Any Meetinghouses experience with Hughes.net; Current Sprint Broadband unacceptable

[Bizegrama]

Our Branch has been struggling with poor internet service for years, but now it is even worse. Download speed 0.29-0.49 mbps church website speed test, Family History Center Support states we should be at least 2 mpbs. We currently have a Sprint broadband connection that has gotten worse in the last 6 mos, dropping connection to zero bands at times & that is with a cell phone booster, too. I have updated both the Sprint software on USB card & on Cradlepoint router, so that is not an issue. I have also tested service with just the card in computer directly, same drop off.

Because of our location (only us & 1 other building on block), we cannot get Time Warner Cable (across the street) and $7000 to run in to our meetinghouse. DSL not available.

I was wondering if anyone has had experience with Hughes.net - good, bad or otherwise. Supposedly their commercial dishes are less susceptible to weather conditions (other than white outs & hurricane force winds-not likely where we are in central Texas). Their rates seem reasonable for a commercial account. Their service is available at our location.

With budget cutbacks for Facilities Mgmt, I'm not sure what we are going to do. But the Clerk gets frustrated (I have that connection running directly into Cradlepoint router-not through the Cisco 880 box). And I have not even been able to help our patrons in Family History Center with any genealogy, as it relates to the internet, for the last 3 mos. I have been more than frustrated .

Any input would be appreciated. I will be in SLC next week (grandson's wedding at SLC temple) and hope to talk to someone from Family History Center support (FamilySearch support).

Thanks for your help.

[russellhltn]

we cannot get Time Warner Cable (across the street) and $7000 to run in to our meetinghouse.

I thought I saw where the church had an agreement with TWC where they would eat the installation costs.

[Bizegrama]

I thought I saw where the church had an agreement with TWC where they would eat the installation costs.

Thanks for your reply

I wish (in my dreams):) that the church had an agreement with TWC. If you hear anything about an agreement with Time Warner, please let me know.

We can't even get Time Warner to come out, they sit in the office in Austin (75 miles from us-local office doesn't handle it because it would be a business/commercial account) & tell us they can tell they can't do it without all the cost to run it across to our side of street. However, it seems there are nearby poles they could run it across the street and there is some conduit they could probably run it in to building.

FM is frustrated, too. Stake is aware of the problem.

I did come up the idea tonight, if Time Warner won't come to us, maybe we can send them digital photos & ask why it's so expensive with what we see outside. Just a thought.

Our only other option is to look into satellite service or another cell phone company. It's just so frustrating to know they have TWC service right across the street. We have TWC at home and the only time we had no service was because someone in a rural area dug a ditch, tearing out all service land, cell & cable (everyone lost all service including 911) or when someone hit a power pole taking out cable. We have found it to be reliable service. Of course, at this point, any company that could provide internet faster than a download of 0.49 would be an improvement!

[russellhltn]

Have you tried the contact on the Internet Service Provider Contact Information page in mhtech? It gives a national number for TW.

[johnshaw]

RussellHltn and Bizegrama,

The clerk support pages for ISP contacts lack the details of the agreements, the issue with the pre-negotiated rates, is that any build-out costs are Excluded from the pricing and thus must be paid for, either through a negotiation with the local account team or FMG budget (In this we are left to the personal skills of an FMG to accomplish these things). I tried to move to Time Warner in 3 meetinghouses, and this was our issue as well, build-out costs of 7K 4K and 5K. I have added feedback to the clerksupport site to include the same information that is given to FMG including negotiated costs and U/D speeds, but don't see it posted yet.

Have you tried a microwave technology? Fiber-over-the-air? You might check http://broadbandmap.gov/ to see if you have any local providers in your area.

[bradhokanson]

Our Branch has been struggling with poor internet service for years, but now it is even worse. Download speed 0.29-0.49 mbps church website speed test, Family History Center Support states we should be at least 2 mpbs. We currently have a Sprint broadband connection that has gotten worse in the last 6 mos, dropping connection to zero bands at times & that is with a cell phone booster, too. I have updated both the Sprint software on USB card & on Cradlepoint router, so that is not an issue. I have also tested service with just the card in computer directly, same drop off.

Because of our location (only us & 1 other building on block), we cannot get Time Warner Cable (across the street) and $7000 to run in to our meetinghouse. DSL not available.

I was wondering if anyone has had experience with Hughes.net - good, bad or otherwise. Supposedly their commercial dishes are less susceptible to weather conditions (other than white outs & hurricane force winds-not likely where we are in central Texas). Their rates seem reasonable for a commercial account. Their service is available at our location.

With budget cutbacks for Facilities Mgmt, I'm not sure what we are going to do. But the Clerk gets frustrated (I have that connection running directly into Cradlepoint router-not through the Cisco 880 box). And I have not even been able to help our patrons in Family History Center with any genealogy, as it relates to the internet, for the last 3 mos. I have been more than frustrated .

Any input would be appreciated. I will be in SLC next week (grandson's wedding at SLC temple) and hope to talk to someone from Family History Center support (FamilySearch support).

Thanks for your help.

I would look at other options than Hughes.net. We have found that in most cases they block ports needed for VPN tunnels back to CHQ for router administration and wireless AP registration. Is Sprint your only cellular option in the area? PM me with details.

Brad

[JamesAnderson]

HughesNet is not much better, I've heard their down speed is 768kbps. I've heard of a couple of others that have higher speeds but they cap bandwidth, and with the youth curriculum needs and other rich media content access needs, you'll go over what they give you easily.

[Bizegrama]

RussellHltn and Bizegrama,

The clerk support pages for ISP contacts lack the details of the agreements, the issue with the pre-negotiated rates, is that any build-out costs are Excluded from the pricing and thus must be paid for, either through a negotiation with the local account team or FMG budget (In this we are left to the personal skills of an FMG to accomplish these things). I tried to move to Time Warner in 3 meetinghouses, and this was our issue as well, build-out costs of 7K 4K and 5K. I have added feedback to the clerksupport site to include the same information that is given to FMG including negotiated costs and U/D speeds, but don't see it posted yet.

Have you tried a microwave technology? Fiber-over-the-air? You might check http://broadbandmap.gov/ to see if you have any local providers in your area.

JohnShaw,

Thanks, I tried the link and unfortunately is hasn't been updated for our area since a years ago. Sounds like you ran into the same problem with TWC installation costs..

[Bizegrama]

Thanks to Brad for info on the VPN. I know with the old Cisco pix box I had to make sure the VPN tunnel light was on. The new Cisco 881 was installed without being notified, so wasn't sure which light was the same as the VPN tunnel.

Today I visited with one of the satellite service providers in our area (run by our local co-op & Excede satellite). He gave me the best example of why satellite service does not work well with VPN. It is because of their lag time going to & from the satellite. Some VPN's have time issues. I know date & time can be issue if the current Cradlepoint router software (with Sprint card) is not correct. But I check that everytime I go to FHC when I boot up computers & reboot the system (router, Cisco 881, etc). This fellow was very honest about everything. He said if there was any way to get TWC, it would be the best with our situation because of VPN needs, building construction, etc.

With Sprint the latency (lag time) & jitter can be an issue, too, according to LDS speed test. So it would probably be the same issue any cell phone company or satellite service. I am going to try next week to speak with Sprint. FMG has asked me to contact them.

The fellow from co-op stated he lived beyond TWC's end of line, but when he actually finally got someone out to his place, instead of $3000 they quoted hime over phone, It was only $1000.

He also mentioned that other cell phone companies will probably have data limits, Sprint being the only one with unlimited, which I already knew. With satellite there are data limits. The co-op company does not have any business accounts so all are at residential rates. However, there is no way to check to see if it will work with the church VPN ahead of time, and it requires a 2 yr contract. He did say if it didn't work the contract could be voided. Rates for installation & monthly rates were very reasonable.

The co-op fellow felt satellite might not meet our needs now or in the future. The local hospital has used it and there has been issues. It was refreshing to have someone so up front about their product!

I didn't get a chance to talk with someone from Family History Center support while in SLC. Will try to call them next week.

So not sure where we're at with this all. I'm going to e-mail our Branch Presidency, FMG, Clerk & Asst Clerk, Stake TS with what I have found out. We're all open to any suggestions.

[russellhltn]

How about finding someone who does have high speed to set up a WiFi link beamed at your building?