Forum Discussion
Data Usage With Jupiter 3
Hi. I was so excited to get realigned to the Jupiter 3. Not only do I have faster speeds but the Elite plan is substantially cheaper than the 200GB plan on the old satellite. Yes, there was an initia...
An update to my Jupiter 3 experience.
My last post was 2 weeks ago. I was frustrated and had resigned myself to either spending money on tokens or not streaming TV for the 2 weeks after I used my priority data. I ran out (250GB - I had purchased tokens) 2 days later with 11 days to go until the data rollover. To my surprise, nothing changed. Standard data speed was more than adequate for my home and daily use. In fact, I returned to my habit of having the TV on all day and turned the data optimizer off. No more blurry TV! It was nothing less than liberating. I routinely checked speeds with Ookla and am consistently within 10 Mbps - 20 Mbps range, speeds slowing in the evenings. All internet providers boast speeds and I was convinced that I needed hundreds of Mbps to do anything. This is simply not true. I changed my service plan to the 100 GB to recoup some money. I realize that the standard data speeds may decrease in the future with the inevitable increase of accounts signing on to the Jupiter 3, but I am hoping that will take some time and that the big guy up there can keep up the pace.
Also, here's an interesting nugget. When I switched service plans yesterday, the100 GB priority data was immediately applied. I just checked my speed...15.4 Mbps at 8:20am LOL. We burned through 37 GB watching the game yesterday in HD but I can comfortably say I don't care, it was worth it. Even if my strategy falls apart this cycle, which given HughesNet's inconsistent service is a very plausible possibility, I am no longer going to stress out over speed and data. All of the back and forth, both here and exhaustive calls with tech support, has done nothing but cause more stress and frustration. At no time (official HughesNet tech support has yet to respond here) did anyone suggest that standard data speeds might be adequate for my purposes but then why would they? Its the same reason why there is no plan less than 100 GB (unlike the old satellite that offered 25 GB) or just a standard data plan. I'm sure the hardware up there is a bit pricey.
I'm sure the "Professors" are firing up their keyboards and will "educate" me further but meh...I'm good.
N/C
Ok. I can expect to use anywhere from ~8GB - ~9.5GB of data for six hours of streaming at 3Mbps to 3.5Mbps. That contradicts the stats in the "How Much Data Do I Need" charts posted on the app as well as the website. According to the chart under "What Can I Do With 10GB?", it lists 15 hours of DVD quality streaming. Using that figure, 200GB would get me 300 hours of streaming and at 6 hours a day would be 50 days. Of course, I understand that there are other factors such as additional devices but given the 30 day data cycle, I figured the pad would be sufficient. It was. My service started in September. My data usage was more than adequate. I did have to use a token backup for the last days of the cycle over the holidays but that was understandable given a house full of additional family and their devices. Even then, It was just the last 2-3 days. I'm looking at weeks of token use this cycle after switching satellites. Again, I realize this is a new system but the disparity makes the data plans no longer applicable. What do the families that work from home or have kids that game do? I'm a 56 year old that just wants to watch TV.
One thing to remember is DVD quality is standard definition (480p). Standard definition streaming uses, on average, between 600MB - 800MB, which for 10GB means between 12.5 and 16.6 hours, so the "15 hours of DVD quality streaming" is fairy accurate, give or take. HOWEVER, depending on the streaming service, the data usage could be more, especially as time goes on.
