Forum Discussion
Anyone else notice the false advertising?
Here's the problem though. What the message said was, "No more data caps." Throttling speed after reaching a certain amount of data is, in fact, a data cap. It's a clear and blatant lie.
And the comment you made about simply not using all of your data? Like, do you even use the internet for anything other than trying and failing to defend this crooked company here? Do you know how much data streaming uses. I am not fortunate enough to be able to afford satellie TV services since they all like to triple their prices after a year. And cable is not an option (hence I have this **bleep**ty ISP). Gaming is my hobby, and I want to make a career out of it. Should I just abandon my hobby and give up on my dreams because of my internet?
Here's another deceptive practice I noticed about Hughes after I signed up. For the first 3-4 days I had service, I ran daily speed tests and checked my data usage. My speeds were over 50Mbps. I was dowloading large files and streaming Netflix all day long those days. My data usage registered at about 1GB used the whole time. Suddenly, around the 5th day, my data was gone and my speed came to a halt. Now, you could chalk that up to the website just not updating my usage yet. Except it has literally never done that since. Every time I check my data two or more days in a row, my usage is always up to date. And that still doesn't explain why my speeds were over 50Mbps for the first few days. If you ask me, I'd say they do that on purpose to make you think they're a reliable ISP so you'll recommend them.
Throttling speed is NOT a data cap. Throttling speed is just that...throttling speed. It's not cutting the service off, nor restricting the amount someone can download. The data cap is on your full speed data, and when that is exhausted your speed is throttled, but you are not cut off, hence no data cap. Nor is the statement that there is no data cap a blatant lie, as there isn't one.
In addition, when a person signs up for the service, they choose a plan based on the amount of full speed data, and it is explained in the same sales call that the speed of the service is throttled when that full speed data is exhausted, but the service is not cut off.
When it comes to streaming, or anything else done utilizing the internet, it's up to the customer to know what data is and to know what can and can't be done with the full speed data in their plan, and what can and can't be done when the service is throttled after that full speed data allotment is exhausted.
As for being able to do a lot of streaming in the beginning, during the first twenty days of your service you are in a relaxed bandwidth state, which means your data allotment is frequently reset. HughesNet does this as a courtesy. It's done so that devices can be updated/upgraded to current without it affecting what would be your normal monthly full speed data allotment. After those twenty days the frequent resets stop and the data usage is counted like normal. The data resets are explained in the Welcome email sent by HughesNet.
Your hobby and your career aspirations are not HughesNet's responsibility. If gaming, and a future in that area, are very important to you, you have to do what you have to do to pursue that endeavor, just like anyone else. If it's a serious pursuit you probably have to move to an area that has ground based internet service.
HughesNet provides internet service where others can't or won't. HughesNet is not made for cord cutting and has never claimed to be the equivalent of ground based internet services, nor has it claimed to offer the same capabilities. When a consumer purchases a product or a service they need to understand what they are buying, and they need to research that product before they do so.
