dmh359
The Subscriber Agreement that all Hughes customers have to agree to before service is started reads in part:
1.4 METHOD OF PAYMENT.
Except where additional methods of payment are specifically required or permitted under applicable law or regulation, or where Hughes explicitly and in advance permits another method of payment, you agree that you will provide a major credit or charge card (i.e., MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or Discover) that Hughes may charge for all Service fees or other amounts payable under this Agreement (including Early Termination Fees and Unreturned Equipment Fees). You hereby authorize automatic credit or charge card billing by Hughes for all such charges. You further agree that the charges described above will be billed to the credit or charge card that you have provided when you applied for the Service.
The complete Subscriber Agreement can be found here:
http://legal.hughesnet.com/SubAgree-01-01-15.cfm
It seems to me that you are making a mountain out of a mole hill on the billing issue.
Hughes has a considerable upfront investment in each subscriber ... administration, installation and indoor/outdoor equipment costs.
That investment has to be "guaranteed" in some manner ... not everyone has the same level of financial responsibility.
There are, broadly speaking, two payment methods:
Auto Draft and Invoice Billing
With Auto Draft you credit card will be "charged" on the same day that your bill is "generated".
Obviously you can't "see" your bill before it exists but .... your monthly fees, taxes and premium services, once selected, are reoccurring and can be anticipated.
Other charges of course can be incurred by a subscriber such as changes to plan level or token purchases. These "accumulating" charges can be seen on your Dashboard under the Billing tab as "unbilled activity".
Invoice Billing is also available ($5.00 more) that allows the bill to be "generated" and then mailed to you and you pay the bill on or before the due date.
The bottom line here is ... Your payment method will be charged when the bill is generated when you have the default Auto Draft method of payment.
That monthly amount is stable and reoccurring ..... additions the a user chooses to add are visible to the subscriber prior to bill generation.