Is unlimited data in Hughesnet future?

[TG2]

Just curious if Hughesnet will ever get unlimited data. Excede has come into my area an offers it. Speeds up to 25mbps, unlimited data for $150 per month. $100 for the first 3 months. It's expensive, but when you consider unlimited data, it's worth it when you can get no other services. I've had average service with Hughesnet, it's just to expensive for the small amount of data you get. Even the 50GB plan for around $129 is laughable to be honest. For $20  more bucks I can get unlimited. Anyways, hoping you all change your minds and jump up to the future. Thanks!

[Saxgod]

Which company cause I’ve been talking about exede and you said another company. So which OTHER company. This is why I was wanting a link not some generic reply.

[Saxgod]

Wow I’m hoping you’re talking about exede it now it’s called viasat. Anyway I looked and then dug into their complaints. First off I’m amazed their Customer Service Rep (CSR) actually talk and post on their comments. That’s refreshing. Does HughesNet? I usually call when I have a major issue but that’s because the reason the people were having problems were just like others who have problems and aren’t very tech savvy.

They didn’t know they needed to reset the modem. Surprise that solves A LOT of problems. Some even upgraded their service but sounds like they should have just rebooted stuff. Look again from people I know, ie my kids teacher, got exede because of the unlimited plan. They still rave about it.

I’m not saying HughesNet sucks I’m saying HughesNet OFFER SOMETHING SIMILAR. I wanna stay a HughesNet customer when my contract runs out in a year and a half. I hope to god they actually have a plan like this. It would be really nice. I’m going to assume they won’t and I will have to pay for the 25gb tokens. I’m sorry Netflix has kick **bleep** shows I want to watch. I try and binge them and then move on but if they are in 4K I want to get that experience without worrying about my data going away. I live in the rural areas and cell tech can already pull off 10+ Mbps. I figure you guys know that the servers use cell tech as well right. Run a speed test and sometimes you’ll see ATT pop up. Don’t fall for the company line that they can’t offer it because of the technology. This is why monopolies are bad. They are charging quite a bit for tech that should cost 50 dollars less but because of our location and the fact they and exede are the only game in town they get away with this stuff.

I’ve had microwave internet as well which was great if you wanted faster then dialup. HughesNet is also great. I’m hoping on a year maybe less they will start having Service plans that allow for unlimited, 150gb then it gets throttled, and advertise but the speed will be 10-15 Mbps. I’m sure some dummy on here will think why can’t they have it at 25 like the other plans but I’m sure some “lovely” folks will help him understand and use the “smh” tag thinking people just don’t get it. I’m sure all you shakers have been in the industry, know the capabilities of what can be done, and I even bet you guys can build a PC from the motherboard up.

Like I said maybe now with section 2 gone, that’s the net neutrality stuff, Hughes and others will start expanding their foundation and maybe add another satellite or two for their internet business. To be honest if Trump does want to help infrastructure he’d also push for the expansion of satellite technologies and give Hughes or a competitor to Hughes the money to put more satellites up as well as help them expand their server capabilities.

Or heck I have Frontier and I still pay for my regular DSL that is the most annoying service. We get 5-6 Mbps which is good but then sometimes something at the hub has to be fixed and we wait for a few days till they send a guy out to reset that node. Till then no one in the city has internet at least not through Frontier. When Verizon owned it the upkeep was better and issues were usually resolved in a day. Frontier is the worst. They are why I got Hughes. We also keep Frontier for online gaming cause you can’t online game. Thankfully we also have great cell service so getting internet isn’t the problem. Heck even watching online isn’t an issue. Sprint and ATT get great service in my 400+ town. Sprint gets about 8-10mbps and ATT ranges from 50 to 100mbps. Both have unlimited plans as well and I use about 50gb just for me but my sons are starting to gobble up as much if not more.

They both have PS4s and to game one uses cell tech and the other uses Frontier. To not suck up the bandwidth I use Hughes to watch tv shows, films, or whatever. Most families would only need one provider but Frontier has no options to expand plans for my area so we pay like we have the top of the line plan when if we were in another area our plan is equal to the crappy plans others have. I’d love to have one provider but it’s just not possible for rural folks.

Hughes and Exede are it for people like us. It’s weird but it seems like you guys only have Hughes for just surfing the internet. I surf on my phone as I’m writing this on my phone as well. Heck I barely use a laptop for enjoyment and same goes for the PC. So when you guys “smh” on my saying I stream my tv and other things as if that’s stupid first thing notice that’s what HughesNet advertises these plans are capable of doing. The top of the line plan says it’s for heavy duty use. Only heavy duty use I have is for watching my Apple TV.

I’m not a cord cutter so I’m not on my Apple TV all the time but still I should be able to use 150gb without it costing me $400+ dollars if I do what exede customers are able to do. With that cost it’s worth paying the early termination fee and installing exede satellite.

But again I AM A HUGHESNET FAN. Been a fan when my first satellite box I got as a kid for my birthday was a HughesNet Directv Box. So I’m hoping they start offering plans or a plan that’s unlimited but has less download speed. Like I said you don’t need 25mbps. I laugh at my friends who stay with Verizon and say I have the fastest speed for internet. I tell them I pay less for Sprint but their service still does just as good a job as yours does for less the money. HughesNet can pull off an unlimited plan and not because they throttle people down to 1mbps. They can do it and throttle people to 10mbps.

It is possible I just wish you guys would realize this but I have a feeling you won’t. I wonder do you guys pay for Hughes because of the speeds or because you don’t have anything where you are?

[Saxgod]

I give up. If you guys don’t want to demand better service or a better way to provide service then whatever. People blissfully happy with limits don’t try to rock the boat. There’s a better way and surprise exede is doing it. Too bad you guys don’t want the same from Hughes. Oh well. I’m sure exede has issues during peak hours BUT from friends who I actually physically know they say exede is a great unlimited service. But whatever. They had a monopoly and now they don’t. Let’s hope they make Service better for us.

[maratsade]

Have you read Exede's support forums?  The users aren't happy.  But it may work differently for you -- best of luck.

[MarkJFine]

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@Saxgod wrote:
I give up. If you guys don’t want to demand better service or a better way to provide service then whatever.

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Until they start detecting and kicking people off for doing things that disrupt everyone, like trying to stream 4k movies, you can demand all you want until your face turns blue. It's not going to happen.

You really do need to give up, because you clearly don't understand how this works, and you keep missing the point that wanting and having are two completely different things.

[GabeU]

@BirdDog @MarkJFine @maratsade

It's comical how, after he learns more about the system he's been claiming to know so much about, the complaint then shifts to wanting them to offer 150GB at "10Mbps".   

"I try and binge them and then move on but if they are in 4K I want to get that experience without worrying about my data going away."  Good luck doing that with 10Mbps you NOW claim they should be able to provide.  SMH.  

"If directv can give you 4K and 3D channels constantly then Hughes can cover high speed internet they choose not to because they think it’s all about speed."  No offense, @Saxgod, but with you making that comparison I question your statement, "I’m an IT Audit consultant so I get how networks work.", as by comparing the abilities of DirecTV and it's one way system to Hughes' two way system it's evident you really don't get how networks work. SMH.   

BTW, @Saxgod, what's the throughput of Exede's system and it's number of subscribers?  You keep making direct comparisons with HughesNet.  What's the throuput of Exede, and it's number of subscribers?  Oh, and just for fun, what's the upload limit of DirecTV, since you're comparing HughesNet to them, too.  Oh, that's right, they don't have upload, and the way they download content to their receivers is completely different than streaming on an ISP, but you know that, because you know networks, right?  

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[MarkJFine]

@GabeU

"It's an infinite bandwidth receive-only pipe with only one person on it. Nothing I do affects anyone else"

...didn't you know that?

[GabeU]

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@MarkJFine wrote:

@GabeU

"It's an infinite bandwidth receive-only pipe with only one person on it. Nothing I do affects anyone else"

...didn't you know that?

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Of course!  😛 😛 😛 

[C0RR0SIVE]

I am just going to settle this once and for all...

Jupiter 1/2 are very similar to Viasat-1/2 in terms of capacity.
Hughesnet has more than twice as many subscribers.

Hughesnet can't offer more data on a system that has to support over twice as many consumers.

Sorry, but while we technically have Unlimited* Data, we won't be getting 150GB or more priority data, unless of course, Hughesnet somehow obtains more bandwidth than what's possible with todays technology.  Seriously, even beams that aren't at full capacity are even having issues keep up with the demand with everyone being off work and wanting to stream content.  I am seeing ~1Mbps right now.

*All plans have No Hard Data Limits. If you exceed the amount of data in your plan, Hughesnet won't cut you off or charge you more. Stay connected at reduced speeds, typically 1-3 Mbps.

[maratsade]

All plans have No Hard Data Limits. If you exceed the amount of data in your plan, Hughesnet won't cut you off or charge you more. Stay connected at reduced speeds, typically 1-3 Mbps.

This is actually very cool.  I remember when being in FAP meant dialup looked fast, and that mocking orange button. 🙂

[GabeU]

@maratsade

No offense to HughesNet, but FAP speed with the legacy plans was AWFUL.  I mean, I know it wasn't designed to be fast enough to still use the net like the Gen4 and Gen5 Smart Browsing and FAP speeds, respectively, but I can't remember the number of times I would try to get to the reset page to use one of my free monthly tokens and it would time out before it opened.  LOL.  It's pretty bad when the FAP speed is so low that you can't even get to the page to use a token.  😛   

With that said, I learned to be right on top of it, so when I would get close and I knew I would go over I had the token usage page right there.  I would go there, then back up one, so when I ran out I could just move forward and it would open up pretty quickly from being in my browser's cache.  It was easier than sitting right on the token usage page and having to refresh when I ran out of data so I could use one of the tokens.  

And to think I was still using my legacy plan until Feb 2016.  And my parents with their dialup until late Summer 2016.  AHHHHH!!!!  

[maratsade]

@GabeU, I don't remember if I was ever in FAP with Gen4.... I think I had enough tokens so I never went into FAP.  I was in FAP before, when we had something like 240 MB of data per day, and that was really bad.  The speed was really awful, so I used to wait for the whatever it was called time when the speed went to normal. Another thing that was really irritating was trying to buy a token, or enable an existing token -- the system was SO slow that it was impossible. I had to call several times to ask customer service reps to enable tokens for me. 

"I learned to be right on top of it, so when I would get close and I knew I would go over I had the token usage page right there.  I would go there, then back up one, so when I ran out I could just move forward and it would open up pretty quickly from being in my browser's cache.  It was easier than sitting right on the token usage page and having to refresh when I ran out of data so I could use one of the tokens. "

I never got this to work. As soon as FAP hit, the whole system seemed frozen and I could not apply the tokens without calling customer service.

Gen4 and Gen5 are So.Much.Better.  But even with all the irritants, the prior system (Gen3??) was way better than AOL. AOL was a nightmare.

The orange button of death.

[GabeU]

@maratsade

I've never been in FAP with Gen4 or Gen5, but I know that it's a lot better than the legacy systems, that's for darn sure.  I had the Pro plan before Gen4, which had 425MB per day, but those free monthly tokens sure came in handy when I had to update my folks' computer for them and I didn't feel like waiting up until 2AM to use the Download Zone.  

And AOL?  I loathe AOL with a passion!  When my folks had dialup that's what they had, so not only did they have terrible speed, they had to wait for that awful AOL home page to load a bunch of it's junk before you could close the things you could on it, then minimize it.  I could never get the AOL dialer to work so that they wouldn't have to actually use the AOL home page.  It was awful.  Absolutely awful.  And that walled garden way back?  Oh how I hate AOL.  I truly, wholeheartedly, hate them.  

And that orange button.  Thanks.  Now I'm going to have nightmares of myself being in FAP and trying to run while in two feet of cold molasses, all while getting chased by anthropomorphic orange buttons, drooling orange drool, grinning at me with broken teeth and emitting their breath of death while laughing like Robert De Niro in Cape Fear.  Noooooooo!!!!

[maratsade]

I'm amazed you remember what things were called!  I had a different plan -- I think it was 240 MB per day.

AOL was so, so bad. And we couldn't cancel it until the company was forced by the courts to honor cancel requests. I've read that a rather large cable company has the same approach -- they just won't let you cancel.  They have over 20 million customers, so I don't see what the problem is.

The orange button's going to get you, Gabe.   It's evil, and it's coming for you.

[GabeU]

@maratsade

I remember only mine due to one day having more data than I did the day before.  I started out at either 375 or 400, then one day it was 425, so I looked up what plan it was that I had and found out that they had increased the data amount for that plan, or they got rid of the plan I was on and moved me to the Pro plan.  

Yeah, AOL's retention method was downright illegal.  It was nuts.  I'm so glad they got nailed for it.  I hope the cable company gets nailed, as well.  It's not right to do that to people.  A contract is one thing, but if you're not in one you should be able to cancel without issue, and you surely shouldn't be told that your cancellation went through when the opposite is the case.  😞  

Ugh...AOL, the hangnail of ISPs.  

[maratsade]

I don't think I even knew they had a Pro plan.  LOL. 

My plan was much faster than AOL and that was a good thing, but I had to learn a lot about the system to manage it efficiently, or the FAP hammer would fall often.

There was a viral sound file around the Web about the other company, the one that makes it impossible for people to leave -- some guy actually recorded the conversation with the CSR; it was something else.  The ISP is notorious for abysmal customer service and shady practices in billing.  And they have a big chunk of the market.

[maratsade]

I totally knew this. I have it on a t-shirt.

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@MarkJFine wrote:

@GabeU

"It's an infinite bandwidth receive-only pipe with only one person on it. Nothing I do affects anyone else"

...didn't you know that?

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[Saxgod]

I love how I’m supposed to look up answers to your questions so I’m going to do this. Exede/Viasat is working on expanding their network. I’m going to stay with HughesNet but I count 2 satellites currently working for HughesNet Service. EchoStar 19 and Echostar 17. Now as for exede they have four different satellites for Service. Their fourth one was just put up last June and is in the test run to offer what’s called Gold 30 plans that offer, wait for it 720 HD streaming. That’s with the viasat2 satellite. Viasat 3 will be launched in 2019 well the first of three of the satellites because they are going to be put one satellite to cover Europe and then Asia. But obviously first will be the US. Viasat three will be able to stream 4K video. If it’s okay to post links I can just ask. I know how much you are for following a companies rules that you supposedly are a customer of.

I mean wouldn’t a customer be wanting to have maxed out Service. I find it out that business can get 250gb plans but individuals can’t. That’s funny to me. I guess I need to setup a home business just so I can have access to the 250gb data plan lol.

Anyway HughesNet may have the most customers now I don’t know. I know exede has over 600k customers it’s services and now with Viasat 2 operational that’s why their service speeds are comparable to HughesNet. The reviews I’ve seen online assume the service doesn’t have unlimited capability and can only get up to 12mbps. That’s clearly not true since Viasat 2 is up.

Anyway if you want those links I can add them in another post. Now as for Hughes it says on their website they have surpassed 1 million active users. Now who does the market think is better and has more opportunity? Well the market has Viasat at 74 a share and echostar(hughsnet) SATS if you’re curious, at 59 a share.

Viasat is about to surpass hughsnet sadly. That’s sad but it is what it is. I’m probably going to bounce between the two of them but who cares. So after my Hughes contract expires if I don’t see any changes I’m gonna jump to exede.

I’m getting tired of the bullying though on this forum. I figure if language isn’t allowed you’d think the moderators would cut down on bullying. Then again I wonder if the moderators are the bullies. People are getting awfully defensive for HughesNet when all I’m asking for is what businesses get. I thought 50gb was the max for home but a business get 250gb? That’s disappointing but I’m sure you’ll be just fine with it. You seem to love everything about Hughes and don’t question anything and repeat verbatim what customer service reps repeat over the phone. Hmmm are you really a customer or do you work for Hughes @GabeU. Very fishy how you don’t want more data options. That’s very strange. But really made me think customer rep was when you said exactly what the customer service rep said to me on the phone not 10 minutes after you wrote that to me. Very fishy. So I’m gonna stop trying to conversat with you cause you’ll twist this to be in favor of Hughes. You’ll defend it no matter what. That’s why I was hoping you’d hear my complaint and run it up the flag pole to offer more data without having to buy token packs. To get 150gb cost 400 dollars. That’s ridiculous.

Anyway if you want the satellite articles about viasat and their expansions that are starting in 2019 I can provide it. That expansion will allow me to use my 4k streaming on a regular basis not just off peak time. Okay have a good day at Hughes. Tell them thanks for the service I enjoy it. I was trying to give them advice on how to make it better but I guess the cheerleaders don’t want that kind of posts on here.

[GabeU]

@Saxgod

I never said I don't want more data options.  I said they can't offer what they can't provide.  Learn the difference.  

And BTW...bullying?  Really?  

[Saxgod]

You act like you do by the way you act. When I said why can’t we have 150gb plans you say that’s not possible yet business plans go up to 250gb and have the same specs as personal plans. So I’m confused what YOU think I don’t know the difference of. It seems you think over 50gb plans don’t exist but they do.

[GabeU]

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@Saxgod wrote:
You act like you do by the way you act. When I said why can’t we have 150gb plans you say that’s not possible yet business plans go up to 250gb and have the same specs as personal plans. So I’m confused what YOU think I don’t know the difference of. It seems you think over 50gb plans don’t exist but they do.

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Really?  SME plans?  Do you realize the ratio of SME plans to residential plans?  Using that as proof that the system can handle offering higher data plans is tantamount to the argument of people being able to buy as many tokens as they want.  And lets be clear, higher data plans at full speed, not the 10Mbps plans you eventually changed to.   

I'm done with this.  It's getting quite ridiculous.  There comes a point when arguing the facts and limitations of a system to someone who simply won't accept them is moot.  

Have a lovely day.