Has she possibly checked to see if there is 3G coverage in her area? It is only $49.99 a month and no service contract or equipment or installation other than a $100 modem. The modem can even be returned within 30 days if the speed is not good in her area.

3G provides high speed Internet service at average download speeds of 600 kbps to 1.7 Mbps. That�s 2.4 times faster than many DSL connections.

I see there is also a charge for a Service Plan with Hughes and a hefty co-pay if used in the first 30 day period.
Express Repair Terms and Conditions

I wish her well...but suggest she at least give Datajack a call be fore getting Hughes installed Thurs.

I had a nightmare with Wild Blue. It looks like others have had the same thing though with Hughes too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Toll free # to check for coverage for Datajack 3G

Chemocurl,

There is no 3G in her area. Her cell phone works five miles from her house. Hughes Net is 39 a month if you are in an area that qualifies for the service. She is desperate to try anything other than dial up. New HP PC has 32 windows updates out of 50 that failed. She has spent the last three days trying to download. 45 minutes to open Email. She will be happy if Hughs works 50% of the time. Hope I dont ever have to use a dish!
She did pay $5 extra a month for repair service. Not sure what that entails. Before this offer she tried to get satelite 70 a month plus install fees she could not afford.

For good 3G service, you must be in an area where you can get a good signal. The only carrier from which I can get a signal that is strong enough to use the service without additional antennas, amplifiers, etc. is Verizon. The tower is about 2 miles from my house and I usually get 3-4 bars on both 1-X and EV on my phone. During prime evening hours, service does slow up some because of the number of users, and that seems strange given our rural location.

Chemocurl,

There is no 3G in her area. Her cell phone works five miles from her house. Hughes Net is 39 a month if you are in an area that qualifies for the service. She is desperate to try anything other than dial up. New HP PC has 32 windows updates out of 50 that failed. She has spent the last three days trying to download. 45 minutes to open Email. She will be happy if Hughs works 50% of the time. Hope I dont ever have to use a dish!
She did pay $5 extra a month for repair service. Not sure what that entails. Before this offer she tried to get satelite 70 a month plus install fees she could not afford.

Ahhh...I can certainly understand her frustration and need for something that is better, in spite of its possible shortcomings.

I had a contract and an awful experience with Wild Blue, which is why I wanted to post about any 'possible' alternative. I know there are others though that have had 'ok' or even positive experiences with Hughes and/or Wild Blue.

I hope she has a good installer, and has trouble free service. It sounds like her dial-up is a real nightmare.

Sue

Check the Hughesnet site for the different plans and read the contracts closely. A few friends of mine have them and complain that HughesNet does have a few things that will cost her some frustration in the beginning. It revolves around the sizes of downloads. She'll surely have big downloads at first from the microsoft updates. Hughesnet allows a certain number of file sizes per month and then penalizes you with slower speeds until your next month. I think the penalties are wavered if you do your downloads at certain nigh time hours.

With DataJack you can enjoy up to 5 GB per month with no termination fees and no contract.

Isn't 5 GB rather low for a whole month's use?

Rick

Isn't 5 GB rather low for a whole month's use?
I'm sure it wouldn't be enough for a lot of users, but for me I think it would be fine.

See link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Data calculator, but it doesn't show for a PC

Chemocurl,
I think you have helped many people not aware of 3-G with your post. Very good info.

Grandms,
Agree you must be in an area where you can get a good signal.The only way I can find her house is by land marks. So basicially I look for a sign that says lake access. After that, I stop at every mail box until I locate hers lol! You cannot see the houses on this hill (summer or winter) due to all the trees. At Thanksgiving in order to accomidate guests, she had preprinted directions to areas where most cell phones and lap tops will work.

She was 'OK' with Bell South DUN, until ATT came along raised her rates and took away her accelerater. Never missed things like Utube since she could not access anyway. She also replaced a working PC with a new model, hoping that would solve her problem (NOT)! When she called ATT to get her new PC connected, she learned they no longer provided the accelerator. Service continued to decline with other DUN providers.

Leftwood,
Her neighbor tried Verision 3-G. God only knows where he lives. She says he lives further up the mountain to the left. I don't know can't see anything from her house but forest. Anyhow, this guy claimed to get a weak cell phone signal somewhere outside on his property, could have been the roof not sure. He also had to hold the phone in a certain direction. This is almost funny. He then proceded to buy all the antennas and what not that goes with it to boost his signal. Now he is trying to sell this stuff on Craigs list.

Maryland,
Thanks I will warn her about the downloads tomorrow.
Her routine now is to download all night, so she does not tie up the phone during the day.

Oh, she does get excellent TV reception with Dish Network, as long as it's a nice day. Think it's the price she pays for living in a beautiful serene part of the county surrounded by nature.

Thank you all for trying to help.

Rick,

There is more information on this thread.

DA

Here is a link that might be useful: Other Thread

Thanks chemocurl. That data calculator is a nifty thing. I'll just assume a pc is somewhere in that ballpark. (?) If I'm wrong, let me know.

DA, I did read the other thread, but after I posted here. Thanks.

This thread has been quite useful for me. Thanks everyone.

Rick

Update,
Installed Hughes Net Thursday. Worked fine for 5 minutes, after the installer left. Then it died. Called Hughes India support. She was told no problem with sattelite "To call HP". HP made some changes to her PC. Worked again for 5 minutes. Called Hughes again after 4 hours they told her it was a problem with install. Have to make appointment with installer. Not a good day to say the least.

Neighbor installed Hughes today. While the Installer was there, he reset modem or something over the phone for my sister. Has been working perfectly ever since. Knock on wood. Storms are comming in tomorrow. Today she is a happy camper.

She gets 256 mb download per day. If she goes over-Fair Access Policy slows her down for 24 hours. Also, free download time from 2am till 7am every day.

She thinks it's as fast as my cable, go figure!

Oh my...why am I not surprised to read her experiences?

My experience with Wild Blue (similar but different than Hughes) I was always on hold for an hour or more before getting a live voice. They finally just wore me down...had best not say any more or I may start twitching.

Was the next door installer the same one that installed your sister's? Maybe there is at least one good installer/repairperson in her area.

Sue...wishing her well.

I had hughes net and couldn't wait to get rid of them. there are all kinds of hidden fees, your only allowed so much data,if you go over they don't shut you down but your down to a crawl. In four years i had to have three modems at $150 each. Last time i got a modem and it didn't fix the problem they said, they would have to send a workman out to work on the outside all at my expense and they wouldn't take the modem back. that was the last straw. It took me nearly two hours getting them to cancel my service.By then they were promising me the moon. Just beware,