Literally. Yesterday the remainz of Tropical Storm Ida was here, pouring bucketz of rain on us. The modem for our satellite internet service from Hughesnet is located outside. I had to go out there and re-set the modem by unplugging it to turn it off, then plugging it back in. I had a towel on my head (since I don’t own an umbrella) to keep me dry. As I was coming back into the house, I hit my head on the arm of the awing. Hard. Really hard. Ouchie! I saw starz for a minute, then felt lighheaded for most of the day.
We have been having a little trouble with this Hughesnet setup–we found out in the course of living that we can have 200 MB of downloaded data in 24 hours. If you go over that 200 MB, they cut you off. Of course, if you do your downloading between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., you can download as much as you want and not be penalized. Except for losing sleep. On their website, Hughesnet says that most people should have no problem with this “fair access” policy of theirs, that 200 MB of data should be plenty to surf the internetz, read email, etc.
Except that apparently, FabGrandpa and I have gone over the 200 MB of data download permitted for three days in a row, before 10:00 a.m. I watched a couple of 2-3 minute videos on Facebook the first day, and BAM! my internetz was cut off quicker than you can say “Shazam!”
And then the next day, FabGrandpa was playing a game on his laptop, that even though he plays it as a single player, goes online and downloads data in the background even if you don’t tell it to. So, we were slapped on the wrist and cut off again. That is when we called technical support at Hughesnet and were informed of their policy, and that we have to monitor our usage from this end, to prevent this from happening, because apparently, if we go over the 200 MB of allowed data downloads too many times in a month, we will be banned from using this service FOREVER! So, now I need to figure out how to monitor the download usage. I don’t do well with staying up past midnight in order to use the internetz.
I am working on this technical difficulty, and yes, I do see it as a technical difficulty–I need to be able to upload photos and do blog posts, and read my emails and check Facebook, and several forums that I read. I have product reviews to write and things I need to say. So, if you don’t see me here often, or if you don’t see many photos, you will know why. Until I get this headache resolved.
Wow, what a pain! Hope you find a way to get it resolved soon, as I do not want to miss out on any of your posts!
Jeanne
Well, it sounds like Hughesnet sucks! Why can't you have more? Call them!
Elaine
Oh dear.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/internet/hughes.html
Here's another one that is very well written. I can see this company getting hit with a class-action suit.
http://consumerist.com/consumer/hughesnet/well-downgrade-your-bandwidth-82-and-youll-like-it-261084.php
How's your head?
Nice to know this about Hughesnet and it sucks! I suppose this is the Only way to get online in your current remote location. Does your Verizon card work? Maybe you'll become a night owl after all. However, Jim and you will have to alternate nights so you can get your camp jobs done. 😉
Hope this can be worked out.
Ours is the same and we've only been FAP'd about twice in the 4 yrs we've had it. If you use U-tube a lot or watch movies etc you're using a lot of bandwidth.
It works fine for us uploading photos, reading blogs and posting our blogs. I don't play many internet games though. Gordon does upload a lot of photos.
We use this site to watch our bandwidth. Don't know if it's the same for you or not.
http://customercare.myhughesnet.com/frm_usage.cfm
By the way the Verizon air card has a maximum of 5G per month and no free download time so it's actually worse!
I know about those awning's and hitting your head. It hurt's!!!!!
Take care gal.
How come you never had this problem with your dish before?
Elaine: The service is provided to us free as part of our overall package for being camp hosts here, so while I am grateful to have it, it does suck. But now that we know, we can work around it.
Becca: Thanks for the links, that is quite interesting stuff.
Gaelyn: my head still aches a little today. it was a real whack on the old noggin!
Sandra: we have a Verizon Aircard, it is on "vacation" right now, but I never had a problem with it when I was using it.
Linda Sue: we have not ever had a dish for internet service before, it is provided by the park for us to use while we are here. I may turn my Verizon Aircard back on, I am still thinking about that.
I am so happy to hear someone else has experienced this sort of problem with Hughesnet! I feel your pain and frustration. I had it for 4+ years and the best feeling I recieved from it was when I built a HUGE fire and threw the entire assembly in!!! I was so close on purchasing a roof top but the wife didn't want holes in the roof and I am so happy that I listen to her. I tried selling it but i couldn't even give the darn thing away!!?? I'm a computer tech by trade for Comcast and i will say that was the worst scam i've been involved in!! Spread the word…they have to go!! Jerry
What a pain. We use our local cable company and have TV phone and Internet all in one for one price a month. I can be on 24 hours a day and do what I want.
Welcome to my world. We have a roof top mount and a tri-pod.We use the tri-pod when we are under a bunch of trees. We got our system 5 years ago before cell cards. Haven't been FAP-ed yet. I am going to have to check out that customer care link.
Checkout these tools from Hughes.net:
http://services.hughesnet.com/service_tools/
We also have an AT&T aircard with unlimited service.
This is one of the sacrifices of full-time RVing.
We also have Hughesnet & have been slapped twice in the last week. It is absolutely infuriating. Especially since a tech had told us we could download w/no restrictions between 2am & 7am our local time. So 1 Saturday morning I got up at 5am just do get some downloading done & BAM! slapped down! Then found out it is 2am to 7am EASTERN time for the free downloading.
That must be very frustrating! I hope you are able to work things out so that you can keep up your usual frenetic posting pace!