A: HughesNet is the high-speed Internet solution that’s available to everyone in the contiguous US with a clear view of the southern sky. HughesNet uses satellite technology to give you a super-fast, always-on Internet connection. HughesNet get you online instantly, lets you surf and open pages faster and download files in a fraction of the time it takes on a dial-up modem.

A: The HughesNet modem is compatible with both Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

A: Yes. Please review our Minimum Requirements list for Macintosh systems.

A: Because the Mac OS 10.0 release is not supported by Apple, we do not develop products around non-supported OS systems. We recommend you upgrade your Mac OS to 10.1 or higher, which is supported by HughesNet.

A: Yes, you can connect multiple home computers and laptops to a single HughesNet Internet connection at no additional cost. (See Configuration Diagrams.) Home networking equipment may be required and is not included with your HughesNet System. For network setup, support, and configuration, contact your network hardware manufacturer and/or operating system software developer (HUGHES is not responsible for home network configuration or management).

Please understand that all computers on this network will be sharing a single connection. Simultaneous use of high bandwidth applications by multiple users may result in degradation of speed and are subject to the Fair Access Policy. Higher performance business systems designed for multiple concurrent users are also available. See the Service Plan Comparison Chart for details.

A: Many computers can be upgraded with a 10/100 Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC). If you are comfortable with opening your computer and installing hardware, most Ethernet NICs can be self-installed. Check with your computer manufacturer for more information on the right Ethernet NIC for your system. Make sure your NIC is configured for "auto-negotiate".

Also, if you have an available USB port on your computer, you can purchase a USB Ethernet adapter. This may be easier to install than a PCI card in your computer. For a laptop, you can purchase a standard PCMCIA card that provides an Ethernet connection, or you can purchase a USB Ethernet adapter, as well. We recommend that you upgrade your computer to meet all of the requirements listed here to get the most out of your Internet experience.

A: Yes. All you need to connect your computer to the HughesNet Modem is either a 10/100 Ethernet Network Interface Card or PCMCIA adapter with an Ethernet connector. The HughesNet System includes an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to the HughesNet modem.

A: No. There is no phone line or dial-up data modem required to use your HughesNet service.

A: Today’s HughesNet service uses the HN9000 System. The HN9000 System is a two-way satellite system that allows you to send and receive information via satellite. So, there's no need for the expense of a second phone line or hassles with logging in when you want to get onto the Internet.

A: You can order by calling New England Antenna at 1-800-339-5507.

A: The HughesNet System requires a unique dish in order to send and receive information via satellite. You can add the ability to access DIRECTV programming to the HughesNet dish by purchasing a simple DIRECTV upgrade kit. It is your decision whether to keep your existing DIRECTV dish on your home, or to utilize the one-dish solution from HughesNet.

A: The experience with HughesNet high-speed Internet is astonishing. When comparing typical activities with a dial-up service based on standard dial-up connection at 28.8 Kbps, the difference in the amount of time you'll be waiting for what you want is night and day. You can download software upgrades in just minutes, versus up to an hour. There's no more waiting for Web pages to fully finish loading; they are typically done within a couple of seconds. Getting your favorite song can be done in less than the song's length rather than three times as long.

Speeds of up to 3,000 Kbps (3 Mbps) are available with a business system. See the Service Plan Comparison Chart for details.

A: HughesNet is a high-speed Internet access service that provides comparable performance to other broadband services. As a satellite service, user speed when downloading Web pages, emails, or large data files is outstanding. At the same time, the satellite “upload” speeds (for sending data) are more appropriate for general Internet use (surfing, chat, email, online shopping, etc.) and not appropriate for higher speed demands of Website hosting, as an example.

A: Latency refers to the time it takes data to travel across a network. A satellite network has greater latency due to the time it takes for the signal to travel to and from the satellite. This creates about a half a second delay to the overall response time between your computer and a host site or Web server. For most Internet activities like checking email, chatting, downloading files, and web surfing, satellite service performs very well. Internet activities applications such as VPN, Web hosting, VoIP (Voice over IP), video conferencing, or real-time multiplayer gaming are negatively impacted by latency and do not work well over satellite.

A: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires that trained professionals install any two-way satellite system.

A: No. The HughesNet system as supplied by HUGHES is for fixed installs only.

A: The HughesNet Small Office and Business Internet service plans provide larger transmission resources than the Home and Professional plans. As such, they provide a higher level of overall performance for a multi-user, small business environment. Some of the key differences include: commercial installation of a slightly larger antenna for faster upload and download speeds and higher reliability; the ability to download larger files more frequently; a greater number of open TCP sessions; and additional static IP addresses. See the Service Plan Comparison Chart for details.

A: Yes, but running a VPN client over satellite is not an ideal configuration. If you choose to run VPN over satellite, your data speeds may be reduced by as much as 50- 75%. You can restore your connection to full speed by simply disabling your VPN client when your session is over.
Note: HughesNet technical support does not provide help with configuring or troubleshooting problems associated with VPN clients.

*** HughesNet does offer an end-to-end VPN accelerator solution for large corporations and government agencies. This accelerator delivers higher connection speeds over VPN. Go to http://vpn.HughesNet.com for more information.

A1: Our communication satellite is located over 22,000 miles from Earth. Each data packet must be sent down separately and acknowledged by the remote site. This process takes time. In order to expedite the delivery of data packets to our end-users, HUGHES has developed a patented technology for aggregating those packets and sending all of them down simultaneously. VPNs encrypt each data packet, which prevents our technology from aggregating the data packets and reduces the throughput significantly.

A2: HughesNet uses sophisticated acceleration techniques to enable high-speed performance over satellite. These acceleration techniques require access to data packet header information, which is blocked when some VPNs are used. These VPNs encrypt the data and create a secure tunnel through the HughesNet network. The encrypted data cannot be processed by HughesNet's acceleration techniques, which results in slower performance.

PLEASE NOTE:
The following is here for the benefit of previous customers that have a DW4000.
The DW4000 is no longer available (current model is HN9000).

Q: Can I connect two computers to the DW4000 (an older version of hardware)?

A: Yes, through something called Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). The DW4000 has a USB interface and cannot connect directly to a network. It must be connected to a computer with a USB port, running the HughesNet software. The benefit of ICS is that it allows client computers to access the internet through the same connection as the host computer, using the host as a gateway. Thus giving your other computers the same high-speed performance as the computer connected to the HughesNet equipment. Click here for ICS Setup Instructions.
 

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