Posted on 07/12/2008 5:11:31 PM PDT by 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.
Potato chip can, high gain antennas to your (friendly) neighbor?
My comcast cable internet is pretty good aside from the fact the company sucks.
I couldn’t agree more, I had them when they were still Direcway. I download books, great speeds for 1/4 of the download, then less than dial-up...if you never need to download large files it may serve you well, if not...run away as fast as you can.
Thanks for the heads up.
You forgot to mention the lag time too. It is a killer if you play games or anything that requires quick response times.
What mine failed to tell me is they go down quite often always after midnight. Hello do they think us vets sleep.
I just got back today from vacation, and my bro-in-law has that company...
I asked him what the heck was he thinking...
he told me the salesman really did a good job, and he signed a contract
YIKES what a scam if you aren’t in an area with cable or DSL
I was about to mention that, there’s no way a satellite can return a signal fast enough to keep up with a fast-paced FPS online. You jump to avoid gunfire and your signal won’t reach until about a second later. You’ll absolutely be owned.
Caveman internet. Now that’s a fun image.
Yes, satellite internet is pretty bad. But if I had to use it, I’d go with WildBlue.
In a couple of years, there is a good chance that you will be able to get wireless terrestrial broadband service that will be much better than satellite.
Thanks for posting this. I was considering it, but I’ll stick with dial up.
You sent this to the wrong person.
Thanks for the warning.
Wildblue, my ISP, uses a 30 day rolling average FAP. When I signed on in August of 2005 I got 10,000MB per 30 days. We were well within FAP limits until they lopped 25% off all packages — reducing it to 7500MB — and didn’t lower the cost. I was up against the ceiling all the time.
Satellite internet is fine for what it is, but it is NOT comparable with cable. No way, no how. You can’t use VOIP, latency makes online gaming impossible, and downloading movies is out of the question.
Take heart, though, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. More and more wiMax and wireless companies are putting up towers in rural areas, mine included. Since we subscribed with Wildblue, Verizon extended their reach and put us in EVDO territory. The town north of us also put in a wiMax transmitter which *might* reach us, giving us cheaper and faster internet access with NO latency and NO FAP!
There are problems with both Hughesnet and Wildblue. I get my service through a co-op, and this is one case where having a middleman has been priceless. People with Wildblue direct have far more horror stories involving installation and customer service than I do.
Ping
It's not perfect by any means,especially during bad weather like thunderstorms which are frequent in N.Fla,but overall I'm a happy camper.
No,it’s not a scam, it’s available-—solitude has a downside-running the copper/fiber to deliver high speed whatever to your location doesn’t make financial sense to local communication providers. This technology has been around for years and it has always been “broadband of last resort”
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