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Rhonda7
Sophomore

Buffering

After 6 months of having HughesNet, I am beyond frustrated!!! I am experiencing buffering when streaming video, particularly when streaming Amazon Prime Video!! I have made countless calls, talked with countless techs and have spent countless hours on the phone!! I am DONE!!!

 

After going through a few of the comments on this community board, I have come to the realization that if you are trying to stream video in the evening hours, you might as well forget it!!! As described, evening hours have the most congestion--DUH!!! Most people who work during the day are streaming in the evening and this service does NOT accomodate most people!!! 

 

I have also come to the realization this is not a speed issue--speed is fine! This is a bandwidth issue!! Will HughesNet resolve this problem? After 6 months, I'm not optimistic. I NEVER had this issue with previous ISPs--the only reason I went with HughesNet was to increase speed, previous to HughesNet my only options were 5M maximum download. I am aware of another company who will be available in my area in the coming months and I can't wait!! For now, I guess I am forced to pay an exhorbitant amount of money each month for a service I cannot fully utilize! Shame on you HughesNet!!! 

 

Thanks for letting me vent!!

20 REPLIES 20
MarkJFine
Professor

At the risk of repeating myself, do a search on the word ‘terrestrial’ here.
In short, satellite is not the same as terrestrial ISPs and isn’t very good for large-scale streaming.

* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.

Not sure what is considered "large scale streaming", but all I do is stream an occasional movie or series episode. 


@Rhonda7 wrote:

Not sure what is considered "large scale streaming", but all I do is stream an occasional movie or series episode. 


That's large compared to the average short YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook video.

 

Here's the link I was thinking of: https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/Tech-Support/Unable-to-stream-still/m-p/103100#M70698


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.

Thanks, very informative! Bottom line though....appears Amazon Prime Video is not an option when subscribed to HughesNet. 

 

I give up!

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Well, I don't know.  I still have Prime and watch stuff every so often.  Sometimes it's very pixelated and buffery, other times it's a bit better.  For me, Hulu and Netflix work much better. I watch all these on a laptop -- if I want to watch them on a TV screen. I connect the laptop to it with an HDMI cable (sometimes  I use Chromecast, but if Amazon is throwing a tantrum, Chromecast will make it worse). 

 

Satellite internet works very differently from cable (like Xfinity). The latency is an important issue that can affect things that require less latency, and streaming is one of those. And then there's the limited bandwitdh that we must accept because this is where the technology is now.  More bandwidth would mean most people couldn't afford the service.  And then there's congestion, which affects all services, including cable.  

 

I hope someone can address your issues and help you be happier with the service.

I am in contact with Amazon concerning this issue as well as HughesNet. I have seen reference these two are somewhat incompatible.

 

I do understand there is a big difference between cable and satellite internet. With that said, as I am a rural dweller, I have only ever had satellite internet. I did not have this problem with my previous provider, Rise Broadband. They were GREAT!!!! The only reason I left them for HughesNet was Rise was unable to provide faster than 5M download speed. Big mistake on my part for switching! Should have stayed with Rise!! Even with the slower speed, I did not have the buffering issues. I also had no data caps!

 

Live and Learn! 

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Rhonda, if you can, please post what Amazon says.  I've never gotten anywhere with them myself. 

So far, no luck! But if I get any answers, I will be sure to post!

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

It might take a day or two -- they usually do answer, though, even if they're not all that helpful sometimes. 🙂

 


@Rhonda7 wrote:

So far, no luck! But if I get any answers, I will be sure to post!


 

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Not sure if this will help, but the problem with Amazon and buffering happened earlier this year and when Liz investigated, she found that Amazon uses a different streaming technology than Netflix and YouTube.  Her post is here:

 

https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/Tech-Support/YouTube-Amazon-streaming-buffering-stalling/m-p/9621...

So.....just chatted again with Amazon--very entertaining!! 

 

I was told the way to correct the problem was to get a different internet connection!!! Wow! How much do they pay these people! They also confirmed that Amazon Prime Video and HughesNet are not compatible. 

 

With that, looks like I will be cancelling both in the near future!

 

I quit!!

So I just perused Rise's website, which apparently has an internet provider 'competition' map.

 

There's a polygon around just my road/subdivision. There's Verizon and Xfinity to the South and North, Verizon to the West, and Xfinity to the East.

 

Been living here for over 30 years and this road is basically the only zone not covered in the entire area... an island.


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.
maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

"I was told the way to correct the problem was to get a different internet connection!!! "

 

Wow. Just wow.


@Rhonda7 wrote:

I did not have this problem with my previous provider, Rise Broadband.


Not very familiar with Rise. From what I see they're one of those 'wireless' internet companies that put a mesh antenna on your roof or something like that. We have them here in Virginia as well.

 

If so, they would be something similar to using your mobile phone's LTE network with transceivers/repeaters relatively nearby. The latency for them would also be quite low, since it might be slightly longer distance than a wired internet company (maybe up to 10 instead of 5), but nothing close to the distances used in satellite.


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@maratsade wrote:

Well, I don't know.  I still have Prime and watch stuff every so often.  Sometimes it's very pixelated and buffery, other times it's a bit better. 


Just now discovering that Amazon Prime Video, or at least some titles, is a part of my Prime membership, I tried a movie with the middle definition setting (Better), and with the Video Data Saver snoozed, and it played without any issue. This is at 8:25PM.  I only played about five minutes of it, just as a test, but it worked well.  🙂  

 

Pretty cool.  

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

There are all kinds of stuff you can view as part of Amazon Prime! I've discovered some gems that I thought no one had.

 

I refuse to turn off the VDS so I put up with the pixelation, which only lasts for a couple of minutes and then the video plays just fine. What I have to do with Amazon, though, is every so often I have to check the settings, because they reset to HD.  Now I make sure SD (Edit: can't remember what Amazon calls that one) is selected before playing anything.

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Rhonda, Amazon often doesn't play nicely with Hughesnet, and it's an issue on the Amazon side.  Whatever they do over there, it doesn't seem to like the latency that is inherent in satellite internet. 

 

*I am not a Hughesnet employee or representative. This is a customer-to-customer tech support community, and I am a customer.

Thanks...I will contact Amazon as well.

upset-user
Spectator

I feel exactly the same way!  The customer service representatives I've spoken with have been rude and just don't care.  The things we were told when the guy sold us on it were'nt even close to how it really is.  We can't cancel because we will have to pay close to $500.  We aren't even using it.  We can't watch a movie at anytime.

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

If you'd like tech support or account support, please start a new topic under Tech Support or myAccount and Billing. This site is to help people who want to improve their service. Empty complaining helps no one, especially not you.