Hughesnet internet?
 

Anybody have this service? Looking to switch from Spectrum. Please advise if this service is good. Stable internet? Dish not too gaudy? Customer service good? They informed me they provide flexible "Snowbird" plan where one can put service on hold (no charge during hold period) when home is not occupied. Monthly internet charge seems more reasonable than Spectrum. Thanks in advance!

I'm curious why you would want to switch from Spectrum. We had them in Pinellas County and what I wouldn't give to be able to use them now. (They don't service our area.)

Is it a cost thing? In case you are not aware, Spectrum has a snowbird plan, as well.

Internet via any kind of dish is slow, I believe.

kathy

I thought uploads are done by land phone line. Anyway when there are heavy clouds the dish will lose the satellite signal.

Thanks, Kathy! Spectrum told me they no longer offer seasonal hold for internet. Hughesnet is a bit cheaper and very flexible with snowbird program - put home on hold and take Florida home off hold, etc.

Thank you!

Check closely at what they are offering. It's not directly comparable to what comcast or spectrum offers. Their plans limit on how much data you can transfer. The lowest cost plan is limited to 10GB per month. That's not much is you watch HD movies.

I know it is not what you asked, but if you want Seasonal Hold, you may consider checking Comcast (I know, a BAD word). We have Comcast for TV and internet (we live north of 466 so not much else is available), but they allow you to put services on Seasonal Hold. And their internet is very fast.

I have Comcast, internet only (so of 44), and have had excellent service for nearly 2 years now. Absolutely zero complaints.

Hughesnet should be your very last choice. It is very slow and unreliable compared to a a normal provider like Spectrum or Comcast.

Run away from satellite internet. Up north that was our only option until a couple of years age when Comcast finally ran a cable down our road. Satellite is vey expensive, very slow even when the weather is clear, and slows to a crawl when the weather is inclement. You can not stream a movie with satellite and if you try to watch a youtube video expect it to buffer every few seconds. Also, they cap your data and make your already slow speeds even slower when you reach the cap, unless you pay about $10/gig for more data. You would be better off getting unlimited data through your cellular provider and making you phone a personal wifi hotspot so you can get on the internet using another device.

I had Hugh's net in New York and they where worse than dial up they blamed it on the fact that I work and use a security product called VPN but it was horrible I had the bundle with direct tv and it cost me $600 to get rid of it and worth every dime

We have had them all at one time or another.
Would not use any satelite dish system if a Cable is available.
Belive it or not, Comcast has consistently been our best provider. Currently they offer Basic internet for $20 @ Mo.
We have multiple IP Cameras and streaming devices and their Basic internet has no problem keeping up and we have never exceded our Data limit.
And, if you have any smart devices at this home (or are planning on any), you need internet even when you are away.
Comcast also recently offered a "Starter" plan of Basic internet + 10 Tv channels for $25.
Also, saw a Century link "Basic internet" for $19.99. If that is not via their CRUMMY DSL (telephone line) service, then that might be okay too.

I have a friend in TV with Hughes, and he is very unhappy. Slow, poor connectivity, and when we zoom his voice is often garbled, and his screen often refreshes. I'd stay away from Hughes.

Most of the comments are spot on - avoid Satellite if you can. The service is slow, the latency - the time you type something in until the time something happens - is typically horridly slow, you have to maintain the equipment, not to mention the fugly dish. If you resided in the middle of nowhere it offers a solution, otherwise skip it

I would avoid HughesNet
 

I had them many years ago, and found HughesNet to be terrible from a tech point of view and from the customer service point of view. Speeds and connectivity were unreliable. When I complained to customer service I got little help. The only way I got any service was to finally file a complaint with the FCC. Even then, I found the speeds unreliable and the limitations on band width leaving me frustrated. As soon as possible, we dropped Hughes and went with cellular data - the only alternative in the rural location where we lived at that time. Looking at current reviews on the internet, it looks like HughesNet continues to struggle. Best Satellite Internet Providers 2020 | Reviews.org

Keep an eye out for Starlink. Available soon from Elon Musk.

I have Centurylink 100 Mbps at $49 monthly stream 3 tv’s and use internet laptop/tablet and no cap. Areas south of 466a are fiber fed.
Here is a technical review of sat internet and prices.
HughesNet Satellite Internet Review 2020 | Reviews.org

I prefer Comcast. All homes prewired with them. Only cable company that you can get The Villages TV station and Radio on Cable channels 99 and 02.

If you’re a snowbird, don’t you need Internet working continuously at both homes? If you don’t have the Internet continuously working, how can you monitor and control your HVAC system? How can your alarm system communicate? How can your cameras communicate? What about your remote control for the lawn irrigation? If you have a pool, there’s remote control and monitoring for that too.

If I had two homes, separated by over a thousand miles, I would want to be able to monitor and control things remotely, instead of being in the dark, assuming that there are no problems at the home that’s over a thousand miles away, and unoccupied.

I can understand shutting off cable or satellite TV when you’re gone for months, but you need the Internet connection for the remote monitoring and remote control.

I switched to Hughs Net because of the price within a week I switched back couldn’t get the internet. Even when the weather was beautiful out I still couldn’t get internet. Now I have a dish on my roof.

Any dish oriented internet provider will absolutely have trouble during the heavy rains we have here during the rainy season. Ask any of your friends that have a dish oriented TV service and they will tell you the system goes down during heavy rain. You did not mention why you wanted to leave Spectrum.

Hughes Net For WIFI
 

Don’t do it. We had it, it’s very slow and unreliable.

HughesNet
 

We have Spectrum now and are on a seasonal plan. I hope that is not going to change, or I might go back to Comcast, which we have up North. No Spectrum up north.

Worst internet access
 

I had hughesnet for a year, it was slower than a 1200 baud modem for those that remember some of the first access methods. Most of the time my device would time out before a screen would come up. Horrible service, horrible tech support total waste of money. Will make you hate to have to go on the internet for anything. I cringed every time I did a survey and had to give them a one star rating they hadn’t earned or deserved, no 0 or negatives available.

Hughes is s-l-o-w-e-r than slow.

And if that is not enough to dissuade you, pay attention to the various plans they offer. Unlike most internet services, they have a bandwidth quota. You have to guess how much data you need and not go over it.

Satellite service would be my last choice. We had Dish up north and it really is the only choice for our remote location. I found it fast but VERY EXPENSIVE. I only had 15 G per month and it didn’t allow us to do any streaming at that limitation. We still would have to pay $10 a gig occasionally to tide us over to next month! We have comcast down here and it has been fine- $40 a month no limits vs $100 for dish internet up north!!!!

My daughter has Hughes and very unhappy with service

I have had Spectrum and now have Comcast. Both offer reliable service. I leave it on to keep track of my thermostat and camera. That being said, they offer the best deals to newcomers. I am cutting the cable when my contract is up and just keeping internet and thinking of switching just for the new deals. Too bad neither company does as much as they should be keep their long term customer base.

I have direct tv and WiFi with century link I believe it was $40 a month for the last 2 years . I stay with direct tv because of NFL ticket , but Comcast has been very good in past and many people have no complaints. As far as loosing direct signal in bad western , just drop down off the HD during rainy season I tape both channels so I don’t miss anything , during the hurricane 3 years ago I had tv all night

I love Comcast! Have had them for over 30 years moving from City to City and always been very happy with them.

For reliability stick with Spectrum or Comcast. I tried a satellite dish to save money and was stuck with it for 2 years. Every time it rained the signal was lost. Every. Single. Time. If it's an all day tropical storm situation, you'll be without for hours, even just heavy clouds. Went back to Comcast, now have Spectrum as they were slightly less expensive than Comcast. Outages are very rare.

Hughesnet internet is insanely slow: 25mbps!! You should always get your internet on a promotion: Spectrum $49/mo 100mbps for 1 year. if you can, cancel your service after 1 year and switch to Comcast which is $40/mo for 1 year...(but you have to buy your own modem). At the end of the year, and not any sooner, cancel when their promo ends and switch back to Spectrum as a new customer for $49/mo. Always make sure you get free installation. (Don't let them tell you it'll be $100 to install. Ask for a supervisor)

Curious why it’s a bad word?

I had them when I lived in a remote area of AZ. No electrial or telephone poles for miles. We were very happy with Hughes for internet and TV. We had purchased the dish and mounted it on the front of our home by the roof line. Worked beautifully. This was from 2002-2010.

Hughes Net
 

Whoever wrote the item about Spectrum eliminating seasonal services was absolutely WRONG. I called Spectrum this morning and they said they would NEVER consider eliminating seasonal coverage because of all the seasonal residents in Florida. Thank goodness.

I wouldn't switch to Hughesnet. The internet was so slow-very frustrating Definitely would not use them.

I agree. Had it years ago and the quality was sub-par.