Forum Discussion

6267jacqui's avatar
6267jacqui
New Member
10 years ago

unlimited access

I'm out in the country, so my options are limited. Hughes was the only option, actually. We work online, so we have to have access. I'm paying twice the amount I was for cable, with much less access. Cable was unlimited and fast. This is extremely limited, slow as dialup and forget it when it rains, or god forbid, a cloud hovers overhead. What is the problem with having an unlimited package? I cannot afford to spend 16 bucks for a measly 2 gigs when I need more service. This is crazy. UNLIMITED, please, at a fair price!!
  • C0RR0SIVE's avatar
    C0RR0SIVE
    10 years ago
    6267jacqui,

    There are many reasons why we wont see unlimited satellite internet service any time soon, below are a few.

    1: Costs - While cable companies may charge $1000+ for so many feet of fiber ran, the cost for them is far lower, they make a killing anytime someone pays them to expand their networks.  With this, it's also cheap for cable companies to expand if they wish to, to high population areas, they can easily recover costs and make a profit with in the first month of running new cable to the areas they select.

    2: Costs again- Satellites are NOT cheap, Jupiter cost several million to be built, and more to be launched.  I can't remember if it was $5,000,000 for the satellite, or if it was in the hundred million.  Can't find the documents anymore honestly.  Then to top it off, Hughes has to build multiple ground facilities to support that satellite, each facility costs several hundred thousand to a few million a pop I estimate.  To top that off, these satellites only survive approximately 15 years, if they don't have issues.  So, with it taking more than just a few months to recover costs, and the equipment costing astronomical amounts, they have to be stingy on costs.  I am seriously wanting to say the satellite was in the $500,000,000 range since they have a $300,000,000 insurance policy on the satellite from what I can find.

    3: Jupiter Bandwidth vs Cable Bandwidth - Jupiter only has ~100Gbps of total up/down bandwidth spread out among everyone, where as cable, a single cable provider easily has Terabits worth of bandwidth at their disposal anytime along their own pipes.  1000Gbps = 1Tbps.  It's easier to run new fiber and upgrade a few machines at each end to increase that bandwidth, can't really send someone into space to install new equipment on a satellite.

    4: Data allowances are the only form of bandwidth management technically allowed to be used anymore AFAIK.  Hughes does this to prevent the 700,000+ users that they do have from all trying to download at one time, if they did, the satellite would become crippled, and you would be complaining about far more than data allowances.  100Gbps divided among about 700,000 users is 0.142Mbps, virtually nothing, then you have to factor in, you are also uploading while downloading as the server you connect to needs to know you are getting the data in order.

    5: Because this is a shared system, congestion is expected to occur, but, everyone should be able to still receive a decent amount of download speed at almost any time, yes it slows down in the evenings, but you should still be seeing a few Mbps in download speeds.  Sometimes something happens along the network, either with your router, modem, the satellite in space, or one of the many ground facilities that support the system that can impact speeds.  When this happens it's advised that you disconnect your router, connect your PC directly to the Hughes modem, and run a series of speed tests over a few days.  Hughes likes to have a set of 5 tests in the morning, another set of 5 in the mid-day, and another set of 5 at night.  All tests are to be performed at http://consumer.performancetests.hughesnet.com or http://my.hughesnet.com/ after logging in.  They need speed tests as well as webresponse.  They are two very different tests.
  • C0RR0SIVE's avatar
    C0RR0SIVE
    Associate Professor
    10 years ago
    6267jacqui,

    There are many reasons why we wont see unlimited satellite internet service any time soon, below are a few.

    1: Costs - While cable companies may charge $1000+ for so many feet of fiber ran, the cost for them is far lower, they make a killing anytime someone pays them to expand their networks.  With this, it's also cheap for cable companies to expand if they wish to, to high population areas, they can easily recover costs and make a profit with in the first month of running new cable to the areas they select.

    2: Costs again- Satellites are NOT cheap, Jupiter cost several million to be built, and more to be launched.  I can't remember if it was $5,000,000 for the satellite, or if it was in the hundred million.  Can't find the documents anymore honestly.  Then to top it off, Hughes has to build multiple ground facilities to support that satellite, each facility costs several hundred thousand to a few million a pop I estimate.  To top that off, these satellites only survive approximately 15 years, if they don't have issues.  So, with it taking more than just a few months to recover costs, and the equipment costing astronomical amounts, they have to be stingy on costs.  I am seriously wanting to say the satellite was in the $500,000,000 range since they have a $300,000,000 insurance policy on the satellite from what I can find.

    3: Jupiter Bandwidth vs Cable Bandwidth - Jupiter only has ~100Gbps of total up/down bandwidth spread out among everyone, where as cable, a single cable provider easily has Terabits worth of bandwidth at their disposal anytime along their own pipes.  1000Gbps = 1Tbps.  It's easier to run new fiber and upgrade a few machines at each end to increase that bandwidth, can't really send someone into space to install new equipment on a satellite.

    4: Data allowances are the only form of bandwidth management technically allowed to be used anymore AFAIK.  Hughes does this to prevent the 700,000+ users that they do have from all trying to download at one time, if they did, the satellite would become crippled, and you would be complaining about far more than data allowances.  100Gbps divided among about 700,000 users is 0.142Mbps, virtually nothing, then you have to factor in, you are also uploading while downloading as the server you connect to needs to know you are getting the data in order.

    5: Because this is a shared system, congestion is expected to occur, but, everyone should be able to still receive a decent amount of download speed at almost any time, yes it slows down in the evenings, but you should still be seeing a few Mbps in download speeds.  Sometimes something happens along the network, either with your router, modem, the satellite in space, or one of the many ground facilities that support the system that can impact speeds.  When this happens it's advised that you disconnect your router, connect your PC directly to the Hughes modem, and run a series of speed tests over a few days.  Hughes likes to have a set of 5 tests in the morning, another set of 5 in the mid-day, and another set of 5 at night.  All tests are to be performed at http://consumer.performancetests.hughesnet.com or http://my.hughesnet.com/ after logging in.  They need speed tests as well as webresponse.  They are two very different tests.
  • BirdDog's avatar
    BirdDog
    Assistant Professor
    10 years ago
    Clouds and light rain should not affect your system. If they do, you have a problem.

    And put more simply, the limits are there to keep people from going hog wild and dragging down the entire system so nobody can use it.

    People nowadays think modern technology is capable of anything but it isn't. It does have limits. 
  • 6267jacqui's avatar
    6267jacqui
    New Member
    10 years ago
    Yup, kills my DirecTV too. I called about that and was told it happens to everyone with satellite and there was nothing that could be done.
  • Robin S's avatar
    Robin S
    New Member
    10 years ago
    It should not happen in a light rain. I've had HN and still have DirecTV. What you might be experiencing is heavy rains between where the signal originates from and you. That is normal.
  • Gwalk900's avatar
    Gwalk900
    Honorary Alumnus
    10 years ago
    Josh and 6267jacqui,

    I have both Hughesnet Gen4 and Directv.

    My Hughesnet Internet connection WILL drop out somewhat before my Directv service but ......... It requires a TORRENTIAL RAIN, maybe somewhat less if their is a lot of electrical activity associated with the storm.

    This brings us to the concepts of "Signal Strength", "Cut-Off" & "Headroom".

    Your Hughesnet Signal Strength can be found by opening the Modems SCC (System Control Center) by entering 192.168.0.1 into your browsers address bar.
    The "Main Page" looks like this for a Gen4 HT1000/1100 modem:
     

    Clicking the icon I have marked as #2 at the top center of the page will open a more detailed "system information page:


    Your systems Receive Signal Strength can be found in the lower right under the WAN Info header. I have it highlighted in yellow above.

    This is a very "fluid" number ......

    It is affected by, in  part, the "quality" of your dish "aim", weather conditions between your dish and the satellite, weather conditions between the satellite and your assigned Gateway server facility. Thing that will cause moment to moment changes would include heavy cloud cover, electrical activity within those clouds, high humid ... including ....rain ... heavy rain, very heavy rain.

    Now Max signal strength is a very slippery thing.
    As a rule, the further north you go, generally the lower the Sig strength.
    Example: I am in mid Michigan .... so somewhat far north.
    My max SIg WAS about 102 .... in clear weather, both at my location AND that of my Gateway facility (FLZ .... Flagstaff AZ)

    Now that being said ... there is a "Cut-Off" level. That is the point went my Sig strength to or below, I will lose my connection ... there may be a area just above Cut-Off when my system is "Impaired".
    At my location, with a "great aim" and a Sig of 100-102, my "Cut-Off" is about .... 38

    So the difference between 100-102 & 38 is my "headroom" This is the amount of signal strength "slack" I have for inclement weather, slight shift in my aim due do a number of factors ..... wind, heating of the dish/mount/mounting surface (my roof and underlying structure in my case), the "aim" really is that sensitive.

    If for any reason, your max sig is a little on the low side, then you have less "headroom" to accommodate inclement weather.

    If for some reason your systems "ggod sig" is barely above Cut-Off, it would work just fine, until the smallest cloud, light rain or hiccup.

    Learn to use the modems SCC when things are "right" so that you have an idea as to what is going on when things go south.

    In the eleven years I have had Hughesnet, I can almost give a weather report from just looking at the modems SCC.

     
  • Chris11's avatar
    Chris11
    Alum
    10 years ago
    Hi 6267jacqui,

    Thank you for your post and welcome to the community! It seems that other community members were able to address your concerns. Switching from cable to satellite is always an adjustment. We are here to help if you need some tools to help you get the most out or our service. I was also able to pull up your account using your profile information and ran some diagnostics on your site. Everything looks fine from what we see on our end. 

    Currently, your account is subject to the Fair Access Policy, meaning the data allowance has been exceeded and now the speeds have been reduced until your monthly allowance resets or until you purchase and use a token. If you have not already, try downloading the status meter which can be found at http://my.hughesnet.com. It is essential in helping you manage your data. 

    As a courtesy to you I will go ahead and add bandwidth to your token bandwidth bucket which starts being used as soon as you run out of anytime data. I hope this helps. If you any other questions or concerns please let us know and we will be glad to help.

    Thank you,
    Chris