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bud
New Member

DNS lookup error

We've been getting a lot of DNS lookup errors, especially during the free download hours where our connection slows down a lot. 
Looking at the troubleshooting in 192.xxx.x.x I find "DNS AccelerationThis diagnostic message indicates that your HN7000S has detected a possible DNS Acceleration issue. 
This is typically a transient condition and should clear up in a few minutes. No action is required on your part."
It rarely clears up up within a few minutes.
I'm using a Mac mini OS X 10.10.5, Apple's Airport Express and the serial # for our HN7000S is 1032639-0001. I hope that's the right serial.
I have OpenDNS setup on both my Mac and Apple router. 
Never had any problems with previous ISPs before Hughesnet.
72 REPLIES 72
Amanda
Moderator

Hello bud,

Thank you for your post and welcome to our community. Is there a specific reason you are still using an HN7000S? When did this issue start? Have you ever called in for support? If you don't live in Alaska or Puerto Rico, have you ever been offered a free upgrade?

Thanks
Amanda
bud
New Member

Hi Amanda,

The HN7000S was the one that was sent to the installer from our Hughesnet ISP. Is there a newer one that we should be using?
I've been a customer for almost a month and it has been going on since the start. Mostly during the free download hours, occasionally during the day.
No, I haven't called in for support yet.
No free upgrade offer. Probably because I live in rural Alaska?

Thanks
bud
Amanda
Moderator

Absolutely because you live in Alaska, bud 🙂 Let me take a look at your system and see what we can do - I'll let you know what I find.

Thanks!
Amanda
bud
New Member

So, how much is the upgrade then? I'll be patiently waiting to see what you find.
Amanda
Moderator

Hi bug,

We can't upgrade your system since you live in Alaska, unfortunately. I've tried the last day and this morning to find your account, but the only I can find is not active. The serial number you gave me did not pull anything either. Can you get your Site ID from 192.168.0.1? I had initially thought maybe you had everything powered off, but I think I might just have an old/incomplete account.

Thank you
Amanda
bud
New Member

Site ID is 2A237301. You probably tried when we had our modem turned off. We only get 350 MB daily usage which isn't very much with multiple phones and computers being used. Try it now while we're on. 
Amanda
Moderator

Hi bud,

That helped! Thanks. It seems I did have the right account, but the person who installed your service never finished the activation paperwork for us, so I can't actually look at your system. I have an installation manager looking into getting this closed out so we can get into your diagnostics. How long has the system actually been installed?

Thanks
Amanda
bud
New Member

Since November 7, 2015 I think. The installer did have me initial and sign some paperwork after he got our internet working. It's odd that you didn't have my account on file especially since I was invoiced on 11/07/15.
Amanda
Moderator

Hi bud,

I just google'd your town and wow - you're really out there!! Okay, so we don't have a TON of options when it comes to this system but I am going to try my best since I think its basically all we can offer out there. First I want to try looking at the diagnostics now that we had installations management close up your order and make the tools available to me. I can see if we need to make adjustments on the modem and tweak, then we test over the weekend. Have you ever done a direct connection from your computer to the modem to see if that helps anything?

Thanks
Amanda
bud
New Member

No, I haven't done a direct connection. I'll test it when we start getting dns errors again. 
So, are you saying this is the best equipment we can use out here?
Amanda
Moderator

Thank you bud. And yes, at least until the middle of next year, this satellite (Horizon) is the only available satellite for Alaska from HughesNet. It's a great system but we have, for a while now, been closing down the transponders for service. The system costs more to keep running than we receive in return, but we understand that people such as those in rural Alaska and Canada have no option so we do our best to provide a service out there.

Amanda
Gwalk900
Honorary Alumnus

Hi bud,
Former 7000s user here.

Hughes has three system platforms in use:

 The now "legacy"  Ku band DW6000/HN7000s systems required only "line of sight" to an assigned satellite and transponder frequency (it seems there may have been 6 or 7 at the time). Hughes leased transponder space on birds owned by others ... I was on 91W. (Galaxy11 as I recall).

The "throughput" of those birds are limited and the leases are expensive so Hughes went the route of commissioning the building and launch of their own "fleet" of satellites with sole ownership and greater performance and capacity.

The two present Hughes birds are Spaceway3 (95'W) (HN9000 series modems) and Echostar17 (AKA Jupiter 1) (107.1'W) (HT1000/1100 series modems).

These are "spot beam" technology Ka band systems that require not only line-of-sight to the satellite but also a user must be within the "footprint" of a given "beam" of THAT satellite.

Example, in the case of Gen4 (Echostar17) there are 60 "spotbeams" aimed at specific areas of the US. For more info on "spotbeams" see this topic:

https://community.myhughesnet.com/hughesnet/topics/beams-gateways-and-loading-overloading

In the end, at present, there simply are no "spotbeams" aimed at your location so you are limited to the Ku band "leased" legacy HN7000 system.

Now, that COULD change in the (somewhat) near future as Hughes is soon to launch and put into service Jupiter 2. There as been no official announcement that I have seen as to spotbeam coverage for the new satellite.
 
 
bud
New Member

Thanks for the info, Gwalk900. I hope the new satellite aims at Canada and Alaska.
bud
New Member

I'm getting a whole lot of dns errors right now with some different sites except for here and Facebook.
C0RR0SIVE
Associate Professor

I honestly don't think Jupiter 2 will cover Alaska...  It's supposedly going to cover all of the continental US, most of Canada, and "Central America".  Sometimes I wonder why Hughes doesn't launch a cheap bird of their own to cover Alaska and a few other areas of north west Canada that they don't really have coverage for.

http://spacenews.com/hughesechostar-orders-jupiter-2-broadband-craft/

It really will be great news to hear if Jupiter 2 will cover alaska, but at the same time, I have my own doubts... Oh, and it looks like the launch date is the very end of 2016 by estimates on a few websites 
Amanda
Moderator

Hi bud - I wanted to test out upgrading your service plan but before that, you said you'd direct connect next time you had DNS errors. I also want to see if your DNS errors correspond with any alarms or alerts on our side for reference. We'll be looking out the next couple of days to see if you have the same issue and track it to see if theres correlations. We want to use upgrading your service plan (no extra charge) as a last resort. Let me know the next time (your time zone) and what website you were trying to get to when you encountered a DNS error. If you can get a screen shot of it too, that would be great.

Thanks
Amanda
bud
New Member

Hi Amanda,
I totally forgot about the direct connection. Sorry about that. I haven't seen a whole lot of dns errors since my last post. I will have the info you requested the next time I get the errors. 
bud
New Member

Got a few dns errors earlier today. Plus I've been now getting a "Safari can't find server" when I first try to open a site. Refreshing opens the sites.

The dns errors were from 21:51 pm - 1:03 pm today. I gave up trying to refresh the pages to see if the error quit coming up.
bud
New Member

Haven't had any dns errors since my last post except for one yesterday at 1:39 am. In it's place, I've been getting "Safari can't find server" errors when trying to open sites, this one included. A refresh usually opens up the sites fine.

C0RR0SIVE
Associate Professor

Bud,

I assume you are using an Apple based computer since you are using Safari (Safari is only supported on Apple devices now).  Have you tried using a non-hughes DNS?  Not sure how effective it will be since you are on the HN7000 and TurboPage interferes with DNS lookups for non-secure websites, but it could help some.

Look here for how to setup Google DNS for use on that computer, and keep in mind to restart all equipment after changing the DNS server on your machine.
https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using?hl=en


(I really hate the Hughes DNS sometimes)