Hughesnet Bankruptcy
US satellite internet provider Hughesnet has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after running low on cash and losing subscribers to Starlink.
Hughes Network Systems filed in a US bankruptcy court on Sunday, but the company notes it’ll continue serving its satellite internet customers during the restructuring period.
I used Hughesnet before DSL was available. The company was really annoying to deal with, and the dish was finicky, but the service was much better than using a dial-up modem.
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Some of my neighbours *still* use Hughesnet - it might surprise most of your readers to know that even in the San Francisco Bay Area, fifteen minutes drive from the headquarters of major tech companies, people are stuck with archaic, god-awfully-slow satellite or dial-up internet connections.
But, for anyone in a similar boat - and unable or unwilling to use Starlink, nor wait for Leo - the silver lining of Starlink is that it's commoditised beam-forming antenna array technology, and you don't have to point at a satellite to use it. Whereas terrestrial radio links - like from Ubiquiti - used to be slow and psychotically sensitive to interference, newer tech is impressively resilient (e.g. I now have a system based on Taranas, https://taranawireless.com/g2/, and it goes straight through fog, rain, and a literal forest). So for anyone ill-served by more conventional options, I highly suggest investigating these.
(I know that sounds like a marketing blurb, but it's not intended as such and I have no connection to any of these companies other than as a customer - I'm just *so* relieved, after nearly a decade on ~1Mbps terrestrial radio, to be back on a modern internet connection, that's literally 1,000x faster)
