HughesNet Review
Nathan Borson
Hi Justin,
Thanks for your inquiry about my HughesNet satellite Internet service. I’m copying my reply to the Gustavus Broadband Group.
The latest HughesNet has been working well for me.
I paid
- $600 for install plus equipment. Doc installed everything, including the post for the dish. I own the equipment, so there is no rental fee.
- $50/month for the first year, $70 thereafter
- for 20 GB/month “anytime” data plus 50 GB allowance for 2-6 am
- I think it was another $20/month for an extra 10GB.
- I can buy “tokens” for additional use at $3 per GB.
Do I recommend it?
- For your home: definitely, if you can see that part of the sky (136 true, 15 degrees above horizon). You have no viable option (unless you consider flaky “mobile broadband” viable).
- Other Gustavus customers, especially lighter Internet users (who rarely if ever stream video), may be better served by Byte Networks or AT&T cell service, if they have a great cell signal or neighbors with Byte service. For some users the lower-latency service, possibly at a lower cost, might make these services a better choice than HughesNet; see “Cons,” in table below, regarding the impact of satellite latency.
- For customers who regularly stream video (or would if they could), HughesNet is the fastest and cheapest provider available in Gustavus, but it does require seeing the satellite (136 degrees true, just 15 degrees above horizon).
It’s by far the best option available now to you and me, but it’s still satellite service; see pros and cons table below. I hope it’s the stepping stone to what the national, Alaska, and Gustavus broadband plans call for, to what’s already available to much of the world’s population: 100 Mbps down/10+ Mbps up with low latency and cost well below $1/GB. This could be provided as early as 2019 by a low-earth orbit satellite constellation or new local last-mile and middle-mile networks, but don’t count on either!
Nate
HughesNet “Gen 5” satellite internet service
Pro | Con |
Sustained 25 Mbps downloads meet current FCC definition of “broadband.” Uploads are halfway decent too, at 1-2 Mbps. | Noticeable satellite latency has high impact on interactive applications. 2-way voice and video (i.e. Skype) works but with delay (“over…”). VPNs may connect but operate at dial-up speeds, making some telework (i.e. NPS) difficult or impossible. Multiplayer online games may work very poorly, with long lags between control and response. |
Works well for streaming media such as Netflix and Amazon video (but watch your data consumption!). | Requires installation of dish with view of 136 degrees true, 15 degrees above horizon. Many properties in Gustavus lack this view due to neighbors’ forests. |
Best price per GB in Gustavus for moderate to heavier users: ~$3 for “anytime” use, plus generous allowance for additional use from 2-6 am. | Subject to outages during the heaviest rain bursts, and to brief sun outages at certain predictable times. |
From: Justin Smith
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2017 7:02 PM
To: Nate Borson
Subject: speed, the final frontier.
Nate,
Well, it's been a few months. How's that new internet service working out? Do you recommend it? How much are you paying for it, for how much data?
We're hoping to move in around xmas. I've been thinking that we should get on the list if we are going to get hooked up by then.
thanks,
Justin