Forum Discussion
Hughesnet HT2000W
Unfortunately, when it comes to satellite internet, many games will be unplayable due to the high latency (ping) mentioned by infinitytec, regardless of the connection method. It won't really matter whether it's connected directly to the HT2000W via Ethernet cable or connected via WiFi. It's one of the drawbacks of satellite internet.
Turn based games are usually okay, but real time games, like action games, generally don't work well, if at all.
From the FAQ page...
The total round trip is actually about 90,000 miles. One leg is about 22,300 miles, and there are four legs. From your dish to the satellite, then back down to earth at the gateway, which is where your service actually "enters" the net, then back up to the satellite and back down to the dish at your home.
As for the Nighthawk router splitting the speed, keep in mind that the total speed you're getting from the service will be split between devices that are actively using the net at the same time, though not necessarily evenly. So, if you're getting 25Mbps, and you have two devices actively downloading from the net, that 25Mbps will be divided between those two devices, though, again, not necessarily evenly, as one device may be doing something that doesn't require much speed, while the other might be using all the speed it can get. It would be the same with three, or four, or more devices actively using the net. The available speed would be shared and divided between them.
Just to put a lag time on it, independent of channel speed or frequency :
22,300 mi * 4 legs * sec = 478.843 mSec (minimum)
leg 186,282 mi
[The speed of light is 186,282 mi/sec]
- I don't think I have ever seen my average latency being less than 600 ms. Given, I usually test on WiFi, which may contribute to that.
Given it's around 500, add about 100 to the destination for anything added on the upstream route.
Add at least 200 if your upstream is Level3 going to Microsoft. Level3's connection to MS is abysmal right now.
In real practice I doubt very many people, if any, ever see a latency below about 550ms or so (aside of flukes, of course). The stock info given is vastly simplified, and really only applies if someone lives directly below the satellite, in the middle of the ocean. All of us actually have greater distances from the satellite than listed, and the further north, and the further east or west from the satellite we are, the more time it adds. And, of course, the same goes for our gateway.
And then, of course, there're all of the switches and such that the service goes through, which slows it down even more.
I'm pretty far north on the east coast, and my gateway is pretty far north on the west coast. I'm usually seeing latencies in the mid 600s.
It's funny, but if you ever test your speed with Google's speed test, it evidently only measures the latency between their server and the gateway, so it gives you latencies of about 15ms to 30ms. :p
I've got an algorithm to calculate the actual distance between a geosynchronous satellite at lat 0, long y, alt z, and your location at any given lat x', long y', alt z'.
It's almost as complicated as calculating the seven symbols on a stargate.
