After my life in Chicago took a dramatic turn last summer, I decided to ditch the city life through and through. But moving to rural America came with its fair share of challenges.
Even though my brain needed that break, I still wanted a connection with the rest of the world. I had my friends and family to talk to. Not to mention that I also had to look for a job. Couldn’t live like Tarzan, could I?
But rural America, Caledonia County in Vermont, to be more specific, barely has high-speed internet connectivity like Fiber or even cable.
As soon as I realized this, I panic-searched all about internet providers in rural areas.
To my relief, I found out that despite there being no urban high-speed internet options there, I could still make do with satellite internet.
And that is how I found the best satellite internet in rural America, which is also the reason that you are reading this blog. In this blog, I will review why I find Hughesnet satellite internet to be the best one so far.
Table of Contents
Why Hughesnet is The Best Internet for Rural Areas
Reliable Speed
Speed is one of the first features we need in any good internet connection. In my case, I needed the internet for my remote job, in which I’d be accessing some cloud-based tools and occasionally attending an online meeting. Apart from that, my other internet activities included surfing social media and YouTube. Thankfully, many internet providers in rural areas have improved their services, offering speeds that easily support remote work and everyday online tasks.
Now Hughesnet advertises that they provide up to 100 Mbps speed, but the highest I saw on a random speed test was 70 Mbps. Not the one that was advertised, but still, it was sufficient to support my daily internet activities.
Apart from occasional outages due to bad weather, Hughesnet’s internet speed was good for me. Now, I am not a technical person, but one reason might be that my house is at a high altitude and has a clear view of the sky. Which is exactly what satellite internet needs.
Wide Availability
Hughesnet is a satellite internet service that has a near 100% availability throughout the US. So, naturally, I was not too worried about my new house not getting satellite internet coverage.
It gave me internet where other broadband connection types fell short.
If you are moving to a rural or remote area and are worried about internet availability, then don’t. I am sure you will get satellite internet reception very easily. Just make sure your house or cabin has a clear, unobstructed view of the sky.
Professional Installation
Being extremely clueless about all things tech, I opted for a professional installation for my satellite internet equipment. But then I found out Hughesnet does not allow self-installation, which is a huge bummer because I know you can save a pretty penny by installing it yourself.
While it costs more than $150, which is a huge dent in the pocket for many, I decided to lease the internet modem instead of buying it. This got me a free professional installation. The technician came earlier than expected and was super nice. He explained everything to me very patiently and even gave tips on how I can try to get internet reception in bad weather.
Unlimited Data
Satellite internet providers have always had data caps to limit usage. So, imagine my shock when I found out Hughesnet offers unlimited data. With Hughesnet satellite internet plan, I got priority data as advertised, which was good enough considering I live alone.
However, I only found out about their soft data caps when I had a bunch of family and friends over. As the data usage crossed 100 GB, I noticed the internet speed became painfully slow and was magically resolved when the next month began.
So, if you are a big family, then you need to be mindful of Hughesnet’s ‘unlimited’ data. But for me, it works because I live alone.
All in all, my experience with Hughesnet has been great so far, considering it is the only internet type available in my rural area.
Andrej Fedek is the creator and the one-person owner of two blogs: InterCool Studio and CareersMomentum. As an experienced marketer, he is driven by turning leads into customers with White Hat SEO techniques. Besides being a boss, he is a real team player with a great sense of equality.