mrsuncle,
Lied to or misunderstood ?
There is world of difference ... only a review of your sale call will tell the difference.
I have been a Hughes subscriber for 12 years and in that time Hughesnet has always been a defined data capped service.
Presently all new plans on all Hughes platforms have a "daytime usage period" known as Anytime Bytes (8am to 2am local) and a "night time usage period" know as Bonus Bytes (2am to 8am local)
You will draw data from one source or the other depending on the time of day/night.
There is a third "data source" that may be available to you and that is "Token Bytes Available".
Token Bytes are blocks of data that you may purchase or you may receive from the result of Tech Support effort.
Tokens are used to maintain your speed during the Anytime time period if you have depleted your allowance.
Hughes has ALWAYS had CAPS, it has ALWAYS had USAGE PERIODS ... ALWAYS.
It is a capped service. Once you exceed your allowance for a period your speed is either greatly reduced or some plans have a "SmartBrowse" feature that allows normal speeds for "low data draw" activity.
You never really have your service "shut off" but then again unlike many capped cellular plans you never are hit with any "overage fees" either.
The decision to purchase Tokens at extra cost is totally up to the subscriber and is never added automatically.
You can also check your status in the Modems internal SCC (System Control Center) that can be found by entering 192.168.0.1 into your browser.
Here is graphic I have prepared the explains the two "data buckets", three really if you have "token data" available.
(click on the picture for larger image)