Middle of your driveway, huh? Got a picture?
HughesNet may not have worked for you, but it works for others.
I'd tell people that before they choose to go without Internet in a rural area, that they read legal.hughes.com/ and learn about how satellite internet service works and what things they will be responsible for.
A lot of disgruntled subscribers never bothered to read the contract and so never understood the limitations of the service, and then they grumble and rail and blame everyone and everything but themselves.
Have a nice honeymoon period with your new "service."
When you write a reply, there's a ribbon at the top of the box you write in. One of the icons there is labeled "Photos." Click on that and you can upload pics. I hope you can upload your pics without issue.
I suggest new subscribers read the general website (hughesnet.com) and the legal site before deciding to subscribe. In many rural areas the choices are limited, or satellite is the only choice, so a person may decide to go ahead and make the best of it, or they may decide to wait for someone to come to the area with a different kind of service. The big cable companies like Comcast usually don't care about rural areas, so the wait may be long.
The agents who sell subscriptions are of the same ilk as the people who sell used cars. They talk up a product and don't mention any kind of shortcomings, though it seems that at HughesNet they're supposed to give you the downside too (but I don't know how they do it....maybe they do it very fast). I wouldn't go with what a sales person says. I'd read the main website, then the legal site, and anything else I can read before subscribing, so I can go in with my eyes wide open.
Two year contracts are a thing for many providers. If someone has done the research, they will have seen there's a two year contract and an ETF to break it, and if they have a real issue with these things, they can decide not to subscribe.
"Yeah, I guess it works great if you only read email. "
This is how it worked for you, right? And for your mom. For other people, it works quite well for regular web surfing, email, and streaming. Seems you were in the minority who has problems, if you tried solutions and they didn't work for you. Hopefully your new ISP will deliver what you need.
And the whole "shoulda read the contract" thing is no bovine scatology, but doing what's the responsibility of anyone considering entering into a contract: read the contract first and know what you're getting into before entering into a legally binding obligation.
Awesomness!
So, there ya go. Believe me now?
We are in general agreement about one thing, anyway. I was sold a bill of goods by the telemarketer. The thing we probably don't agree on is that I don't think it's okay that HughesNet at the very least tolerates, and for all we know, encourages those sales techniques.
Anyway, this one is on me, but if I can help others avoid the expense and frustration I went through, I'm willing to do so.
And to answer your question, only reading email didn't work for me, because I had other things I needed internet service for. Which is why, despite spotty cell service in my area, I used my phone for pretty much everything. I only kept the HughesNet service because my mother needed some kind of internet service to keep her mind active and the phone solution didn't work for her.
In short, HughesNet failed miserably no matter how much I lowered my expectations of it.
Did I mention that my basic internet package is rated at less that 1 megabyte per second and outperforms the best speed I ever got from HughesNet, which was sold as "Up To 12". Yeah, anything above 0 is "up to" 12, I guess.
Though the placement of the dish is a bit ridiculous, no doubt, HughesNet didn't break their contract. Not yet having found what was chewing through all of your data doesn't mean it was HughesNet's fault. There are pretty much two possibilities. A weak WiFi signal to the device(s) connected via that method, causing dropped data packets, or something on the network, including your mother's iPad, chewing through the data.
It's unfortunate that we could not continue working with you to find the source of the data drain.
Good luck with your new ISP.
I didn't disbelieve you about the dish; I was curious to see what it looked like. Does it impede you using the driveway? Can't tell from the pic.
Did you complain about the agent and the installer? HN may not know they did a job you didn't care for. Installers are supposed to have you sign off on the installation, and this constitutes your agreement that the installation is OK. If they didn't have you sign something, this would have been something you could have complained about to HN. HN may not know whether an installer or agent are doing things wrong unless they're told. In the past, I've seen people complain about installation and/or sales agents here, and there have been some consequences for the installer/agent.
I think this is something potential subscribers need to realise: before signing off on the installation, make sure it's to your satisfaction, including dish placement. If the installation isn't satisfactory,don't sign off on it, and call Customer Service immediately, or better yet, post here.
dcarolan wrote:
So, there ya go. Believe me now?
We are in general agreement about one thing, anyway. I was sold a bill of goods by the telemarketer. The thing we probably don't agree on is that I don't think it's okay that HughesNet at the very least tolerates, and for all we know, encourages those sales techniques.
Anyway, this one is on me, but if I can help others avoid the expense and frustration I went through, I'm willing to do so.