I have been with HughesNet since 2006 and it's the only game in town for me since I live in rural NorCal. I started on a residential plan and it was fast at first and then about 6 months in it would go to dial-up speeds at night. Everytime they got a new satellite, I would get on it. The same thing would happen, 6 months of decent speeds and then dial-up at night. Finally, I decided to switch to their business plan since I do work out of my home and I do send/receive LARGE files all the time for my business (we're talking 1GB at a time). It was faster, but it was more expensive for less GBs per month. I learned the lingo and the hazards along the way in these last years. Every satellite has a bandwidth and they sell/point their members to it and at first it's great, but as they OVERSELL the bandwidth, the speeds slow down. With Gen 5 they upped the promised speed, upped the allowable GB usage per month, even took away the FAP lock if you went over your plan GBs. But, they've oversold the bandwidth of that satellite AGAIN and this time, they don't seem to have a satellite in the wings to launch. I am about to explore going to back to the business plan as it may be on a different satellite. I hope so. All you can do is call tech and ask them if there's another sat you can go to and what plan would you have to buy to get it. I actually know more than the tech people do and they are often surprised that I do know more. I once had the phone number of a high up exec at HughesNet and I used to call him and he would educate me about what to ask for and to say. He even gave me some good credits for my slow speeds. Speaking of credits. I called a month and half ago to complain about slow speeds. My ticket was escalated to a higher up department and they basically told me they were working on it. I told them, uh huh... I know you oversold the satellite, so when is a new one coming online... she did not know. They gave me a $30 credit for 6 months out, however, I see that I only got a $20 credit. The tech lines are so busy right now. I have an email out to the installer who put in my Gen 5 system and I am curious to see what he recommends. I think in the end I'm calling the business plan side and seeing what my options are. Good luck everyone!
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