HughesNet - Hughes Network Systems - DirecWay Total Scam, False Advertising, Does Not Honor Warrantees, Terrible Customer Service, DO NOT USE! Germantown Maryland

"So you think broadband is out of reach just because of where you live?"
"Well say hello to HughesNet High Speed Internet."

HAHAHAHA- what a freakin joke! The installers damaged my house (thankfully its a rental) and refused to repair it. The system quit after a couple weeks. They sent out an installer after whining for several days. The installer said they put the wrong power supply in and it burned up. They replaced it, but they also said the transmitter was damaged on my dish and they would be back with a new one. NEVER HAPPENED.

Then a couple weeks went by and we started having REALLY SLOW and INCONSISTENT speeds. 20 kbps (YEAH THATS LESS THAN DIALUP) to 400 kbps with ping (latency) times above 2000ms. , constant errors where pages wont load.

We called again. In fact we called over 50 times. 99% percent of those calls lasted over 2 hours of being transferred around India. HughesNet customer service, kept promising they would send out an installer. NEVER HAPPENED. Once a customer service rep told us that our hopes were too high and that we should just cancel. I would've if it weren't for that d**n contract.

I did get one contractor to come look at my system. He said that the transmitter was fine, and that he shouldnt tell me this but its not my equipment that is the problem, it is HughesNet's satelite are over-burdened and out of date. And the one we were supposed to be locked onto fell out of orbit. He re-pointed my dish at the only other satelite that we can use from our location (according to him). So at least we were getting the same crappy service for a while longer.

And we dealt with it. I had to get a Sprint Mobile Broadband Card ($60/month) just to cover all the down times with HughesNet ($60/month).

The best part of the HughesNet scam is their fair access plan (which you dont find out about til you get penalized by it.

"Fair Access Policy
To ensure fair Internet access for all HughesNet subscribers, HUGHES maintains a Fair Access Policy (FAP). This policy establishes an equitable balance in Internet access for HughesNet subscribers. Hughes assigns a download threshold to each service plan that limits the amount of data that may be downloaded during a typical day. A small percentage of subscribers who exceed this limit will experience a temporary reduction of speed.

Explanation:
The Fair Access Policy is straightforward. Based on an analysis of customer usage data, Hughes has established a download threshold for each of the HughesNet service plans that is well above the typical usage rates. Subscribers who exceed that threshold will experience reduced download speeds for approximately 24 hours.

During this recovery period, the HughesNet service may still be used, but speeds will be slower. Web browsing, for example, will be significantly slower than subscribers normal browsing experience. Subscribers will return to normal download speeds after the recovery period as long as they minimize their bandwidth-intensive activities. If they continue these activities during this recovery period, reduced download speeds may continue beyond 24 hours."

Translation if you somehow manage to download AND/OR upload more than a few small files through your "broadband high-speed provider" THEY PENALIZE YOU! WTF? HOW IS THIS LEGAL?



Now my contract is over. Im still getting a lot of downtime. Tons of errors. my download speeds are currently between 70kbps down/ 18 kbps up and 400kbps down/ 200 kbps up with ping (latency) times in excess of 2000milliseconds.

SO WHY DONT I CANCEL?

I CANT. I have been trying. I keep getting transferred around and hung up on. I have been calling for a few weeks. I spend on average 2 hours per call 3 times a week trying to get them to cancel. They dont listen. I dont think they understand English (they are in India).

Seriously if anybody knows how to deal with these people I could use some help. They need a class action lawsuit filed against them.

Im sure I left out a lot of complaints, but you get the idea.

PissedOffAtHughesNet
maple park, Illinois
U.S.A.