Review by protospork 
UPDATED: 43 days ago
member for 158 days, 5 visits, last login: 31 days ago
 Sterling Heights,Macomb,MI
 Contract price not specified.
 "I suppose it is faster than dialup."
 "Slow, unreliable, expensive, misleading adverts, uncooperative website..."
 "If you've can't get cable/DSL, aren't in a 3G area, and can't get Wildblue, this is your only option."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Before we had hughesnet installed, I borrowed someone's USB 3g adapter. I quickly decided it was the slowest way I'd experienced the internet since ditching dialup in 2002, and we went ahead with hughesnet. Now, after several weeks of hughesnet service, I wish I could undo that decision (They made us sign up to a 2-year contract, so no dice.).
We've got an HN9000 Modem and are on one of the plans with the 500MB daily cap. I'm honestly not sure what the advertised speeds were or exactly what we pay every month.
There've been several days where the connection worked fine EXCEPT for http traffic, a day when http was the only thing that worked, often only encrypted traffic (https, ssl, sftp) is blocked. Rare is the day when every aspect of the connection is working as advertised. Weather doesn't seem to have much to do with it, either - I've had better signal in a torrential downpour than with clear blue skies.
You're given a late-night bandwidth unlimited period (Ours is 2am-7am, allegedly), and during this period the line speed actually seems to pick up quite a bit, but you still can't really use P2P apps (or many 'legitimate' programs). The way the network is set up, you can't forward ports - so you're more-or-less unable to upload except in very limited, unpredictable cases.
Oh, and downloading things outside that late-night period? Watch out. If you go over your limit, you'll be given an unstable slower-than-dialup connection for "24 hours". In my last case it was actually limited for 24 hours, 'full speed' for about an hour, limited for most of another day, and then brought back to normal speed.
All of you people who complain about the line speeds, poor service, unfair practices, etc. of their cable ISPs, listen to me: Comcast has got nothing on Hughes.
Followup comments:  Rob2647
join:2008-08-12
Rochester, MI | No other options? In Sterling Heights you can't get AT&T DSL or Uverse or Cable, whether it's Comcast or WOW? That is hard to believe these days, both AT&T and Comcast service much of the metro Detroit area. | |
| 
PJD
@umich.edu | "Can't forward Ports" Can you please expand on this? I'm a Hughnet user who is frustrated to tears trying to make a light-weight web site work over Hughesnet.
Thanks. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of HughesNet Satellite Broadband |
|
HughesNet Satellite Broadband
(35)
(59)
(59)
(26)