lhorton2006,
What speeds are you getting?
Besides Hughesnet's own test on their site, you can do tests at testmy.net.
Please create an account at testmy.net, and under that account, with a single device connected directly tot he modem with a LAN cable, NO ROUTER, run a few download tests using the 12MB manual test size. The tests should be spaced at least five minutes apart.
After running a few tests, you can post your results URL. Click on "Results" on the upper right, and copy/paste the results page URL into a post on here. It will look like the following, but with YOUR user name where it says "yourusername".
http://testmy.net/quickstats/[yourusername]
While I can't comment on whether their signals are different, as I don't know, I do know that DirecTV's system is less complicated than that of Hughesnet's. That's not an excuse, just an observation. My Hughesnet signal is more affected by rain and such than is my DirecTV signal, as well.
I hope the technician can help and give some answers as to what may be the problem.