Da-Chief
06-17-2008, 15:21
http://i.dslr.net/urls/57/68057.gif (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/HughesNet-Offers-Faster-Speeds-95364)
For those unfortunate enough to be outside the range of anything else, HughesNet unveiled two new satellite tiers today. The company is now offering a 2Mbps/300kbps "Elite" tier for $119.99 a month, and a 3Mbps/300kbps "Elite Plus" tier for $189.99 a month. Both of those prices are only if you pay a $300 up-front installation and equipment charge, otherwise they're $139.99 and $209.99, respectively. The order page (http://go.gethughesnet.com/plans.cfm) fine print reminds you:Stated speeds are not guaranteed. Actual upload speed will likely be lower than speed indicated, during peak hours. Download speeds may also be temporarily slowed in cases when patterns of system usage exceed the download threshold for an extended period of time. All services are subject to the HughesNet Fair Access Policy.
While the HughesNet press release (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/hughes-breaks-the-speed-barrier,436579.shtml) eagerly claims these are the "fastest consumer broadband satellite Internet access plans ever offered," it's not quite as enthusiastic when it comes to informing you that both plans come with a 500MB daily cap. Or that users who cross this threshold have their speeds throttled considerably (7-14kbps, according to users).
Of course if you ask our users, HughesNet can barely provide the bandwidth they're promising users of their existing tiers. Complaints about the service have ramped up over the last year or two, with many customers saying they're being throttled back to almost dial-up speeds (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/92360) at peak congestion times, regardless of whether they've violated their bandwidth cap. Ironically the company's motto is "broadband unbound."
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For those unfortunate enough to be outside the range of anything else, HughesNet unveiled two new satellite tiers today. The company is now offering a 2Mbps/300kbps "Elite" tier for $119.99 a month, and a 3Mbps/300kbps "Elite Plus" tier for $189.99 a month. Both of those prices are only if you pay a $300 up-front installation and equipment charge, otherwise they're $139.99 and $209.99, respectively. The order page (http://go.gethughesnet.com/plans.cfm) fine print reminds you:Stated speeds are not guaranteed. Actual upload speed will likely be lower than speed indicated, during peak hours. Download speeds may also be temporarily slowed in cases when patterns of system usage exceed the download threshold for an extended period of time. All services are subject to the HughesNet Fair Access Policy.
While the HughesNet press release (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/hughes-breaks-the-speed-barrier,436579.shtml) eagerly claims these are the "fastest consumer broadband satellite Internet access plans ever offered," it's not quite as enthusiastic when it comes to informing you that both plans come with a 500MB daily cap. Or that users who cross this threshold have their speeds throttled considerably (7-14kbps, according to users).
Of course if you ask our users, HughesNet can barely provide the bandwidth they're promising users of their existing tiers. Complaints about the service have ramped up over the last year or two, with many customers saying they're being throttled back to almost dial-up speeds (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/92360) at peak congestion times, regardless of whether they've violated their bandwidth cap. Ironically the company's motto is "broadband unbound."
read comment(s) (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/HughesNet-Offers-Faster-Speeds-95364)
More...