Hughes Network has come WAY down in price!

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Exciting news!  After a crazy high bill from Verizon, Patti contacted Hughes Network to find out what they are now charging for internet access.  About 60 bucks a month, and 300 for your choice of equipment...installed!  All the equipment is self tracking, and for RV applications you get your choice of a roof mount dome, or a setup similar to the Tailgater, which is what we are opting for.  WAY faster than 4G, unlimited internet access, and even using a Vonage type phone, the bill will be about 60 bucks a month.  Plus whatever pay as you go smart phone we get for taking credit cards...probably Verizon, so figure another 30 bucks a month.  90 bucks a month instead of our last Verizon bill of 500!!!  Hughes Network has come WAY down in price!  They are installing and setting everything up for us on Monday, so I'll let you all know how it works and all the details!

Kev

[pvoth1111]

Wow that is awesome......let us know how this works out and what we have to do to get that same deal...unlimited data right? im gonna have them on speed dial if this works for you....getting good high speed internet service at affordable prices in one of the hardest parts of full timing.

[moonlitcoyote]

Holy crap seriously?? I had hughesnet and I paid over 100/month with a download limit of about 12 gb/month

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Yep.  According to them...and we asked them a LOT of questions...its unlimited data for around 60 bucks a month!  Like I said, their prices came WAY down.  I think they had to do something like this to compete with 4G.  I'll let you all know how it works out!

Kev

[moonlitcoyote]

I cant wait to see how it works out for you. I tried looking it up online last night and I didnt find any plans for that price that was unlimited.

[Lefty]

I hope it works out too. All I found was a reference that Hughesnet Gen4 was only for permanent locations only...due to something involving it's spot-beam way of delivery. They reference that for RV or mobile service you must use either of two authorized Hughesnet mobile internet service providers.

This is located on Hughesnet's main website, under the FAQ, General tab.
"To receive mobile high-speed Internet service, please contact one of the following Value Added Service providers:
Ground Control, www.groundcontrol.com
1-800-773-7168
MobilSat, www.mobilsat.com
1-757-312-8300   "

I then went to those sites for further info... First off, the ground Control site is outrageously expensive!! A Mobile internet dish is $5,995. If you want up to 445kb/s speeds. Monthly service for 3Gb/s speed is around $399.00/mo. and requires a .98 meter dish or larger to get that speed.. The dishes start at $16,000 each.
The second site, is a lot cheaper. $79.99/mo. for speeds up to 1Gb/s. If you have the required router (Hughesnet HN7000s ($329 ea on Amazon), and again have the special dish...
Which is again, a $16,000 purchase.
Both state that VOIP phone capability is an added cost... and runs about $50.00/mo extra.

Now, with all that said.. I don't see why standard Hughesnet home satellite internet service wouldn't work just as well if you moved the antenna to a new location as long as it was correctly pointed at the right satellite. Both Dish Netwrok and Direct TV will tell you something along the same lines if you mention you want to use your home service while on the road, by taking one of the receivers with you and using a portable dish... And they are lying. I've used the sat receiver from our house tv several times while on trips and had no problems. The problem is, Satellite internet requires a special kind of dish to work, they aren't cheap, and I don't know how portable the house style they give you when they install it will be if you try to use it in a camper style setup.

http://www.mobilsat.com//HughesNet/FAP/
States that after 425mb/day your speeds will be "Significantly restricted for 24 hours"...
This is the same restriction found at both Ground Control and Hughesnet's main site... Although you are buying "Unlimited Data", your speeds are throttled after the first 425mb of data each 24hr period to around 56kb/s. You can however still access the internet, at 56kb/s dialup speeds... so they can still call it "unlimited".


Here was the option I went with, and it worked great on our last trip.
We have two phones thru Walmart's Family Mobile. The first was $39.95/mo and added a second phone for $34.95/mo. Both have unlimited talk/text/and web. The phones also have a built in WiFi Hotspot ability.. So we used that to make a Wifi Hotspot in our camper for using the laptops. We used it for two laptops, and were on a 4G signal.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

This is why we aren't going to give them a penny until we have it in writing.  The website I checked out last night doesn't line up with what the sales rep was telling us, so we have a lot more questions to ask. 

Kev

[pvoth1111]

Till all this sorts out......
A while back I bought a travel router.........http://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-routers/PR2000.aspx

Got it at Staples....cheap <50 bucks

This allows me to create my own private network within/around the coach.....the router connects to the park wifi .....boosts it a bit.......and allows multiple connections in the coach.....two laptops, tablet....and even the Chromecast which is why I got it so I can watch Netflix on the TV

If I turn on my HotSpot it connects to that too and don't have to change any other connections...as everything downstream just connects to the router....

Wifi Ranger may be the next step.....https://www.wifiranger.com/

Buying the cheaper Netgear router was the first step and it works pretty good, a WiFI Ranger setup may increase the distance from which I can grab free WIFI....currently I pay per month at the Park I'm at and cable is free (basic).

With better internet, TV can be had over the internet so fast, dependable, and low cost internet is for me is far more important.....and highly sought after....

Satellite internet if cost effective would be ideal....but it has to be Unlimited, throttling free (or at least manageable) at a price I can live with....

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I'll let you all know what I find out tomorrow.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Salesman lied to us and is probably going to get fired, since this is his third infraction trying to get a commission.  Tech came out to install a HUGE stationary dish, yadayadayada...and I'm sure you can guess the rest of the story.  Bottom line is it didn't cost us a thing, and NO, there are still no self tracking internet satellite dishes, not even for the Military.  Ah well.

So we bumped our plan up on Verizon to 10 gigs a month.  The bill will be around 190 a month, but that includes 2 phones and the tablet, and enough gigs that we won't have any overages.

Kev

[pvoth1111]

Damn....

[M & J]

If it sounds too good to be true.........

[moonlitcoyote]

Kevin have you checked with millenicom? You can get a verizon jetpack from them with 20 gigs/month for $90. And you can use up to 10 devices.

[Lefty]

"and NO, there are still no self tracking internet satellite dishes, not even for the Military.  Ah well."


Well, there is "In-Motion Satellite Internet" available with true auto self tracking dishes... But definately not in the average budget.  Prices start at $5,995 for the hardware.(http://www.groundcontrol.com/Wideye_Safari_BGAN_Terminal.htm)
Check out the "Service Plan" prices... (http://www.groundcontrol.com/BGAN_rate_plans.htm)
Standard Prepaid Terms
2 Gigabytes - $9,360
3 Gigabytes - $13,980
4 Gigabytes - $18,560
5 Gigabytes - $23,100
7 Gigabytes - $32,060
10 Gigabytes - $41,300
15 Gigabytes - $61,200
25 Gigabytes - $77,826


http://www.groundcontrol.com/In-Motion_Satellite_Internet.htm


Like I said.. Does it EXIST? Yep.. Is it something us mere non-billionaire mortals can afford? NOPE!

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Hey Lefty.  Even our military doesn't use auto tracking mobile internet.  Guess that's only for the rich folks, and our troops get the poopy end of the stick as always...lol!

Kev

[Lefty]

I was just amazed how expensive the service is, considering the bandwidth and speeds you get for that price. 445kb/s and only 2Gb total for 10 grand?? Unbelievable...
Especially since so many smartphones now have built in WIFI hotspot capability, and you can simply use them to create a wifi hotspot to use for your laptops, often at 4G speeds. For more like $50/mo.  There's just no real comparison and I can't even see any potential market at the prices they suggest. Why and who would pay that kind of money?

[ClydesdaleKevin]

So ironically, our relatively new (2 months old if that) Verizon Elipse tablet died all of a sudden...dumped its memory and ID numbers, etc.  Had to go to a Verizon store to get it all worked out, and they'll warranty it, but I have to wait for Verizon to send me a box, ship it back to them, then they'll send me a new one.  In the meantime, we need internet and a way to take credit cards, so I upgraded Patti's phone to a big screen LG smart phone.  Cost me 56 bucks out of pocket and will add 10 bucks a month to our bill...but it came with an extra gig a month for the next 2 years, so we'll actually have 11 gigs a month to use...lol!  Works as a hotspot, which is how you are reading this...and I already uploaded Square to it for the credit cards.

Kev

[moonlitcoyote]

Millenicom 90/month for 20 gigs plus you can get one of those credit card readers that plugs into your phone.