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Report: #242794

Complaint Review: Hughes.net - Germantown, Maryland Maryland

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Pollocksville North Carolina
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • Hughes.net 11717 Exploration Lane Germantown, Maryland, Maryland U.S.A.

Hughes.net (formerly DirecWay) Fair Access Policy + Price Increase = Unhappy Customer Germantown Maryland

*Consumer Comment: Challenge the Cable monopoly

*Consumer Suggestion: Complain to weights and measures bureau

*Consumer Comment: Sick of Hughes Net Lies and Poor Service

*Consumer Comment: HUGHES NET AND DIRECT TV GRIPES!

*Consumer Comment: Hughesnet is dishonest in billing practices as well.

*Consumer Comment: More Update: NCO is now calling me 3-4 times a day.

*Consumer Comment: More Update: NCO is now calling me 3-4 times a day.

*Consumer Comment: More Update: NCO is now calling me 3-4 times a day.

*Consumer Comment: More Update: NCO is now calling me 3-4 times a day.

*Consumer Comment: Final Update: Hughes Relents! / Says "Good-Bye"...but not "Thank You"!

*Consumer Comment: Final Update: Hughes Relents! / Says "Good-Bye"...but not "Thank You"!

*Consumer Comment: Final Update: Hughes Relents! / Says "Good-Bye"...but not "Thank You"!

*Consumer Comment: Final Update: Hughes Relents! / Says "Good-Bye"...but not "Thank You"!

*Consumer Comment: In response to Mainly for Lori

*Consumer Comment: Update: More Ripoff / Extended Contract? $300 Cancelation Fee? Huh? You're Kidding!

*Consumer Comment: Hughes Net (Or any satellite service) as last resort.

*Consumer Comment: Mainly for Lori

*Consumer Comment: Mainly for Lori

*Consumer Comment: Mainly for Lori

*Consumer Suggestion: Limit FAP time by limiting what you see on your web pages

*Consumer Suggestion: downloading

*Consumer Suggestion: downloading

*Consumer Suggestion: downloading

*Consumer Suggestion: downloading

*Consumer Comment: Good Idea

*Consumer Comment: Alternatives to HughesNet

*Consumer Comment: Great thought

*Consumer Suggestion: Time To Switch

*Consumer Comment: HughesNet Download Limit

*Consumer Comment: My sister is looking into this service

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When my DirecWay DW7000 was installed (two years ago) I was not informed that there was a limit to how much I could download. Why? Because there was no limit! (Not to my knowledge anyway) 5 years ago when I had the old one-way system, there was no limit.

Now, without saying a thing (no email, snail mail or phone call) I have a cap on how much I can download. This gives me about 2-3 hours of streaming video per day. After that, I'm "throttled down" to speeds slower than dial-up.

The real kicker is that the Hughes company is slow to give you this information, opting to instruct their "service personel" (guys in India) to get you to check your system for problems first. (My system has never had a breakdown...knock knock)

I finally got a tech guy (in India) to tell me about this FAP cap that had been implemented. He said, "Just wait a few hours, your speed will come back". The Hughes website (I found) says this, too. But, they LIE!

Once I reach my limit, it takes a full day (24 hours) to get my "high speed" back. Until then, I'm screwed. Just think if they did this with DirecTV. That would mean you could only watch TV for 3 hours per day! I wonder how many people would cancel DirecTV if they did that?

On top of this, my bill went up $10 per month after Hughesnet took over. I wasn't even informed of the price increase! (I get no bill in the mail or email) Isn't this illegal?

Then, after searching the internet, I find out that the reason the FAP was inacted was because some people were selling their neighbors internet service. So, because other people are breaking the rules/law, my service has to suffer.

Also, if the Hughes system is "bogging down" because of so many users, there should be a "limit" on how many subscribers they can have....but that is definitly NOT the case! I've also heard that they don't offer this info about the FAP when you order your system. Scandalous!

This company is getting away with it! It will eventually come back to bite them in the @55! I plan on going back to dialup soon as I'm not paying $70 a month if I can't use it freely without worry of reaching my limit.

Plain & simple, these guys are just as big of a criminal as the people that are selling (sub-letting) their service to the guy next door. Had I known about these changes in my service, I would have never ordered it.

With the increase in streaming video on the internet, the demand on bandwidth will undoubtedly become more of a problem. So, this situation will only get worse. Until Hughesnet expands their system, they will lose their customers. I'm just another number to them. So are you!

Clay
Pollocksville, North Carolina
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 04/07/2007 04:38 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/hughesnet/germantown-maryland-maryland-20876/hughesnet-formerly-direcway-fair-access-policy-price-increase-unhappy-customer-germ-242794. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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#30 Consumer Comment

Challenge the Cable monopoly

AUTHOR: TJ - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, April 12, 2012

Advice to switch to cable is misdirected.  Cable is faster.  Period.  In most areas only one cable provider is available. When outages occur. you are stuck for long periods of time. Customer service stinks with Comcast in particular.  Cox is better if you are lucky enough to live where Cox is available.  But if you live in an area where only Comcast is available, you will be subjected to excess charges, ever increasing rates and you will be treated like dirt when you seek customer service.  Any alternative to a monopoly should be supported when service is acceptable.  With competition, the customer service from the cable company will improve.  After repeated run ins with Comcast in multiple business and residential locations, I support any alternative that can provide good customer service.  If you are forced to choose Comcast--be forewarned.  Give the satellite and dish arrangements a chance to compete.

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#29 Consumer Suggestion

Complain to weights and measures bureau

AUTHOR: Bnefriends - (United States of America)

POSTED: Sunday, May 02, 2010

I have read that some people believe that they are being throttled before they hit the advertised FAP. If this is the case, those individuals should contact their state department of weights and measures which can be found at http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/statedirectors.cfm.

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#28 Consumer Comment

Sick of Hughes Net Lies and Poor Service

AUTHOR: rilea2005 - (United States of America)

POSTED: Sunday, March 07, 2010

I frequently have problems with exceeding the FAP. I do not watch you tube or streaming media, only social networking a few hours a day, as do my roommates. I have the second tier plan with 375mb per day and we struggle to keep under that limit on a daily basis. All updates are set to 3 or 4am and there are no viruses on our systems (excuses they use to explain my "excessive" usage). Not to mention the fact that the service drops any time we get anything even resembling a storm. It way overstates the modem speed because we are lucky to get 5-9 kbps transmission. When I changed banks I decided to just go to paper billing and they charge me an extra $5 a month that I was never informed of. I just found out that ISDN is an option in my area (since cell service, DSL, and cable are not). With no download restrictions and no weather loss of service I can't wait til my new modem arrives so I can tell HughesNet to kiss my @55.

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#27 Consumer Comment

HUGHES NET AND DIRECT TV GRIPES!

AUTHOR: SHER - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, December 03, 2009

HERE HERE!  Hughes net is not only the slowest so called broadband out there, that fair access policy BS it nonsense!~ I couldnt believe the first time I was booted off and called them only to get some guy in India that kept saying I "violated the varexcespolsy "  it took me several calls to understand what the hey he was even saying!

as far as Direct TV! They are another racket!  I was with them for 15 years. Went online to buy a DVR from a private party. Called them to activate it and complained that their service was too expensive and i was considering cancelling. This was probably why the agent never disclosed that if I activate my own purchase DVR of $200 that not only was it direct tv's property, but that I would automatically be under contract with them for 2 years. After 15 years with them, I am now under contract against my knowledge for simply activating my own equipment?!!! what?! Of course I didnt know any of this until I went to cancel and they hit me with a bill of $500~! Yep, Now I joined in on a class action out of S>F California as I am eveidentally not the only victim. My credit report reflected non payment until I threatened them and had it removed. I have had collection agencies calling me, until I threatened them as well. So for now, I am in the clear but how many elderly or uneducated victims fall prey and pay these crooks?

Back to Hughes net! I called to cancel service with them a few days ago and they offered free service for another month, so I took it but I am really enjoying verizons VZ access manager as my main broadband source. Dont go over the 5 g per month or they will hit you with 35cents per min. But, no Fair access policy. So I love it!

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#26 Consumer Comment

Hughesnet is dishonest in billing practices as well.

AUTHOR: Susied - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, May 08, 2009

I have many complaints about this company. Besides the peak hour 4-11pm slow down/outage problems, the FAP, (and no it doesn't take much. I am a 50 year old grandma who reads email, some forums, and looks at recipes) I attempted to download a *small* design program for a kitchen, and not only did it not complete the download, (and I had to pay for the program) they told me to do it at 3:00am. It was a nightmare, long story short, I ended up paying twice and going over twice.

Then, in February, they update/upgrade the email. I stopped receiving ANY mail, could send mail, but not receive. Every night, I'm talking to India people named *Joe, Sam, or Bob* (really) They don't figure it out. I spent uncounted hours with this bunch of idiots. Finally, after 12 case numbers, they get me to advanced technical and an American/English speaking gentleman. He guided me through the back door of their email, and low and behold, THEY had been FORWARDING ALL my email to a HUGHESNET EMPLOYEE!!! For EIGHT WEEKS! THAT is one of the reasons I had to pay for the design program twice, because I couldn't receive the authorization code! I had to get another account through MSN to get email. And, they never apologized, never sent my emails, (just deleted them, according to him) never rectified the inconvenience in any way.

Forward to May. I do not participate in auto billing for security reasons. I normally pay over phone, and I also pay $5 a month extra for that *priviledge*. So, in April, I'm paying bills, can't get a live person at Hughesnet in billing to make a payment. I held for 30 minutes three seperate times that day. So, I logged on, and made a ONE TIME PAYMENT with my new credit card. Yesterday, I see where they deducted $171.58 from my checking account! After calling, "so sorry, that is the way it is, if you pay online, it automatically enrolls you in auto drafting". What? And, why the DOUBLE charge? Because I had never enrolled, changed my debit card number, and they were assuring themselves that I wouldn't change again? What the heck? I belong to a Credit Union that unfortunately is too cautious and we get new cards probably three times a year. It's a pain, but if I auto billed, they would get an insufficient debit if I hadn't called to change the card in time. SO, I asked them to refund my account, NO WAY! They can refund the one extra month that they took UNAUTHORIZED, but it will take THIRTY DAYS!

If I could get ANY other type internet service, I would in a heartbeat. We don't get cell service inside our home, no DSL, too rural, does ANyone know of any other satellite provider? There can be NONE worse than this! Or does anyone know how I can force the issue with this company?

Screwed up my email for over a month, stole from me, not to mention the SORRIEST service known to man! We have Directv and have no problems with that satellite service, so the satellite wouldn't be an issue in our area!

Thanks for listening, and any suggestions anyone may have!

Susie

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#25 Consumer Comment

More Update: NCO is now calling me 3-4 times a day.

AUTHOR: Guitarcomet - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, April 30, 2009

Lucky me! NCO is gonna be handling my collections!

I'm feel like dancing a jig!

" ? ? ? ? ? "

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#24 Consumer Comment

More Update: NCO is now calling me 3-4 times a day.

AUTHOR: Guitarcomet - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, April 30, 2009

Lucky me! NCO is gonna be handling my collections!

I'm feel like dancing a jig!

" ? ? ? ? ? "

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#23 Consumer Comment

More Update: NCO is now calling me 3-4 times a day.

AUTHOR: Guitarcomet - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, April 30, 2009

Lucky me! NCO is gonna be handling my collections!

I'm feel like dancing a jig!

" ? ? ? ? ? "

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#22 Consumer Comment

More Update: NCO is now calling me 3-4 times a day.

AUTHOR: Guitarcomet - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, April 30, 2009

Lucky me! NCO is gonna be handling my collections!

I'm feel like dancing a jig!

" ? ? ? ? ? "

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#21 Consumer Comment

Final Update: Hughes Relents! / Says "Good-Bye"...but not "Thank You"!

AUTHOR: Guitarcomet - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Just a little tail end of the story...

Embarq delayed hooking me up to DSL due to speed limitations. They worked on it for 4 weeks, but no go. I settled for 768(?) speed (the best they could give me for now) and will have full 1.5 speed soon (I hope).
I went without service for a month because I had canceled Hughes service.
Wow! Toxic Shock! (I'm firmly addicted, so I've found)

Just to make clear....
I called AND emailed Hughes to inform them of my canceling date (March 12).
No email response, but the guy in India told me:
#1. I would have to pay a $300 early cut off fee.
#2. would have to call back on March 12th to officially cut off the service.

Today (April 28), I got an email from Hughes.
It read:

Subject: Unsubscription success notice
"Dear clay,
Your order with Order Number 2425XX has been unsubscribed."

Customer Service is a joke with these people and they assuredly will go out of business in the near future. They missed the golden rule.
"Do unto others...."

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#20 Consumer Comment

Final Update: Hughes Relents! / Says "Good-Bye"...but not "Thank You"!

AUTHOR: Guitarcomet - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Just a little tail end of the story...

Embarq delayed hooking me up to DSL due to speed limitations. They worked on it for 4 weeks, but no go. I settled for 768(?) speed (the best they could give me for now) and will have full 1.5 speed soon (I hope).
I went without service for a month because I had canceled Hughes service.
Wow! Toxic Shock! (I'm firmly addicted, so I've found)

Just to make clear....
I called AND emailed Hughes to inform them of my canceling date (March 12).
No email response, but the guy in India told me:
#1. I would have to pay a $300 early cut off fee.
#2. would have to call back on March 12th to officially cut off the service.

Today (April 28), I got an email from Hughes.
It read:

Subject: Unsubscription success notice
"Dear clay,
Your order with Order Number 2425XX has been unsubscribed."

Customer Service is a joke with these people and they assuredly will go out of business in the near future. They missed the golden rule.
"Do unto others...."

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#19 Consumer Comment

Final Update: Hughes Relents! / Says "Good-Bye"...but not "Thank You"!

AUTHOR: Guitarcomet - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Just a little tail end of the story...

Embarq delayed hooking me up to DSL due to speed limitations. They worked on it for 4 weeks, but no go. I settled for 768(?) speed (the best they could give me for now) and will have full 1.5 speed soon (I hope).
I went without service for a month because I had canceled Hughes service.
Wow! Toxic Shock! (I'm firmly addicted, so I've found)

Just to make clear....
I called AND emailed Hughes to inform them of my canceling date (March 12).
No email response, but the guy in India told me:
#1. I would have to pay a $300 early cut off fee.
#2. would have to call back on March 12th to officially cut off the service.

Today (April 28), I got an email from Hughes.
It read:

Subject: Unsubscription success notice
"Dear clay,
Your order with Order Number 2425XX has been unsubscribed."

Customer Service is a joke with these people and they assuredly will go out of business in the near future. They missed the golden rule.
"Do unto others...."

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#18 Consumer Comment

Final Update: Hughes Relents! / Says "Good-Bye"...but not "Thank You"!

AUTHOR: Guitarcomet - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Just a little tail end of the story...

Embarq delayed hooking me up to DSL due to speed limitations. They worked on it for 4 weeks, but no go. I settled for 768(?) speed (the best they could give me for now) and will have full 1.5 speed soon (I hope).
I went without service for a month because I had canceled Hughes service.
Wow! Toxic Shock! (I'm firmly addicted, so I've found)

Just to make clear....
I called AND emailed Hughes to inform them of my canceling date (March 12).
No email response, but the guy in India told me:
#1. I would have to pay a $300 early cut off fee.
#2. would have to call back on March 12th to officially cut off the service.

Today (April 28), I got an email from Hughes.
It read:

Subject: Unsubscription success notice
"Dear clay,
Your order with Order Number 2425XX has been unsubscribed."

Customer Service is a joke with these people and they assuredly will go out of business in the near future. They missed the golden rule.
"Do unto others...."

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#17 Consumer Comment

In response to Mainly for Lori

AUTHOR: Jean - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, March 14, 2009

I had the Elite Pro plan, which, in theory, allows 500 MB before being FAPed. I NEVER watched any streaming video or movies, yet found myself being FAPed after Microsoft updates, when trying to download PDF files and during normal web browsing. Youtube was out of the question. After installing a handy usage measuring tool, I discovered that I was being FAPed at well under 200 MB of actual usage. Maybe you were getting my excess bandwidth? :)
I had Hughes.net for two years. Despite upgrading, service has gotten progressively slower, outages are frequent (several times a day, minimum) customer service is rude, confusing and downright weird. Calling them is pretty much pointless. Being able to discountinue this service is a great relief.

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#16 Consumer Comment

Update: More Ripoff / Extended Contract? $300 Cancelation Fee? Huh? You're Kidding!

AUTHOR: Guitarcomet - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, March 07, 2009

Well, I'm back!
Sorry for not answering any questions, I hadn't visited here in a long while.
Most of the questions and comments are right on target. No need to add anything.
DSL is now available in my area! "Whoo h*o!"
I decided to try it out.
I emailed Hughes to let them know I would be canceling in a week.
The email I got back claimed I would be charged a early cancelation fee of $300!
My service contract was for 2 years. After that, there is no "contract". (so I was led to believe)
My service began in Mar. 2006.
Now approaching Mar. 2009, that makes 3 years.
Ah, but 15 months ago, I got a package from UPS. It was a new upgraded modem from Hughes.net. The paperwork said it was a free upgrade, no charge. Just a system overhaul/update. (again, so I was led to believe) They didn't even want the old unit back.
Now, 15 months later, they claim that the upgrade reset my contract @ 2 more years, putting me under contract for 9 more months!
Wow!
I was told nothing of the "extended" contract. I had no choice in the upgrade, it was manditory.
Sound criminal to you?
Me, too!
Well, I expected as much from these guys, so I'm just gonna have to change my CC to keep from having to dispute the charge and going through all that mess.
I'm glad I contacted them first because I figured they'd try to stick me with a bill (somehow) if I tried to cancel.
I swear, you really need to watch out for this company.
In the three years I've had the service, I've paid out over $3100 to them. Never missed a payment (automatic CC payment).
Thanks Hughes!
I won't be back!

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#15 Consumer Comment

Hughes Net (Or any satellite service) as last resort.

AUTHOR: Shawn - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, December 26, 2008

The home 200 MB a day is not much more than what is theoretically achievable by a 56k modem in 24 hours. Realistically its over about double. But consider the price difference. A dial-up is $10. Satellite is $70. 7x the price tag for double the performance? Also consider that low speed DSL in a lot of places is $15 and Cable Modem $30.
But one thing satellite provider never talk about in their advertising is latency. The latency of satellite is and always will be horrible. Until someone comes about making a consumer service laser satellite ISP. It was truly a step backwards to get rid of the dial-up up-link with the satellite down-link service. As the satellite up-link doubles the latency problems. I can understand why RV customers would want a satellite up-link, but why not maintain options?
The service isn't horrendous in quality. If your within the hidden bounds of their service it is a decent service. Down times are very few and far between.
But it is way over priced. It WAS a competitive price for broadband, back in the late 90's. But the worst problem though is that NONE of the satellite service providers are clear with the limitations of satellite and that they purpose it as a genuine competitor to DSL or cable modem when it is clearly not. They do not tell the consumer about the FAP only until after they exceeded it. I have not even found a page on any of their websites that specifies when the caps are off so the consumer can set their system updates and/or download managers. Windows Vista users are guaranteed to smash into the FAP face first. Than the only way to find out is to play their Indian telephone game show of Jeopardy where they tell you the answers and you have to guess the question. But they claim this to be tech support. Be prepared to get frustrated by a guy who just learned English and is totally convinced he answered your question even though he hasn't. I learned if they won't pass you up the tech support chain to someone else, you can hang up on them and call right back and sometimes you can luck out, about 1 in 3 odds you will get the none mentally challenged tech support guy.
Anyways, I tell people when I find out that they are interested in this service that they need to exhaust every other possibility before getting satellite service. It is expensive and over priced. The marketing is misleading. The specs and boundaries are not clearly marked. And the tech support is miserable.
One last thing... Before the FAP and even now within the un-cap time periods... I really don't notice much drop in performance on bandwidth. Even though if you think about it, everyone now that is on the service is clambering over the few hours they toss us to download everything at once that would normally be peppered through out the day. If what they were saying about Fair Access was the truth about being necessary, we should see MASSIVE speed decreases in the times where the FAP is lifted. It just isn't so. Purely I think this was a move in hopes that they could try and over sell their service. Which hasn't come about as GSM/CDMA cellular internet, WiFi and the other services pulling more and more of the slack that was their nitch market. I highly doubt that there is any need for FAP other than to milk what few customers they have left for their over priced bandwidth caps.
Wifi is half mile away and fiber optic is now 4 miles away from my house. In the next year I will be most likely yet another dropped customer from their service.
This company REALLY needs to rethink their strategy.

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#14 Consumer Comment

Mainly for Lori

AUTHOR: Mallen - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, April 12, 2008

I've had HughesNet for about 4 months now and while the FAP can be a pain, not to mention the $70 a month i pay for their 1 Meg service, I'm very satisfied with it.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as your sister. Charter stops 1/2 mile down the road and won't run it to me and AT&T has no foreseeable plans to give me DSL.

I tried using Alltel's service but since broadband cellular is not available in Benzie County, i had disastrous results, oftentimes slower than dial-up.

On the subject of the FAP, I was well aware of it BEFORE i signed up. I can't claim that the info was available to everyone who signed up before that, but it was available at HughesNet's website when i joined.

The download threshhold varies from plan to plan. I have their mid level plan and the download threshhold is 375 MB. If i hit that in 24 hours, I'm shut down to anywhere from 1 kbps to 20 kbps for the next 24 hours.

Anytime you go to a website, a small amount of data is downloaded. If, while at that website, you go to another page, a small amount of data is downloaded.
You could surf the web all day long and never even come close to the threshhold.
If your sister downloads music, assuming the usual song file is 3500 kb, you could download 100 songs in a day and still not hit your threshhold, although if you're doing alot of web surfing you'd want to throttle down the amount of songs somewhat.

The ONLY time i've been throttled down was while downloading movies. Anything else is extremely minor. I watch all the youtube videos i want. Even my live stat tracker for my fantasy sports teams is so minimal it doesn't hurt me at all

Something that some people don't realize is that from 3 AM to 6 AM is go crazy time. There are no threshhold requirements during that time. It's a pain, but when i'm downloading movies, i'll start a download, pause it, get up at 3 AM (like i said, it's a pain, but doable), resume the download and pause it again at 6 AM.
If your sister is set up to receive automatic downloads from Windows or her anti-virus and such, she could set it up so her automatic downloads start during that time

At 375 MB, i can't see how anyone would EVER break the download threshhold unless they're downloading movies.

When your sister signs up, if she does, she can monitor her status at HughesNet's website. They tell you exactly how many MB's you've downloaded for each indivdual hour.

The speed does throttle down during peak times due to shared bandwidth, but it's not too bad. I usually connect anywhere from 350 to 650 kbps during peak times.

Being a northern Michigan roofer, i had alot of time off this winter. During that time i spent hours and hours online, talking on the sports boards i'm a member of, constantly working on my yahoo fantasy team, checking player news at rotoworld....I'd browse the web sometimes for 8 hours straight and never had a problem other than downloading movies. Once i got used to how the threshhold works, I learned to adapt my movie downloading.

Sorry for the long winded post but alot of the messages i read in this thread were pretty misleading as far as I'm concerned. Your sister should definitely explore all options before going with HughesNet, but if the other options fail, then HughesNet is definitely the way to go over dial-up

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#13 Consumer Comment

Mainly for Lori

AUTHOR: Mallen - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, April 12, 2008

I've had HughesNet for about 4 months now and while the FAP can be a pain, not to mention the $70 a month i pay for their 1 Meg service, I'm very satisfied with it.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as your sister. Charter stops 1/2 mile down the road and won't run it to me and AT&T has no foreseeable plans to give me DSL.

I tried using Alltel's service but since broadband cellular is not available in Benzie County, i had disastrous results, oftentimes slower than dial-up.

On the subject of the FAP, I was well aware of it BEFORE i signed up. I can't claim that the info was available to everyone who signed up before that, but it was available at HughesNet's website when i joined.

The download threshhold varies from plan to plan. I have their mid level plan and the download threshhold is 375 MB. If i hit that in 24 hours, I'm shut down to anywhere from 1 kbps to 20 kbps for the next 24 hours.

Anytime you go to a website, a small amount of data is downloaded. If, while at that website, you go to another page, a small amount of data is downloaded.
You could surf the web all day long and never even come close to the threshhold.
If your sister downloads music, assuming the usual song file is 3500 kb, you could download 100 songs in a day and still not hit your threshhold, although if you're doing alot of web surfing you'd want to throttle down the amount of songs somewhat.

The ONLY time i've been throttled down was while downloading movies. Anything else is extremely minor. I watch all the youtube videos i want. Even my live stat tracker for my fantasy sports teams is so minimal it doesn't hurt me at all

Something that some people don't realize is that from 3 AM to 6 AM is go crazy time. There are no threshhold requirements during that time. It's a pain, but when i'm downloading movies, i'll start a download, pause it, get up at 3 AM (like i said, it's a pain, but doable), resume the download and pause it again at 6 AM.
If your sister is set up to receive automatic downloads from Windows or her anti-virus and such, she could set it up so her automatic downloads start during that time

At 375 MB, i can't see how anyone would EVER break the download threshhold unless they're downloading movies.

When your sister signs up, if she does, she can monitor her status at HughesNet's website. They tell you exactly how many MB's you've downloaded for each indivdual hour.

The speed does throttle down during peak times due to shared bandwidth, but it's not too bad. I usually connect anywhere from 350 to 650 kbps during peak times.

Being a northern Michigan roofer, i had alot of time off this winter. During that time i spent hours and hours online, talking on the sports boards i'm a member of, constantly working on my yahoo fantasy team, checking player news at rotoworld....I'd browse the web sometimes for 8 hours straight and never had a problem other than downloading movies. Once i got used to how the threshhold works, I learned to adapt my movie downloading.

Sorry for the long winded post but alot of the messages i read in this thread were pretty misleading as far as I'm concerned. Your sister should definitely explore all options before going with HughesNet, but if the other options fail, then HughesNet is definitely the way to go over dial-up

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#12 Consumer Comment

Mainly for Lori

AUTHOR: Mallen - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, April 12, 2008

I've had HughesNet for about 4 months now and while the FAP can be a pain, not to mention the $70 a month i pay for their 1 Meg service, I'm very satisfied with it.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as your sister. Charter stops 1/2 mile down the road and won't run it to me and AT&T has no foreseeable plans to give me DSL.

I tried using Alltel's service but since broadband cellular is not available in Benzie County, i had disastrous results, oftentimes slower than dial-up.

On the subject of the FAP, I was well aware of it BEFORE i signed up. I can't claim that the info was available to everyone who signed up before that, but it was available at HughesNet's website when i joined.

The download threshhold varies from plan to plan. I have their mid level plan and the download threshhold is 375 MB. If i hit that in 24 hours, I'm shut down to anywhere from 1 kbps to 20 kbps for the next 24 hours.

Anytime you go to a website, a small amount of data is downloaded. If, while at that website, you go to another page, a small amount of data is downloaded.
You could surf the web all day long and never even come close to the threshhold.
If your sister downloads music, assuming the usual song file is 3500 kb, you could download 100 songs in a day and still not hit your threshhold, although if you're doing alot of web surfing you'd want to throttle down the amount of songs somewhat.

The ONLY time i've been throttled down was while downloading movies. Anything else is extremely minor. I watch all the youtube videos i want. Even my live stat tracker for my fantasy sports teams is so minimal it doesn't hurt me at all

Something that some people don't realize is that from 3 AM to 6 AM is go crazy time. There are no threshhold requirements during that time. It's a pain, but when i'm downloading movies, i'll start a download, pause it, get up at 3 AM (like i said, it's a pain, but doable), resume the download and pause it again at 6 AM.
If your sister is set up to receive automatic downloads from Windows or her anti-virus and such, she could set it up so her automatic downloads start during that time

At 375 MB, i can't see how anyone would EVER break the download threshhold unless they're downloading movies.

When your sister signs up, if she does, she can monitor her status at HughesNet's website. They tell you exactly how many MB's you've downloaded for each indivdual hour.

The speed does throttle down during peak times due to shared bandwidth, but it's not too bad. I usually connect anywhere from 350 to 650 kbps during peak times.

Being a northern Michigan roofer, i had alot of time off this winter. During that time i spent hours and hours online, talking on the sports boards i'm a member of, constantly working on my yahoo fantasy team, checking player news at rotoworld....I'd browse the web sometimes for 8 hours straight and never had a problem other than downloading movies. Once i got used to how the threshhold works, I learned to adapt my movie downloading.

Sorry for the long winded post but alot of the messages i read in this thread were pretty misleading as far as I'm concerned. Your sister should definitely explore all options before going with HughesNet, but if the other options fail, then HughesNet is definitely the way to go over dial-up

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#11 Consumer Suggestion

Limit FAP time by limiting what you see on your web pages

AUTHOR: John L. - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, November 01, 2007

I am not a consumer of HughesNet, but am victim to its restrictions as I am currently residing in a household that subscribes to HughesNet and understand the frustration you all are dealing with. I was surprised at how just simply surfing the internet for a few hours, checking mail, and watching an occasional 2-3 minute video on YouTube can enact this preposturous "Fair Access Policy". One solution that will not circumvent the FAP, but may allow you to use the internet at higher speeds longer is to disable your web browser from downloading all those little pictures and gifs that appear on almost all web pages (such as ad pics, the little sunshine gif next to your weather report, etc.). You can also turn off any animation that plays on a web page (yahoo likes to do this on their home page) and also sound can be disabled. To do this, simply click on Tools on your browser and select Internet Options.

From there, click on the Advanced Tab and scroll down till you see the Multimedia section. Uncheck the boxes next to Enable automatic image resizing, Play animation on web pages, play sounds in web pages, show pictures, and smart image dithering. (These steps are for windows XP, but I believe earlier versions are similar.)

If you're trying to find out who coached the Trailblazers in 1994 or what anti De Sitter space means, need a good hummus recipe or what not and don't need pictures in your quest for information, this is not a bad way to surf the internet and decreases the amount of data you download through HughesNet servers, thus reducing the tendency toward engaging the FAP. (It's also faster!) But if you're a photo intensive surfer, file sharing or need to watch video, this recommendation won't do you any good. Follow the other people's recommendations: DROP HUGHESNET AND NEVER LOOK BACK!!

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#10 Consumer Suggestion

downloading

AUTHOR: Mike - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, April 30, 2007

Lori,

I can see you have some misunderstandings about what "downloading" is with hughesnet.

It is not JUST downloading pictures, videos, or pdf's to SAVE to your computer. Just visiting webpages counts as downloading. Just "watching" an internet video or "listening" to interent radio really racks up the megabites downloaded. You don't have to save them to your computer for them to count against you.

As a matter of fact just the satalites communication with the dish by being online uses up a tiny bit of your available megabites.

Then when you hit the max the system becomes about 80% useless.

The new FAP disclosure was VERY misleading. They proudly announced the FAP was being changed to 200 megs. Before it was 175 megs. BUT you have to click on their link to get the full story. It used to be 175 megs that restarted after 4 hours. now you get 200 megs but it restarts after 24 hours.

If ANYTHING else is available, use it instead of hughesnet.

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#9 Consumer Suggestion

downloading

AUTHOR: Mike - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, April 30, 2007

Lori,

I can see you have some misunderstandings about what "downloading" is with hughesnet.

It is not JUST downloading pictures, videos, or pdf's to SAVE to your computer. Just visiting webpages counts as downloading. Just "watching" an internet video or "listening" to interent radio really racks up the megabites downloaded. You don't have to save them to your computer for them to count against you.

As a matter of fact just the satalites communication with the dish by being online uses up a tiny bit of your available megabites.

Then when you hit the max the system becomes about 80% useless.

The new FAP disclosure was VERY misleading. They proudly announced the FAP was being changed to 200 megs. Before it was 175 megs. BUT you have to click on their link to get the full story. It used to be 175 megs that restarted after 4 hours. now you get 200 megs but it restarts after 24 hours.

If ANYTHING else is available, use it instead of hughesnet.

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#8 Consumer Suggestion

downloading

AUTHOR: Mike - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, April 30, 2007

Lori,

I can see you have some misunderstandings about what "downloading" is with hughesnet.

It is not JUST downloading pictures, videos, or pdf's to SAVE to your computer. Just visiting webpages counts as downloading. Just "watching" an internet video or "listening" to interent radio really racks up the megabites downloaded. You don't have to save them to your computer for them to count against you.

As a matter of fact just the satalites communication with the dish by being online uses up a tiny bit of your available megabites.

Then when you hit the max the system becomes about 80% useless.

The new FAP disclosure was VERY misleading. They proudly announced the FAP was being changed to 200 megs. Before it was 175 megs. BUT you have to click on their link to get the full story. It used to be 175 megs that restarted after 4 hours. now you get 200 megs but it restarts after 24 hours.

If ANYTHING else is available, use it instead of hughesnet.

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#7 Consumer Suggestion

downloading

AUTHOR: Mike - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, April 30, 2007

Lori,

I can see you have some misunderstandings about what "downloading" is with hughesnet.

It is not JUST downloading pictures, videos, or pdf's to SAVE to your computer. Just visiting webpages counts as downloading. Just "watching" an internet video or "listening" to interent radio really racks up the megabites downloaded. You don't have to save them to your computer for them to count against you.

As a matter of fact just the satalites communication with the dish by being online uses up a tiny bit of your available megabites.

Then when you hit the max the system becomes about 80% useless.

The new FAP disclosure was VERY misleading. They proudly announced the FAP was being changed to 200 megs. Before it was 175 megs. BUT you have to click on their link to get the full story. It used to be 175 megs that restarted after 4 hours. now you get 200 megs but it restarts after 24 hours.

If ANYTHING else is available, use it instead of hughesnet.

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#6 Consumer Comment

Good Idea

AUTHOR: Lori - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, April 08, 2007

Never thought of that, Thank You! I've seen commercials, but never made the connection to a home PC. I'll be researching this one today.

Again, Thanks!!

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#5 Consumer Comment

Alternatives to HughesNet

AUTHOR: Kevin - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, April 07, 2007

There are alternatives to satellite and after finding out the hard way, I'd rather do anything (including dial-up) than pay a fortune for satellite internet. Call all the internet providers in the area (even broadband) and they will tell you if there are any other alternatives. You may be able to go with microwave internet if there are any towers near her home. Microwave is faster, more reliable and much cheaper to install but the monthly fees are usually higher than satellite. In my opinion, the best alternative to satellite is the phone cards you plug into your pc. Verizon has an Air Card and Sprint has one too. The great thing about it is there is no installation at all. You just need to get decent cell phone service and plug the card into your pc. It's super fast and you can use it anywhere you get cell service. It's only $59/mo if you use the same cell service or $79 if you don't. The only drawback is that if you want to use more than one pc at a time you have to buy extra cards. Although, the Sprint model has a wireless hub that you can buy to run several pc's at once.

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#4 Consumer Comment

Great thought

AUTHOR: Lori - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, April 07, 2007

Unfortunately, there is no cable OR dsl service available to my sister. She has 2 choices, dialup (painful) and satelite. I have broadband, and honestly, I wouldn't trade it for the world. We also have cable, in this area it's far more cost effective and reliable. For my sister, her choices are very limited. Tried to sign her up for dsl last month, only to be told that she could get the long distance service, but would have to wait to see if she was 'chosen' by the company to receive dsl. HUH? They get to choose who pays them money for a service? How nice. Thats the reason we're currently looking into the satelite. Are we limited to Hughes, or is there competition out there????

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#3 Consumer Suggestion

Time To Switch

AUTHOR: G - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, April 07, 2007

Guess it is time to switch from satellite internet to Cable Broadband Internet. I've had Direct TV for 7+ years and Love it , cable too Expensive for TV, BUT I get my Internet From Comcast Cable -Broadband Internet , No Download Limits, Basic Package up to 6 MBPS Download Speed AND ONLY PAY $46.00 A Month I dont want DSL either cause even best package for DSL is Slower than Broadband Cable. I have had broadband even longer than Direct TV & wont switch from either one. Just My 2 Cents !!!

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#2 Consumer Comment

HughesNet Download Limit

AUTHOR: Kevin - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, April 07, 2007

I was told by HughesNet customer support that the limit was 175MegaBytes of download per day. This is because they are on a shared bandwidth system. I have not seen this information on any of their paperwork and only found out after calling customer support about 30 times and I had one day that I had 200Mb of download so they thought that was why it was so slow that day.

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#1 Consumer Comment

My sister is looking into this service

AUTHOR: Lori - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, April 07, 2007

So I'd really appreciate some more information. Do they throttle your signal if you're simply surfing, or are you talking about actively downloading content from the web? Does this happen when you are interacting with websites? My sister has 6 children, three of whom would be using the net in addition to herself, so any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated!!

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