Wilhelm Family 

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 enables Maryland family to have broadband Internet connection

When you have five children, like Michelle and Mike Wilhelm, you don’t want anything to slow you down, especially your Internet connection.

The Wilhelm family loves living in the rural countryside of Little Orleans in western Maryland, but at one point they had given up on using the Internet because they were so frustrated with the slow speed of dial-up. After searching for a better solution, they found that other Internet options such as DSL and cable were unavailable in their area and HughesNet® high-speed satellite Internet access was out of their price range. This quickly changed when the family received a postcard from Hughes announcing that, “Government Funded High-Speed Internet Is Now Available in Your Area.” The postcard explained that as a result of the federal government’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), unserved households could get HughesNet® satellite Internet access with no hardware or installation costs and 20 percent off the monthly service charge. Michelle and Mike immediately got on the phone with a representative to make sure what they were reading was true—it was!

Spreading the Word about HughesNet

The Wilhelms are sharing the news about the Hughes ARRA discount offer with the whole town. Michelle said, “The day that I had HughesNet installed I got onto the Internet, onto my Facebook page and I wrote, ‘Loving my HughesNet Internet service. I love HughesNet!’ And I had probably 15 comments back to me saying, ‘Where did you get it?’”

Michelle and Mike didn’t just tell their neighbors, they shared how much they’re enjoying their HughesNet Internet connection with the local fire department, too. The fire department found completing their reports online using dial-up Internet so slow that it made the process unbearable, so the Wilhelms suggested HughesNet high-speed Internet.

New Internet Access, New Opportunities

With their new HughesNet Internet the Wilhelms are able to take advantage of everything the high-speed, always-on connection has to offer. Their children use the Internet to do research for their homework, and Michelle and Mike started their own eBay business. The Hughes offer under the Recovery Act helped make a high-speed Internet connection affordable, and HughesNet helped make the life of this busy family a little easier.

For more information, visit Consumer.HughesNet.com.