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Posted by: jmmotorsports Jan 13 2010, 08:28 PM

I am thinking of getting Hughes.net internet service and would like to know what people who are using it think of it.

Thanks,
Jerry

Posted by: okieflyr Jan 13 2010, 08:50 PM

I don't have it, but I have spoken to someone that did use it. They stated the only reason they had it was because of no other options for their rural home.
They said it was very limiting on usage time and reliability. There son was trying to take some online courses and I guess download/connections were the issues.

I don't know anything about the physical setup or terrain they had, but they were not pleased.

My .5's worth.
Kevin

Posted by: Mark Henry Jan 13 2010, 09:02 PM

If your gay and enjoy being the catcher you'll love it!
(not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Read the fine print and download limits.

Posted by: 9146986 Jan 13 2010, 09:14 PM

If it's your only option then it's your only option, but you should get a kiss when you sign up. You get the same rain fade as Dish or Directv, you get a limited amount of usage per 24 hour period and if you exceed that you get choked back to slower than dialup speeds.

We have it only because it's the only choice for broadband.

Posted by: Mark Henry Jan 13 2010, 09:26 PM

See if you have any of these antenna's on other houses in your 'hood.
Radio based wireless broadband internet, very fast, $42 per month no limits.
Cost me a one time fee of $300 for radio and install/set-up.


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Posted by: jmill Jan 13 2010, 09:29 PM

I had ISDN for quite a while before broadband was available. I have to say it only seemed to be a bit slower than DSL. It might be a better option for you.

Posted by: r_towle Jan 13 2010, 09:45 PM

Satellite Internet service should be avoided if there is any other choice at all.

The issue is latency....that is the speed of the data going up and back to the satellite. Its to slow for most security protocols (think online banking, credit cards etc etc.,..) the security programs will time out alot of times.

I have dealt with this many many times. Its a poor solution unless it is all you can get.
For TV it works just fine (cable is all satelitte anyways)
Internet....try to find another way.

Rich

Posted by: jmmotorsports Jan 13 2010, 10:17 PM

Right now there is no cable or DSL where I live. I will look around at what else might be avalible. Thanks for the info.

Jerry

Posted by: r_towle Jan 13 2010, 10:34 PM

ISDN can be done if you have a decent phone switch.
56k modem is faster than sattelite.

Rich

Posted by: campbellcj Jan 13 2010, 11:41 PM

Not true at all in my experience. I had a predecessor service (DirecPC/DirecWay) for several years before we could get any sort of DSL, Cable or cellular connectivity here. The download speeds were quite fast, easily comparable to ADSL but as mentioned above the latency is huge and the upload speed is a fraction of download similar (but worse) to ADSL.

It was spendy - I had a business account with no bandwidth limits and static IP's. Maybe that's the difference.

Then got DSL from PacBell which sucked royally; we are too far from the switch and it went up and down like a yo-yo.

Now I have Time Warner cable and it is super fast (often >10Mbits/sec), rock solid and way cheaper.

If you can get a cell signal check into the 3G USB modems. We use them for our road warriors at work and they work well; about $60/month but Verizon and AT&T both have 5GB/month limits before overage fees start.

Posted by: Dr. Roger Jan 14 2010, 12:50 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Internet_Service_Provider

Posted by: Zimms Jan 14 2010, 09:37 AM

I had it for about a year. I had no other options at the time other than satillite. I liked them better than Direct Way. They were much more gentle when sticking it in my A%^ with the pricing. It was tolerable because I could work from home rather than make a 100 mile round trip drive when gas was high.

For the majority of my usage, it was MUCH faster than dial up, MUCH slower than the DSL I have now. I only had one band width issue when I tried to watch live streaming of LeMans. They put me in the naughty box for several days (dial up band width) and until I made some calls, I really though the modem was broken. Their bandwith policy is poorly communicated.

I feel for you on the options. I never thought I would hear a modem after 2002. Good luck!

Posted by: underthetire Jan 14 2010, 10:05 AM

I have used sprint for broadband. In my area it almost exactly twice as fast as 56K dial up. I have also use the internet function on the phone with a USB cable from evilbay. I think the "back door" way was #777 as the dial up number on the PC. It put the cell in internet mode and actually worked very well without having to pay extra for anything.