Re: Why in rual areas it cost more for less? - Hughesnet Community

Jimbos23 · ‎10-12-2017

My service is up on Gen4 next month and I live in a rual area why is it that I can get 20gb for $100 plus but go 50 miles down the road and the plans change to 50gb monthly for $90 and when I talked with excede they can set me up with 150gb for $69.99 a month.

BirdDog · ‎10-12-2017

Hi jimbos23, there are many factors that set the two residential satellite Internet pricing plans. Things like population density, number of people already subscribed in the area, capability of the available beam and gateway, plus many other factors.

To be honest, if the competition has a better deal I would switch, but I would also research heavily on their community site to be sure you aren't being led into the "grass is always greener" place.

If you can truly get full speed 150 GB for $70 versus $100 for 20 GB then a no brainer IMO. Better research carefully though.

C0RR0SIVE · ‎10-13-2017

I would be cautious... Exede has been bleeding customers since Hughesnet launched Gen5 and hasn't been able to get their satellite online fast enough for some. They are heavily advertising that service plan to most all of their potential customer base to keep customers.

That aside, Hughesnet offers a 50GB service plan to everyone now from my understanding.

needFIBER-OPTIC · ‎02-11-2018

When we ask for a better service they keep telling us it is not available.

so we are stuck with what they offered us at 25 BUT

every day it fluctuates so much it drives us CRAZY.

We were on the phone for over an hour trying to keep it from buffering...

When tested we only had 6.8

IT HAS BEEN LIKE THIS for WAY TOO LONG!

Disgusted with the amount of money we pay each month for high blood pressure & anxiety!

GabeU · ‎10-13-2017

@Jimbos23 wrote:
My service is up on Gen4 next month and I live in a rual area why is it that I can get 20gb for $100 plus but go 50 miles down the road and the plans change to 50gb monthly for $90 and when I talked with excede they can set me up with 150gb for $69.99 a month.

Is this when upgrading to Gen5? Have you checked the prices for doing so?

As others have suggested, you shoud browse the Exede support community prior to switching, if that's what you decide to do.

TG2 · ‎11-11-2017

Honestly jimbo,

Because they can charge what they want. When you have nothing it's supply and demand, nothing more. I pay 74.89 for the 20 gig plan. But I only get 10gig in the daytime hours and 10gb bonus( from 2am to 6am). Yes exactly! Rip off! But it's no bid deal. We now have UNLIMITED Exede in our area for $150 per month. Yes it's double the price, but unlimited is worth it. In my area, there have been several going to Excede. The speeds are slighly slower, but with unlimited, who cares. Just buffer your movie and watch it. I'll be switching soon, unless Hughesnet goes unlimited for a good price, because I feel I'm getting taken advantage of by Hughesnet. And seriously people, 20GB is NOTHING in today's world of technology. The plans should be a lot higher. Just my .02

BirdDog · ‎11-11-2017

@TG2 wrote:
Honestly jimbo,
Because they can charge what they want. When you have nothing it's supply and demand, nothing more. I pay 74.89 for the 20 gig plan. But I only get 10gig in the daytime hours and 10gb bonus( from 2am to 6am). Yes exactly! Rip off! But it's no bid deal. We now have UNLIMITED Exede in our area for $150 per month. Yes it's double the price, but unlimited is worth it. In my area, there have been several going to Excede. The speeds are slighly slower, but with unlimited, who cares. Just buffer your movie and watch it. I'll be switching soon, unless Hughesnet goes unlimited for a good price, because I feel I'm getting taken advantage of by Hughesnet. And seriously people, 20GB is NOTHING in today's world of technology. The plans should be a lot higher. Just my .02

And the fine print: On Unlimited service plans, after 150GB of data usage, we may prioritize your data behind other customers during network congestion.

Will admit 150GB is a lot on satellite but even that is "up to" speed. Interested in what real world speed actually is on all the beams. Especially during prime time.

HughesNet is also basically "unlimited" if they used that marketing term since they don't cut users off after allowance is exceeded, they just throtlle the speed down. The same as Exede is doing.

TG2 · ‎11-11-2017

Hello BirdDog,

Yes I did read the fine print. Here is the actual writing,

How much data usage is included in my unlimited data plan?

On an unlimited data plan, there are no limits to how much data you can use during your monthly billing cycle. However, if you use more than 150 GB of data and the network is congested, ViaSat may prioritize your data behind other customers.

Will my internet service be slower after I’ve used 150 GB of data?

When the network is not busy, nothing will happen to your service speeds. When the network is busy, ViaSat may prioritize your data behind other customers, which will result in slower speeds. Web pages and videos may respond and load more slowly than during periods of non-congestion.

But I'm wondering if the term "prioritizing" is a serious throttle down like I get with HN. When I go past my limit, I can barely pay bills online. It's really slow. I'm talking below crawling slow. And "May" can mean every once in a while or a lot. With today's pic and vid heavy laden pages, It's basically useless once your limit is up. It is what it is, and I understand that. Just bummed out that it's that way. I do have a neighbor that just switched to Excede, he went past his 12GB limit the first week. But he did say he was still able to watch a netflix movie, after buffer time of course, which is odd to me. That would never happen with my current HN setup. So I'm going to do some basic speed tests on his connection and some general surfing just to see and prove him right or wrong.

Currently have some issues I'm going to post in the Tech section. But my biggest complaint is the amount of data for the dollar. I can't even download a patch for a new PS4 game. One game alone has a 17.5GB patch. There goes all my monthly data. I'm thinking the powers that be should really reconsider repricing to an updated size vs dollar. I actually do not mind a slightly slower speed if I have the data to use. Which is more important in the long run. But still hoping HN will consider an unlimited plan. If they don't, they will bleed a lot of customers in the near future. 50GB plans in today's internet and computing world, is almost useless. Unless you just check email or go to twitter/facebook.

BirdDog · ‎11-11-2017

@TG2, Just gets back to semantics to me, we look at it differently. HughesNet could change all their plans to "unlimited" tomorrow with the caveat they will "prioritize" once the plan amount is surpassed. I honestly don't see the difference.

I can stream Netflix and other video sites even when my speed is around 1.5 mbps so I don't have an issue. Large file downloads, I schedule them for Bonus time or do them during the day when I can. I'm Gen 4 Ultra plan so basically a 100 GB plan for $90. Sure not about to jump ship when no idea how that 150 GB "unlimited" plan actually performs.

Still feel they are playing a marketing game with the 150 GB "unlimited up to speed" thing then adding the "prioritizing" part after the 150 GB.

PS: Even cable internet "unlimited" has a throttle after a certain point for residential accounts, usually around 200-250 GB. Otherwise, everybody and their brother would be hosting servers from their home for Amazon, Ebay, Facebook, Twitter.......etc.

TG2 · ‎11-11-2017

I'm Gen 4 Ultra plan so basically a 100 GB plan for $90.

WTH!! I'm getting screwed to put it bluntly. I can't even get that plan. I pay $74.89 for 20GB. 10 day time and 10 bonus(2-8am). Well I'm going to bring this up in a customer service call. If they can offer me that plan or something close, I'll consider staying. If not, CYA! Wow when we all get together and complare plans, a person can really see when they are getting the GB shaft. It's really sad, but it's business. And that's how it goes. It's not about customer service in the end, it's about home much cash they can get from a customer.

But I can see your point. You're better off staying put. But for me, it would be a huge upgrade. I'll pay for it, but it will be an upgrade for sure.

BirdDog · ‎11-11-2017

@TG2 wrote:
I'm Gen 4 Ultra plan so basically a 100 GB plan for $90.

WTH!! I'm getting screwed to put it bluntly. I can't even get that plan. I pay $74.89 for 20GB. 10 day time and 10 bonus(2-8am). Well I'm going to bring this up in a customer service call. If they can offer me that plan or something close, I'll consider staying. If not, CYA! Wow when we all get together and complare plans, a person can really see when they are getting the GB shaft. It's really sad, but it's business. And that's how it goes. It's not about customer service in the end, it's about home much cash they can get from a customer.
But I can see your point. You're better off staying put. But for me, it would be a huge upgrade. I'll pay for it, but it will be an upgrade for sure.

You're not getting the shaft but it is based on beam/gateway loading. Is why you have to enter zip code when ordering, different areas have different pricing. The burbs of New York will certainly have different plan pricing than Montana or Idaho.

I, and some others, were simply in the right place at the right time a few years back to get the Ultra plan. It is no longer available, along with Gen 4 plans entirely. Things do change.

Wasn't trying to rub your nose in it. Only saying that Exede "unlimited" plan doesn't look so rosy to me. Plus I generally get good speed. For me that is mostly anything 3+ Mbps as not a gamer and files still download reasonably fast unless in the GB size.

Watched Netflix show just a bit ago even though Testmy.net reported 1.8 Mbps. Granted a family with a bunch of kids trying to do things at the same time will not have a good experience with such speed.

Multiple devices connected at the same time doing data intensive things will certainly degrade the experience for everyone. This is even true for a good cable Internet connection.

PS: Did a couple tests before posting this and speeds were 17.5 Mbps and 24.7 Mbps only a minute apart. Quite an increase from the 1.8 when watching Netflix. Satellite internet speed can change quickly based on loading. How it is, limited satellite and gateway throughput, speed depends on number of users and what they are doing at any point in time.

TG2 · ‎11-11-2017

No worries. I know you're NOT rubbing it in my face. I just feel data raped. I know they change plans and such, but overall for what I pay, I'm getting a bad deal. As for the Excede speeds, my neighbor can stream netflix with no issue until his 12GB was used up. Then he said he just had to buffer the movie a bit, and was good to go. With my setup, I couldn't even buffer a netflix movie when my data was used up. It's that slow. But I'm optimistic HN will work with me on getting a better plan. If not, it's no big deal. I now have other options I can use.

GabeU · ‎11-11-2017

@TG2

Do you not have the option of upgrading to Gen5 and getting a larger plan for less money?

TG2 · ‎11-11-2017

Hello GabeU,

Thanks for responding and Yes I can get gen5. But after reading some of the tech issues with Gen5 beams and slow speeds at night, I would need a guarantee in writing to protect my investment against faulty speed claims. But to be honest, here's my thinking. As posted below my cost per GB is pathetic. I don't want to renew for two years NOT knowing what the future holds for technology in my area, unless I have no choice. So I'm thinking since I've been a customer since 2012, it would be a good faith gesture to offer me the same price of gen5 data amounts for my current setup. Which is way better than I currently have. Bascially I'm paying $75 bucks for a 10GB plan with a 10GB bonus from 2-8am. The new plan closest to me would be the 30GB plan that has a 50GB bonus plan. See what I'm saying? The data is available in my area, I just didn't get the "Good Deal" of the hour. But like I said, I understand it's business, money, Etc. That's why I'm thankful I now have another choice. I can probably make the 30GB plan work, but I'm more interested in the 50GB plan. Game patches for the PS4, and Steam downloads can sometimes be large. I don't game "live" per say, because of the ping delay. But I should be able to at least download a game patch without using ALL my data. So my final thought is, I call up customer service and ask to pay the $99.99 per month for the 50GB plan and keep my Gen4. Hughesnet doesn't incure the cost of sending someone out to put a new dish and setup in my home, and I get the data I'd like to have at the gen4 speeds.

Now the deal breaker would be guaranteed speeds. I know they say up to a certain speed. But there should be a guaranteed min speed so that customer aren't getting ripped off. It's a contract right? It shouldn't be one sided. It needs to be fair. If I'm paying for advertised speeds, let's not play word games and provide me what I pay for.

GabeU · ‎11-12-2017

@TG2

They definitely aren't going to give any guarantee about speed, as there is no way they can guarantee something like that. There are too many things that can happen to affect speed, both expected and unexpected.

I also highly doubt they are going to raise your Gen4 data to the equivalent Gen5 amount for price you are paying, and for two reasons. One, they are no longer offering Gen4 plans, so I don't even know that you can upgrade a Gen4 plan anymore. And two, money. Pretty much the only way to get what you want with HughesNet is to upgrade to Gen5, like everyone else who wanted more data for the money.

So, in the end, you most likely have two options... upgrade or switch. Well, actually three, as you can always keep what you have.

TG2 · ‎11-12-2017

I see your point. If that's the case, then I'll switch. Excede is the better deal, and in this area, their speeds are more reliable than hughesnet. I understand there are unexpected issues that arise. But when you advertise a speed, it should be somewhat close to that speed on a continuous basis. If not, you should be able to annul the contract. Maybe I'm a little old fashion to think I should get what I pay for. Either way, I'll still contact customer support and at least ask. You never know what can happen. To give more data for an extra cost is an extremely simple process. The only road block, is the human on the other end of the phone. Thanks for the advice though. It was clear thinking for sure.