Forum Discussion

mjbeanard's avatar
mjbeanard
Freshman
3 years ago

No other internet available

Because I live in the country, I do not have a choice of internet providers. The cable companies only want to serve densely populated areas, because they make higher profits there.  So, here I am stuck with this horrible service. I have had Hughes for over 4 years now and all it has done is get worse.  They know that we in the country have no other choice, and boy, have I seen what lack of competition causes. First of all, they lie to us, they claim to provide high speed, it is not only NOT high speed, it is slower than slow, sometimes I think it is never going to download. Second, the equipment that I am paying $15.00 a month rental for, is old, worn out, and out dated. That might be the reason for my slow downloads. I can't replace any of it myself, because, only Hughes stuff will work, I considered purchasing their wi-fi booster, which is $100.00, but, with the lies they have told me over the years, how do I know it will work? Of course, no other wi-fi booster will work on Hughes.  Oh, I hope we can get cable out here, we have been trying for years, it doesn't look like it will happen any time soon and it appears, that Hughes knows something about that, because, they are not worried about competition.

  • Back when we moved to the country in 2012 Hughesnet or another similar satellite company that they only difference was the amount of bandwidth and pricing, not quality was all one could get.

    Now, today YES You DO have a choice! I got Elon’s Starlink. WOW! You have to do the install yourself, but it is easy. The "dish" is rectangular, something around a foot by 2 feet, and sits on a Quadped stand. I bolted the stand (holes at the base just for that) to my patio roof. And there is a Very Good FB Support Group. I am retired from the Airlines. NO i do NOT work or have ANY connection to Starlink. Just a Happy customer. I have not had an outage even when we had a bad set of storms come though.

    I have canceled HN, called my bank to blocked them from pulling any money out of my account. And now HN wants me, a 65 year old woman to climb up on the very steep roof where HN placed the satellite dish and remove some part???? No, Just NO! Or they said they could come out for 100 service charge? Again NO! 100 for a Service Call?

    I’m in Texas, Come and Get It!

    • maratsade's avatar
      maratsade
      Distinguished Professor IV

      You do have to return equipment, and you have to either remove it yourself or hire someone to do it for you. The information is in the contract that you agreed to by getting an account with HughesNet, and it's freely available on their site.   Refusing to comply with the return of the equipment that's the company's property and blocking them from charging you what you owe will land you in collections, and that's not a fun place to be. 

    • shawnadee's avatar
      shawnadee
      New Member

      Star link still has waiting list . I know exactly what your talking about though bc I  disconnected my current service for HN and the service is limited but HN is way cheaper than what I was paying and it's better already than what I was getting . Previous company  wanted to charge 243 bucks month for unlimited , I got the next tier down , 148 a month and I couldn't download or do anything , including go to online college.  The problem was with the sat dish,  when the previous company installed it the tree that was blocking my signal was probably way shorter, lol, well I the tech that installed my current dish showed me and was able to shoot around it but the next day I cut that tree down and I am getting great service.  So I can watch Netflix now , also do anything but download which I save for after 2 am but I'm 3rd shifter so I'm usually up that time anyways . Why do u put it on your roof , the sat dish? That may have been the issue right there of u weren't happy . My next step would be to get a better modem and then a repeater in rooms where you don't get a strong signal bc you got to have a signal to work with .  Most extenders I've tried don't work at all 

  • maratsade's avatar
    maratsade
    Distinguished Professor IV

    The fact that the cable companies want nothing to do with rural areas is not HughesNet's fault.  If we didn't have HughesNet we'd be on dialup. And if you think HughesNet is slower than dialup, you should get a dialup account. 

    You should contact the cable companies and ask them why they don't want you as a customer. You should also contact your representatives in Congress and ask them why they don't bring cable and fiber to your area.  Don't blame the one company that actually brings something to the area. 


    HughesNet does offer high speed internet as defined by the federal government. They're satellite internet, though, not fiber or cable. Want fiber or cable? Move to the city.


    They don't lie -- the ads, the website, and the legal documents are full of disclaimers explaining the limitations of the service.  Problem is people don't read. They jump in without doing research and then they blame others for their own deficiencies. 


    The wifi booster won't make your service faster -- it's not what it's for. It extends the service to rooms that have a weak signal. If you're looking for a device to make your internet speed faster, that's not it. Satellite internet is a limited technology; that's the reality of it. 


    Take off your tinfoil hat. HughesNet is providing a service, they're not in any way responsible for whether cable gets to your area. Your local and state government are much more responsible for that. Lobby them.  

    • Cinnstar's avatar
      Cinnstar
      Freshman

      Startlink is now available you have a Choice now.

  • So, I don't know what is going on with Hughesnet. Last week, in the middle of my church bible study on Zoom, my internet connection crashed. I am 80 and stay home a lot so I thank God for my zoom connection of which I attend most of my church services. But, I don't think Hughes is on god's side. I was able to reach tech support, and she got me back on, though I missed a half hour, but for the test of the week I continue to have issues. Three of my security cameras are offline, and I can not get them back online. I live alone and cannot afford to be without cameras. And my printer is offline. I have done all the suggestions to fix the problems. I keep getting messages from HP and Blink that it is not the fault of the devices that it is my internet connection. Now I get a notice from Hughes that Fusion is now available in my area. So I called to check the price but it is way out of my price range since I am on Social Security and can barely afford what I am getting now. I have applied for help on my internet bill but,it turns out that I am only eligible for $30.00: a month help and Fusion would add way more to my bill. Meanwhile I have got to get my cameras and printer back online.

    • maratsade's avatar
      maratsade
      Distinguished Professor IV

      It would benefit you to post your tech issues on the tech support board, so the reps here can take over your case and help you maximise your experience. Might want to give a try. This section you have posted your comments in is not for tech support, so the reps will not intervene.