@SZ1
As alluded to by Mark, HughesNet has a built in feature called the Video Data Saver. This feature automatically throttles the service speed when streaming is detected, and to a speed that is normally amenable to streaming in SD (480p) or lower. This is done to help you save data, as streaming in HD can use quite a bit of it. With Netflix, streaming in HD can use around 3GB of data per hour, so it can burn through your data fairly quickly at that definition. If you've got the 20GB plan, that's only just over six hours of HD streaming and you would run out of your Service Plan data, and that's ONLY the streaming. Everything else you do online will use data, as well, so even six hours of HD streaming on a 20GB plan really wouldn't be feasible.
Because of the Video Data Saver, if you try to stream in HD, or the source of the stream cannot auto adjust to a lower definition, you'll get a lot of buffering, as the throttled speed isn't high enough for HD streaming. However, if you do want to stream in HD, you can Snooze, or turn off, the Video Data Saver, which will disable the auto speed throttling. Clicking on the blue link will open a new FAQ page about the Video Data Saver, which also includes instructions for Snoozing it or turning it off.
Hope this helps. 🙂
