lighthope1 wrote: I didn't know they had unlimited plans. I knew they had 150gig plans, but they nixed those pretty fast.
Yep. They still have "prioritization" levels, where a subscriber "may" be prioritized behind others during periods of congestion once they reach the level for their particular plan. For some, it's not that bad when they reach that level, but others have their speeds plummet to nearly unusable levels (0.2Mbps, for example).
As an example, one of their "unlimited" plans available to me has speeds up to 12Mbps, and the prioritization level is 35GB. Once that data usage level is hit, all bets are off. And it's $100 per month. Their $200 plan has the same speed, but with a prioritization level of 65GB. I'll take my 20/50GB plan with my much better speed for $69.99 ($86.59 total) any day over that. LOL.
Actually, in my area of NY I can get a 20/80GB plan for $60 plus tax and with no lease fee due to NY's "Broadband for All" initiative. More data for a better price. The catch, however, is that I would have to terminate my current service and be without it for 45 days before I could sign up for the "new" service. I'd end up with the exact same model of radio and modem that I had just sent back 45 days prior. :p There's a 100/50GB plan for $130, too.
I'm tempted, but to be honest, I'm waiting to see what the LEO services have to offer. Plus, HughesNet is sending a new sat up next year and they may have much better plans than they do now. We'll see.
lighthope1 wrote:As far as the two satellite providers go, HughesNet wins when it comes to price and data. But don't let's forget that is all a matter of perspective. HughesNet is still really stingy with their data allowance. It's just ViaSat is even worse.
HughesNet should be offering 100gig plans these days, considering how much everything has moved online. (And that is even before the Chinese Coronavirus.)
Once that aforementioned new satellite goes up they likely will, but that's still a good while off. Its capacity is a good bit more than the ES17 and ES19 satellites combined (~325Gbps vs ~500Gbps). It's going to provide service for "the Americas", though, so how much of that capacity will be available here is anyone's guess.
https://www.hughes.com/technologies/hughes-high-throughput-satellite-constellation/echostar-xxiv
https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/jupiter-3.htm