailup.But,no more Hughes Net!

Hughes Net does have live help though,I spent hours & hours w/them.Talking?No! Just trying to understand Indian people who are going to help me get back on line.From India!for crying out LOUD!(I did a lot of it too)So..so terrible I don’t want to think about this anymore..I gotta get off this thread. Good nite all

[Lancey Howard]

"Caveman internet. Now that’s a fun image."

"Care to explain yourself?"

[Chief Engineer]

I live in a town that is in the middle of nowhere, Idaho (Population 198)

I have 1.5M DSL that has performed at 1.5 M consistently for the last year, with NO outages.

The local tlelphone office, if you can call it that, has equipment that is not more than 5 years old. We have fiber optic for the over 150 miles to civilization.

I am one happy camper