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frustrated and extremely disappointed with service

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jenny.morris
New Member

frustrated and extremely disappointed with service

When I signed up with HughesNet, I was a bit skeptical that the 70 GB plan would be enough for us. We are homeschoolers so we use the internet A LOT and my boys are gamers (mostly on their iPads). I informed the sales rep of this, told him we used 30 GB from Exede in 9 days -- he assured me that we would be fine because HughesNet has this thing where they "compress" data usage (or something like that) ... so their data lasts longer ... blah,blah, blah ... 
So the first month I watched the meter like a hawk, by the end of week 1 we were still at 97% ... so I thought "oh yeah, this is gonna work!". By the end of week 3, I had to purchase tokens because we used up the 20 anytime GB. SmartBrowsing never activated. 
Now here we are in our 2nd month of service ... on day 2 ... we are down to 65% already!!! What happened? We haven't changed anything, still using the internet the same as last month.
Unfortunately, we are in an area that we only have two choices for internet access ... HughesNet or Exede ... both have crappy plans with extremely limited data usage allowance ... in my opinion, they are both crooks!
18 REPLIES 18
Amanda
Moderator

Hi Jenny

Welcome to our community and thank you for posting. Our sales agent is right - we do offer SmartCompression in our SmartTechnologies, however I am not sure if your previous provider does this too. 

During the first 20 days of your service with us on Gen4 we will reset your allowance daily. Did you provide the sales agent an email address when ordering your service? An order confirmation and welcome email would have arrived to you shortly after, explaining the allowance grace period for new users.

Thanks
Amanda
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Jenny,

SmartBrowsing won't work with anything that is bandwidth intensive.  It works with basic web pages and email and such, but not with pages that have streaming ads that pop up or anything like that.  When the system detects sustained high bandwidth, it will disable the SmartBrowsing. 

I can also vouch for the compression capabilities of the service.  I've downloaded many things that should have used a lot more data than it actually did.  With that said, I'm sure there are types of data that the service can't compress. 

If during the homeschooling there are videos that need to be watched or streaming that needs to be done, it would be best to reduce the definition of it if you can.  Streaming in HD uses around 3GB or so per hour, while SD uses around 700MB or so per hour and LD about 300MB or so per hour. 

Rebecca Hodge1
New Member

Don't ever get Hughes Net
Everything you said is true. I wish I had done my research before signing their 2 year contract. Satellite internet is slower than cable internet. So I switched from Comcast. Big mistake. asked all the questions up front. I told her we are gamers, use Netflix, have tablets and smart phones. She assured me the service would be great, we'd do the same things as we did with Comcast NO NO NO NO NO.she was wrong
CommunityWorklo
New Poster

Hi Rebecca
I do recall us offering to waive half of your early termination fee. I assume you never called in to cancel services?

~Amanda
marpolo71
New Member

Same problem. I watched HD youtube with my Exede 1-5mbs without any problems.I took Hughes 1-5mbs. It was a disaster, so I took 1-10mbs and it's still an nightmare to watch smart TV youtube films. If it cloudy Hughes internet is down. I never had such a problems with Exede. If I'd known that I wouldn't never switched to Hughes. Their service is poor and announced speed rate is wrong. I see that I need to complain to consumer protection office for adds cheating.
HughesNetCorpor
New Member

May I ask why it is you left Exede?
jenny.morris
New Member

I was not an Exede customer, we were using my parents service. Exede was unable to provide more data so I thought I would try HughesNet.
Sadly, HughesNet is worse and of course now I am stuck in a 2 year contract. Day 4 and after 1 movie on Netflix for the boys this evening, we are down to 34%.
It would be great if HughesNet could offer the 50GB Bonus Bytes during a time when they might actually be used....we don't use much of our Bonus Bytes while we are sleeping!
Quite the money-making racket these companies have going on! Supporting our family on my Wounded Warrior Husbands disability retirement pay means we are stuck with this pitiful company for 2 years because we don't have the money to break our contract.
jenny.morris
New Member

Well that's just awesome....the company lures you in with false hope of a decent internet service! Crooks!!
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Jenny, no satellite internet service is going to provide the the amount of data you're wanting/needing. Using 30 GB in just 9 days is not something either satellite company can provide.

Do you have ground based internet available?
Amanda
Moderator

Did you provide the sales agent an email address when ordering your service? An order confirmation and welcome email would have arrived to you shortly after, explaining the allowance grace period for new users.

~Amanda
Katie0
Admin

Jenny - Let's try something.  We're going to put some extra data in your account to help manage your month's allowance. We do want you to know that in your initial 20 days we provide all customers with much more data than your plan - just to get acclimated to the service.  Typically, when customers find they are using this much in the initial weeks- there's more devices pulling data than they realize.
Posters in the forum can be invaluable in helping track the usage and manage it - if you're interested.  In the meantime, we'll find you account..or contact you for a case #.
Katie0
Admin

Jenny - we've added tokens into your account.  You can access them by logging in to your Customer Management Center account to activate them. I noticed that you haven't contacted the support center for assistance.  That's OK - we can help you here but understanding your service features will improve your experience a great deal.  
debbie.jean.bro
Advanced Tutor

Hi Jenny,

I'm assuming you live in an area where cable internet is not yet available. That's my situation too. I recently bought a major fixer-upper out in the country because the opportunity came up and it was my chance to be a homeowner. My 31 year old daughter, who lives with me, and I had to give up certain things we'd always had in the city, such as cellphones, cable tv, and cable internet. We now have a landline phone, satellite tv, and HighesNet satellite internet.

There was an adjustment period, but we're now managing very well. I think if you let us--the reps, the champions, and other customers--help you, that you can make it work for you too.

I'm a fellow home schooler, which is the main reason I'm answering this post. It's been a couple of decades, but I home schooled my middle son for several years. He has Asperger's and had challenges with the social aspect of school. I'm pleased to report that he is now 33, doing fantastic, and is a student at MIT studying computer programming and working on a project for NASA. 🙂

So here's the deal with satellite internet: it does not currently have the capability to equal cable internet. One issue is that how many users a provider can serve and how much data each customer can use is dependent upon how many satellites the provider has orbiting the Earth. Believe me, I wish I could use my 50 bonus bytes during daytime hours too! But if we all had unlimited data, no one could ever get on because of the massive "traffic jam," so to speak. If they only served a few customers and gave them unlimited data, it would be prohibitively expensive.

The other thing about satellite anything is that it can indeed be affected by adverse weather, both at your location and their's.

There is nothing that can be done about either of those things. I have heard rumors on this forum about HughesNet getting another satellite, but I have no idea when that would be or how it may affect us.

HOWEVER, there are several things you can do to get the most out of your data plan. For example, you can set your computer to download video content during the middle of the night, using your bonus bytes, and then your kids can watch them the next day.

GabeU mentioned that you can watch everything in the lowest definition possible. I'm a researcher and I watch quite a few documentaries on YouTube. I personally can't tell the difference between the highest and lowest definition.

You can also set frequently used sites like Facebook so they don't start playing videos automatically when you log on.

There are certain settings you can change in your router to prevent data loss. You can prevent your devices from updating in the middle of the day and have them update during bonus bytes time. This is especially easy with Apple devices, but can be done with a PC too.

Remember that text uses very little data, so you can surf the web and do text-based things (like posting on this forum) almost as much as you want. Audio takes a lot more data, and video is the real hog. Perhaps you can adjust your curriculum to use less video.

Another really important thing is to monitor your usage religiously. I check mine at least twice a day, and usually three times.

Finally, you will need to adjust your expectations and those of your children. They can't download and play video games like there's no tomorrow. They simply can't. Satellite internet has parameters that cable doesn't, and we all have to operate within those parameters.

I have found the reps on this community to be more than fair and very willing to help. If you think you were misled by the sales people you can request that they review your sales call that was recorded. If they neglected to give you any required information or made any misleading statements, they can waive your early termination fee. I've seen it done here on several occasions.

There is a wealth of information on making the most of your data in the archives of this forum. In addition, everyone here would be happy to walk you through the steps of making your data work for you. I hope you will avail yourself of the help we are offering.

I wish you the very best in your home schooling endeavor! I can tell you from personal experience that it can be a wonderful thing for kids and parents alike! 🙂
jenny.morris
New Member

I appreciate your help. I do not see the tokens that you added, only the extra tokens that I already purchased. 
There is mention of an email that was supposed to be sent to me, I did give an email address. I have searched for it but do not seem to have it. I guess this email explained the "extra" data in the first month.
jenny.morris
New Member

Yes, I did give them an email. I do not recall receiving the confirmation email.
Amanda
Moderator

Hi Jenny

Yes that e-mail does provide information about the extra data. I've changed your plan to something that may be a bit more suitable to your household needs. I really do encourage you to look around the community for data management ideas. This plan offers 50 GB Anytime and 50 GB Bonus. 

I've made this post private to make sure we have the right e-mail address on file - jenny@spaceandgoodworks.com is correct, yes?

I would like you to try this plan out, it is $89.99/month not including your lease, taxes, express repair, etc so it is alot cheaper than what you were paying before. This is a special deal only our department can provide.  This will not extend your contract or renew it. Your data will be refilled to 100% as soon as the plan goes through. Please let me know how the change goes for you and if this plan works better.

Thank you
Amanda
jenny.morris
New Member

Sorry, I am just now seeing this response, I haven't been able to access this website due to extremely limited internet. The email is jenny@faithandgoodworks.com
A new plan would be great, if it works. Here we are on day 3 of our new month and down to 19%. I have even done all of the suggested fixes for data management. 
Amanda
Moderator

Hi Jenny
I've made the change. Keep in touch so we can see how it works for you. 

Thanks
Amanda