Is HughesNet business package REALLY and RELIABLY better?

[gasinc]

I have a Hughes DW6000 system that was installed 4 years ago (Direcway then). DSL was coming 'soon', and I was willing to accept Direcways throughly average service while i waited. DSL is still 'coming soon', but the dates have always been pushed back for the last 5 years - i have given up on Qwest DSL. I have the $59/mo rate, and have been moderatly happy witht the service. It's a bit flakey and the speeds can drop to 100-200 form time to time, but I generally get 450-700 out of it. I know have three high school age kids who love to IM and surf. I have a WiFi router accessed by (up to) four computers. When I am the only one surfing or downloading all is good (most of the time). As the kids join in, things get gummed up.

I'm contemplating moving up to the business level 'ProPlan Plus w/o IP' which moves up to 1.5Mbps. @ $79/mo. Does it actually do much better DURING PEAK HOURS? I'm sure that on any given Wednesday night at 1am, it will get 1.5Mbps, but will i get more bandwidth at 7pm on Friday etc. Or. . . . do all of the users (no matter what plan) slow to a crawl at peak hours?

Do any of you out there have this plan and can quote speed numbers at peak hours?

Hughes offers a ProPlan Plus w/IP for $10 more - will that help me any, or is just for business website stuff.

I've also seen reference in the forums to buying the 7000 router and the bigger dish on ebay. I figured that Hughes would require me to buy it from, and have it installed by them ($300 or $150 w/15 month contract). Can i buy it on eBay and install it myself? Will Hughes give me a hard time? If i mount it where the 6000 Dish was, can I target it, or do i need Hughes to do that?


Thanks for any help!

 

[dbirdman]

The HughesNet Business Plans (I have the one they call "Business Internet") are much better than the consumer plans.

The ProPlus plan is NOT a business plan, and is not promoted or sold as one. It is the highest of the consumer plans, and runs a bit better, but not a lot, than standard home service. One of the bigger reasons people opt for Pro or ProPlus is to get a higher FAP. Within the scheme of the way Hughes works, a well-working Home plan will outperform a marginal ProPlus.

Note that ALL of the 7000 plans will, on average, run circles around ALL of the 6000 plans. Not so true when comparing with the old 4000, which often had much better download rates than a typical 6000.

With a true business plan I rarely see less than 1800kbps down, and 350kbps up. $200 per month, though!

 

[gasinc]

Hughes 7000 vs. 6000 system performance

Before I read your reply, I called Hughes and asked about upgrading to the ProPlus plan and the guy suggested I try the 1.0 Mbps on my existing DW6000 system for only $10/mo more. - I have not done that yet.

You said that "ALL of the 7000 plans will, on average, run circles around ALL of the 6000 plans". So, basicaly the DW6000 system hardware is the problem, and therefore all of the plans are slow? If I upgrade to the HN7000 hardware, and move up to the 1.0Mbps or the 1.5Mbps (I have the 700kbps planon the DEW6000 now) should that be significantly faster and more reliable? The real question is how low does the speed go during peak hours? Off-Peak is acceptable at 700kbps, but much lower than that and i start to get frustrated. I have an on-line class that has a webcast lecture on Saturdays from 4-9pm. As a rule i have taken to going down to an internet cafe to watch it - my Hughes connection likes to drop or hang to often.

Do you konw if their 30 day warranty covers upgrades? I could test the HN7000 system and see how it does.

. . . . I'd love to go up to true Business Class, but $80 is already over budget, $200 is out of the question.

Thanks again for all of your input

 

[SatAdam]

I have the Pro plan with my 6000... I think most of the problem is with Hughes. I've noticed lately that 99% of my problems are with their accelleration junk failing.

and lately I've had a lot of problems since my contract ran out. I've put a power switch inline with my TX so I can reboot it with my toe. DSL is a definate for the end of this year, so I only have another year and if it craps out I'll get Wild Blue or something else. Hughes has dissappointed me for the last time.

 

[tonyp56]

Well, for comparison, I have the 7000 modem and am on the basic Home plan (700Kbps download and 128Kbps upload). Going to www.testmy.net I can run a speed test that during off-peak hours I am usually 840Kbps download and 100-128Kbps upload.

:::.. testmy.net test results ..:::
Download Connection is:: 856 Kbps about 0.86 Mbps (tested with 748 kB)
Download Speed is:: 104 kB/s
Upload Connection is:: 127 Kbps about 0.1 Mbps (tested with 386 kB)
Upload Speed is:: 16 kB/s
Tested From:: http://testmy.net (Server 1)
Test Time:: 2007/01/07 - 11:29pm
D-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-5F2KM3PRZ
U-Validation Link:: http://testmy.net/stats/id-I6BLMHFV3
User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) [!]

See above results!

Anyways that is what I see with same plan as you. Now of course, I'm on 89W satellite and 1150 transponder. So there can be a difference with speeds on different satellite. Go to testmy.net about the same time and run a dual test--both download and upload--, and this will give you an idea of the difference in speed between 7000 and 6000. (just remember, if you aren't on the same satellite as me, you can't really compare 100%, because different satellites I am sure will be different, one slower and one faster etc. but should still give you an idea).

As far as the more expensive packages go, you might only slow down to 400-500Kbps instead of 100-200Kbps. But honestly, I think the slow down(s) will be the same, that everyone is affected, no matter how much they pay.

Except for the buisness plans that cost $1000 to get installed and cost $200 a month for service. Those would likely not see as much of a slow down as the consumer plans, like Dbirdman said. But still would see it, just not anything like consumer plan customers. For one, buisness plans cost more money, have better Dish, transponder, etc. and typically are used by big buisnesses. So Hughes wouldn't want to piss those customers off. LOL

 

[GARYPSWANSON]

Regarding the modems. I just upgraded from the DW7000 to HN7000S Pro Plan and am Not impressed. I had better download speeds with the DW7000 and it was at least consistent. The HN7000S speeds are jumping all over the place. With the DW 7000 I always had at least an 800 download. With the HN7000S, and the proplan, I typically run in the 500 to 600 range. I have spent many hours on the line with Hughes, they have changed my radio and repointed me to 99W 1250 and nothing is getting better. Bottom line is I would stick with the DW 7000 rather then use the HN7000S. Along that line, going from the DW6000 to DW7000 was an improvement for me.

 

[KE4EST]

With your situation, I think you might want to try Wildblue. You'll have to sign another contract. But since they say your DSL is still a few years away. You could even keep Directway/HN and get WB installed try it for a week or two and cancel if you don't like. AFAIK WB still lets you cancel in 30 days before your stuck to contract. WB is $299 installed or $199 if you u are a DishNetwork Sub, and go through Dish.

 

[dbirdman]

You said that "ALL of the 7000 plans will, on average, run circles around ALL of the 6000 plans". So, basicaly the DW6000 system hardware is the problem, and therefore all of the plans are slow?

"Slow" is relative - at any given moment there will be people with each modem type that are slower than snails, and others with the same modem that are getting very decent speeds. All sorts of factors, but the biggest one in those variations is the particular mix of users on your gateway - the small segment of a transponder that you share with a couple of hundred other users. People often talk about overloaded satellites and transponders, but the truth is that each and every satellite and transponder is massively overloaded to the same level, so that never has to do with any particular user's slow speeds. Get on a gateway with 10 power users and you will all suffer greatly, with those 10 being the biggest complainers!

The 7000 does have a major hardware advantage, which is on the upload side. Upload speeds on a 7000 are normally at least 3 times as fast as on a 6000. Since all internet communications are bi-directional, upload speeds affect everything you do, not just uploading something.

I see that someone in this thread fell for the nonexistent "upgrade" from a 7000 to a 7000S. Too bad. From the user end, a 7000 and 7000S are the same thing, and neither is an upgrade from the other. Since all changes (satellite, service, modem, etc) with Hughes involve a gateway change, you have a roughly equal chance of having speeds drop, or rise, when switching from 7000 to 7000S or vice-versa.