# Hughes Net or Dial Up?



## Aintlifegrand (Jun 3, 2005)

We are finally going to get a computer at home and these are my options for internet from my home... Hughes Net or Dial up...which would you chose and why?

Thanks
Stephanie


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Do you have choices of dialup or just one $20 a month one usually from phone company? Some rural areas dont have a single local dialup number availble, everything is long distance so you either get to pay long distance per minute rates or possibly get one of those dialing circle deals though many of them clearly state they are for voice calls only, not for data connections.

Dialup will still get you by if you arent going to be downloading videos or lot large files, but its dieing and the remaining dialup isps keep adding more time restrictions and other restrictions.

Satellite is just bad value for the money unless its your only choice especially with their "fair use" policy where if you use too much bandwidth, you get whacked on nose with a newpaper and made to live with dialup speeds for few days. Even moderate amount video will get you in the doghouse.

So if money is no concern, just as well go for satellite as its faster than dialup at least part of the time. If money is important, go with dialup.


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## WindowOrMirror (Jan 10, 2005)

HughesNet if you have bad dialup. I would take dialup (in a heartbeat) if you can get a 53k connection. I've had both (and have HughesNet now). I paid $10 a month for dialup ( in addition to the cost of a second line ) and only got 9.6k, so I pay $70 a month for HughesNet only to have it be exactly as slow every afternoon from 4pm - 11pm.


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## marvella (Oct 12, 2003)

if you want to be able to open links or watch youtube videos so people don't accuse you of not reading them, avoid dialup. it can take 10 or 15 minutes at times for a page to download, besides tying up your phone lines.

i pay $50 for 3 months for dialup. Satellite basic package is $50/ month, more if you want faster speeds. it's a rip off but it is faster.


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## Aintlifegrand (Jun 3, 2005)

WindowOrMirror said:


> HughesNet if you have bad dialup. I would take dialup (in a heartbeat) if you can get a 53k connection. I've had both (and have HughesNet now). I paid $10 a month for dialup ( in addition to the cost of a second line ) and only got 9.6k, so I pay $70 a month for HughesNet only to have it be exactly as slow every afternoon from 4pm - 11pm.


I am looking at the Elite plan with Hughes Net...2.0MBPS/300KBPS with 10 email accounts..daily download allowance 500MB...my problem is that i have no idea what all that means...I am not so much worrying about really fast speed..as much as I am worrying about what they mean about the 500mb allowance..what happenes if you go over..is that a lot?


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## Mechanic Intern (Jun 10, 2007)

500MB is roughly one Saturday Night Live episode streamed from Hulu. If you go over that cap, they'll make your connection unbearably slow. Can you get Cell Phone coverage? If so, then check to see about Wireless Broadband through your current cell provider. If that's not an option, then you should consider Satelite; my phone company (AT&T didn't maintain the phone lines enough to get a usable connection from ANY dial-up ISP (as you may read below).

@WindowOrMirror: I never even got the privelage of getting a dial-up ISP who went above 2.4Kbps. Onw Dial-up ISP ("Awesomenet") billed me their MONTHLY rate EVERY DAY for the whole 2 weeks they would give me all kinds of grief about either not connecting or refusing to load pages (their CEO gave the following statement when I talked to him on termination of service: "Look, we're under no obligation to provide you Internet access. If you want to get online, go to California and see if eBay has a free port on one of the routers in their server farm; we don't have to do SH** for you!").


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Aintlifegrand said:


> I am looking at the Elite plan with Hughes Net...2.0MBPS/300KBPS with 10 email accounts..daily download allowance 500MB...my problem is that i have no idea what all that means...I am not so much worrying about really fast speed..as much as I am worrying about what they mean about the 500mb allowance..what happenes if you go over..is that a lot?


If you really don't know what/how much 500Mb is, why sign up for that premium plan, vs. the basic ~200mb plan? If you're used to dialup, 200 is all you'd ever need. If you plan on downloading movies, your SOL at the get go. I'd (I am) go with the 200mb plan, and use a web based email. There are some free download meters that'll monitor your usage... for a few bucks, some sites actually have programs that'll warn you when you're about to be "FAP'd". There is an unlimited download period between 2 to 7am ET. I regularly get over a gigabyte during those times... just use a scheduler program to download the big files, and make sure you set the programmer to 'shut you down' before the 'free dl period' is up... otherwise you'll get FAP'd (fair access policy). The current Penalty is 24 hours at dialup speed.

If you like to ride donkeys, dialup is the ticket. If you like race-horses, satellite is the ticket. Just remember, racehorses don't like to run All Day, like a donkey will. You just have to not run the racehorse all day long, or FAP will happen.


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## jill.costello (Aug 18, 2004)

I strongly encourage you to look into a cellular internet, also! If you can get a cellular phone signal at your house, then you can have darn good internet (I use it). I have a little device that plugs right into a USB slot on my computer, and it wirelessly gets the cellular signal just like a cell phone. I pay $59.99/month for a 5 GB data plan through AT&T. On 5GB, I surf the web very fast, all types of web pages, some with tons of pictures, facebook, whatever, and can still watch 1-2 netflix full-length movies per month.
*** I have just found out that T-Mobile is offering THEIR USB-Connect service for $39.99/month for 5 GB !!


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## Mechanic Intern (Jun 10, 2007)

texican said:


> ... for a few bucks, some sites actually have programs that'll warn you when you're about to be "FAP'd".


You DO realize that "FAP'd" also means something else from what you intended altogether, don't you??


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Mechanic Intern said:


> You DO realize that "FAP'd" also means something else from what you intended altogether, don't you??


"fair access policy" 
no other meanings meant... Just the way I talk/think... easier to add an apostrophe and a "d", instead of spending an extra couple of words...

I'd love to have one of the cellular internet accounts... but the 5gb limit is a deal killer... that's less than a week, if I'm using my hughesnet account...


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