Hughes Net Consumer Reviews - Page 2

JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA -- I recently moved to Johnstown PA and signed up for Hughes Internet. I have only had service for less than 7 days and will be requesting that they remove their dish from my front yard as soon as possible. Since I have had their service, based upon three independent download tests that I performed at their request, I am able to confirm that my speed is not only 99% slower than the Johnstown area, and 99% slower than the PA state average and yes, 99% slower than the US average. I spent 1 hour and 15 minutes on the phone with their representative, running through multiple generic questions, running three download speed tests and attempting one upload speed test. I was not able to complete the upload test, as my internet speeds were too poor to complete and it timed out. At the end of this, the representative was glad to announce good news, that my system seemed to be performing on their end. No suggestions on how to make it perform on my end. When I refused to continue the over hour long process of diagnostics and troubleshooting and requested immediate technical support, I was advised that someone could call me back. When I stated that I needed a physical human being trained in technical support to visit my home and determine the cause of the internet lack of speed, I was advised that I could have that service if I wanted to pay them $125.00 for the service call. All of this after less than one week of service. When I demanded a manager at that point, I was directed to a friendly person who stated they understood my frustration and would arrange for a tech to come to my home the very next day, free of charge. It is now 2 hours and 15 minutes after that individual should have arrived. There has not been a call, an email, an update, nothing. I will be canceling my service and have made arrangements for another internet provider to install service as of this next Monday. Hughes Internet is a joke. I work from my home via internet. I have had to use my cell phone hotspot for three days to do my job. Also, I cannot use Netflix or Amazon with their service, as their speeds are not enough to support. Please note that my modem is NEXT TO MY TV THAT I AM TRYING TO USE NETFLIX FROM.
PS. I had to use the hotspot on my personal cell phone to be able to write and post this review.

GERMANTOWN, MARYLAND -- My 85-year old father recently contacted Dish TV about getting a package deal for TV service and also internet (which they bundled through Hughes Net). A Dish representative came out and set up both the TV and the internet. He explained my father would have both; it was a 2 year contract and didn't explain that the internet plan was a 'Data' plan - mostly used with cell phones. Residential areas mainly need 'speed' plans due to different requirements. Computer internet usage in residential areas is often determined by Windows upgrading itself or security updates or even streaming on TVs. My dad uses internet for both his computer and TV (and even his house phone). They never said that after 10GB of data, his internet speed would go down to 1 Mb/s - slow enough that most items won't work properly. The box that Dish set up with this 'bundle' and the computer went through the data in just 1 day and for the rest of the month Dad's at 1 Mb/s; his phone has a 1 second delay for anyone talking (not only hard to talk but using 911 is a major concern) and Netflix will not stream any movies. He tried numerous times to figure out why he had slow internet. When I contacted Hughes.net to try and help, they told me to disconnect his TV box and his computer... I asked what was the point in having internet if everything is disconnected. They then tried to sell Dad a higher data plan. Of course, any 'data' plan would have the same issue and they wanted more money. When I tried to terminate Dad's plan (which is what he wanted by then), they said there would be a termination fee even though they set up a bad product for my Dad's situation. Dish and Hughes.net set my elderly father up in a bad contract and won't rectify the situation.

GERMANTOWN, MARYLAND -- Let me preface this review by saying that this is MY experience and only mine. No one else's. I first got Hughesnet in December of 2004. It was a daily refill plan that didn't include a whole lot of data for each day (375MB, I think). It worked well, and the speed was much better than the dialup I had come from, being around 1Mbps. When I last had the legacy plan in February of 2016 I was getting speeds of around 1.6Mbps, but I wanted faster service. Thus, I upgraded to Gen4.

My Gen4 speeds were quite good, starting at about 20Mbps during the day, with around 50% or so slowdowns in the evenings. After about six months my speed went up to around 30Mbps, with the same 50% or so slowdowns in the evenings. Toward the end of my Gen4 service the evening slowdowns were becoming much greater, sometimes slowing to 2Mbps or 3Mbps. I then upgraded to Gen5 at the end of March 2017.

My Gen5 experience has been exemplary. I've been getting download speeds in the mid-upper 40Mbps range, and upload speeds of about 3Mbps, on average. I like the Video Data Saver that comes with Gen5 as it saves me data but still gives decent resolution on Youtube videos and such, normally being 480p. I have my desktop and laptop set up in such a way that they use the littlest amount of data possible, and also have ad blockers installed on my browser to save a little more. This is crucial, of course, due to Hughesnet having a soft data cap. I say soft, as you are only throttled when you run out of data. It's not turned off.

Thus far, I've only experience minor slowdowns in the evenings with Gen5. Perhaps a speed drop of 20% when it happens, and it hasn't been enough to affect anything. Again, I must stress, this is only MY EXPERIENCE with Hughesnet and no one else's. Everyone's experience is unique to them, and I have no doubt that the listed reviews of Hughesnet are honest when concerning their experience.

I don't work for Hughesnet, though I've often been accused of this when I give a review of my experience because it is markedly different than most of the reviews people see. Chalk that up to human nature when it concerns unsolicited reviews of products or services. When it concerns unsolicited reviews (reviews not asked for), it is exponentially more likely for someone to write a review when they have a bad experience than it is when they have a good experience or even a satisfactory one.

If I had an unlimited, ground based service available with comparable, or even better, speeds, I would certainly switch to that. But, like most Hughesnet customers, satellite internet is the only choice I have for anything better than dialup.

PLACERVILLE, CALIFORNIA -- I put up with HughesNet overpriced, slow as molasses internet for long enough, then finally decided a ridiculous contract cancellation fee would be better than paying over $70/mo for internet that doesn't work anyway. So I pay $250 to cancel and get the box and shipping label to return my leased equipment in. There were no instructions on what to return so I called and was told by a customer service representative to send back the modem and power cable. I was not told that instructions for returning equipment could be found online.

Fast forward over 6 months with no further contact from HughesNet and me assuming I'm free from their terrible internet and customer service... when suddenly I begin receiving rude and harassing phone calls from a collection agency saying I owe HN over $200 for unreturned equipment. I call HughesNet and am told I have to return the radio transmitter off the satellite dish.

I was not informed upon signing up that if I ever canceled I'd be responsible for climbing on my roof and disassembling the satellite dish to return one single part or have to pay someone else to do so. I explain that I returned exactly what I was told to, and I ask for another box and shipping label for the radio part, which they agree to send but it never comes.

Over the following months I keep getting calls from collections and keep calling to various HN reps all promising the same thing but never delivering. I finally stopped calling HN to try to deal with it when the last representative I spoke to told me "your account is greyed-out and we can't access anything, you have to settle with the collection agency". HN never had any interest in resolving the issue, they just jerked me around pretending they were helping. This company is a scam, all false advertising and shady business practices.

GHENT, NEW YORK -- I had to cancel my service and am being charged a penalty, this despite HughesNet wholly misrepresenting the service, its use to me and its eventual actual cost.

I explained to the agent when first exploring whether or not to sign:

1. I work from home and am on internet most of every day.
2. I have a Netgear Orbi system which uses 2 routers.
3. I stream music up to my stereo on another floor using an Apple Airport Express.
4. I have a 4K TV and stream in high res.

My question to him, therefore, was, would the 20 gig plan be sufficient?

Here is what he told me:

1. 20 gig will be sufficient for my needs. The Internet will be fine and with 25 mbps, far faster than a DSL. Not true. 20 gig lasts 4-5 days only and then HughesNet slows the mbps rate to the point where it takes up to 30 seconds to load a simple web page. This might be called a denial of service. I would have to more than triple my expense to get coverage for the month.

2. Orbi will be fine. Not true. Their tech support is saying they think the Orbi is eating data and is not compatible with the system. I should use the wifi on the HughesNet router.

3. If I cannot use the Orbi, I cannot stream music. I work in the music field and this is not an option.

4. He should have told me what their tech support has now told me: that high res streams use up 3 gig per hour and I will not be able to use high res on my TV bought for this purpose.

There are one of 2 possible explanations:

1. The salesperson misrepresented the service and was wrong about all the key data.

2. The company itself is involved in a bait and switch and has its sales persons say whatever they have to to make the sale.

I have now called on 9 occasions, spent nearly 5 hours on the phone, been promised 3 calls back that never came. Yet, to my surprise, one of their agents told me my story was not believed.

Avoid.

MICHIGAN -- Reliable... That's the opposite of HughesNet. We got HughesNet a few years ago with the hope of a faster, more reliable internet service. Now, having been with HughesNet for several years I can safely say that dial up is actually a more reliable option.

Where can I begin. To start out with, if you run over your limited bandwidth, your account is "hard throttled" meaning that anything that is https secured will no longer work and anything else will load at a speed slower than dial up internet. The interesting thing, however, is that even with full bandwidth this happens with Hughesnet multiple times a week. Conveniently it only happens when I'm not doing anything important, just trying to pay bills, apply for loans, or check my bank account. So obviously, this isn't that big of a deal.

Over the past few years that we've had HughesNet, we've had to have them come out to fix problems with their equipment twice. Each experience was met with over 3 hours of hold, several phone calls, and multiple poorly trained customer service representatives, which ended with having to wait for a week or more in order to PAY someone to come and fix their faulty equipment. This is now happening for a third time, conveniently enough while trying to finish up a student loan disclosure that is due two days from now.

It was bad enough to put up with the time outs and satellite outages in the middle of emails, paper submissions, and document viewing, but this time they've gone too far. Their poor customer service, faulty equipment, and outrageous prices for the amount of bandwidth you get is beyond ridiculous.

ENGLEWOOD, FLORIDA -- HughesNet is one of the worst companies in the U.S. I cannot understand how a company such as they can stay in business. They totally misrepresent themselves from the time you call them until that equipment is in place. Once they have the equipment in your home you are screwed. You do not get service you pay for - we cannot even view pictures on Facebook most of the time and it takes everything forever to load. Dial up is much better.

We decided to cancel and were informed that we had signed a two-year contract. When asked for a copy of the contract with our signature they informed us we didn't actually sign it but it was explained to us by the tech. We informed them that wasn't so, so they came up with they emailed me a copy and I opened the email so therefore we had an agreement. My next move is the Better Business Bureau!

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA -- I live in rural area and their advertising promised "high-speed internet everywhere." Well, before I signed up for 2 year contract, I made sure that - 5GB day and 50 GB 2 am-8 am would not be that bad as long as the speed of the download/upload, after the allowance GBs is reached will still let me use the internet at the slower, but doable speed. Service was as promised until about month ago. All the sudden, I could not open a single website.

The technical support basically informed me that they changed it and now, unless I pay for different plan (with the same issue after allowance) or buy tokens, I am screwed. My cancellation fee, as right now, is $400 (7 months left). So, basically, I have internet that is useless. Unless, of course, I am willing to wake up at 2 am to use these 50GBs.

I was promised unlimited internet with slower speed after I would use my data allowance. I was assured, that speed will be sufficient for web browsing at all time - I am at school. This information was accurate until the last month, when HughesNet changed it - without any warning, of course. The end of contract cannot come soon enough.

LEAVENWORTH, WASHINGTON -- After reading the other reviews, I really can't add anything to them except to say that they are misleading, have horrible customer service, and WILL, I repeat WILL take money out of your account. Why they are still in business is beyond me.

Our service didn't work for weeks at a time. Techs came and went without a solution, yet, $80.00 was taken out of our account monthly. They wouldn't let us out of our contract, we didn't have internet connection, and their customer service was appalling. If you need to access the net, don't use this company. Go to EXEDE or anything other than HughesNet. I wish someone would sue the company and put them out of business, but no one seems to care about their dishonesty or the people they are ripping off.

FLORIDA -- I was facing foreclosure in April 2015, Hughes Net was told I needed to cancel July 1st of the same year. Hughes said they could suspend service for 5 dollars a month until I settled into new home address. I did not need them and canceled in Oct 2015. They send me a box to return the equipment along with a request for the transmitter located in the dish on the now bank owned property. Their telephone representative new the situation in April and again in July of the foreclosure. No one explained the transmitter was in the outside dish.

I received a mailer box in Oct to return the interior control box. I did that and also read that the return instructions said to include the dish transmitter from outdoors. They kept billing me for a service I did not have on a location the bank possessed. Now here in Jan 2016 they had the audacity to remove $214 out of my checking account. Correct me if I'm wrong but every other business would have to sue me or send me to collections to recoup this money. They are dishonest and have disrupted my financial wellbeing.