home5mom
It's likely that the reps here will want to troubleshoot the issues you are experiencing before considering any type of reprieve from the Early Termination Fee. But, with that said, the reps you'll deal with here are corporate based reps who have access to the engineering department, so it's probable that they will be able to figure out what is going on.
Weather at your gateway, which is evidently located in Nebraska, can most definitely affect your service in the same way as weather at your home location. However, it shouldn't be happening on a basis that is much more regular than bad weather itself. I'm sure the troubleshooting will help to determine what is causing the issue so frequently.
I should add that, if you don't already, it would be a good idea to leave your HughesNet modem plugged in. This is to enable the reps to run remote diagnostics on your HughesNet equipment if they deem it necessary to do so.