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heatherwhitney
New Member

Cannot watch videos

I've had HughesNet for a few months now and have yet to be able to watch a video. I have a smarttv and cannot use it. I can't even watch tiny gif's! 
27 REPLIES 27
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Also be sure you are not in FAP Mode by going here and making sure the two small boxes at the top of the page are green:  http://192.168.0.1/

I have a smart TV and recommend not leaving it connected to HughesNet as it will download large firmware updates, guide data, and app updates without your knowledge. Whenever I want to update mine I connect it during Bonus time.

And depending what app you are using to watch movies it may be streaming in HD which is a big no no on satellite internet. Stream video in SD or lower.

Here is something I posted awhile back: https://community.myhughesnet.com/hughesnet/topics/smart_tv_experience
Bill Reynolds1
New Member

Don't even try watching or download videos or movies on HughesNet.  The drain on your monthly threshold is dramatic.  Once in violation, your speed with be phone line at best.
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Bill, it can be done in moderation and at lower definitions, not HD. All a matter of what a person's priorities are when it comes to using their data. Granted a 5 GB Anytime plan is not going to give much leeway on data for video after doing normal things for a month.

Also using plugins like adblockers leave more data available for other things.
Bill Reynolds1
New Member

Disagree!  I don't do any streaming beyond short (2-3 minutes ) videos.  I can actually see the consumption of the threshold.  So, we have had to ban all videos and downloading is done overnight as much as possible.  This is my only option for internet out here in the wilds of MN.  Good thing for long range digital TV antennae, otherwise it would be only PBS! 
Gwalk900
Honorary Alumnus

Bill,

The impact is going to be relative to the size of the plan a user has as well as having browser extensions that block ads and scripts.

there is a drastic difference between a bottom end 9000 plan and a 50/50 Gen4 Ultra plan.

 

BirdDog
Assistant Professor

My Netflix set to low definition uses ~250 MB per hour. On a 10 GB Anytime plan a person could watch at least 25 hours of video and still have enough left over to do other things on the internet. It's all a matter of setting the video definition, monitoring and rationing out the data to last a month.

In other words, 10 GB means one can average 333 MB per day to get through the month. If they don't use 333 MB one day whatever not used is basically like a bank, there for use the next day or whenever. The "bank" grows each day 333 MB is not used. A person can use the banked data whenever they feel like it. That means they may have enough to watch a movie one night out of 3 or 4 depending how much data they've used on previous days. Or, they may want to save it all for the end of the monthly refill to binge watch.

Boils down to knowing how much you generally use each day then going from there. I also have OTA TV, it is little known jewel many forget about since satellite TV and cable took over.
theorileys
New Member

I also have been unable to watch even a 20 second video on a smart phone without it buffering every 3 seconds throughout the video.  Hughesnet says oh its the wireless router, maybe so but their customer service folks can't seem to provide any help, horrible experience. 
Gwalk900
Honorary Alumnus

You stated in your now closed post that your service worked correctly when directly connected.

Hughes is an ISP and the deliver services up to your modems LAN output port.

Networking is up to the subscriber. There simply is to many switch/router devices for Hughes to provide "network support" for more than perhaps token connection data.

I, among others, attempted to provide you with one-on-one networking support for your issue and you never responded to a single question or suggestion.

Now just how are we to help without SOME type of interaction on your part ?


Chris11
Alum

Hi Heather,

Thanks for posting and welcome to the community! I'm sorry to hear of your experience thus far. However i assure you we are here to help. First thing is to run some speed tests for us to evaluate. You will need to plug one computer via Ethernet directly to the HughesNet modem. Then navigate to http://myhughesnet.com and login to your account.

You should then see our speed test available for you to run. You can also head over to www.testmy.net and run some speed tests there as well. Just make sure to use 12 MB as the test size. Those are the only two sources we recognize mainly because they are configured to properly test a satellites internet connection. Please post your results once you are able to run about 3-5 tests throughout the day. Looking forward to your reply.

Thank you,
Chris
heatherwhitney
New Member

Thanks for the replies! I'll try the test when I have time. This happens even after the first of the month when our data is full. Pretty disappointing. 
theorileys
New Member

Working on it, however my connection is currently so slow that I cannot download Java as needed by the Hughesnet speed test. 
Chris11
Alum

Hi Heather,

Please let us know when you do, so we can continue to assist you.

- Chris
gscates
New Member

My experience is that the connection speed is so slow that even If I wanted to watch a Netflix video, it wouldn't connect anyway. I purchased a top end wireless router to use, and my IPad can hardly connect to FaceBook the speed is so slow. I haven't run speed tests, and evidently from reading posts today, (my first time in community forum), I need to do so.
gscates
New Member

I use my Verizon hotspot for my IPad or my laptop, and let the wife and daughter use the HughesNet.  There is a windows desktop plugged directly into the modem, but it is slow on everything as well. I do not use Verizon for NetFlix because it uses about 2GB per movie. 
Chris11
Alum

Hi gscates,

Thanks for posting and welcome. Please run the speed tests, create a new post with the results so we can better assist you. I am confused though. How are you directly connected to the modem and using router? Do you mean you their is a LAN connection from the router to the desktop? 

- Chris
chuckr47
New Poster

The best way to use Hughesnet to watch video is to download the file to a local area network storage device.  Then you can watch the video, movie, etc from the storage device.  Nice thing is you can watch the video more than once without affecting your Hughesnet quota   🙂
Amanda
Moderator

Hey Chuck

You reminded me - I've subscribed to YouTube Red the newest subscription service and they let me download videos on the fly. I have a small data allowance on my phone (500MB a month) and I download them while at WiFi locations and then listen to them when working out or at the grocery store. YouTube Red lets you set yourself to "offline" and listen to music you've found on YouTube that you liked and downloaded on your device (phone tablet etc)

Amanda
firelitefoto
New Member

I
firelitefoto
New Member

I know this is an old thread, but I'm having the same problem. Above are my speed test result... but I have no idea what you do. Help would be appreciated.
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

What modem do you have and what plan? Even at that speed you should be able to stream video in standard and low definition just fine. If using a router try plugging computer directly into the modem and see if any better.