HughesNet is amongst the most popular satellite internet service providers in the country of the United States of America. They boast of offering downloads at speeds up to 25 Mbps and offer internet service delivery through satellite technology to customers wherever they are, especially where there are limited-service providers. Apart from these, satellite internet has the problem with data limits and also comes with a very expensive price for the premium plans. As promised in the previous section, in this HughesNet review article, we will look at the details of its fastest and most expensive plan and what is offered for the given price.
HughesNet Gen5 Premium Data is the highest HughesNet internet package for 2024.
This plan offers the download speeds that are 25 Mbps as per the available information. The upload speed of internet being used is 3 Mbps. What this high speed satellite internet access brings are some considerations that are as follows. This is the basic monthly service charge and it totals to $169. 99 per month. That is much higher than most cable or DSL tariffs, which shows how expensive this option may be for certain users. However, HughesNet positions itself as a rural broadband service provider for individuals without access to cable providers. To these customers, satellite is the only option available to them to access the programs produced by the television networks.
There is other cost factors involved when using HughesNet other than high monthly fee as seen below.
None of them has a monthly fee but they all come with an activation fee that ranges from $100 to $400 to cater for equipment and installation. According to the Gen5, the activation fee varies depending on the package type and the most expensive one is the Premium package for $400. Another factor is the cost of equipment acquisition, and this includes lease costs. HughesNet modem or the required equipment to get the satellite service requires at least $299. 99 or more. However, for equipment leasing every month a fee of approximately $15 is charged for the equipment lease.
This is probably the biggest downside to satellite internet in particular but data caps are present on all satellite internet providers. Even with such high speeds, having highly limited data plans makes it difficult to support bandwidth-intensive use. But, on that note, it is also important to note that HughesNet Gen5 Premium does increase the data usage marginally. This last available plan at this company comes with a data allowance of not more than 50GB in a given month. On this note, their basic plan only comes with a 10GB monthly data allowance.
Although 50 GB per month may seem a lot for simply surfing the internet and the occasional streaming of a video, a family, for example, can easily go through this within a given period. Watching uhd stream or downloading a big file also would be quickly spent the given allowance too. Internet speeds are limited to 1 – 3 Mbps if the 50 GB cap is exceeded before the end of the month until the next billing cycle respawns. To most contemporary uses of the internet, those throttled speeds are but a shadow of the original service.
However, to assist the customers that have exhausted their data limit, HughesNet provides an additional 50 GB that can be added once the primary amount has been depleted. However, extra data does not come cheap either, and there is a variation depending on the plan chosen by the user. The extra 50GBs of data cost an additional $50. For instance, they would have to pay $169. 99 for the service fee and $50 for the first 16 GB data allowance over the base of 100 GB for one month’s usage while another $50 is charged for an additional 16 GB data allowance. It means $270 for that month’s internet bill, which is actually a very common phenomenon in the present days. But then again one might only expect the most hardcore satellite internet proponents to justify those kinds of regular costs.
Lastly, it is worth noting that HughesNet’s most premium internet service plan is the Satellite 25 Plan or Gen5 Premium. This offer comes with 25 Mbps download speed, 3 Mbps upload speed and 50 GB data bundle per month. However, the high service cost, data limits restrictions, throttled speed, over usage fees and the activation charges are very costly and ends up to a very high monthly charge. Satellite internet, therefore, can only be relied on as a last resort for the rural residents for all but the most basic use of the internet, the performance of satellite internet does not come close to that of the traditional broadband, and the value is just as poor. It is therefore very important to ensure that one fully understands the terms and conditions of the site as well as contract terms before joining. While knowing the short-term price of service is beneficial, it is only possible to accurately determine the overall costs of a premium satellite with HughesNet as fitting your requirements and financial means.
