Rural broadband
May 26, 2010
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HughesNet: Only $39.00 For Hardware and Free Standard Installation
HughesNet: From $1,200.00 TO A Stimulus Price of $39.00
Free Hardware And Free Standard Installation In Alabama Today
Is the Hughes brand still DirecPc, Direcway or HughesNet? Does the product still work on dial-up? How does the product compare to dial-up, ISDN, ASDL, DSL, Cable broadband, Fractional T1, T1, Bonded T1 and T3 broadband? Can I get this satellite broadband product in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana? Is this considered high speed internet connection? Can a satellite internet product work as well as any broadband product? These questions and several others have been the primary puzzled look on the faces of consumers looking to purchase the HughesNet brand.
Today, Hughes Network Systems presents the product as HughesNet high speed broadband system. HughesNet is the prevailing brand for the company.
I worked at Hughes Network Systems from April 1997 to June 30, 2011. During those early days we were manufacturing DirecTV set-top boxes for the consumer market. Those were very exciting times, because we built a box that everyone wanted to buy. Yes, those were very wonderful times! My primary job at the time was to develop a reseller base to sell these set-top boxes through our distribution channel. The ‘magic’ worked and we sold millions of these boxes to which customers were so addicted.
Broadband Via DirecPc
During the early days(1997) of the advent of the internet, when the largest and most branded internet service providers were AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy, our consumer sales team at Hughes Network System was again tasked to market a fairly new and interesting technology called DirecPc. This new product was very exciting because I just could not fathom using a satellite system to provide high speed internet to consumers and businesses. I had my doubts and off course I concealed it because I wanted to see where this would lead; failure or success.
Launching DirecPc As A Satellite Internet Solution
Before launching this new high-speed product that would proverbially leave dial-up in the dust, I had been a member of a marketing team that launched products like an ‘under $1,000.00′ computer from an unknown company called Monorail and we also launched a 14.4 kbps modem from a manufacturer whose name I don’t even remember today. But again, I am only 53 years old, who wants to remember the so distant past? Both product failed miserably. The products were just not ready for the market, but most of all, these companies were undercapitalized financially. So, when the money ran out, the product died.
In August of 1997, our channel marketing team launched DirecPc in Alpharetta, GA. What an incredible party that was? This new satellite solution was priced at $1,200.00 for the hardware and installation. The unique system used the dial-up modem in the customer pc to transmit data to a KU band satellite located approximately 23,000 miles into space. That data or request is then sent down to the Hughes Network Systems network operation center via a downlink satellite in Germantown, Maryland. From there, the request is then send via high-speed wired infrastructure to the internet. Once the request gets to the internet, the information is then retrieved and send back to the network operation center which then uplink the information to the satellite and then down-linked to the customer’s personal computer. All of this activity takes place in a fraction of a second on a blink of an eye. Yes, there is a lag time, however but the product provide faster high speed access when compared to dial-up solutions.
The Direcway High-Speed Days In Alabama and Mississippi
By the year 2000, Hughes Network Systems change the brand identity to Direcway to reflect a new era for the satellite internet provider. At this point the technology was now sending and receiving request via satellite without the need for a dial-up solution for the up-linking of a request. With the introduction of the newer technology, Direcway was a big seller in the cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia. While in Maryland, dial-up customers in Poplarville, Hattiesburg, Vicksburg, Greenville, Corinth, Lanton and Thomasville began to quickly convert to the branded satellite broadband product.
Towards the middle part of the year 2000, as Hughes began experiencing capacity issues, they negotiated the launch of Spaceway; a Ka band satellite with the capacity to accommodate 600,000 plus customers. Spaceway would change the way people would look at satellite internet because of the capacity and bandwidth.
HughesNet Broadband High-speed Internet For Alabama and Mississippi
Spaceway delivered over 300,000 customers for HughesNet. Oh yes, there yet another identity change after Hughes became independent of General Motor and the DirecTV group. Yes, I will tell you that entire story in my next piece.
Today, HughesNet has the capacity, the right hardware, the most affordable service plan and a good technical support team to support the product and keep customers at ease.
My Satellite Internet Pick For Mississippi and Alabama
With over 500,000 customers, HughesNet satellite internet is a great buy through August 2011 because of the Stimulus promotional package of $39.00 with Free Standard installation and Free Hardware for new customers located in the un-served and under-served. You can’t have a bad product with that many customers. No one at Hughes can tell you when they are going to run out of funds to stop running the stimulus program. Please check with me in August.
My second reason is Hughes has a robust satellite that is providing a phenomena service to most of their customers. However, if you are located in the rural market and are looking to use the system to access your corporate Virtual Private Network (VPN) or your VoIP, you may wish to do more research. The speeds and lag time just do not support such activities.
Overall, if your only choice is dial-up, it means you are very rural and thus your best bet is HughesNet high speed rural internet service. High speed internet by satellite can save you the headache of a dial-up solution.
About The Author
Stephen Kota lives in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and runs a marketing company (www.SitkaDesign.com) that designs and develops websites including logo design for branding identity. After spending 14 years at Hughes Network Systems as an Account Manager for the East Coast, He spends most of his free time travelling, gardening, fishing and biking.