If anyone is considering Hughesnet as their internet provider (Formerly known as DirecWay) then MAKE absolutely sure you study your options well. DO NOT opt for Hughesnet if cable or DSL is available to you.
I repeat DO NOT opt for Hughesnet if a landbased broadband ISP is available to you.
If a traditional landbased broadband ISP is not available to you then look for a WISP (wireless ISP) to make sure that option is not available and you just don't know it. These are sprouting up and are more common than you might think.
Some background...
At first I thought Hughesnet was OK considering my options were limited to begin with. My dialup was limited to 26.4-28.8 connections thanks to the way the phone company has this area wired. Rain fade with Hughesnet IS an issue but not as bad as I feared it might be.
Ping times with satellite are slow since the signal has to travel up to the satellite and back to earth and then reverse. So there's a hesitation when browsing and clicking a link. The page will load relatively fast... once it starts loading... but it'll take it a bit to start loading. You get used to it. Dialup would be quicker for text based pages due to this. Heavy graphics tho tip the scale the other way.
The fine print...
Hughesnet has a Fair Access Policy. AKA The FAP. They recently changed the already restrictive FAP to one even more restrictive while wrapping it in marketing jargon to sound like it is a better deal for consumers now. They also didn't go out of their way to inform users of this change.
The old FAP basically stated you could download 175 megs without penalty on the HOME plan. If, during any 3-4 hour block, you downloaded something approaching 80% of that amount you would be FAPed. Your speed would be throttled to 50k. But it worked on a system where you'd be getting your bucket constantly refilled and if you laid off any intensive downloads or the like you'd slowly get back to speed in a few hours. And you'd still be way better off than if you were on a 26.4 connection.
But the new FAP is different. And for that they can rot in Hell. They say you get 200 Megs now. True, but it is 200 megs in 24 hours. And that is not midnight to midnight.... it is a rolling 24 hour period. If you download 100Megs at 10PM Wednesday and then download 100Megs at noon on Thursday you will be FAPed. They are very vague about this too.
But here's the real kicker... the penalty now is 24 hours of internet access at 6-9k. IOW, barely even usable for email.
Now, if you are thinking... "They are after the bandwidth hogs who do heavy downloading constantly. I don't download that much so I'd never average 200 megs in 24 hours". Think again. First, it's impossible to know if you have to hit 200megs to get throttled or if it starts sooner (as it did when it was a different limit) at this point. Second, 'average' means nothing. If Windows Service Pack 3 comes out and you turn your computer on for the first time in months to get it, if it hits the magic number YOU WILL BE FAPped for 24 hours. Be prepared to deal with sub-dialup speeds. And you better turn those Windows and other automatic software downloads off.
I found out all this the hard way while troubleshooting and downloading drivers for the laptop over a couple of days. Downloaded some things early one evening. Then downloaded some more 12 or so hours later the next day. By the old FAP I was fine... but the new one stopped me dead in my tracks. And stopped me for 24 hours.
When I went to their site to see if maybe it was reporting some type of outage I found out about the new FAP. Then I learned more from the forums. Luckily, I still have my dialup ISP account.
One of the worst aspects is that there is no warning. Not only are the exact parameters vague, but you get no alert telling you that you're within a certain percentage of your threshold. You CAN go to the site and check your usage logs... which are 2-3 hours behind... so they are next to useless as a warning device.
Now, a few of the fanbois are claiming they now get better speeds during primetime with this new FAP in place. Maybe, but Hughesnet is going to catch a lot of dolphins in the net while trying to catch the tuna if they don't change this FAP. I can't imagine how a family of 4 on the HOME plan couldn't be FAPped several times a month. At 59.99 per month and 600.00 for equip up front I don't think anyone will take kindly to having their internet connection rendered all but useless several days per month. Also, what good is a few more ticks on the Internet Speed Check sites if you can't really take advantage of it on multimedia sites, etc without risking running afoul of the new FAP? Personally, I don't see much difference in actual speed in the first place. (And there was also a recent firmware update so who is to say what some are reporting isn't a function of the software update, not the new FAP)
And let me say... I understand the need of the FAP. I was fine with the original FAP that was in place when I signed up. It could be dealt with. And the primetime slowdown wasn't that slow anyway.... I accepted it as coming with the territory.
Someone made this analogy on another forum:
It used to be: If you exceed the somewhat knowable speed limit
(throughput limit) then your car will be reduced to back-road speeds.
You can still get around, but not as fast. This new policy is like
taking away your car for a day for exceeding the now fully obfuscated
speed limit.
This is only acceptable to the degree that hitting FAP doesn't happen
to you or daily Internet access is not important. Perhaps for many
home users, that is the case. But for those who depend on Internet
and do hit the invisible wall, having your service shut off for
exceeding a constantly shifting poorly or mis-defined limit is extreme
disabling punishment and mean-spirited as well. It's a rotten way to
treat your customers.
A hard limit of 200 megs per any rolling 24 hour period isn't that hard to hit by accident. Especially with no warnings issued as you approach the limit and no grace period for a first offense or rare occurence. At least not in these days of 50-60 Meg driver downloads, 100 Meg 'patches', websites that start with video automatically rolling, automated software updates, and friends emailing you video and audio clips.
The hard limit is one thing, the 24 hour penalty box where your connection is rendered all but useless is another.
And don't expect much help or information from tech support. I had two email discussions with them about the issue and got different answers both times. And neither would answer direct questions about how the new system worked. When one gave me information that didn't line up with my experience or what others were reporting and I asked for clarification, that whole question was skipped.
-Bball
I repeat DO NOT opt for Hughesnet if a landbased broadband ISP is available to you.
If a traditional landbased broadband ISP is not available to you then look for a WISP (wireless ISP) to make sure that option is not available and you just don't know it. These are sprouting up and are more common than you might think.
Some background...
At first I thought Hughesnet was OK considering my options were limited to begin with. My dialup was limited to 26.4-28.8 connections thanks to the way the phone company has this area wired. Rain fade with Hughesnet IS an issue but not as bad as I feared it might be.
Ping times with satellite are slow since the signal has to travel up to the satellite and back to earth and then reverse. So there's a hesitation when browsing and clicking a link. The page will load relatively fast... once it starts loading... but it'll take it a bit to start loading. You get used to it. Dialup would be quicker for text based pages due to this. Heavy graphics tho tip the scale the other way.
The fine print...
Hughesnet has a Fair Access Policy. AKA The FAP. They recently changed the already restrictive FAP to one even more restrictive while wrapping it in marketing jargon to sound like it is a better deal for consumers now. They also didn't go out of their way to inform users of this change.
The old FAP basically stated you could download 175 megs without penalty on the HOME plan. If, during any 3-4 hour block, you downloaded something approaching 80% of that amount you would be FAPed. Your speed would be throttled to 50k. But it worked on a system where you'd be getting your bucket constantly refilled and if you laid off any intensive downloads or the like you'd slowly get back to speed in a few hours. And you'd still be way better off than if you were on a 26.4 connection.
But the new FAP is different. And for that they can rot in Hell. They say you get 200 Megs now. True, but it is 200 megs in 24 hours. And that is not midnight to midnight.... it is a rolling 24 hour period. If you download 100Megs at 10PM Wednesday and then download 100Megs at noon on Thursday you will be FAPed. They are very vague about this too.
But here's the real kicker... the penalty now is 24 hours of internet access at 6-9k. IOW, barely even usable for email.
Now, if you are thinking... "They are after the bandwidth hogs who do heavy downloading constantly. I don't download that much so I'd never average 200 megs in 24 hours". Think again. First, it's impossible to know if you have to hit 200megs to get throttled or if it starts sooner (as it did when it was a different limit) at this point. Second, 'average' means nothing. If Windows Service Pack 3 comes out and you turn your computer on for the first time in months to get it, if it hits the magic number YOU WILL BE FAPped for 24 hours. Be prepared to deal with sub-dialup speeds. And you better turn those Windows and other automatic software downloads off.
I found out all this the hard way while troubleshooting and downloading drivers for the laptop over a couple of days. Downloaded some things early one evening. Then downloaded some more 12 or so hours later the next day. By the old FAP I was fine... but the new one stopped me dead in my tracks. And stopped me for 24 hours.
When I went to their site to see if maybe it was reporting some type of outage I found out about the new FAP. Then I learned more from the forums. Luckily, I still have my dialup ISP account.
One of the worst aspects is that there is no warning. Not only are the exact parameters vague, but you get no alert telling you that you're within a certain percentage of your threshold. You CAN go to the site and check your usage logs... which are 2-3 hours behind... so they are next to useless as a warning device.
Now, a few of the fanbois are claiming they now get better speeds during primetime with this new FAP in place. Maybe, but Hughesnet is going to catch a lot of dolphins in the net while trying to catch the tuna if they don't change this FAP. I can't imagine how a family of 4 on the HOME plan couldn't be FAPped several times a month. At 59.99 per month and 600.00 for equip up front I don't think anyone will take kindly to having their internet connection rendered all but useless several days per month. Also, what good is a few more ticks on the Internet Speed Check sites if you can't really take advantage of it on multimedia sites, etc without risking running afoul of the new FAP? Personally, I don't see much difference in actual speed in the first place. (And there was also a recent firmware update so who is to say what some are reporting isn't a function of the software update, not the new FAP)
And let me say... I understand the need of the FAP. I was fine with the original FAP that was in place when I signed up. It could be dealt with. And the primetime slowdown wasn't that slow anyway.... I accepted it as coming with the territory.
Someone made this analogy on another forum:
It used to be: If you exceed the somewhat knowable speed limit
(throughput limit) then your car will be reduced to back-road speeds.
You can still get around, but not as fast. This new policy is like
taking away your car for a day for exceeding the now fully obfuscated
speed limit.
This is only acceptable to the degree that hitting FAP doesn't happen
to you or daily Internet access is not important. Perhaps for many
home users, that is the case. But for those who depend on Internet
and do hit the invisible wall, having your service shut off for
exceeding a constantly shifting poorly or mis-defined limit is extreme
disabling punishment and mean-spirited as well. It's a rotten way to
treat your customers.
A hard limit of 200 megs per any rolling 24 hour period isn't that hard to hit by accident. Especially with no warnings issued as you approach the limit and no grace period for a first offense or rare occurence. At least not in these days of 50-60 Meg driver downloads, 100 Meg 'patches', websites that start with video automatically rolling, automated software updates, and friends emailing you video and audio clips.
The hard limit is one thing, the 24 hour penalty box where your connection is rendered all but useless is another.
And don't expect much help or information from tech support. I had two email discussions with them about the issue and got different answers both times. And neither would answer direct questions about how the new system worked. When one gave me information that didn't line up with my experience or what others were reporting and I asked for clarification, that whole question was skipped.
-Bball
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