My HughesNet absolutely sucks. Completely useless.

[Sweetvirgo381]

I fly through my data in one night with my children and my husband on it. Plus DIRECTV is hooked up to it. I told the guy when I ordered that my kids use a lot of data. He assured me I would be ok. Well obviously we're not. Yes we have wifi. But we have to deal with the slow speeds all month long. The buffering of YouTube and Netflix for my children. It's crazy that they don't offer an unlimited plan at a reasonable price. I got to figure something out.

[GabeU]

@Sweetvirgo381

At this time they can't offer unlimited plans as the throughput of the system doesn't support it.  It would also be prohibitively expensive when compared to the prices of the plans offered. 

Make sure to watch the DirecTV connection.  DirecTV receivers have been known to use data for things other than On Demand.  There's no guarantee that it will, but only that it can, and has for other people.  Unfortunately, there's no way to control it.  

Plus, if you are going through your data in one night, then things buffering for the rest of the month wouldn't be unusual, especially if streaming them in higher definitions when the FAP speed given doesn't support it.  If you've used all of your data, the system generally throttles to speeds between 1Mbps and 3Mbps, though those speeds are not guaranteed.    

Streaming in HD can use around 3GB per hour, SD around 700MB per hour and LD around 350MB per hour.  

If you are able to set the definition to something lower, like SD, or even LD, at the source, like you can with Netflix, that would help to save some data.  Gen5 also has the Video Data Saver, which can be turned on or off through the Hughesnet Usage Meter, or by signing into the Hughenset myAccount site (http://my.hughesnet.com/myaccount) and going into the settings section.  The VDS throttles the speed when streaming through many services, like Youtube, to save data, while normally still giving DVD quality results (usually 480P).

Conversely, if you have data and are deliberately trying to stream in HD, having the Video Data Saver on can cause buffering, as it's trying to throttle the speed while the service is trying to stream it in HD.  

[Hughesnet_sucks]

"At this time they can't offer unlimited plans as the throughput of the system doesn't support it."

That's bullsh**. They can, If you're willing to pay for "data tokens." So if I was willing to pay $700 a month, I could have enough data to cover my montly usage. And if they really don't have the throughput (mind you, with a brand new satellite that hasn't reached its user capacity), they should throttle everyone back to say 10 Mb/s, and offer an unlimited plan. That way multiple users still have usable internet. 

This whole service is a scam to make you sign up, and then realize you have to pay much more via "data tokens," and trap you in a two year contract. Oh well, guess I shouldn't have moved to a place where there is not competition via hotspots or cable. 

[GabeU]

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@Hughesnet_sucks wrote:

"At this time they can't offer unlimited plans as the throughput of the system doesn't support it."

That's bullsh**. They can, If you're willing to pay for "data tokens." So if I was willing to pay $700 a month, I could have enough data to cover my montly usage. And if they really don't have the throughput (mind you, with a brand new satellite that hasn't reached its user capacity), they should throttle everyone back to say 10 Mb/s, and offer an unlimited plan. That way multiple users still have usable internet. 

This whole service is a scam to make you sign up, and then realize you have to pay much more via "data tokens," and trap you in a two year contract. Oh well, guess I shouldn't have moved to a place where there is not competition via hotspots or cable. 

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First, watch the language.  

Secondly, single instances of people wishing to pay hundreds for tokens for a practically unlimited data amount each month is up to them, but this doesn't equate to tens or hundereds of thousands of customers having unlimited plans.  A few people choosing to do what you mention here and there isn't going to be a problem.  Offering an unilmited plan would cause one, and it would cause it for EVERYONE on the system, regardless of the package they have.  

There is no scam.  Knowing whether a plan has enough data for what the customer wants to do is the responsibility of the customer, not HughesNet.  

[jcmipi]

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@GabeU wrote:

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There is no scam.  Knowing whether a plan has enough data for what the customer wants to do is the responsibility of the customer, not HughesNet.  

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You're half right. For all intents and purposes it is a scam, but that is the responsibility of the customer. Since as defined by the version of the contract and service agreement the sales people won't let you see, Hughesnet has no legal responsibilities of any kind.

[GabeU]

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@jcmipi wrote:

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@GabeU wrote:

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There is no scam.  Knowing whether a plan has enough data for what the customer wants to do is the responsibility of the customer, not HughesNet.  

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You're half right. For all intents and purposes it is a scam, but that is the responsibility of the customer. Since as defined by the version of the contract and service agreement the sales people won't let you see, Hughesnet has no legal responsibilities of any kind.

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What's the scam?  It's not data, as HughesNet isn't responsible for determining how much data someone needs, as HughesNet sells data plans and it's up to the customer to decide whether the data in the package will be adequate, so what's the scam?  

[jcmipi]

The lies sales members give you about performance, all the fine print in the contract. The tech support giving you the run around about not getting what you paid for.

Oh, but it says "up to" and the version of the terms of service on their website (an entirely different version than what was read to me over the phone when I signed up) actually says that Hughesnet doesn't guarantee any kind of speed or availability ever. So it's totally honest. My mistake.

[GabeU]

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@jcmipi wrote:

The lies sales members give you about performance, all the fine print in the contract. The tech support giving you the run around about not getting what you paid for.

Oh, but it says "up to" and the version of the terms of service on their website (an entirely different version than what was read to me over the phone when I signed up) actually says that Hughesnet doesn't guarantee any kind of speed or availability ever. So it's totally honest. My mistake.

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If that's the case you should request a review of your sales call.  If you were guaranteed a speed you may have recourse concerning the ETF when cancelling.  

[jcmipi]

Oh, I intend to.

[jcmipi]

The video data saver renders videos unwatchable since it doesn't allow them to buffer sufficiently to cover for the extremely low speeds, even a 144p youtube video, which is essentially ust a moving rorschach blot. I turned it off as soon as I discovered its existence.

[GabeU]

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@jcmipi wrote:

The video data saver renders videos unwatchable since it doesn't allow them to buffer sufficiently to cover for the extremely low speeds, even a 144p youtube video, which is essentially ust a moving rorschach blot. I turned it off as soon as I discovered its existence.

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No, it doesn't.   All the Video Data Saver does is throttle the speed of the service while streaming to such that is amenable to streaming in DVD quality, which is 480p.  If the VDS affected your streaming in 144p then you have something else sapping your bandwidth at the same time, as the required speed for streaming in 144p is well below the speed the VDS throttles to.  

[jcmipi]

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@GabeU wrote:

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No, it doesn't.   All the Video Data Saver does is throttle the speed of the service while streaming to such that is amenable to streaming in DVD quality, which is 480p.  If the VDS affected your streaming in 144p then you have something else sapping your bandwidth at the same time, as the required speed for streaming in 144p is well below the speed the VDS throttles to.  

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Yes, it does, and no I didn't have anything else sapping bandwidth.

How much do you get paid by Hughesnet, GabeU? I've noticed any thread at all where a customer is unhappy you're one of the first three posters, always cheerleading hughesnet and explaining how said customer is unreasonable or the problem must be on there end, usually with the same kind of outright lies or factual inaccuracies the tech support people use.

[Sweetvirgo381]

Yeah no kind of broadband or dsl is offered where I live. I'm gonna look into the mobile hotspots but I'm not so sure I would get enough signal to use those either. But thanks for the advice.

[Sweetvirgo381]

If I'm flying through my monthly plan now. There would be no way I could pay the amount they want for tokens to cover my children doing their thing. Lol. So that won't help. Hopefully somebody will offer broadband out here in the near future.

[kitnbob]

Since AT&T recently bought DirecTV, I would check into their offer of unlimited Cell Data plan, and with the TV-Cell bundle you can save a bunch the first year.

[BirdDog]

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@kitnbob wrote:

Since AT&T recently bought DirecTV, I would check into their offer of unlimited Cell Data plan, and with the TV-Cell bundle you can save a bunch the first year.

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May want to read the fine print. Their "unlimited" may ( as in probably) throttle after 22 GB.

[kitnbob]

I dont know about AT&T 's plans, cause I am just barely "out of cell coverage" I would need a 40'

antenna on the side of my house to even bring cell signals into my house. So I'm trying HughesNet Voice for a while.

All my cell phones work great sending mail and pictures using Wi-Fi.

But If AT&T expects us to stream movies on their cell data, they had better figure it out.

[GabeU]

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@kitnbob wrote:

Since AT&T recently bought DirecTV, I would check into their offer of unlimited Cell Data plan, and with the TV-Cell bundle you can save a bunch the first year.

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Though that may be a viable option for those that can get a good cell signal, even that has "fine print".  They "may" throttle the speed after 22GB.  

Edit.  I had my broswer open to this page for a while.  I didn't see that BirdDog had already posted this info.  

[Msholl09]

Hughesnet is the worst service I have tried. Way to expensive with to little data for any streaming. Buffers way to much when doing live channels. Dsl worked better then this. I definitely will not renew contract when time comes

[GabeU]

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@Msholl09 wrote:
Hughesnet is the worst service I have tried. Way to expensive with to little data for any streaming. Buffers way to much when doing live channels. Dsl worked better then this. I definitely will not renew contract when time comes

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Try turning off your Video Data Saver.  It deliberately throttles the speed while streaming, and if what you are referring to is like streaming, it may be doing just that.  

What is Video Data Saver?

[kania]

withdrawn