# Hughes Net vs. Wild Blue Internet Service



## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

I am currently on dialup and it seems that the page loading speed only gets slower and slower by the week. This is really beginning to get frustrating between the page loading speed running at a snail's pace and getting dropped off the server constantly. 

I have repeatedly requested DSL, ISDN, or some other means of better or wide ban internet service. 

I am pretty far out in the boonies and it seems that the only option left are Hughesnet and Wild Blue. They seem priced about the same and the only difference I can see between the two is that if you exceed you download data allotment for the day or given time period, Hughesnet slows your download speed and Wild Blue reserves the right to drop you as a customer. Seems like Hughesnet is the way to go. 

Any anybody else out there using either of these ISP's? If so, I would be interested in what your experiences have been and any suggestions. 

20K modem speed just ain't cuttin' it! :argh:


----------



## Simpleprestige (Apr 20, 2007)

Hughesnet is a peice of @$#E%^&*(&^%$#@#$%^&*()*&^%$%^&*()


There was already a dish installed at our house when we moved, so we decided to try and use it instead of the alternative. :argh: They charged us $74 a month and a ton of other #$%^ fees. I don't know what Hughesnet quoted you for the dish, modem, coAx cable and all of the rest, but the modem, the only thing we had to buy, was $600, I can get a 1990 or newer chevy for less than that. God knows what it would have cost if we hadn't have already had the cable, dish and others. Hughesnet will also say they will install the wiring in a proffesional outlet into your home: They took a punch and knocked a 2" hole in the wall. After all of this was sorted out, we cold only get signal when the wind speed was under 1 mph. They then charged us $90 to come out and tell us there was a tree in the way of the signal. We thought this was all over when comcast ran lines out to our house, we were wrong.



we continued getting bills sent to our house for a couple of months after cancelling and there was still a 5ft tall pole and a dish sitting in the backyard. Little did we know that the pole was actually a 12' by 2" diameter steel pipe anchored in the ground with 4 feet of cement in a 2' diameter circle. The only thing they did right was make a tornado proof mounting pole.:smoking: :smoking: :smoking: :smoking:


----------



## Simpleprestige (Apr 20, 2007)

Another bad experience from a friend of ours.

He wanted to put in a dish, so he told his wife where he wanted it and left her to direct the installation guy. He came home and there was one of these wonderful poles and a dish sitting directly in the middle of his gravel driveway. They wouldn't do anything about it so he rerouted his drive. Of course, come winter, his wife slid right into it, destroying the dish. He called Hughesnet and the official answer for dish replacement, was that there are plenty of people who sell them on ebay. He ended up having to upgrade his system and then they came and replaced his dish with a more expensive profesional one.

keep your stick on the ice


----------



## chrpmaster (May 5, 2004)

Randy

Interesting you ask this question. I went the other way and went with Wild Blue in the spring this year. As you may know I run my financial planning business from home so I download tons of large documents (mutual fund prospectuses etc) as well as worked on it most of the day every day. I think I signed up for the mid range service cause I wanted the higher speed. I never used more than 40% of my allowed ammount so that was never a problem. 

The only problem I ever had was that I live within 5 miles of the Fort Wayne Airport. They also have a fairly active Air National Guard base there. Long story short, their radar interfered with the satellite signal and I kept getting bounced off. Then the modem would reboot and then I was back on. 

After a few months of fighting with it I finally got them to let me off the service cause Verizon just got DSL in my area. Thats what I use now.

The good news is I have an almost new low mileage dish, modem and everything for sale cheap. I paid $299 for it. I would be happy to make a good deal to one of my tractor forum buddies. 

Let me know

Andy


----------



## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

Just wanted to follow up on my ISP and internet bandwidth problem. While venting my frustrations to my local TDS repairman, he confided in me and told me that TDS was testing a DSL network hookup in my area but it was not confirmed as to whether it was workable yet or not. He asked for my email address and phone number and told me that he would call or email mail me as soon as the DSL system was up and running. 

A day before Christmas he called and left a message with my daughter that the system was up and to apply for a DSL account. I did and got an email message back that the DSL network would be up and running by 5 pm today. I tried my usual dialup this morning but found that it did not work. I called and asked if the DSL was up and the technician told me it was. Long story short, after MUCH troubleshooting only to find that the DSL system was not up yet; while talking to the TDS technian on the phone again after a 45 minute wait #[email protected]$:, the internet light on my DSL modem lit up as we were talking. 

I tried my system and it worked.

All I can say is WOW!!!  

I have gone from the covered wagon days of the internet to Star Trek warp speed! 

I ordered the 3Mb DSL and I am amazed at how fast it is.


----------



## Simpleprestige (Apr 20, 2007)

Glad to have one more of us that is still amazed by the continueing technology that is out there.


----------



## chrpmaster (May 5, 2004)

Congratulations Randy!

I guess you can put your (JD green)covered wagon out to pasture now. maybe Jack will like to play with it.

Andy


----------



## gpd387 (Jul 4, 2010)

I purchased hughes net, had it professionally installed and it works perfectlly. I was there during the install, told the installers what I wanted and they did exactly what I wanted with a small aount of tweaking based on the equipment limitations. For example, I had to move the desired dish location about 4 feet to allow for proper angle and they left me about 20 feet of cable for future expansion and troubleshooting. Hughes net is the way to go, without question.


----------



## poncho62 (Jun 23, 2010)

I had a Canadian version of Hughesnet.....hated every minute of it........Any bad weather at all and it was down.....and slow the rest of the time. I am now on cellular 3G from a Canadian cell network (Rogers)..........only $10 more (10 gig of data for $60) and 1000% better.........still not quite as quick as the DSL we used to have back in the city, but its nice to live in the country.


----------



## wjjones (May 28, 2010)

Hughesnet told us because of our location our service would cost $79.99 a month, we are 12 miles outside any type of broadband. So we are also stuck on slow dialup its like watching paint dry for entertainment. I have heard from AT&T they are in the works of running their lines out our way soon.


----------



## lsmurphy (Sep 12, 2008)

We have Hughesnet, paid for the highest speed for two years but now because of low funds we dropped to the $35 per month plan with no contract. They also forgave us about three months worth of payments to keep us as a customer, we're happy with it.

Scott


----------



## wjjones (May 28, 2010)

I know some people here that are in AT&Ts area that pay $24.99 a month for Broadband. I just wish we could get something besides dial up. Hughesnet told us it would be $79.99 per month and $200.00+ to install it. Where is Parrottville TN in relation to Lebanon/Nashville area?


----------



## lsmurphy (Sep 12, 2008)

wjjones said:


> I know some people here that are in AT&Ts area that pay $24.99 a month for Broadband. I just wish we could get something besides dial up. Hughesnet told us it would be $79.99 per month and $200.00+ to install it. Where is Parrottville TN in relation to Lebanon/Nashville area?


 
We are E of Knoxville, close to the NC line.

I'm still thinking about going to Nashville for work....

Scott


----------



## wjjones (May 28, 2010)

Thanks i had never heard of Parrottville before.


----------



## rsmith335 (Jun 2, 2010)

We looked into wild blue but wanted direct payment from our checking account. I don't even have direct acess to our checking account. HA HA:lmao:


----------



## raylinkz (May 28, 2010)

I tried SkyWay satellite for a while, it's faster than dialup and cheaper than Hughes and Wildblue. 

If anyone is interested, I'll make them a good deal on a dish and modem for their satellite. You have to have a good southern exposure. And oh yeah, your upload speed will still be dialup speed, so don't expect to win any online games. The company is called SkyWay and you can find them on the internet, just be warned, they will hold your feet to the fire if you sign a contract with them. Satellite Internet Service Provider | SkyWay USA | $39.95/mo.

If the only option you have is dialup, you might want to consider this satellite option, it's cheaper per month, never loses all it's signal, because it's tied to a dialup line so you have internet even in a blinding rainstorm, unless you lose your dialup line. You can also install your own system if you're handy and have some basic knowledge of wiring.

If you have a good Verizon cellphone signal, for about $50 / month, you could get their internet broadband connect using a cell phone for a modem. The speed varies wildly but it's much better than dialup and has better throughput than satellite. In my opinion, that's the better of those three options. Plus, if you have a wireless laptop, you can take it in the field or on a campout and have internet as long as you have a cell signal. checkout the IBCP group at Yahoo if you're interested.


----------



## rllargen (Mar 21, 2011)

One contributor said he had Hughes Net but wanted something other than dial up. Said Hughes worked fine. Hughes is wideband (fast) but down a lot. I dropped them this month for lack of service. If you have HughesNet, and it is slow, your a paying way too much for your service.


----------



## Country Boy (Mar 18, 2010)

To those in the country looking for broadband internet, check into wireless broadband in your area. There is a small radio that mounts to your house and you run an ethernet cable to your computer. I have been using it since 2004 and would never go back to dialup. I am too far out in the country for DSL or Cable, and I had heard tons of horror stories from my neighbors about satellite internet. The system has been mostly trouble free over the years, and I can even stream Netflix with my current 2mbps connection. My dialup connection was terrible because my phone lines were installed in 1963 and they run through a swamp, with some of the boxes being under water in spring or during heavy rains. There are only two houses on that line, so the phone company really doesn't care about fixing the problem either.


----------



## deerseeker001 (Aug 11, 2010)

i had hughes for 3 years now and love it.we started out with the basic package and after awhile we moved up the middle package.we also live in the boonies,no problem just have a clear shot at the southern sky, ron


----------

