New Customers Beware. Relaxed Bandwidth Marketing Tactics and Losing your High Speed Data
My sales rep was beyond friendly. My installer was one of the most professional people I'd ever met in his line of work. Even the customer service reps are nice. Sadly, so far, it appears to be lip-service. So, one of the sales and marketing tactics you'll probably hear, is "for the first 20 days, your internet will reset every night." or (depending who you talk to) "Your internet will rest each time you run out for the first 20 days." - you even get an email stating exactly that. I live in the country, with very limited internet options. I had a solution with my cell phone carrier for 40 gigs of high-speed data, and I changed that plan (irreversable, as it was a 1 time deal they made me when I switched cell carriers) so, I'm kinda stuck with this path I'm on. When I get great service from a company, I am one of those customers who tells everyone. Likewise, if a company does not follow through on promises they make, or uses shady marketing tactics, I ALSO tell everyone. I've been out of high speed data for 2 days now. I've had hughesnet for 3 days. This is because a huge hype-point they make, is that you can use all the data you want for 20 days to "update your equipment." What do people actually do with this data? IDK. Download movies I imagine? Myself, I am in the tech businesss, and I have been waiting months to update and download production software. So I burnt through my data, after having 3 people at Hughesnet tell me my data will reset during my "relaxed bandwidth" period. I am out of data, and the phone reps just keep spinning their wheels. I feel bad for them. I tell them not to take my call personally because my problem is not their fault, but they work for hughesnet, and so they are tasked with being on the receiving end of my calls. I don't think these people actually work for hughesnet. I'm not sure hughesnet even has a dedicated customer service team. Maybe they do, I don't know, but I do know that their customer service reps seem unable to do anything to help me. God help me if I ever have a problem with my service, because if this experience is any indicator of what getting a resolution will be like, I'm frankly scared. I probably should have done more research before committing.There are other satellite services. Maybe not as fast, maybe not as modern, but if they can offer consistent, reliable customer service, I would gladly take reliable service over the bright and shineyhughesnet Gen 5, that comes tethered to a customer service department that seems unable to help their customers, regardless of how nice they are on the phone. I've only been with Hughesnet 3 -4 days. When I had internet, it was consistently at 15-16 mbps. This is with Gen 5. I live in a very open and clear sky, so I don't know what they are taking about when they say 25 mbps. More lip service most likely. If I were you, I wouldn't expect 25 mbps, I would expect 15. And I wouldn't expect any relaxed bandwidth, or you, like me, will be without intenet. :( To be continued...Solved9.5KViews1like15CommentsEnsuring a quality Gen 5 installation
I'll be getting my Gen 5 upgrade soon. I want to ensure that the installation is done correctly and provides me with solid service. What sort of things should I look for in a quality installation? My current installation is "legacy" to the max: HN7000S. The pole, dish & coax were most likely circa 2003 when I first became a customer of HughesNet (then DirecWay). I think the initial modem & radio were HN5000. Of course, the modem, radio & likely the dish will be replaced, but I'd bet a quality installation would mean everything completely new -- as if it were a fresh installation. I have a vague recollection of one on-site service visit resulted in a recommendation to have a new pole set, since mine was susceptible to wind (inadequate anchoring?). So please, what things should I look for (and insist upon) in my Gen 5 (upgrade) installation? While some may be blessed with exceptional installers, please help those of us who may not be so blessed to look out for ourselves as best we can. Thanks. edit (add): The HughesNet Installation Guidelines distingquish between an upgrade and a new installation. What criteria are used to determine when a new installation is required and what degree of re-use is appropriate / acceptable? For example, in the featured post "My Gen5/JupiterII Install Experience" it would seem that a complete new installation was done on a situation that possessed existing older HughesNet infrastructure. How was it decided that this complete new installation would be performed rather than re-using existing components? Additionally the installation guidelines identify any work done on the router and internal networking configuration as "additional" (non-standard) services and hence subject to addtional charges. How can that reasonably be the case with the HT2000W which has the router built in and hence proper operation of the installation can't really be verfied by the customer unless the router is factored into the intergrity of the installation? TheEarly Termination Fees and Other Important Terms also includes a similar sort of exclusion: Home Networking Home networking equipment is not included with your HughesNet system. For network setup, support, and configuration, contact your network hardware manufacturer and/or operating system software developer. (Hughes is not responsible for home network configuration or management). The HT2000W includes a router and wi-fi which I believe most would consider to be "home networking equipment". As such, this exclusion seems inappropriate, or at least poorly worded / considered for the Gen5 situation.Solved3.2KViews0likes1Comment
