HughesNet offers a wide range of internet plans to its customers, and the amount of GB that is provided depends on which of these plans the customer chooses.
HughesNet is among the leading satellite Internet service providers across the United States. HughesNet provides satellite internet to more than one million customers in rural and remote areas that don’t have cable or DSL internet access; therefore, the question is – does it offer enough data? Now let’s focus on the data allowances and throttling policies that HughesNet has, as well as what you may expect for the usage of the monthly allowance of data.
Data Allowances
HughesNet offers three different data plans for residential satellite internet customers:
- 10GB per month
- 20GB per month
- 30GB per month
These data allowances concern how much of the fast speeds one is entitled to before your speeds are reduced (throttled).
Even the most minimal package, which is 10GB, comes with data at the actual speeds offered by Starlink, which means that the basic satellite internet package at 25Mbps gives you download speeds of 25Mbps and upload speeds of 3Mbps.
The 20GB plan will cost you half of that amount with a supplementary 20GB of full-speed data. Last but not least, the 30GB plan gives customers 30GB of data, but with the full speed.
After consuming the data that was granted for high-speed internet access, your connection slows down to almost unusable speeds throughout the remainder of the billing cycle. The throttled speeds are very slow 1-3Mbps for download and as low as 128-512kbps for uploads. This means that most activities on the internet are almost impossible.
Data Top Ups
If however you exhaust your included data and are thereafter throttled before getting to the next billing cycle, HughesNet allows you to buy more high-speed data.
These "data tokens" allow you to top up your plan’s data allotment to keep enjoying faster speeds:
- 1GB: $3
- 5GB: $15
- 10GB: $30
Airtime bundles or extra data top-ups do not automatically roll over and expire after your current billing cycle.
HughesNet Gen5 Data Plans
Today, Hughes provides the world with its next-gen satellite internet, branded as HughesNet Gen5, which was introduced in 2021. The Gen5 service comes with higher speed tier options but retains similar data allowances:
- 25 Mbps plan: 10GB, 20GB, or 30GB of superfast data
- 50 Mbps plan: 20GB, 40GB or 60GB of high-speed data
For instance, if you choose the Gen5 plan that offers the fastest download speed of 50Mbps, you can use up to 60GB of full-speed satellite data in a billing cycle depending on the highest allowance tier.
The download and upload speeds which are restricted after consuming the allotted bandwidth in the Gen5 are also slightly enhanced – 1-5Mbps for downloads and 2Mbps for uploads.
HughesNet Voice Data Usage
It is, however, worth noting that HughesNet data allowance also includes usage from HughesNet Voice, which is the VoIP-based phone service provided by the satellite provider.
It is important to note that any usage made through HughesNet Voice when making calls will use up your monthly data. They are generally cheap, but voice usage is high; each minute of call takes about 5MB, so watch out for data limits!
HUGHESNET-SAT With Hughesnet satellite Internet, the more data you get, the more benefits you can realize.
To maximize your allotted HughesNet data each month, here are some key tips:
- Unfortunately, this is not the case; there is a possibility that you will be throttled when you least expect it, therefore it is recommended that you monitor your usage through the account dashboard.
- Avoid phone, laptop, and other gadgets auto update installation. Adjust manually at the beginning of each cycle after the unutilized data in the prior cycle becomes invalid.
- Reduce the quality of videos that stream on different platforms such as social media, streaming services, gaming consoles, and other platforms that allow video playback. To get to the next higher video quality notch, many more data are used.
- Restrict file download especially when it comes to large quantities to be stored in personal spaces. Instead of visiting high-traffic websites, and streaming high-definition videos, it is advised to focus usage on visiting other standard websites and low-resolution videos.
- Implement data caps and limit the usage of bandwidth-heavy apps on each connected device using parental controls and other measures.
- Suspend the use of background data and cloud backups over satellite internet connections in favor of those that use only the local network such as NAS devices.
Although HughesNet has fairly limited data allowances, it is possible to harness satellite internet to the full if one is to plan their data usage properly. Adhering to the above-mentioned data-saving measures in addition to purchasing more data tokens should assist all rural households maximize the HughesNet satellite internet connection.
