COVID-19 and HughesNet...

[GabeU]

Though I understand there are situations out there where changes could help, I really hope that HughesNet doesn't do anything too drastic, or at least not data wise.  A lot of people are asking on various social media sites about abandoning the high speed data caps.  I simply can't imaging how bad the system would get were that to happen.  It could, and likely would, slow to an absolute crawl. 

[maratsade]

Exactly. There just isn't enough data for uncapped service, and those who are asking for it likely have no idea how limited satellite is, not to mention they'd be furious when things slowed down so much that no one could do any kind of internet work.  

[maratsade]

I hope HN will release a statement about this. 

[MarkJFine]

Dunno. It's a hot potato. If it were me, I wouldn't even touch it.

If you address it even with the technical reality that it's not actually possible, you run the risk of creating even more anger from the 'aww c'mon' people who think there's unlimited bandwidth everywhere.

Just imagine it being Sunday during football season, only everyday, and worse.

[maratsade]

IMO, it's going to create anger either way; might as well be open about it. Lack of transparency carries its own problems.

[GabeU]

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@MarkJFine wrote:

Just imagine it being Sunday during football season, only everyday, and worse.

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Exactly.  If that happened, some of those who knew about it and who would normally prioritize their activites might refrain from doing so and start streaming.   It wouldn't take a whole lot of streaming to create....  

[MrBuster]

You well know exactly what happens as you know a competing satellite service tried this with very painful results that were predictable, and predicted.

Without data caps to keep people conserving the limited resources, the service becomes unusable.  It is interesting how even charging only $3 per token GB is enough to keep people mindful of their consumption of a limited resource.  Having seen this happen before, I hope it will not be tried again here.

Thank you for bringing this important point forward.

[maratsade]

Yes, the other sat company tried it and it was disastrous.  Verizon tried it too, and from what I read on their tech community, it was pretty bad too, and people were out for blood.  I'm with you, I hope uncapping won't happen, becuase it'd be chaos. It's going to be bad enough with more people using the net and the usual suspects trying to stream all day; we don't need any more trouble. 

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@MrBuster wrote:

You well know exactly what happens as you know a competing satellite service tried this with very painful results that were predictable, and predicted.

Without data caps to keep people conserving the limited resources, the service becomes unusable.  It is interesting how even charging only $3 per token GB is enough to keep people mindful of their consumption of a limited resource.  Having seen this happen before, I hope it will not be tried again here.

Thank you for bringing this important point forward.

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[GabeU]

This ought to make it even more fun...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/media/universal-movies-streaming-coroanvirus/index.html

[maratsade]

Oh, lord.  

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@GabeU wrote:

This ought to make it even more fun...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/media/universal-movies-streaming-coroanvirus/index.html

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