Are you happy with your HughesNet or ViaSat service? (rental, utilities)

[thurx]

I'm moving in to the Edneyville area and my only choice on the mountains with a clear view only to the SouthEast seems to be between the satellite providers, Hughes and ViaSat. No Skyrunner down here, and no cable or DSL from ATT.



I'm looking for advice in choosing between Hughes and Viasat as to the performance you get, the performance for the money, the different options offered by each, the effect of weather, the service agreement (duration needed to avoid cancellation charges), and even how attentive they are to dish placement. I can't put a dish on the roof due to rental restriction. Are they good at signal testing?



All I expect out of satellite reception is to be able search and read on the internet, with occasional YouTube use. No gaming, no movie streaming. Will I be content with the service you recommend?


Thanks!!

[infocyde]

I can give you my experience with Hughes Net in the Southwest using it as a remote worker.

* It could just barely handle conference calls and screen sharing. Just barely.
* There is a high ping, like over 400 milliseconds. Forget first person shooter gaming or things like connecting to a remote SQL Server through a VPN.
* The connection is fairly fast beyond that high latency ping.
* Streaming videos can really eat at that 50 gigs fast. If you are using a phone or a laptop you can select the stream rate. I usually dropped mine to like 240p. Some devices don't allow you to tweak the bit rate so they will eat up your 50 gigs fast. There was some setting on the web site that allowed you to cap how the data rate of videos streamed to your computer, but I never got that to work even after setting it numerous times.
* Once you burn through your data cap the service is very slow. Like having a 256 ISDN line or an old modem.
* You have like a 50 gig data cap and it cost like 10 bucks to get 10 gigs more or something like that.
* With all the negatives above, I was still impressed on what could be done with a satellite connection. I give Hughes Net props for pulling the above off, but compared to other technologies, satellite would be my last resort.
* You sign a two year commitment I think, and if you bail out of it early they charge you. They also charge you if you don't return the radio part of the satellite dish.
* You have to go through an interrogation by offshore workers when you want to ditch the service.

So, if that is your only option, it is better than nothing, but I'd look to see if there is a wireless phone provider in the area with a 4G data plan. The mountains might make that difficult and I'm out of the area so you'd have to research if any will work for you.

If you just plan to check the news and email a few times a day it will work. Light web browsing and the occasional video it works for that fine too. For anything higher if you can you want something else if you can

Good luck.

[thurx]

Thanks infocyde, great comments on the details.
And I'm sure most of the limitations and hidden costs are also true for Viasat.
Yes, I'm stuck with satellite in my new location. Your last paragraph exactly describes my needs though.


For others wanting a fairly comprehensive critique of the 2 satellite providers mentioned, I found these 2 articles from Broadbandnow: (not sure how often this info is updated though)


Hughes: https://broadbandnow.com/HughesNet-deals


Viasat: https://broadbandnow.com/Exede-Internet-deals

[v10tdi]

I had Exede for awhile.

As mentioned...

- High latency made some types of use (e.g., games, A/V, VPN) difficult or impossible.
- PoP can be an annoyance depending on the web service you use. For example, business searches think you're located wherever your satellite link hits the internet - which probably isn't going to be near your physical location. So when you do a search for "paint store" the results probably aren't relevant until you change the location - which can be a pain.
- Data caps are a constant issue (e.g., streaming, web cams, software updates, email attachments, etc.).
-- Excede used to have windows w/o data caps - not sure about now. It might depend on which satellite they put you on? Some are apparently more congested than others. You might have a look to see what is on offer from the various providers. There are options in some OS or IoT devices that can be configured to take advantage of these windows (i.e., updates). I remember one time we used up almost our entire monthly data allotment in one night when a several Windows laptops individually downloaded a huge Windows/Office update. lol
-- You might want to get an ad blocker that uses IP poisoning to limit ad downloads. I don't think browser-based options save on data.
-- There are some routers that can help you monitor your data (and can do ad blocking)

After a couple of years of this mess I got "lucky" and was able to pay for a cable to be routed up to our place. To be fair, part of the cost to me was burying the cable (utilities on our property are buried for the last 375' or so - don't want to obscure the view with a bunch of wires).

[thurx]

Originally Posted by v10tdi

I had Exede for awhile.


- PoP can be an annoyance depending on the web service you use. For example, business searches think you're located wherever your satellite link hits the internet - which probably isn't going to be near your physical location. So when you do a search for "paint store" the results probably aren't relevant until you change the location - which can be a pain.
- Data caps are a constant issue (e.g., streaming, web cams, software updates, email attachments, etc.).
-- Excede used to have windows w/o data caps - not sure about now. It might depend on which satellite they put you on? Some are apparently more congested than others. You might have a look to see what is on offer from the various providers. There are options in some OS or IoT devices that can be configured to take advantage of these windows (i.e., updates). I remember one time we used up almost our entire monthly data allotment in one night when a several Windows laptops individually downloaded a huge Windows/Office update. lol
-- You might want to get an ad blocker that uses IP poisoning to limit ad downloads. I don't think browser-based options save on data.
-- There are some routers that can help you monitor your data (and can do ad blocking)

After a couple of years of this mess I got "lucky" and was able to pay for a cable to be routed up to our place. To be fair, part of the cost to me was burying the cable (utilities on our property are buried for the last 375' or so - don't want to obscure the view with a bunch of wires).

Wow! Lots of good advice on how to avoid paying for unwanted data. It would take me a year to ever find out about these ways and devices on my own. But maybe never! Thanks!



Glad you were able get access to cable. That's also helpful, as for all I know, just down the hill from me may be the end of a cable line.