Who's NOT upgrading to Gen5?

[rmvelin]

So I've been waiting all this time for the new satellite to be up and running and now I'm reluctant to upgrade.

1)When I first started with HughesNet I was told I could stream Netflix with the plan I signed up for.  That was not true and I ended up cancelling my Netflix account.  I am reluctant to even contact customer service about the upgrade, as I don't know if I'll be getting accurate information.

2)I'm close to the end of my contract and after being stuck with this for so long I don't want to be locked in again.  Is a new contract being forced on people who upgrade?

3)I see from other posts that it's great now, but is it going to get bogged down as more people switch over?  My current connection gets so slow in the evenings that it's barely useable.  If it's going to end up being the same then why switch?

I'd appreciate any input on these issues!

[C0RR0SIVE · Accepted solution]

1: Everyone I have spoken to that is on Gen5 can stream Netflix just fine, even while in FAP if they use SD.

2: Yes, upgrades to Gen5 will result in you being locked into a new 2 year contract.  This is normal with any form of equipment upgrade.

3: Chances of the system becoming congested with in the next few years (those signing up now should be out of contract before congestion becomes any concern) is slim to none, though occasional gateway expansions will probably occur as customers come on board (why build the entire facility at the start when it's not being used?).  In 5-6 years, it's possible, but hopefully by then Hughes will have another satellite in the air to stave off inevitable congestion of the system.

[Tyler936]

Netflix is easily playable on gen 5. Even when you run out of data, the speeds I have seen are around 3mbps. This allows me to stream standard quality Netflix and other streaming services with no problems at all.

I upgraded from gen 4, which my contract had already elapsed, and was required to make a new two year contract.

As for the last part, much like Corrosive said, the chances of this happening within a few years is small. The new satellite has a very high capacity, enough to alleviate users on the older satellites in addition to briniging in customers without congesting the satellite for several years. For now, it is no where close to being congested, and is most likely 5+ years away from that point. Even the 40 Mbps+ speeds most of us are seeing now will stay take a while before enough users have been added to have it drop to the advertised speeds of 25Mbps.

[GabeU]

Although I don't use Netflix, after upgrading to Gen5 I connected with my DirecTV receiver to try out the on demand.  It worked perfectly, though I disconnected it as a DirecTV receiver's data usage can't be controlled.  I already knew that before I tried it, but wanted to test out the on demand, anyway.    

I also connected my Smart TV to Youtube and it worked in HD without any problem.  

P.S.  If anyone out there decides to do the same with their DirecTV receivers, be prepared to be VERY annoyed afterward.  Even temporarily connecting it, then resetting the network so it is no longer connected, changes a bunch of things with the receiver, and it will not only constantly hound you with messages practically begging you to reconnect, but it also changes the search feature, in that it will try to search online for anything, even though you are no longer connected.  

I ended up doing a factory reset to my DirecTV Genie to stop it from doing all that, losing everything on my DVR in the process, though it was worth it in the end.

[maratsade]

"If anyone out there decides to do the same with their DirecTV receivers, be prepared to be VERY annoyed afterward.  Even temporarily connecting it, then resetting the network so it is no longer connected, changes a bunch of things with the receiver, and it will not only constantly hound you with messages practically begging you to reconnect, but it also changes the search feature, in that it will try to search online for anything, even though you are no longer connected. "

thank you for this, @GabeU -- I've always been reluctant to connect the receivers because I thought this would happen. Glad to know I was right; I know now I'll never connect them.  I'll keep doing what I do now, which is connect a laptop to the TV via an HDMI cable.  That works just fine.

[BPW19546]

that don,t work on gen 4  and still its slow 5pm to 1am  

[GabeU]

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@BPW19546 wrote:

that don,t work on gen 4  and still its slow 5pm to 1am  

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What doesn't work?  

[BirdDog]

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@GabeU wrote:

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@BPW19546 wrote:

that don,t work on gen 4  and still its slow 5pm to 1am  

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What doesn't work?  

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And not slow for everyone.

[rmvelin]

Thank you all for your input.  I appreciate it!

[Jasmer]

I thought about it a little and we probably won't upgrade for a few reasons.

1.) We're content with Gen4. 10gb/month isn't really enough, but I don't mind a few days of facebook and slow pinterest when we burn through it toward the end of the month.

2.) With that in mind, the customer service rep I spoke to made it sound like we were going to have to pay for installation (something like $99) OR get like $5 off our bill per month, and I believe she said that was temporary only for like 12 months. So basically a lateral upgrade to more or less the same plan was going to cost us more per month. No thanks. That's stupid.

3.) In the coming years our area will be getting DSL access. Frontier keeps saying Soon™. DSL runs along the lines in front of our property, but our power and phone and stuff come from the road about 20 acres behind us and it isn't out there yet. It will be eventually, I mean it's inevitable unless we have the option to trench a line from the road ourselves and connect into one of their existing lines. In other words, I may not want to be locked into a 2 year contract after all.

4.) You mentioned that as time went on the system got bogged down. With people migrating to Gen5 and new customers probably starting on Gen5 by default, Gen4 will probably unclog a little and return to satisfactory service.

Overall we're perfectly happy with Gen4. Upgrading sounds nice, and an extra 10 GB/Month sounds nice, but unless I can get some very clear answers to my questions (the CS rep was kind of vague and I am not good with accents) we've decided it's a flat out "no" for us.

[GabeU]

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@Jasmer wrote:

4.) You mentioned that as time went on the system got bogged down. With people migrating to Gen5 and new customers probably starting on Gen5 by default, Gen4 will probably unclog a little and return to satisfactory service.

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While it is most definitely true that the ES17 (the Gen4 satellite) does have congestion issues at times, it took quite some time to get that way.  The ES19, which is the satellite most Gen5 customers will be pointed to, has more than twice the capacity of ES17, so it will most likely be quite a few years before it starts seeing any noticeable congestion, if it ever does.  And regarding people moving from the ES17 to the ES19, it will most definitely help.  I don't know how long it will take to notice any real difference, but it will almost assuredly happen.  

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Jasmer wrote: 

Overall we're perfectly happy with Gen4. Upgrading sounds nice, and an extra 10 GB/Month sounds nice, but unless I can get some very clear answers to my questions (the CS rep was kind of vague and I am not good with accents) we've decided it's a flat out "no" for us.

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Are the questions the rep couldn't answer clearly all billing related?  If there are some non billing questions, like something related to the service itself, we may be able to help to answer them for you.