HughesNet I just want it to work as it was advertised when I bought the system! PLEASE! Germantown Maryland

Another repairman next week; not gonna hold my breath.....

Finally dug around the internet until I actually got a phone number for HughesNet Corporate offices. Ironically, their representatives hide behind a PIN number that you must know in order to be connected to them, which is changed every week. (No doubt due to the high call volumes of all those they have duped out of their hard-earned cash)

ANYWAY; although there was a repairman here just a few hours ago (WHO SAID HE DID ALL HE COULD DO) - the status & service is still as crappy as before. HughesNet is sending yet ANOTHER guy out here next week on my days off to come and re-point the dish and re-check the system. This man AGREED the speeds i am having are not acceptable and he will work to fix the problems I am having.

I don't care what they have to do I just want the damn thing to work. I want to get a refund of some of this money i have been paying them but I just don't see that happening, after reading other's posts. I will keep updating this so others can see what folks are going through, so far I have gotten nothing but trouble and frustration.

HughesNet; more waiting around all day for (yet again) another repairman

This time I actually got a professional computer tech out here to lok at the system. "Everything checks out"...same story as before. Now the newest plan is to re-locate or re-point the dish itself (which is what I thought they were going to do today)
Another whole day off wasted; and nothing accomplished. Service speeds still crappy during the day, but take a look at the speed tests and you will see they swing wildly from one extreme to another.

Test History for Site ID: '3A1*****'

February 19th, 06:44PM - 60/82 kbps
February 19th, 06:22PM - 107/106 kbps
February 19th, 05:06PM - 203/66 kbps
February 19th, 05:03PM - 196/110 kbps
February 19th, 05:00PM - 215/56 kbps
February 19th, 04:56PM - 196/84 kbps
February 19th, 04:53PM - 188/60 kbps
February 19th, 09:08AM - 689/124 kbps
February 19th, 02:07AM - 691/124 kbps
February 18th, 10:31AM - 551/115 kbps
February 15th, 06:55PM - 171/44 kbps
February 15th, 06:34PM - 186/49 kbps
February 14th, 07:51PM - 92/28 kbps
February 13th, 02:42PM - 265/62 kbps
February 13th, 02:06PM - 264/79 kbps
February 13th, 02:03PM - 225/110 kbps
February 13th, 02:00PM - 108/27 kbps
February 13th, 01:57PM - 118/36 kbps
February 13th, 01:56PM - 107/35 kbps
February 13th, 01:15PM - 308/96 kbps
February 13th, 09:00AM - 646/121 kbps
February 12th, 08:56PM - 46/39 kbps
February 12th, 07:13PM - 45/68 kbps
February 11th, 09:29AM - 661/120 kbps
February 10th, 08:02PM - 71/21 kbps
February 10th, 07:59PM - 71/24 kbps
February 9th, 07:22PM - 244/93 kbps
February 7th, 10:58PM - 112/82 kbps
February 7th, 07:47PM - 58/37 kbps
February 7th, 07:18PM - 66/44 kbps
February 7th, 07:01PM - 78/17 kbps
February 7th, 06:59PM - 79/31 kbps
February 6th, 11:23PM - 422/39 kbps
February 6th, 11:22PM - 376/39 kbps

Where there are big gaps in the speed tests, I was either too tired to give a damn or just decided to go on dial-up to save myself the hassle.

STILL WAITING; still unhappy

Well this week , no word from HugesNet. No repairman calling to set up an appointment, no nothing. The speeds were so bad last night I couldn't even get the speed test to work. I will call my agent at corporate later today, and find out what is going on. I am convinced everything they have been doing now in the last few weeks is just "lip service". And the whole time they have managed to squeeze another monthly payment outta me.

Here we go again; Part 2

Well by looking at my last report I guess I should be happy with the blissful period of service I have gotten. Speeds finally were good and all was well. Three days ago I started getting disconnects again and last night I called Hughes. After an hour on the phone I was told I could get a tech out here for $125 to repoint the dish. I am assuming this person can tell same as me I am on a (now) over crowded transponder once more and this is the problem. Peak times are hell and early morning or middle of the night is o.k

Speed Test HistoryHeader Link Link Script Link Mailto LinkPlease Wait...Date/Time Down(kbps) Up(kbps)
03/05/2009 08:27:20 998 197
03/04/2009 22:57:16 91 28
03/04/2009 22:43:52 95 32

I am getting the same as before; although I must admit the person I spoke to was more helpful than usual...she gave me partial credit for the crappy service to offset the $125 tech fee. I have had no other recent problems with the service except one FAP overage wich was my fault at Christmas when I put both my kids new laptops online and they did Windows update. I "upgraded" the amount of data I could download each day at that time to offset the 2 extra computers in the home. My husband thought he had heard the last of my bitching and whining about this internet and he is really upset again. The trouble is I won't know when it is REALLY fixed as when the tech guy comes it wont be "peak" time and everything will look good (hell; it looks good now!) and after he leaves I will be back on the phone. I have been through this enough times to know the routine. I am sick of this and am considering legal action. I will keep posting. Tracy

WELL IT DID WORK FOR AWHILE, now back to the same BS...

HughesNet finally came out and repaired my service, replacing every component on the first trip and coming back out on the second trip to re-point the dish (which they were supposedly going to do back in Feb.)

On March 3rd. I thought yes, finally , it has taken over a year but now it works, end of problem....NOT! I had a blissful month of decent speeds 600/100, with a bit of degredation in the peak hours it would go down to 450-500/75....but nothing too drastic. Last week they once again did "system maintenance"....and my hell began again.

I actually did a speed test this evening where my speed was 2/155 I have never seen a "2" Good grief, thats not even functional. So after waiting for ages to get the page to come up i got chat support on the screen and here is how that went:
[Apr 10 2008 9:05:19 PM] Welcome to our chat customer support .
[Apr 10 2008 9:05:40 PM] tracy, you have been connected to Mia
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:05:50 PM): Tracy, welcome to HughesNet Technical Support. You are chatting with Mia.
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:06:36 PM): Hello Tracy.
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:06:38 PM): How may I assist you?
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:06:39 PM): hi; i am having service issues here it has been this way for a few days now what is going on
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:08:00 PM): when i call customer support they first say theres no problem then they tell me to call back the next day (?) Do i have to go to the corporate level again to get my service working the way it is supposed to?
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:08:43 PM): I'm sorry you've had such a frustrating time.
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:09:11 PM): As I understand that you are experiencing intermittent browsing issue. Is that correct?
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:09:46 PM): yes, go look at my speed tests from the last hour
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:10:21 PM): Could you please provide me with site ID.
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:10:49 PM): 3A1009XX
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:11:15 PM): Thank you.
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:15:01 PM): I have checked your speed test results and I found that you are getting intermittent speeds.
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:16:05 PM): is there anything you can do there on your end to improve this?
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:17:43 PM): We need to perform some troubleshooting steps. Are you ready to perform them.
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:18:35 PM): sure
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:18:43 PM): Ok.
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:19:10 PM): We will perform a few troubleshooting steps to confirm where the problem lies. If the issue persists you may need to get in touch with Voice Support so that they can connect you to the Advanced Technical Support Team, who will assist you further with this issue.
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:19:16 PM): Before following the steps below please confirm that the modem is connected directly to a single computer.
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:19:55 PM): yes it is
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:20:03 PM): Ok.
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:20:13 PM): Step 1: This is to clear cache, temporary internet files and browsing history.
Open Internet Explorer - Click on Tools - Select Internet Options - Click on the General tab - Click on Delete Cookies - Next click on Delete Files - Check the box "Delete all offline content" - Click on Ok - Next - Click on Delete History - Click on Yes.
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:21:41 PM): please explain what this has to do with the crappy connection speeds
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:22:16 PM): the problem does not lie within my computer; it lies within your service
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:23:04 PM): Browser stores all the information regarding the websites accessed, so deleting them from the browser history would help improve the speeds.
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:25:24 PM): i will do it but it seems pretty pointless since i am getting the white page with the "accellleration not available" message, it clearly states there is a problem at NOS
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:25:54 PM): In that case, I would request you to call us on 1-866-347-3292[24X7] so that we can escalate this issue to the advance technical support.
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:26:55 PM): i dont really have time to talk to someone for an hour on the phone right nnow
Mia(Apr 10 2008 9:27:58 PM): Please give us a call at your convenience. Our support technicians are available 24/7.
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:29:31 PM): ok well thanks for, well nothing. I will call corporate tomorrow I guess, that seems to be the only way to get anything fixed
tracy(Apr 10 2008 9:30:13 PM): thank you for your time

WHAT? folks aren't falling for the unplug the modem excuse anymore, they are getting creative I guess. And don't call customer service because as I said they will only tell you to call back tomorrow.
PLEASE for the love of GOD someone get a class-action suit going. I will be spending more time on the phone with the corporate offices if i can even get ahold of them that is; I will keep updating.

Tech teir 4 admits something's wrong; can't diagnose problem-

Transient downlink issues forced me to call corporate again yesterday. Corporate representative did not return my call yesterday so I called again today. Referred "down" to teir 4 service technician, who, after investigating all the information, admits there definately IS something wrong but just can't figure out what it is. We tried to duplicate the error but with no success. Given a case number and told to call back when it happens again (TO TEIR ONE; the cue-card readers!) Speed and signal strength still outstanding, all lights lit on modem, everything "looks good" This "transient" issue has been happening since before the date of my last post.

More money; still crappy service--

(((ROR redacted)))

Have a "new" HN9000 modem, strapped into another 2 year contract, and still have sub-par internet. Don't be fooled into thinking upgrading your modem will allow you to get any better service. It won't.

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

Writing a letter to the "president"

Just got done writing a dandy letter appealing to corporate offices to do something for me. I will be sending this via 2nd day delivery, and certified mail. Here is the body of the letter, without addresses and info that may be blocked by this site:

Dear Sir or Madam;

First of all let me thank you for taking time to read this letter. We have been subscribers to your service for quite awhile now (previous SAN was DSS70580XX, on our HN 7000S) We cancelled the 7000S subscription and “upgraded” to your newer model 9000 after years of frustrating, and needless to say “sporadic” service. I had numerous calls to your customer service department with the previous modem (ticket #'s 12567140, 12594696, 13388002, 13426187, 13772692, 13850259) These are just the ones I found on the spur of the moment, there were actually more. Many hours were wasted on the phone trying to communicate with some unfortunate employee of yours who either did not understand my issue, or could not do anything to help me.

Although my internet through the years was “sub-par” AT BEST, you always received payment in a timely manner. We were late one time after being victims of identity theft and having to cancel all of our credit cards. We are aware of the download restrictions, and only one or two times have gone over our limit. We in fact have given you additional monies to “upgrade” to Pro to avoid this issue.

Throughout the difficulties we have had, only a meager credit was ever issued for “no service”- Once I believe we got a 1 month credit. More recently we were offset the cost of a service call on the 7000s- a whopping $125, as we had fulfilled our contract of 2 years and our equipment was “no longer your responsibility”…..This is when we decided to go ahead and try the HN9000 system. Neither my husband or myself wanted to have equipment that would not be covered, considering all the issues we had in the past.

I had heard good things from the installers about the 9000 modem. I expected my service to run smoothly after installation. Unfortunately this is not the case. During your “peak times” the speed slows down to a crawl again, just as it did with the old modem.
04/19/2009 21:11:01
554
159
04/19/2009 21:07:58
486
208
These figures are taken from your speed test results that I ran last night. This is quite frustrating to me which prompted me to write this letter. These speeds are simply unacceptable. And quite far off what the installer told me I would be getting: “Pro is between 1.2 and 1.6 meg download and your upload should be around 200”

Well this is what has been told to me, this is what I am paying you for ($81.33 per month I believe) and this is what I would like to be getting on a consistent basis.

I would like to think that I have been a “good sport” about this up to this point. With limited options for internet here where we are, your company can pretty much call the shots. We have stayed with you because we were promised if we upgraded things would be better. They aren't any better. And my time is much too valuable to call on the phone every day for over an hour to try and fix a problem that obviously can not be fixed.

I appeal to you, as a person who is in the position to actually be able to DO something about this problem:

PLEASE make me a satisfied customer!! I am now in another 2 year contract, and would love to be able to think this next 2 years will not be filled with frustration and dissatisfaction like the last 2 years were. We don't wish to cancel service (we can not afford to with the penalty you would impose, and then be without any internet at all, that would just be silly…) But there has to be something you can do to help us. Perhaps there is some unused , un-crowded space you are hiding on one of your satellites/transponders? Or maybe complimentary upgrade to where during peak times I might look forward to actually being able to check my bank balance…anything. Change my dish or modem. Change my plan. Put please help by doing something. And it would be great if you could do this without me paying anything in addition to the cost I am already paying; as I do not believe I am getting my money's worth for your service now.

I thank you again for taking the time to hear me out, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Shane JXXXXXXXX
Tracy JXXXXXXXX

I might add I found a lawyer that has filed a class-action suit against them; and I have contacted this firm and awaiting a reply from them.

Got some results; for the time being-

I was responded to quickly by corporate customer care after writing the letter:
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:49:49 +0000
From: executixxxxxxxxxxxxxx@hughes.net
To: tracy_jxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com
Subject: HughesNet account- DSS8161xxx

Ms. Jxxxxxxxx,

I was attempting to reach you regarding the complaint letter we recieved on your behalf. The number that I called seemed to ring without any sort of answering machine, so I was unable to leave a message.

I am in the Office of the President, Executive Customer Care, and I would like to assist you in getting adequate service. Please feel free to respond to this email or call me at 866-636-xxxx pin 596xxx.

Thank you,
Cxxxxxxxx
Executive Customer Care
HughesNet Corporate Office

Upon finally speaking with this representative this morning, she has referred my case to an advanced technician who will look into it from their end without me having to spend hours on the phone with tech in a foreign country. They will investigate and decide if a repairman should come and repoint the dish. I have recieved a COMPLIMENTARY upgrade for 3 months (the next fastest plan) and have also been told on the phone by this person that if indeed I am still unhappy with the service after this period I will be able to cancel my service WITHOUT the $400 early termination fee.

The lawyer's office also contacted me yesterday and I spoke to their representative and gave the information needed for them to be able to document me and be included in the class-action suit they are preparing.
I feel a bit better about this whole mess; for the time being. We shall see how it goes. I will continue to update.

The "real-deal" on HughesNet

O.k. in 3 years of dealing with these jerks a few facts have come to light about this company. I was posting my experiences with them and HOPING others would see it and run the other way when choosing an internet provider. (see my long winded post)
1. they can SAY its broadband because technically the way they deliver the service to you, well it is....

On the speed issue they cover their asses because somewhere if you look it DOES say "actual speeds may vary" and speeds "UP TO" -read your contract.
2. Don't try to play online games where you need to talk, install Vonage, or even think about trying ANY TYPE of VOIP It will not work. Period.
3. Don't try to get a refund for anything anytime from anyone; its simply not going to happen. All the heartache I have endured I got one month's free service thats it, and had to threaten to cancel in order to get that.
4. DO NOT UPGRADE when they call you or tell you they can fix it if you go to a better plan. THIS IS A LIE. They come and install the new equiptment and flip the magic switch so stuff works ok for the first little while but shortly after 30 days when they do "system maintenance" it will go to crap again. Same true for service calls.......they will switch you to a new sat and transponder that isn't crowded AT THE TIME so the speed goes up but then it will drop off again. I have gone through this enough to know itds a quick fix so the crazy lady will stop calling us and nothing more.
5. DONT sign anything when the repairman comes. If you do READ IT and add a comment like "service still unacceptable at this time" Don't let them slide in a new service contract when they come to repair equiptment. I got a new modem and dish at one point and a new contract was handed to me "for warranty purposes" I did not sign it.
6. There's a new modem out there I don't know the HN# model but it has a different delivery where the signal is sent directly rather than bounced from NOS twice to you. IT IS CRAP ALSO. My friends have it and on the top plan the BUSINESS one and their speeds no better than mine on the home plan. Money doesn't fix this either.
7. Document everything when you call time date save transcripts from online chat sessions ETC If someone ever gets a class-action going we are going to need this info.
8. Don't mess around with those fools in India or whatever country. Just call corporate. Don't be rude, but be a bit forceful and say you want THEM to tell you why it doesn't work. They may try to send you back to teir one in India but keep calling anyway bug the crap outta them; you may get lucky 301/ 428 /5500 remember its east coast time and they keep bankers hours. If they don't want to connect you try the direct approach use the switchboard theirs a teir 4 named Frantz at extension 3864 or there was still in May last time i called.
9. Avoid auto-pay if you can so they dont drain your bank account dry.
10. Compare speed test from Hughes website with others out there to find out what speed REALLY is. Theirs not accurate.

I myself am stuck with them. There's no other alternative for folks here where i am at and since Hughes is NOT going to fix their problems i just go with it and do the best I can. Some days good others not functional. I am waiting for someone to contact me about a class-action but I doubt it will happen they have covered their bases pretty well.
Good luck.

The real HughesNet----

I apologise if this is a duplicate post I am getting numerous errors this morning; all thanks to Hughes' crappy service I can't even post this....

O.k. in 3 years of dealing with these jerks a few facts have come to light about this company. I was posting my experiences with them and HOPING others would see it and run the other way when choosing an internet provider. (see my long winded post)

1. they can SAY its broadband because technically the way they deliver the service to you, well it is....

On the speed issue they cover their asses because somewhere if you look it DOES say "actual speeds may vary" and speeds "UP TO" -read your contract.

2. Don't try to play online games where you need to talk, install Vonage, or even think about trying ANY TYPE of VOIP It will not work. Period.

3. Don't try to get a refund for anything anytime from anyone; its simply not going to happen. All the heartache I have endured I got one month's free service thats it, and had to threaten to cancel in order to get that.

4. DO NOT UPGRADE when they call you or tell you they can fix it if you go to a better plan. THIS IS A LIE. They come and install the new equiptment and flip the magic switch so stuff works ok for the first little while but shortly after 30 days when they do "system maintenance" it will go to crap again. Same true for service calls.......they will switch you to a new sat and transponder that isn't crowded AT THE TIME so the speed goes up but then it will drop off again. I have gone through this enough to know itds a quick fix so the crazy lady will stop calling us and nothing more.

5. DONT sign anything when the repairman comes. If you do READ IT and add a comment like "service still unacceptable at this time" Don't let them slide in a new service contract when they come to repair equiptment. I got a new modem and dish at one point and a new contract was handed to me "for warranty purposes" I did not sign it.

6. There's a new modem out there I don't know the HN# model but it has a different delivery where the signal is sent directly rather than bounced from NOS twice to you. IT IS CRAP ALSO. My friends have it and on the top plan the BUSINESS one and their speeds no better than mine on the home plan. Money doesn't fix this either.

7. Document everything when you call time date save transcripts from online chat sessions ETC If someone ever gets a class-action going we are going to need this info.

8. Don't mess around with those fools in India or whatever country. Just call corporate. Don't be rude, but be a bit forceful and say you want THEM to tell you why it doesn't work. They may try to send you back to teir one in India but keep calling anyway bug the crap outta them; you may get lucky 301/ 428 /5500 remember its east coast time and they keep bankers hours. If they don't want to connect you try the direct approach use the switchboard theirs a teir 4 named Frantz at extension 3864 or there was still in May last time i called.

9. Avoid auto-pay if you can so they dont drain your bank account dry.

10. speed tests= DO THEM

Find out when you get half decent speeds and try to work around it. Copy/paste results and save for reference.

July 29th, 10:43AM - 721/118 kbps
LIES SINCE MY MODEM ISNT SEND/ REC AND I CAN'T POST THIS RANT SINCE I GET THE SERVER ERROR MESSAGE

Compare speeds on other sites to see what you are really getting although Huges says they are not "ACCURATE"

I myself am stuck with them. There's no other alternative for folks here where i am at and since Hughes is NOT going to fix their problems i just go with it and do the best I can. Some days good others not functional. I am waiting for someone to contact me about a class-action but I doubt it will happen they have covered their bases pretty well.

Good luck.

In my opinion get rid of them if you have them and are able to get out of your contract. Don't sign up if you are thinking about using this service. THOUSANDS of people are unhappy. We can't ALL be wrong.