Question to users: Did your Sales rep or installer warn you HughesNet cannot service VPN's well?

[Spike1966]

Customers/users,

Thank you for entertaining my question. I look forward to hearing your experience and helping others here.

The reason I ask this question is that I was NOT warned by my Sales rep nor my installer about VPN usage. I had mentioned my wife works from home, thus the need for reliable service, but no question was made as to the setup nor any mention of concerns. Now, after trying the service for two days, the performance for her usage is not effective.

After inquiring here in "Tech Support" community, another user indicated VPNs basically don't work well with HughesNet. I actually wish I had known that before installation.

Thanks all, Spike

[C0RR0SIVE]

You would have to basically specifically mention that VPN usage is needed, it's also mentioned in all the fine print that VPN's dont really work with Hughesnet.

[BirdDog]

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@C0RR0SIVE wrote:

You would have to basically specifically mention that VPN usage is needed, it's also mentioned in all the fine print that VPN's dont really work with Hughesnet.

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From previous mod replies in similar situations, I was under the impression the sales agents were trained to ask about VPN use if the potential  customer mentioned using the service for work or school. I've been wrong before, definitely not the first time.

[Spike1966]

Thanks C0RR0SIVE,

I appreciate your advice. I respect your experience and knowledge.

Please allow me to ask how would I, as a first time calling customer know that I "would have to basically mention that VPN usage is needed"? Is that an inherent knowledge that customers are supposed to have?

I don't remember any reference to any any fine print over the one phone call on which I inquired about the service. All I was asked is "do you do any gaming?"...to which I replied "no".

Frankly speaking, my expectation that any company supplying a technical service such as internet which evidently has grave weaknesses (such as not working wth VPN's) would diligently screen customers for such needs. I did mention my wife works from home; maybe that should have been an alarm for the salesperson to dig a little deeper on my needs. You know the tech knowledge of the typical customer varies greatly, and a sales force should avoid trying to install service where customers will NOT be pleased.

Btw, what is your expectation?....maybe I'm off base here.

Thanks again, Spike

[Spike1966]

Customers/users, any feedback out there regarding VPN warnings?  Thanks

[GabeU]

Being that more and more people are using VPNs, it might be a good idea for that to be added to the normal questions asked by the sales reps.  "Are you a gamer?  Do you use a VPN?"    

I know that this may not be a thing a customer would think to ask, especially if they've been using a VPN with their present or former ISP.  It would be natural to assume that it would work the same.  

That's just my opinion, though.  

[Spike1966]

Thank you for your candid input GabeU. I concur.

[ChaCha]

I worked from home for years connecting to in office servers using VPN.  I did not occur to me to ask if that would be a problem when I first signed on with Hughes.  Only after some applications could not load due to slow speeds did Hughes track it to VPN.  I just learned to balance what I opened and rarely had problems.  That mimimal slow down was insignificant for the most part.  Nothing like throttling that occurs when soft data cap is reached and certainly nothing like slow downs on some of the beams experiencing performace issues.

[KristinM]

This has been the worst communcation on VPN ever. I've been on VPN in Hawaii and California with no issues. Guam connectivity 12 years ago was better than this! Regular site access is on average 1000 ms. Even pinging hughes net tonight was 3000 ms. 

I told the rep we will game and VPN and I even told the installer that when he said "why do you have the highest plan?" I'm hoping to have resoultion to this issue. As I'm still waiting for engineers to call me back (a week ago). It would be cheaper to me to cancel service and pay the fee, than have to leave my company or travel 2 hours each way to get into a local office.

[GabeU]

@KristinM

If you signed up directly through HughesNet and it's been less than 90 days since your sales call you can request a review of that call.  If it's determined that you were misled (regarding the gaming and VPN) you may very well have recourse.  

VPN's don't work very well with HughesNet, and using one can greatly reduce your speed.  

Can I run a VPN over HughesNet?

[ChaCha]

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@GabeU wrote:

VPN's don't work very well with HughesNet, and using one can greatly reduce your speed.

Yes it can greatly reduce speed.  But not necessarily.  As I indicated I was on VPN with Hughesnet (on Gen4) for years working from home) Impact was minimal.

Can VPN user confirm that their speeds are good when not on VPN?  They may be seeing the same beam performance issues as most of the rest of us rather than VPN slow down. 

[KristinM]

When the tech on the phone was troubleshooting speed had nothing to do with VPN. It was terrible when I had VPN off and my work computer shut down. Still waiting fo "engineers" to call me back. Since the tech could see how slow everything was.

[DougMac]

I just signed up.  I went through Dish. They transferred me to a sales representative.  We had a long discussion, some of it technical, and I decided to sign up.  Before she let me say "I do", she read a long list of caveats including VPN service.  I was then asked if I understood all the limitations and was willing to accept them.

I go through a VPN to get to my work.  I haven't had a problem and it has been no slower than the Verizon service I had in the past.  I use web apps and check my email, but I don't try to edit documents, etc.