Anyone use or have used it?

I'm in a location where it's my only choice and am considering doing away with Dish TV, which I seldom have on, and using the money saved to get Internet instead.

One question is whether to purchase or lease the equipment? My hunch is to buy it because after 2 years of lease payments I could have bought it whereas a $15 per month lease payment would continue on. Of course if the equipment fails the fix cost would be on me but surely it should last for 5+ years?

I'm not interested in gaming at all but would like to maybe download some documentaries or a movie on occasion and am wondering if the $60 per month, 10GB plan would suffice?

A friend at work is in your same situation. He's had it for about a year. No complaints other than cost. Keep in mind if you download 2 movies you'll be close to your data cap each month.

I had it for a couple of years.

It was marginally better than dialup speed-wise, but VERY sensitive to weather conditions.

I also had to have the transceiver on the antenna replaced twice, so I'd be a little leery of buying outright. I expect the service bill would make the $15 a month look pretty attractive.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
It was marginally better than dialup speed-wise, but VERY sensitive to weather conditions.

Not-to-mention the lag. Every packet goes up from the surface, to a satellite, and back down again. So even when there's no packet loss there's a looooong path.

You won't be gaming with it, that's for sure.

But, if it's all you can get, it's all you can get.

Buddy of mine, with a cabin out in the woods (I mean really out in the woods) was able to get sufficient signal from AT&T LTE to make that usable for him, but he's only using it to stay in contact for business purposes when he's there.

If there's no other option it may suffice, but it's quite expensive for what you actually get (10GB/mo is next to nothing), and you're locked into a contract. Satellite Internet is and should be a solution of last resort.

But if that's all you can get, the rest may be moot.

Though usually not any cheaper, you may look into 4G options.

Thanks maybe leasing makes sense then.

No 4G at all just 3G varying from "no service" to 1 bar, once in a while I briefly have 2 bars of signal.

Not blazing speed for sure but HughesNet is claiming their new ungraded Gen5 system is much faster than what they had up to last year.

See what Exede has in your area. When I moved out here where there is no cable or DSL available, I looked at both Hughs and Exede and ended up going with Exede.

I tried satellite here, the cost was high and the delays, weather issues, etc... we dumped it. Ended up with 4G, but had to put Cellular booster in to get reliable signal.

https://www.wilsonamplifiers.c...vC-tYCFVi2wAod1cULYw

I work from home, so the delays with satellite and our VPN didn't work well together.

Been using HughesNet Gen 4 for about 3.5 years. About my only option so beggars can't be choosers. I'll say that it works well enough that I can get on most sites and do what I need to. Bills get paid, my daughters homework gets done, YouTube gets watched and you can do some streaming/downloading of movies to watch later. I think Gen 5 has no data limit, but I don't think I am about to enter into another contract (after 2 years, you go month to month with no increase in what you pay). I have been mostly satisfied with it, but the weather does affect it just like your DirecTV. The other problem is high traffic times affect the speed more than anything else. I can tell you when kids start getting home from school based on how slowly my internet starts going. It's like trying to make it through NOVA traffic during rush hour.

We are always looking for inexpensive wifi when traveling in our RV.
We discovered the AT&T MOBLEY. Its a mobile hot spot designed to be plugged into your car.
It can also be plugged into any usb port for power.
Its $20 a month and unlimited data.All you need is a AT&T signal. About the size of a deck of cards.
Works great! Can easily watch netgear in HD.
NOBODY at AT&T knows about it, you HAVE to ask for Mobley SPECIALIST in the RV area if you call.
I have read that AT&T is dropping this service and will only grandfather service to existing customers. Check it out soon if you think it would work for you.

We had it was beyond awful. They have the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Their service is for those that have no other choice and they act that way.

If it is at all possible to avoid this company I would strongly suggest it.

I'd go without before I'd do business with them again.

The product also sucks. We had Gen 4 and were not able to stream anything.

quote:

Originally posted by armored:
We are always looking for inexpensive wifi when traveling in our RV.
We discovered the AT&T MOBLEY. Its a mobile hot spot designed to be plugged into your car.
It can also be plugged into any usb port for power.
Its $20 a month and unlimited data.All you need is a AT&T signal. About the size of a deck of cards.
Works great! Can easily watch netgear in HD.
NOBODY at AT&T knows about it, you HAVE to ask for Mobley SPECIALIST in the RV area if you call.
I have read that AT&T is dropping this service and will only grandfather service to existing customers. Check it out soon if you think it would work for you.

Unfortunately that program is gone. Glad I snagged one.

My choice is basically no service, or (HughesNet) expensive service for what you get.

I'm thinking of doing a 2 year lease plan with HughesNet in order to have some service.

Used HugesNet for 2 years in the middle East. Ping will be 650 ms on a good day. More like 950 Ms. Rain will be a huge issue for these home units just don't have the power to reach through the water. Don't plan on using Netflix or any video streaming services . Also, dish alignment is critical and requires checking every once and awhile.

It does work.

It's just expensive, and sometimes inconsistent, often offers minimal data, and bad for some things (streaming, gaming, etc).

But rest assured, it beats the shit out of not having any sort of broadband, and will let you email and www just fine, maybe a movie here and there, some YouTube, etc.

I live in wv also.
I have had both Hughes and exede.

Dumped Hughes data restrictions and customer service are deplorable.

Did exede for a while also. Better cs, also could piggy back our home line through the sat
Easier to add data

Both are just expensive

Just switched to a cellular hot spot

There are no good options for us either

Good luck