re: #123 Michele: Out of the closet, Into the fire
I know youâre out in the boonies and may have addressed this and I missed it, but have you looked into a satellite internet system?
Yes. It is actually more expensive, as every company but two are now out of the business.
Free Installation
Viasat offers free installation to qualifying customers, a low equipment leasing fee of just $9.99 per month, and plenty of ways to contact customer service if you have any issues. To get free installation, customers need to have a credit check and receive a high score. If a customerâs credit score isnât high enough to qualify for free installation, Viasat will charge a $99.99 installation fee.
Lots of choices
There are a variety of Viasat plans with different internet speeds, pricing, and data capsâalthough Viasat likes to call them âdata thresholdsâ because your service wonât get cut off if you hit the limit.
If you reach the threshold before the end of the month, Viasat will deprioritize your data on the network. That means your connection will be much slower for the rest of the month. So, pick a plan that gives you enough priority data to last through the month.
Homelessness has ruined my credit forever; when I married my wife they lowered her credit rating.
HughesNet offers the best value on satellite internet because it gives you the most speed for the lowest price. Viasat does have one cheaper package than HughesNet, but the download speed on that package is only 12 Mbps, which falls below the FCC broadband standard. When you compare only satellite plans that meet the broadband standard, you could save over $10 per month by choosing HughesNet.
Data bonus zone
HughesNet data caps range from 10 GB per month up to 50 GB per month. If you hit your data limit, your service will still work, but it will be much slower for the rest of the month. So instead of experiencing download speeds of 25 Mbps like you normally would, your connection will be slowed to 1 to 3 Mbps, which may prevent you from streaming video content steadily. (Netflixâs lowest recommended speed is 1.5 Mbps, although they recommend at least 3 Mbps for standard definition streaming.) You can buy extra data if you need it, but you can save data by using the Bonus Zone. The Bonus Zone is during the off-peak hours between 2:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. You get 50 GB per month of Bonus Zone data with each plan.