Rural internet... specifically Hughs Net? yeah or nay?

[Guilherme]

We’ve had HughesNet twice. The first time was a “consumer grade” installation and it did the job, but barely. Biggest issue was loss of signal in any sort of precipitation (and we get close to 50" of rain per year). But our alternative was a 300 baud modem connection. As between the two HughesNet wasn’t so bad. We got rid of it when we got an ISP modem and it was a major increase in reliability if not a big jump in speed. A couple of years later we tried HughesNet again, but this time with a low end commercial grade system. It was a vast improvement over the consumer version with a gross drop in weather related signal losses. They did occur, however, and that was still frustrating.

A couple of years later we got DSL service and I switched. Speed was higher and reliability was MUCH higher.

If the choice is HughesNet or nothing then I’d look into the commercial models. IIRC the low end one we had was a premium over the consumer unit but it wasn’t outrageous (it was a long time ago and IIRC it was in the 25-50% range).

Sometimes country living does have some drawbacks.

G.

[scrbear11]

Blazing Hog. https://blazinghog.com/online/

High Speed. Unlimited Data. It requires an initial purchase of $300 for the aircard and first month of service. You do have to have either AT&T or Verizon cell service. And it is limited in some areas.

I work from home. I can stream TV while working on two different computers.

If you decide to go this route PM Me! There is a $50 referral discount that you get, and I get.

ETA: We are in an area where we do not get any other service, and Hughes Net is extremely slow at our neighbors’ house.

[JanM]

This is exactly why I advise friends who are house shopping to check for cable/internet access, and for cell service at their specific location. Where I used to live it was a new suburb that was built on former farmland, and out in the country. People along the main roads had regular cable/internet available. Some of the houses behind those roads had nothing but satellite. Only two subdivisions had DSL, and it wasn’t even to every house either.

[Kottbulle]

@downen thanks for the link but i have tried all of those… Sand Creek Communications was very upfront and honest about not doing our area. Frontier had me on hold to tell me they don’t cover us. Which i sort of knew but figured maybe this year they were expanding, especially since i have to drive by their stupid box advertising " fast, high speed rural internet!) if you live within under a mile from the box.

@poltroon I wish we had fixed wireless… there is supposedly something in the area, but a tree is in the way and they won’t come out and tell us if we can get a better signal off the new pole barn which is away from the house on a bit of a hill. Their very rude and unhelpful response was that they had already shown we didn’t have a connection and they wouldn’t come out and check again. so basically we are fucked with regards to that possibility.

[Kottbulle]

@scrbear11 i think thats basically what i have with the impact wireless hotspot and router. Though we are now convinced the router is not working cuz when we plug the hot spot into a plain old USB outlet plug we get a great connection… just don’t walk away from it. It is pinging off a T-mobile/Verizon towers, and Impact has said we are basically on the edge of the good- Fair range so we are just clearly not in a good spot. when i brought it into work with me it was blazing fast and worked great so clearly we are close to being in no mans land.

My only hope is that the new hospital going up will bring more people to the area who will demand better internet service. I know its a far fetched dream, but a girl can dream!

[dungrulla]

Hughes net is satellite, and the service you get is going to depend highly on exactly where you are, the local topology, and how close you are to the satellite routes. Weather can also have an impact on reception. In some areas it’s fantastic and the service is on par with other offerings that work via ground methods. Other places not so much. I’d talk to others in your specific area to find out how it worked for them.

The other issue is that satellite packages are usually capped at a fairly low amount of usage, though that may have changed over the last couple years. I personally wouldn’t use it either way if something else was available that offered comparable service, and don’t expect to be able to play games or stream movies on it without a lot of trouble.

[Sabino]

@dungrulla

Hughes net is satellite, and the service you get is going to depend highly on exactly where you are, the local topology, and how close you are to the satellite routes. Weather can also have an impact on reception. In some areas it’s fantastic and the service is on par with other offerings that work via ground methods. Other places not so much. I’d talk to others in your specific area to find out how it worked for them.

The other issue is that satellite packages are usually capped at a fairly low amount of usage, though that may have changed over the last couple years. I personally wouldn’t use it either way if something else was available that offered comparable service, and don’t expect to be able to play games or stream movies on it without a lot of trouble.

Viasat doesn’t cap for usage. At least not that I have seen in the 6 months or so that I’ve had it. And we actually have streamed a LOT (all 9 seasons of Shameless and lots of movies). Streaming is not an issue, regular internet usage is when I have issues.

[walkinthewalk]

Another ex-Hughes net user here (after five years) due to:

1. DH getting screen freezes while uploading car parts to EBay — and we had the expensive “fastest” package.

2. Lost satellite service if the Gulf of Mexico even thought about sending high wind & rain our way.

Things were fantastic the first few years, then Hughes switched us to another satellite to improve our connection and that was when things really went a lot further south than we live:)

3. The Gen Five they advertise as so great has been Gen Five for quite a few years now (meaning no upgrades) and that’s when we started having issues.

4. I don’t know if they still have FAP time (fair Access Policy) where they start slowing you down when your FAP time starts going on the high side.

---

we have Verizon cell phone service and finally went with them for WiFi. They are expensive but I think they are still cheaper than DH threatening to sledge hammer the desktop when he is trying to upload something.

It is very rare for us to lose connection. The internet does slow down some, during peak user hours, but I don’t use the Net for business. I also think Verizon might have business accounts for residential users, if a person needs them — I THINK – don’t take money to the bank on that, lol

[DSLH]

We had Hughes Net as our sole option for internet for years when we had our farm and it was a consistent irritation. Don’t get me wrong - it was better than having nothing, but streaming anything was definitely out of the question. In that location, cell service was also pretty poor, else we would’ve just gone to a hot spot.

[mestle]

We had it for a few years and it was better than nothing which was our other choice. Last summer Centurylink ran cable in our area and we now have internet that has unlimited data, costs less and is quite reliable. Happy Day!!

[Guilherme]

@scrbear11

Blazing Hog. https://blazinghog.com/online/

High Speed. Unlimited Data. It requires an initial purchase of $300 for the aircard and first month of service. You do have to have either AT&T or Verizon cell service. And it is limited in some areas.

I work from home. I can stream TV while working on two different computers.

If you decide to go this route PM Me! There is a $50 referral discount that you get, and I get.

ETA: We are in an area where we do not get any other service, and Hughes Net is extremely slow at our neighbors’ house.

I called the BlazingHog guys. Hard sell, REALLY HARD SELL!!! We have an interesting issue with any provider in that Google Earth puts our address point in the middle a far field, roughly 1/2 mile from the actual house. At that geographic point there is some service from Verizon and AT&T. Nothing from T-Mobile. At the house the AT&T map shows service but most folks visiting us who have AT&T say it’s very inconsistent. When I attempted to explain this to the salesman and get some idea how they knew we had adequate service he got VERY defensive and started double-talking the process. That was off-putting.

Given our circumstances and the lack of alternatives, I’m likely to give these guys a try. The worst that happens is it doesn’t work and I send it all back within 30 days (the guarantee period). And I pay with a credit card so that I can have some “leverage” if we have to send it back.

G.

[JanM]

Would a booster help reception? I don’t know enough about tech stuff to know, but maybe some kind of antenna, or booster could help?