Why should we keep Hughes.net?

[DonandBonnie]

We have Hughes.net as our ISP in the stick house. When the sun is shining it's fine, when it's cloudy or stormy, forget it, no service. When we go full time, we can get a conversion kit from Maxwell Satellite for about $900, providing we haul our dish down from the roof and take it with us. Each set up will take 15 to 20 minutes, once we figure out how to do it and get some experience with the set up. Did I mention all of the storage space needed for the dish and stuff when we are on the road?

We have been giving serious consideration to chucking Hughes and getting a Verizon air card for the simplicity of it all. Does anyone disagree with this logic?

[trukdoc]

I am useing laptop connect fron Cingular and I am pretty happy with it. It is definetly faster than dial up but probably not as fast as you are used to on the Hughes Net. Weather is not a real factor.
To research it more go to the business page at Cingular.com

[Parrothead]

Don and Bonnie, we are going to do the same thing. That is the reason I am trying to sell our DirecWay dish and modem.
Happy trails............................

[sailer]

i am looking at cingular now as a air card but did not make the final yet but i like what i here

[adelmoll]

We personally had both the Verizon and the Cingular air card for about two years. We have traveled in all parts of the country and the Verizon air card by far was much better than the Cingular. We have now dropped the Cingular and purchased the KRl router to put the card into and it works on both of our computers. I am not saying that Cingular was bad and if you are not traveling all over the country it probably works great for you but for us the Verizon on a scale of 1-10 is a 9 where Cingular was a 7. The funny thing is though, Cingular phone works better for us than the Verizon in most areas. Go figure.

Helen

[richfaa]

The verizon has service in the most markets..NOW..If you are traveling around the country that is important..do the homework before you buy..That the broadband service works great in your area means nothing if you are out of your area for long periods of time. Huges net(Sat) Vs air card (any brand) The probabilities are that you will get more reliable service via the sat.The air card is eaiser to work with and we had good coverage 90% of the time over the country with verizon..Down the raod we will probably get the automatic Dome sat on the camper.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

I have just 3 words, VERIZON AIR CARD I'll repeat that, VERIZON AIR CARD. Air cards do not have to be set up every time you pull into another campground. We have had the VERIZON AIR CARD for over nearly 4 years and with the exception of 2 or 3 instances have always been able to get online. The Cingular and Sprint cards are not nearly as reliable. With the air card you can be online at anytime, even when traveling down the interstate or in a rest area. Lorraine will have the computer on the consoles to use to check for area campgrounds while I am traveling at 65 MPH.

Satellites must be set up in every campground and it takes time to set up each and every time.
Satellites only work when you have a clear view of the SE sky. Unless you carry many many feet of cable when you set up in a tree covered campground and you are SOL. A permanently roof mounted satellite is a total waste unless you are 100% sure you will always set up with a clear view to the SE. Heavy rains can also block the signal to the satellite and winds can move the dish.

If you do go with the Verizon card I would also suggest the Kyocera KR1 router. This router allows more than one computer online at the same time on the same card. Even your next door neighbors can utilize your wireless signal. We do advise have the signal password protected.

I would also suggest buying the card and/or router at 3Gstore.com (formerly Booster-Antenna.com). These folks are very reliable and give unbelievable Tech Support after the sale.

[simonsrf]

DonaldandBonnie,

We have the big hughes.net dish from Maxwell.

For our needs, the air cards would not work well for our lifestyle. We dry camp whenever possible, and rarely do we have adequate coverage from our Verizon cell phone. We have never been in a situation where the dish did not suit our needs. We get connected easily within a 20 minute setup and have high-speed connectivity.

If you plan to be near metropolitan cities where cell towers are prevalent, then, get an air card. If you want more versatility, the dish is a nice alternative that is easier than you think to use.

As far as storage, the tripod folds and fits in the front storage, the dish slide in on top of boxes in the basement, and the arm fit easily on the bedroom bed with a blanket....everything has ridden well there for the last 6 months with no problems.

We live on the internet, so I know that this setup is not for everyone, but we found after some 'learning-curve' times, it is real easy to setup and always works! We have never lost our signal to cloudy days, wind is the biggest culprit.

Good luck on your choice, there are several, and you need to first determine where and how you plan to use your connection.

[Connorsmom]

I use a Sprint air card. I am very pleased with it, and have not had any problems. It worked when I was down in the Florida Everglades, and it works up in the Michigan thumb. Prior to this season, NOTHING worked up in the thumb. Even cell phones were a crap shoot. I have a Sprint cell phone, and I no longer go into roaming when I go up north. I get all my calls, and voice mail. Now that Sprint has merged with Nextel, the coverage is growing by leaps and bounds. One Verizon rep complained to me that they didn't think they would ever get permission to put in a tower up there. But, Sprint has managed to pull it off. But I digress....the Sprint air card works very well. The air card costs $49.00, but I got it all back with a mail in rebate. There was a $26.00 activation fee, but the rep waived it, and also gives me a 10% discount on my bill every month. He also had me bring in my laptop an he installed the software for me, and set everything up. He's a really great kid. It costs $50.00 per month for unlimited usage.

Jan

[Chuck and Carol]

Don't try to use your Verizon cell phone near Charlottesville, Va. We were just there and Alltel had Verizon blocked out. Couldn't use it at all.

[RailroadMike]

Count another vote for verizon....Mike and Mary

[Dustytuu]

Another vote for Sprint air card.
We have a Linksys router which we ordered from CDW on line. Linksys recommended that place because the Linksys are selling like hot cakes and could not find one anyplace. Took a week to get it which is pretty good.
We have not had any problem with Sprint signals and our cell phones work just about anyplace. The Sprint air card is fast. Love it! Sprint store also installed our router, aircard and put in our security key and all. On one of our laptops. I did the othercomputers myself. It even works on the new desktop desktop with Vista and the two laptops are XP. We have 3 computers on line some of the time. This works so well we cancelled our home DSL. This is all we use now on road and at home.
Isn't technology great!!!


Not all Sprint air cards are as fast as ours. Some of the others and older ones are slower. Ours is a PX 500. They have a new one out now called a Novotel S 720 that is supposed to be even faster but are hard to get because so new. No stores have them in yet.

[HamRad]

The air cards will only give you min service unless you are in a very large city and have the very highest level of service. They do what they are designed to do and do it will. But you must be in just the right spot or your signal will be degraded. But it serves as a good standby system if the Verizon does not work! Since Hughes works so well I don't know how much longer we'll keep the old standby Verizon around.

If you are looking at other carriers to do better..... then check and double check. I'm sure there are a few small areas where someone can out do the big boys but can do it nationwide or at least in the area you need it. If they can then go with them. If not keep looking. I'd love to have Cingular for all the bells and whistles they have but when researched they simply did not have coverage where I'd be traveling. So no go with them.

After about 2 years of looking at all the features and the areas we thought we'd be traveling Verizon was the only one that provided what we thought we needed. So we go it and have not been disappointed.

We're relatively happy with the satellite setup and the phone setup.

About the best one can do now a days is to get one with little or no long term commitment. If things work well then it was a good decision. If not then you keep looking.

Go with what works for your lifestyle needs. Change as necessary.

Good luck.

HamRad