Subscribe“Broadband is a highly competitive industry in the United States, with many options for customers.”
Despite that mantra from the cable and telephone industry, large sections of the country have two options for broadband service – satellite or nothing. For an estimated 80,000 Californians, nothing may be a better option. That number represents the estimated number of state residents locked into a contract with HughesNet for satellite-delivered “broadband” service. For several years, many customers have been appalled at just how bad HughesNet is at delivering that service, and now several have had enough.
Filed in the Northern District of California federal court in Oakland, a class action lawsuit alleges that HughesNet falsely advertises the quality of its service, particularly regarding speeds it promises but doesn’t deliver, and does not disclose the full extent of the company’s throttling and cap policies.
HughesNet limits customers to a daily limit starting at just 200MB of consumption, and then throttles speed to dial-up or slower for at least 24 hours for anyone who exceeds it. Repeated instances of exceeding the cap extends a customer’s time in the throttled speed penalty box or can lead to service suspension.
Customers who find they no longer wish to live under this kind of “broadband regime” find escaping the two year service contract expensive, requiring a $400 early cancellation fee.
For millions of Americans, well beyond cable lines or too far away for DSL service, broadband under any terms is an extremely expensive proposition. HughesNet requires customers to purchase equipment, costing around $300 up front (after a $100 mail-in rebate), including mandatory installation fees. For just 1.0Mbps service, the monthly cost is around $60 with a 200MB daily limit. If you want to attempt service at 5Mbps, that will cost $350 a month with a 500MB daily limit.
For HughesNet customers Tina Walker and Christoper Bayless, who instigated the class action suit, even pricing this high wasn’t the reason for filing the suit on behalf of California residents. It is because speeds promised are speeds rarely delivered. Many independent reviews of the service agree, with many finding download speeds at 200-300Kbps more typical.
Walker and Bayless also allege the company throttles more than the “few” customers HughesNet claims exceed the daily limits.
By the time customers decide they’ve had enough, they have to spend several hundred dollars to get away from the company, and many are also stuck with useless equipment they had to buy up front.
They are asking for a refund of any early cancellation fees paid in California, an end to the policy that charges them, and more truthful disclosure about the actual level of service HughesNet is capable of providing.
HughesNet defends their service, pointing to a 30 day window for customers to sample the service and decide whether it is right for them, and having the option to cancel during that window with no early termination fee. Customers are still out the initial investment for equipment and installation, however. The company does claim that many customers can return their HughesNet equipment and receive a $200 discount off their early termination fee, if they qualify.
But the company also charges an early termination fee for customers it throws off their network. If you exceed their usage limits too often, they can cancel service and immediately charge your credit or debit card a $400 fee. If you agree to return the equipment, they will refund $300 of that fee, charging you $100 for making them get rid of you as a customer.
Beyond that, HughesNet does not comment on the specific merits of any lawsuit filed against it.
For rural Americans, any concept of “broadband” service is slow and expensive, with long term contracts, usage caps, and in some cases, expensive overlimit fees. The three satellite competitors in the United States all require term commitments, and sell their least expensive broadband service at prices urban and suburban residents pay for the fastest levels of service:
StarBand: $299 equipment fee/$50 installation 1Mbps service $69.99/mo – $79.99/mo (1-2 year commitment) — 1,600MB download/400MB upload 7-day rolling limit
Wildblue: $150 equipment fee/$50 installation 512kbps service $49.99/mo (1 year commitment) — 7,500MB download/2,300MB upload 30-day rolling limit
HughesNet: $299 equipment & installation fee, after rebate 1Mbps service $59.99/mo (2 year commitment) — 200MB daily download limit
Other stories of interest:
- Call to Action – Act Now North Carolina Or Be Stuck With the Same Slow Choices You Have Now
- Breaking News: Alex Dudley From Time Warner Claims Earthlink Customers Will Be Capped
- NBC Plans to Stream NFL Football This Fall: A False Start Called for Capped Customers
- ‘The Business Insider’ Predicts Capped Road Runner Customers Could See Monthly Bills “Over $200 for Internet Access”
- Action Alert! Very Important Meeting for Austin Residents to Attend Tonight!
HughesNet should be severely punished for false advertising. They don’t tell you how much “extra” the installation is going to cost you. (In my case $100 for a pole – for many far more.)
They lie about the effect of their FAP policy, claiming it only affects those who download movies and images. That is untrue. Regular surfing WILL hit the FAP limit on their lower end accounts. That is when most of their new users find out about the reality of FAP.
The penalty for hitting that FAP limit is 24 hours without Internet service IF you know that you must unplug your modem completely. If you don’t that 24 hours can stretch into days without Internet. This is NOT documented anywhere and their offshore Tech Support people do not always tell you this. I wonder how many experience days offline that they are paying for because of this?
To avoid being FAPped I am paying a ridiculous $141 per month for their Pro service, but that doesn’t resolve the problems. Even if you do NOT hit the FAP, Internet speeds frequently drop so low that no real work can be done. Worse than that is losing whatever you are doing online because of timeouts. You have to get in the habit of copying and pasting every field BEFORE you hit enter because you may end up doing it over again.
Lately these slowdowns have been more frequent and last longer. You can tell whether it is just you or HughesNet by searching for HughesNet on Twitter. When my service is so slow all I see is blank pages with spinning wait icons, there will be many others cussing HughesNet on Twitter while the majority just give up and get offline.
Many web sites including Google Analytics will not load properly. Sites that will not load, scripts that will not run, and this error are all regular occurrences:
ERROR: The following error occured: Error Code = 1299. Unknown TCP connection error. For More Information, Please Click Here.
That is bad enough when trying to get to another Web site but it is often a fatal error when you are submitting information in a multi-step process. These are required on sites like Google Maps, Yahoo! Local, SuperPages, YellowPages and others. Many times you lose all the work you have done and have to start over.
You can also lose new work you’re doing working in WordPress blogs. Imagine having the post, SEO fields, Title and many other individual fields just how you want them and then losing it all when you try to save your work because of these time-outs, slowdowns, or errors. How many individual fields do you want to copy “just in case” BEFORE you try to save or publish your work?
On days when these errors and slowdowns are common you may as well stop working and wait until it gets better. You’ll just be wasting your time trying to get any work done. How can HughesNet justify charging us many times more than what any other high speed access would cost and then fail to provide us what they have promised for that exorbitant price?
Fraud? Theft? Definitely Lies.
Thanks for sharing this very detailed review. I had no idea it was even worse than I originally thought. I thought they throttled the connection to dial-up speeds, not zero speed.
It’s this kind of cap which is designed to make you scared of using your account, to not even consider using the service you paid for out of fear of hitting the dreaded cap. That’s what the entire TWC cap model was all about — getting you to fear using “too much” Internet. Of course, they didn’t cut you off when you exceeded it – they had a money party at your expense, charging outrageous overlimit fees.
Hughes has obviously oversold their network, and their connection from their headend to the Internet obviously is overloaded as well, which is why some people can get local speedtest results which don’t look bad, until they use one not on Hughes own intranet.
That’s frankly not broadband service — it’s third world Internet. You’d almost do better with dial-up because of the enormous cost of the satellite service, and the fact that when you are throttled, you are done using it at all until they say otherwise.
The definition of broadband must never include this level of lousy service.
The strange thing is I had one of the very first two-way Earthlink satellite dishes and it worked fine. I even moved and reinstalled it. There was no FAP, no slow loading, no issues at all. It worked fine even on Google AdWords and Google Analytics. Maybe they had a lot of excess capacity then.
I have been looking for a local Wireless company. I’ve used two in the past and they were as good or better than the DSL and Earthlink. They are really poor at making it easy to find them though! I’ve heard there are a couple around here but have been unable to locate them online, in local search, in printed phone books, or anywhere else.
I found 3gstore.com and am seriously considering cellular. I may cut the satellite back to the cheapest level and spend the difference on cellular. We are at the outer limit of EmbarqDSL 1.5 but it works erratically for the neighbors.
Fractional T-1 is only 768 kbps? ATT is advertising what they’re calling Basic DSL (768 kbps) for $19.95 but no AT&T DSL is available in this area. Any tips on the best way to find a reasonable full T-1 line?
Only way to find a reasonable T1 (1.5Mbps/1.5Mbps) price is to ask every T1 provider that can service your area. Don’t expect it to come cheap though. You’re looking at over $100 for the telco loop alone.
Quite frankly, I’d rather be with flaky DSL service than be with something like satellite or have to worry about paying for an overpriced T1 line (though I’m sure the T1 would feel much better than a DSL line), really. If you can get some line stats from the neighbors such as attenuation and margin, that’ll be a great way to see why the lines are dropping out.
Yeah, when FAP goes active for any reason, it isn’t a matter of throttling you down to dial-up speed. Your internet access is just gone until they decide to turn it back on. Dial-up speed would be a huge improvement. I try to browse using Opera with all scripts, plug-ins and images turned off and it honestly would be easier to watch Youtube on dial-up.
I’ve managed to get hit by FAP 3 times in the past week and I don’t have a clue how I even got near the bandwidth limit. I wasn’t downloading things or watching videos; just normal browsing. I’m starting to wonder if something is just plain broke on their end.
There are reports of things being broken. If you don’t need the internet for a day, HuguesNet does provide the usage page. What you should do is switch off your modem for a day or two, and then turn the internet back on and see if their usage page shows usage. If it does, then you need to get at them about that. If not, then something’s up…
This issue with HughesNet with their FAPs, slow speeds, and hefty charges is one of the things I see all the time over at DSLReports and I read them. Seriously though, for the price people pay for that service from the equipment, to the service itself, to the ETF, you could easilly grab a fractional T1 line (768kbps/768kbps) for a few months to get Broadband or find a provider with EV-DO service with no caps (coming from a cell phone tower fed via a T1 line most likely). I’m glad to see that a lawsuit is going on from all of these complaints I see. Sure, satellites are tough things to deal with in a way and they are quite limited, but if you can’t keep up with the demand (with higher FAP limits) more or less give people their connection because of satellites that are working beyond their limits, then something needs to be done and fast.
I have been seeing commercials like this one below on TV since the Winter. Perhaps this is why these problems are happening as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l95xD_vDQWo&fmt=18
If you’re going to pay $350/month for an internet connection, you might as well get a T1. 1.5 symmetrical and no caps.
Your chances of being able to get a T1 are higher as it’s an older system with a greater amount of coverage.
The chances of getting a T1 should be very high, as T1 lines themselves can be repeated unlike DSL. Cable internet can basically be repeated using boosters, but even that’ll get you so far.
Another stupid company trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube
If you are going to get rid of that satellite service, don’t toss the dish in the trash! Instead, make a super wi-fi antenna out of it. There are tutorials on the internet with people reaching access points up to 7 KM away. Also, there are wireless access services in some rural communities and will install a powerful antenna, for a fee of course, to access their service. Had a friend, who lived out in the boondocks, that had a setup like that. He had speeds up to 3Mb/sec. I would just build the antenna yourself, on the cheap, and then call them up for an account. If you are really ambitious and have a “big dish” antenna, people have added wi-fi to it also with the record being able to access a point 125 KM away.
On the other hand, you can always go T1.
Basically a cantenna on Steroids
I’ve heard of using old satellite dishes and such for that, and it’s quite incredible on how far people have been able to send Wi-Fi. I have found it odd though, that at times I can pick up my Linksys WRT54GX AND connect to it for a few seconds from 3 miles away (and I can verify it’s mine as I see my PCs at home as well as I can log into the router using my credentials) with the standard SMA antennas on it.
I still can’t believe people actually believed those commericals
I finally decided to searched this message I was getting “The following error occured:
Error Code = 1299. Unknown TCP connection error.
——————————————————————————–
For More Information, Please Click Here. I have been getting irritated and I am the one that just turns it off. Well luckily tonight I found this site, WoW if we would have only read this 3 months ago.
So am I understanding this right, I am limited to the amount of time I can get on the internet. For example (Check mail, school stuff, weather, and banking.)???
Gracie in Oklahoma
You’re not limited in the amount of time you’re online. You’re only limited by how much data you transfer a day with HughesNet (based on your package, like 250MB a day, 700MB a day, etc and after the usage amount, your internet supposably goes to 28.8k modem speeds but people say it’s basically 9600 baud/no internet). There are reports all around the internet though about people switching off their modems since something was going on with HughesNet’s systems that was making FAP usage show up higher than it was supposed to be.
If you’d like to track your usage, if you have a hackable router such as a Linksys WRT54G that you can install Tomato or DD-WRT to, those firmwares have the ability to track your usage in megabytes (MB) as well as gigabytes (GB). There are also some free programs which you can use on your computer to track your usage.
Yep . . . I’m currently in FAP mode for no apparent reason. Didn’t do any massive amount of surfing and don’t download movies and it took about 3 minutes from the time I clicked on the link to this page before the page actually loaded. Hopefully this comment will upload before I fall asleep.
Hughesnet FAP is a major ripoff. I think, I may have a new option in my neighborhood . . . if so, I’m done with Hughesnet.
According to Hughesnet –
“HughesNet defends their service, pointing to a 30 day window for customers to sample the service and decide whether it is right for them, . . . ”
They have the power to selectivly choose who gets to “enjoy” the throttled back service whether you have exceeded the FAP or not. For a while, and like clockwork, I could load up a Youtube file at 10:55. It would start and stop as it was streaming. At 11:01 on the dot, the bar would take off like a rocket ship.
My point is that they can make the first 30 days seem like it is the best service around. This is what I experienced two years ago when I first got the system. Not too many days after the trial period, I noticed a drastic drop in speed.
We won’t even go into the oversees customer support, except to say that the stock answer was always “your machine has a virus”. Yes, my brand new HP came with a pre-installed virus.
Hang in there, mandatory DSL is coming to many areas in the Midwest.
Gary
At the time our only option was Direcway or dial-up. Direcway had decent service and no throttling but the latency and frequent dropped connections bothered our users. I became a pro at recognizing what was going on with the sat connection to remedy stopped service without calling customer support, which was decent at the time. Before wireless DSL came to our area I had considered getting T1 connectivity and sharing it with other users. I think we were quoted at $600-800/month for a duplex full T1 service. Either way when you divide it by 10 users it was pretty affordable. The only problem was getting long distance connectivity, we live in the sticks, which wasn’t available cheaply at the time. Now days we purchase whatever wireless service we can afford at $20 a user and it only costs $100 for wifi equipment capable of connecting 1 mile with minimal trees blocking of our LOS. If we pay $200 for wifi devices we can probably go 10 miles easy, LOS.
We still pay 9x for service than those near better served locations, but we are not throttled and for business use we can serve 10 – 20 users daily.
I agree that they make your first 30 days perfect. I’ve have two different contracts and setups because of poor service and by me taking action through the Better Business Bureau. With each contract the first 30 days are perfect, then after the 30 your modem will download a new set of software that throttles your perfomance. I hear many say their speeds seem fine til around 3 or 4 in the afternoon at which point hughes “throws the switch” and kill speeds til midnight. They do this claiming people are getting off work, kids out of school, etc so they need to share the bandwidth more. What a load of bull. My $60 is worth just as much as the next persons $60. They need to stop the smoke and mirrors, fully advertise what you are getting, and get rid of the lame FAP crap.
I’ve got two options where I live: Hughesnet, or Dishnetwork. When I started with Hughesnet 2 years ago, the FAP wasn’t a problem, and the speed was reasonable. NOW though, the kids have grown and have their own computers, and with the increased content on the web the FAP is a problem. Also, now around 7 or 8 pm, the speed slows substantially even when the FAP hasn’t been exceeded. At least Dishnetwork uses the 30 day rolling average, not the 24 hour timeperiod. I don’t know if there speed slows or not. But, it’s time to switch – until a “real cable” internet becomes accessable.
Hughesnet is truly a rip off!!! This crap just started with us and we have been customers for almost 3 years. All of a sudden we could not even get online. We thought it was the computer and started massive research on drivers and components that cause lag. We even downloaded new IE and flashplayers. Nothing worked. Then we discovered the hughesnet page and it all came together. I know this is illegal and plan to get the attorney general involved. Yes, lure everyone into a false sense of security and then pull the plug. I could use a few choice words to discribe my feelings for hughesnet and their illegal practices. But instead, I will go elsewhere for internet service. My choices are few, out here in nowhere land, but still, I will not be ripped off.
I’m a rural customer and my options are dialup, cellphone at about $70/mo for the first 5G and $50/G after that or satellite. The only satellite to serve my area is Huges. I had extensive discussions with the sales guy about how I would exceed a 5G monthly limit within the first week. I explained that I work from home and rely heavily on the Internet. I did nothing to give this guy any impression that I was a light-weight Internet user. This is what he told me (I wrote quoted items as they were spoken, so this is not ‘made up’)
(a) the FAP would be “like you added an extra computer to your line” and was only a “scosh slower” — I haven’t been able to find any statement about what speed the FAP is set to.
(b) there would NEVER be any additional charges for data usage. The only thing that Huges does is throttle it, there are never any added fees
(c) The equipment (leased) is under guarantee for the entire 2yr contract, so I should never have any equipment costs – I specifically explained that I’m located high on a hill with high winds. I told him that I’d have a 24″ diameter tree and a building blown down by the winds where the dish would be located
(d) I explained that I expected to be hitting the FAP frequently, he told me that they will not fine me or charge anything extra, that the FAP is the only thing they do
(e) the sales guy was going to send me the contracts to read before installation (that never happened and I still don’t have a copy of the contract)
(f) the install guy had me sign some sort of contract attachment but had not copy to leave with me. He said that he’d email it to me and still hasn’t sent it.
Obviously, now it is clear that the FAP is not like ‘adding an extra computer” on the system. I’m using firefox broser with all photos, scripts, etc turned off to even have any access at all. I will do a select all/copy before attempting to post this because my link will likely be dropped.
Now, I’ve read somewhere the repeated FAP will cause them to drop your service and charge you early termination fee. I still haven’t been able to find that on their site.
At this point, I’m realizing that I’m screwed and trying to locate information for my state AG to submit a fraud complaint. Obviously, that is hard to do at less than dial-up speeds.
I am also searching for a class action lawsuit that I, as an Ohio resident, can join.
when i signed up for hughesnet 4 years ago,dial-up was my only other option.the first few weeks on the service seemed great compared to dial-up but i didn’t last long.after 30 days was up and under contract,speeds were about half as good as they were before.also when i signed up for hughesnet service over the phone,i was never told about the fair access policy.the salesman only asked what other broadband option was available in my area and if i usually do alot of downloading.i told him yes i do like to do quite a bit of downloading but nothing was ever mentioned about the fap and he just started taking my credit card information for my order.we have 3 computers on this connection and with the pro-plan have hit the fap 2 to 3 times a week just surfing websites.i then upgraded to the pro-plus plan for $79 a month thinking it would be better but it wasn’t.i have to monitor the fap website ever hour just to make sure nobody has hit the fap,being that they still don’t have any real time monitoring tools available.at this price,there should be no limits, but we just don’t try to do much downloading on this service anymore for of fear of fap.it is also false that some websites advertising hughesnet,says “multiple computers and moderate downloading” on the pro-plus plan.it’s hard doing light downloading and have multiple computers connected with pro-plus plan without hitting the fap.this service is a scam.
[...] click here for a read about a class action lawsuit. [...]
I’ve had entire platoons of privates burning latrine refuse, that didn’t whine as much as you people.
Seriously, either my service works way better than average, or y’all are doing something wrong.
How many of you were downloading the HD version of “Gone With the Wind” and attempting to
use voice over IP when you had all these problems?
I’ve used DirecWay/HughesNet for last 6 years. I work from
my home office, with 4 computers, and even run a VPN connection about half the time.
( Yes, Marge, you can run vpn over satellite without dying of old age )
I have the $79.99 1.5mbps service. I do a lot of browsing and uploading, but I make an effort to put off all my huge downloads until I can drive to the office. Generally anything over about 250MB ( ~30-40 minutes )
I get FAP’d about 3-4 times a year, usually when I have a critical need to download a software
upgrade that just can’t wait. When I get FAP’d, my speeds drop to ~28kbps, but I’ve never had
the service stop altogether. I run Linux and Unix variants on 3 of the computers, but I do have
one that runs Winblows and I have no doubt that it’s virus’s are competing with me for bandwidth,
but I leave it running because the speeds I get are usually adequate for my purposes.
So, I’m content with my HughesNet service, but some of your arguments do have merit.
Do I really get the advertised 1.5mbps? Never got it, probably never will, I’d kill just to get
300kbps consistently on downloads.
Is Hughes guilty of false advertising? I think the TV commercials are clearly targeted at
dialup users, but their website where they claim Mbps speeds instead of Kbps is clearly
exaggerated.
Does customer service suck? No question.
Is it overpriced? In Metroburg yes, but out here, it allows us to work in an area where we have
to worry about angry racoons and marauding possums instead of dealing with parking tickets
and home invasions. Ask NASA to quote you a satellite launch and you can understand the
pricing.
HughesNet is for REAL country folk, if you live so close to civilization that wireless is an option
then quit your #itchin and get to switchin. While I do think you folks are being a little hard on
HughesNet, probably due mostly to your own technical incompetence, and pussified natures,
I can say that loyalty will only go so far when another option makes it out this far…….
Even if users never went over the FAP they are still limited severely and at a great disadvantage to other INternet users on say, Verizon or Road Runner. I simply do not go to espn.com to see video highlights, nor to you tube. In fact, as a student who really needs to access sites such as archive.org to d/load audio video files, or to receive pod casts from my professors – Hughes totally stinks.
It’s not “fair usage” compared to other what other companies offer their Customers. I cannot wait until high speed comes to my area and I’ll certainly cancel within two years, and pay 400$, if another provider becomes available.
Hughes net is living in the dark ages. AOL did this early on with dial up, where they limited the amount of hours spent each month online. AOL still to this day has customers who have a bad taste in their mouth because of this practice. I know this is true because I’ve met a handful of them. Hughes net will eventually have a backlash. That’s the bottom line. Customers will turn away or current customers will sway potential customers away.
Obviously, Hughes has over extended itself. They do not have the equipment to allow people to surf online, upload and download, to their hearts content such as Verizon and Road Runner and such do. This shows me right there they are inadequate in comparison. I don’t CARE about being fair to fellow customers! Paying double the cost (or more), receiving half the speed, and being limited in usage frankly puts me at a great disadvantage. What can be done, though, when all you have it dial up? Frankly, dial up is looking good to me – and, I’ve only had Hughes net for exactly ONE week!
Hey…didn’t I talk to you on the hughesnet tech support line for like 3 hours the other day? Yeahhhh you’re the one who insists I’m enjoying lightning fast speeds according to the test results on your end. If not, it must be a virus, my router, or an old computer. So why do I enjoy better speed and reliability using the free internet at the local McDonald’s? Must be own incompetence. Yeahhhhh that’s the (trouble) ticket !!!
Folks, I am looking for satellite customers to give me their experiences with what I call “satellite fraudband” service for an upcoming article. What I am looking for are impressions about the pricing, the service, how the service (or lack of service) impacts your family’s use of the Internet, what kind of competing service would make you dump satellite, and whether you’d stay with the service if speeds and the “fair access” allowance was bumped up.
You can use the contact form on http://stopthecap.com to send your answers or share them in our comment section.
Just my 2¢ from working on folks’ WildBlue connections in central Texas…
1. Latency blows. 1-2 seconds (1000-2000 ms).
2. Download speeds tend to be as advertised. Same with upload speeds. Speedtest.net underestimates upload speeds though so if you go on there with a 512/128 connection you’re looking at 38 kbps…
3. Most folks in my area sign up for WildBlue via the electric cooperative, CTEC (http://ctesc.net). CTEC provides the e-mail service (I think they do it via the NRTC) and phone support. WIldBlue provides the connection to the internet…so you could say CTEC is the equivalent of a dialup “aggregator” ISP like TOAST.net. Customer service is fine.
4. The people with WildBlue I’ve worked with would take a non-satellite option if it existed for similar cost ($50 per month in most cases). The problem is that many are on contract with WB so switching to cellular, with its own setup costs, isn’t enough of a value proposition to make them change over. Gotta love contracts…
5. Everyone I’ve seen with WB has been miles away from the FAP. It may seem weird to folks on here, but they don’t go online that much. That said, I’m betting they’d do a LOT more on a connection that didn’t “think” for a few seconds before loading a web page. Particularly if that connection has a megabit down and 500 bps up.
6. Upload speed is the big drawback of sat service in addition to latency; WildBlue tops out at 256 kbps, and most folks are on 128 or 200 kbps. Download speeds aren’t great either, but latency and upload speed (or lack thereof) means that if people have an alternative they’ll take it, even if it’s a 512/256, 25 GB cap, variable-latency WISP.
7. I know one case where the $50 WildBlue is “good enough” though Verizon EvDO, with 2.5 Mbps down and 500 kbps up now has a full signal at the location (my home church actually). The problem is that setup costs for Millenicom (10GB cap vs. Verizon’s 5GB, and no contract) are on the order of $200. For whatever reason the church had CTESC/WB installed for $50.
Got any more questions? Keep in mind that this experience is secondhand but fresh and sampled over several locations. Happy to add more info
What most of you don’t seem to realize is even cable companies have a FAP, this is mandated by law to make sure everyone gets access to the internet. I did a lot of research before I bought HughesNet. WB has a FAP of 7,500 on the low policy which is what I was told most people buy. That would be about 250 MB a day but about half the download speeds of HughesNet at 512kbps. If you exceed that you go into FAP for 30 days not 24 hours, there is a penalty I was not willing to work with. I hit FAP the other day on Hughes and it slowed me down, I did not stop, I bought a FAP token and kept going. I will take satellite over dialup any day. I looked up wireless for my area and the price was going to be more than WB or HughesNet. My two cents on Satellite Internet
FAP token? Please explain.
A FAP Token is a get out of throttled jail free card for HughesNet:
“Sometimes you might want to reset your allowance without waiting for the Recovery Zone to end. For these occasions, we provide easy access to Restore Tokens – a service that instantly resets your Download Allowance and lifts the speed restriction.
Each HughesNet subscriber receives one complimentary Restore Token each month on his or her billing date. You can use this free Token any time you exceed your Download Allowance. You can also purchase additional Tokens throughout the month, priced based on your plan’s Download Allowance.”
Recovery Zone – Their doublespeak for heavily throttled speeds for exceeding their usage limit.
Restore Token – a/k/a FAP Token – basically like a top-up card that gets you out of throttled speed jail instantly.
I’m familiar with the FAP etc. and figured that that’s what the FAP token did. FWIW it might be useful to write a post on the system
For reference, check out these links:
http://www.xplornetsucks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=985
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r23550296-Restore-Tokens
http://services.hughesnet.com/service_tools/fap/index.cfm
http://improvingsoftware.com/2009/11/03/someone-at-hughesnet-must-be-reading-my-blog/
To summarize, below are the tier names, daily caps and prices per FAP token. They’re actually VERY high, as you’ll see by the math I’ll do in a second:
Home – 200 MB – $5.00
Pro – 300 MB – $7.50
ProPlus – 425 MB – $10.50
Elite/ElitePlus/ElitePremium – 500 MB – $12.50
ProPlus is the cheapest per GB out of all of the above plans when it comes to getting FAP tokens…it’s a mere $24.71 (rounded up) per GB (not GiB, so 1000 rather than 1024) rather than the $25 per GB that the other tiers charge. To put that into perspective, that’s 2.5¢ per MB, half of what 3G providers charge for their overages. The difference with 3G providers is that you’re never slowed down by a FAP when you get to your limit, and you don’t have to buy your overage bucket $5 (or more) at a time.
Looks like the system started in November of last year as a beta, and came out in full force two or three months ago. Interesting stuff to be sure…in case you’re wondering $25 per GB works out to over $10,000 per megabit of dedicated connectivity, assuming you’re utilizing the connection in both directions more than partway all the time in both directions. Almost as expensive as text messages :p
Granted, the per-GB price when you calculate based on HN’s standard tiers (no overages) is more generous, clocking in around $6.25 per GB if you don’t count the 1-6 a.m. (?) FAP-free window. Still, what’s effectively an overage charge is quite steep!
With the Home service plan, you may enjoy increased download speeds of up to 1.0 Mbps, with typical speeds of about 550 Kbps to 650 Kbps during peak times. Upload speeds, which are capable of reaching 128 Kbps, are typically 70 Kbps to 80 Kbps during peak hours.
This is the sevice plan i have and i want to point out this part “with typical speeds of about 550 Kbps to 650 Kbps during peak times” im so getting screwed im getting 125kps down period if that much ever. Where is the law suite at you say well it seams back in 2007 a PA based law firm was doing and i sent them a message and am currantly awaiting a reply .
sorry for any and all grammer mistakes
please thank the louisiana public school systems for that
Evil_Eric