When I saw the subject I thought it referred to the Hughesnet service, or lack thereof. My system (internet & voip) was just installed April 5!!!
4/5 install date, did a speed test after installed, had 30Mbps download speeds 1.5 Mbps upload. My old system had not been disconnected yet (DSL from Centurylink) so I tested that too: 3.2 Mbps down, .7Mbps up. Very happy!
4/6 out of town
4/7 Tried my first streaming video from Hulu. No body else in household connected either wireless or LAN. Smart TV connected directly to modem. Watch for 3 min, buffer for 1 min. over and over. Learned that I needed to reduce resolution to lowest setting and disable "Video Data Saver". Spent 30 minutes with Hulu support, 1hr on line with Hughesnet. Streaming "better" now can watch for ~6min buffer for 1 min. still unacceptable.
4/8 Called back customer service, rep. said there were issues on Hughes end and would escalate my issues to Tier 4 service. They will call me to troubleshoot in a couple days. COUPLE DAYS?! I'VE NEVER HAD TO WAIT MORE THAN 24 HRS FOR SOMEONE TO COME OUT AND CHECK A DSL ISSUE.
4/9 system speeds measured w/LAN connection as high as 15Mbps, as low as 1.2 Mbps.
4/10 tech support called my cell at 8:30am but I'm at work, told them I wouldn't be able to troubleshoot until I got home at 5pm. They provided an 800 number and PIN to contact engineering. Decided to go home troubleshoot w/Hughesnet at noon. Dialed number entered PIN but it wasn't recognized. Called the regular support line and they had no way to contact engineering, suggested I wait for them to call at 5pm. Waited, but got no call back.
4/11 was called at 4pm by engineering. Told them I'd be home at 5pm. Was given a different PIN number. Called the PIN number and waited on hold for 10 minutes. The "engineer" said he would reboot the modem which promptly disconnected my call since I was calling with the voip through Hughesnet. Called back and was on hold for 20 minutes before reaching another engineer who said there were no issues with my system that the problem was on their end. Due to popularity of Gen 5 they were unable to get the system to work with all the new customers. Finally a comment I can believe instead of the typical BS provided by a customer rep. who struggles with English. Engineer said she could credit my account $30/mo for 6 mo to compensate for my problems. I said I just wanted to cancel. She forwarded my call to a customer relations person who's job it seemed was to do everything possible to keep me as a customer. She explained the great deal I was getting ($30/6mo credit) and that if I disconnected their service w/o allowing them to exhaust every effort on their end that I would be responsible for the $400 early cancellation fee. Now I am to wait a week and see if anything gets better.
That's right, I CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE worse customer service.
