# wild blue v. hughes net sorry no forum for hsd



## kylegreen1435 (Dec 1, 2009)

please i dont have too good a clue on the both of these and want to get my parents the better one please help me


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

If they have any other options, go with the other options first.

If they have no other options, you'll have to look closely at their usage habits and compare that to the different plans.

Keep in mind that sat internet should be your last choice.
Sat internet is expensive
It's slow
There are rolling download caps


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

yup, nothing like hitting hughes FAP limit and suddenly dropping to 56K connection for hours.
not sure if any forum here deals with satellite internet, this is all TV.


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## kylegreen1435 (Dec 1, 2009)

i work for the cable co trust me i would love to get them roadrunner but they're out too far i dont think my mom even knows where the power button is i need to know about signal reliability


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## kylegreen1435 (Dec 1, 2009)

its my last resort


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

kylegreen1435 said:


> i work for the cable co trust me i would love to get them roadrunner but they're out too far i dont think my mom even knows where the power button is i need to know about signal reliability


was bad for me here in Maine, clear skies fine but major rain or just about ANY snowstorm brought issues. was not alignment, had 97-100 signal. and that sucked during patch downloads/etc.
without a good download manager you'd lose everything you had already d/l


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

New installations of Hughes net should all be with the HNS9000 modem using Spaceway 3. Speeds should be more reliable vs the older HNS7000 and the varioius sats you could aim at. I believe SW3 is at 95w.

They have a "free" window each night where downloads don't count towards the daily download limit. You'll want to install some sort of download manager for them so they can queue up any big downloads (windows updates, etc) to happen during that window. Also, they can scratch any plans to do much video streaming. That will eat up their daily limits in a hurry. General web surfing and email will be fine.

No experience with wildblue so can't comment there.


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## Beerstalker (Feb 9, 2009)

I had to make this decision over the sumer and went with HughesNet. The prices between them and Wildblue are pretty similar for the service you get. The reasons I went with HughesNet was:

1. Daily download limit instead of monthly. If you go over your daily limit on Hughes your internet slows down to around dialup speed for about 24 hours, then it returns to normal. On Wildblue you have a monthly limit, and if you go through that early on in the month you are stuck with dialup speeds for the rest of the month.

2. From 2:00am - 7:00am (Eastern Time) HughesNet does not monitor your downloads. This means that you can schedule major updates to dowload at this time (or just wake up and do it yourself like I do) and not worry about using up all your alloted downloads. Wildblue does not have an option like this that I am aware of.

3. From what I have read there service should be a little less susceptible to weather fade. I have only experienced weather related service problems a couple times in the 4 or 5 months I've had their service. During those times I was also having issues with my DirecTV service so they were pretty bad storms.

Overall I am fairly happy with my HughesNet service. I just have the 1 meg service right now and it runs me a little over $70 a month with taxes and everything included (equipment is leased). I was a little annoyed that you have to sign a 2 year agreement no matter if you lease or buy the equipment. I am in a rental home with a 1 year lease so I didn't really want to sign a 2 year agreement but I had to. All buying the equiment saves you is the $10 month rental fee, and you usually have to pay for the install if you buy the equipment. Lease the equipment and install is free. That didn't really make sense to me.

It's definitely not as fast as cable or DSL, but it does seem to be faster than the U.S. Cellular aircard my neighbor uses.

Hughes is currenlty working on offering some new features too. I was invited to beta test them but haven't had the chance yet. Here's the email I got:



HughesNet Service Tools Preview 

Dear HughesNet Member,

You’re invited to be one of the first to preview and use a new set of tools 
from Hughes! 

Based on member feedback, we are developing a suite of tools focused on delivering a better HughesNet service. 

Maximize your HughesNet Service Plan by managing your download allowance. Hughes is providing tools to optimize your usage, schedule your downloads, and purchase additional bandwidth. 


Status Meter - While not a true meter yet ( we are working on this!), this small System Tool Tray applet will alert you if you exceed your daily download allowance. 

Restore Tokens - If you exceed your download threshold, the use of a Restore Token will immediately reset your daily download allowance. You will be given one complimentary Restore Token per month and have the opportunity to purchase additional Tokens if needed. 

Download Manager - A NEW applet that will allow you to automatically schedule large downloads to occur during the Download Zone. 

Download Zone - Download files without impacting your daily download allowance from 2:00 am – 7:00 am (Eastern Time) every morning, seven days a week.



Well, I hope this helps make your decision. I know it was hard for me to find much info earlier this summer so best of luck to you.


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## Paul E Fox II (Jul 6, 2008)

There is a forum for this on the net. If you search DSL Reports HughesNet it should land you there.

However, I rarely read anything positive on that site. It actually kept me from getting satellite internet for over two years as I was very nervous about what I was buying.

That being said, this summer I took the plunge - HughesNet Pro Plus Plan.
1.6mbps - 425MB down in a 24 hour period
2a - 7a FAP (Fair Access Policy) Free Period

In real world use, I get an average of 200k down during not peak times (usually until about 7:30pm Eastern each night). After that, it ranges from a snail slow 7-9kbps to around 46-50kbps down until around 11:30pm or so.

This is very slow to some but even the low end is 4 times faster than I was getting via dial-up.

I've been FAP-ed once, this past weekend while downloading the HD Version of "Glee" from iTunes. I set an alarm, got up at 2am to start the download but weather kept it from finishing up in the 2a-7a period and I was busted (it was about 1.7GB total).

As mentioned, HugesNet is now offering their own branded Download Manager and has implemented a "Restore Tokens" program that helps these overages. You only get one free token per month but they offer additional tokens for purchase at @ $10.50 per token.

Weather is a problem at times and I do experience the odd outage from time to time.

Overall, other than the price, I'm happy. My service costs $84.00 plus tax per month and that's kinda high. But since I have no other options...it's better than dial-up.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

I'm moving this to the General Satellite Discussion forum.


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## Steve H (May 15, 2006)

I have been with both of them...............I'll go back to dial up before I ever think about going back to either. Have you thought about using a cell service modem?


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Look at StarBand also. Rates and speeds are comparable. FAP is on a rolling 7 day period, BW cap varies with rate plan.


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## kylegreen1435 (Dec 1, 2009)

why would you rather go back to dial up as apposed to satalite hsd?


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## brant (Jul 6, 2008)

starband requires a phone line for uploads. 

wildblue will offer 10Mb service next year.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

brant said:


> starband requires a phone line for uploads.


False.

(Geeze, where do people come up with this nonsense?)


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## brant (Jul 6, 2008)

SayWhat? said:


> False.
> 
> (Geeze, where do people come up with this nonsense?)


apologies. I was confusing starband with skyway.

no need for the ******** comment after it though. just explain the facts.


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