I've had TWO Hughesnet Accounts in six months, BOTH of them turned out to be disasters. The First, DSS800XXXX, was plagued with billing and service errors to start with. They billed my credit card $503.86 on my first bill because they said I put in an order for a "purchase". WRONG! The order simply stated lease. I had to send them the original order to prove it. A month later, they got it 1/2 right, but it was a continual battle with billing. I eventually had to change credit card #'s to get them to stop billing me. For the first 30 days, the service was as good as expected. I was on the HOME plan, which provide "UP TO" 1mbps of service. During the first 30 days, you are in a "customer satisfaction stage", where you can cancel without penalty, return the equipment at your expense, and not be obligated any longer. Your fee's you have paid so far are NOT REFUNDABLE (other than disputing it through your credit card company). After your 30 days, and a
fter your SECOND invoice generates, WHAMMY! You are at their mercy. Their famous excuse after that is "SPEEDS ARE NOT GUARANTEED". If you have to call tech support, its an endless cycle of running speed tests, and talking to someone in India. Billing support is in the Phillipines. With so many issues on this account, and after writing the Better Business Bureau of Maryland, my account was handed over to the corporate office (Executive Customer Care). I give those people credit, they did TRY to help me with the issues, but given that the NOCC (network operations) was directly controlling speeds at that time thru throttling and flow control, ECC and myself that this battle should end (it was stated by tech support. "your system is running fine. There is nothing else we can do... If you are not happy with the service, either "accept it with its Flaws" or cancel it. WHAT??? They admit their service is flawed? Cancelled it. More stupid on my part, we decided to sign u
p for a totally new account. New install, new equipment, new start...
Once again, EVERYTHING went perfect for the first 30 days. I signed up for the PRO package that time which gave a tad bit more speed, plus more daily usage (425mb)... Consistently, everyday, 1.5mbps speeds which was 95% of the plans output. GREAT I was thinking. 30 days passed. Second Invoice. Speeds went to around 300-400K... Then comes the excuses..."You are in peak time usage", you have exceeded your usage, you're in FAP, the weather at your gateway is BAD.
Tech support did admit once (the guy in India) that there WAS a problem, but it would have to be diagnosed by engineering. Again, and endless cycle of speed tests (in two occassions, put me over my daily usage, FAP, which they were unwilling to release)...
So be well aware, if you sign up for a Hughesnet Account with a HN9000 modem package, you are in for a very long battle. While you may think you're crusing right along at first, wait til you're 30 days are up, and you're in a contract. TWO TIMES in 6 months taught me a lesson! NEVER trust these people. They will NEVER admit that network operations gives you what ever speeds they want, whenever they want. The corporate office's response to my second series of complaints was directly from the office of the president and stated """We will not go through this again. Everyone just got your letter today. I called your mother and left a message. There is an open ticket with Tier 4, if they can't resolve I recommend she cancel immediately. PLEASE refrain from sending e-mails to the customer service group. I am sorry she is, or you are not happy with the service. You and I had an agreement on this next account. No complaints to ECC, and we do not guarantee speeds."""
Their famous slogan "do not guarantee speeds" just doesn't cut it on a $79.99 a month plan that rates at 1.6mbps, but only providing 300-400K.
This is a TRUE story, and I have no doubt all of these others are true in their own respect at well.
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