Hughes Net Caveat Emptor

If anyone is considering Hughes Net they don't really have what one would call upright business practices. I was basically forced into upgrading today to their Gen4 service. About 6 months ago (correlating nicely to the release of Gen4 in my area) my service started becoming very unreliable and was completely disrupted for the last month. When I called tech support the CS rep told me that a part of my dish was cracked and was retaining water if was 160.00 to get someone out to my house.

When he showed up 2 weeks later I was told that he didn't have any new equipment on the truck but he had adjusted the dish and lo and behold I've got a signal strength 3 times what I've had for the last six months.

I was told that the problem would likely continue to occur unless I upgraded to the new service. I was also informed that when the installer had us sign the checklist for successful installation we were agreeing to a 2 year service despite that that fact is only available on the hughesnet website.

I'd considered breaching contract in lieu of dishnet but the tech told me today that it is subcontracted through hughes net so I don't imagine that would fly.

I was iffy with Hughes net in the first place what with the relatively high price and restrictive download caps but after my experience I would consider it a last option only purchase.

reply to post by Josephus


How did they force you to upgrade? I have avoided the gen 4 upgrade so far.I am not a fan of Hughes net and really was pissed when they unloaded the hidden FAP policy on me after signing up. I looked over the Gen4 plan as well as Exceed and realized I get more bandwidth by just using the incredibly lame "unlimited download window" at night between 1am and 6am. I hate having to load up on tokens each month though due to other members of the family not observing the download limits which is basically the entire business model for Hughes (selling tokens).

I read not too long ago that Hughes basically hosed the Govt by taking the subsidies but not fully upgrading their system. Not sure how it works really I think they actually share a satellite with Exceed.

You could always go with a WISP. I have been looking into a company called Broadband Blue which offers unlimited service for about the same price and wont go out with the weather.

reply to post by NihilistSanta


I guess you'd have to say "forced" more than forced, ya know? The tech who came out to the house told us that our problems would continue unless we upgraded and that they were phasing out the old units. I would bet money that our service was purposefully interrupted to compel us to upgrade. Although I can't say for sure. The last time I checked I couldn't find a WISP provider in my area. I don't know why; I mean a lot of areas much more remote and not far from where I live have it.

Well I definitely feel your pain. I came from FIOS in Tampa to Hughes . Hopefully a better option comes along.

I feel your pain.

Have had Hughes, went out of contract, then suddenly the HN9000 modem went out. Blinking lights. Tech support says 130.00 for a service call, or we could upgrade.

I had been getting the Gen4 flyers in the mail for quite sometime, and with the first one, I checked availability for my location, but no dice.

That's about the time the HN9000 started acting strange, constant cold boots. Called tech support, they said they were having trouble with their old satellite, but that they were beginning to roll out Gen4. Did some research, and learned that their Echostar VII sat was coming online.

Long rant short, I had tech come out to Upgrade, and all they did was plop down a HT1000 modem and re-aim the dish after installing a new radio on the boom. Here and gone in about a half hour.

Gen4 is faster, and more reliable than the old service. I've had storms go through that would've lost service on the HN9000 (which we were used to), but the HT1000 is a rugged lil guy. They've changed the FAP-O-Meter to a monthly allowance, instead of a daily one, and we're on the 15 GB plan.

However, the FAP-O-Meter would drain down really quick after we hit the 7GB mark. So much so that I installed bandwidth monitors on all the PCs connected to my network, and turned off the Wi-Fi, even though it's password secured. I even upgraded to a Gigabit router and changed the firmware to DD-WRT, so I could watch usage. I couldn't account for the "missing" bandwidth, so the next time I FAPPED out, (did that for 4 months in a row) tech support got another call, a rather irate one.

They said that my bandwidth monitors weren't supported, and that I had to use theirs. Geez, ok, got me there. We got three free tokens for complaining, but I have to wait and see if the bandwidth issues are resolved til the end on this month. Turns out, I believe, that they are running three different versions of software on their HT1000s, and until they get everyone up to the latest firmware, there's some sort of conflict going on.

The price you pay for living in the boondocks.

reply to post by Druid42


That is my issue with the Gen4 plan. It is faster but you get less usage. For instance you have 15g a month plan. I can use 30 gigs in 15 days with the plan I have using the night time window and I wont FAP. I can get 60 gigs in a month and still have my daily allowance which is a paltry 500mb a day.

Granted this is no good for streaming video and such which usually means I have to purchase tokens but unless they still allow you to use the free window late at night the trade off actually causes me to get less for more or equal price and if I FAP before the month is over internet usage drops to a crawl without purchasing tokens. When you hit the FAP with the Gen4 plan and you reset it how much does it give you to use and are the tokens on a different pricing plan?

reply to post by NihilistSanta

When you hit the FAP with the Gen4 plan and you reset it how much does it give you to use and are the tokens on a different pricing plan?

512. Half a GB per token. Tokens are the same price, but you can't load them in and charge up. You are stuck using just 500mb at a time.

But the speeds, well, YMMV, but I'm very pleased. Much faster.

Revisiting this thread after recent events. Around 3 weeks ago my "unlimited window" stopped working. I have called Hughes about 5 times and they keep telling me I need to update my plan to Gen4.

These people should be sued for using these tactics. They have essentially destroyed my plan and claim the only fix is to adopt the new plan even though there are currently customers using my plan. Consider me boggled. I explained to them that I have no desire to adopt Gen 4 because my bandwidth usage is higher without it. Every call has ended with them saying a technician will call me back but that has yet to manifest.

reply to post by NihilistSanta


You get 512mb per token. And, you can only use one at a time.

We also called customer service, because after 7.5gb, our fap-o-meter would fall like a rock. Got three free tokens out of the deal, but no real answer.