Hughes Net satellite - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Bigfish · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hughes Net satellite

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

No they will not set it up on your fifth wheel unless you are incredibly lucky and they won't show you how to move it. You have to do a mini-setup every time you move. The automatic roof mount, a Datastorm from Motosat, will cost you about $5K installed. A well supported tripod system will cost you about $1500 and provide the much needed training and support from your dealer. Hughes.net will not support moving your dish.
There are two more dedicated resources on the internet:
Datastorm Users - Join the forum and read messages in the "Tripod and other Manual Mounts" topic.
RVInternetBySatellite Yahoo Group - dedicated to helping you get started

Howard · Host

Hey Bigfish,

Yeah, sorry. I wish it was that simple, but it's not. Hughes.net does not support mobile users. In fact, you don't want to deal with them directly - the corporate folks don't have a clue how to deal with us RVers. smile

You have to find a value added reseller (VAR) of Hughes.net satellite internet that specializes in mobile use. It's not hard to find those folks, but as Bill said you are looking at a much bigger cash outlay for the mobile equipment than the home equipment.

If the system installation costs don't scare, let us know and we can guide you. smile

Bigfish · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks for the information concerning contacting Hughes Net. We have decided to go with the dish that is set up each time we stop. Correct me if I am mistaken: the internet dish is somewhat more complicated than setting up the dish 500, which I have been setting up for the last 6 years. You can purchase a satellite finder for the internet dish? Will our experience with the dish 500 help us with the internet dish? Lastly, I use the internet to contact with my business and I feel that the dish setup to the internet is better than any other available now? Thanks again.

Sandra · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just a note - the roof setup is a little more limiting than the tripod setup. With the tripod you can still park under trees but move the dish whereever you need to to get your service. With the roof mount you have to move the whole RV (as I think Howard can attest to over the past couple of days).

Howard · Host

Bigfish,

I'm not familiar with the dish 500, but any experience you have setting up a satellite dish on a tripod will help.

You are just talking about a much bigger dish and a much bigger tripod for satellite internet. smile

There are all sorts of gadgets out there to help you find the satellite. It's not really a whole lot more complicated than for TV. Just different satellites and different equipment.

There are a couple more topics on the Forum regarding what folks use for internet on the road, and there is one about improvements in cellular broadband internet access via aircards. You might want to check those out.

So the answer to your question about the "best" depends on where you are going to park. For the most coverage over the most geographical area of the United States, satellite internet is currently the winner. But cellular is catching up quickly.

Good luck and let us know if you need help locating a dealer/installer smile

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Here are two examples of setting up a Hughes.net on a tripod:
Bob Hatch's Dustyfoot system
Glenn Simpson's DW6000 Operators Manual - there are some newer tricks to make this go faster, but these are in his 7000 series manual which is not free and on the internet.

The latest HN7000s setup is very close to the DW6000 setup though there are some new tools to make it easier, some screens have changed, and there are a few extra tweaks to get the best performance.