Data Usage With Jupiter 3

[JSMomof2]

Hi. I was so excited to get realigned to the Jupiter 3. Not only do I have faster speeds but the Elite plan is substantially cheaper than the 200GB plan on the old satellite. Yes, there was an initial installation fee for the realignment but with the decrease in cost, the fee will be offset in 3 months. I have not had any interruption in service since the switch January 8th. My issue is data usage. I am burning through my 200GB at an unsustainable rate, although nothing has changed as far as devices and daily use. I have reached out to support and they have been stellar in their response. I have a technician scheduled to realign things for the third time next week as support keeps saying its an alignment issue. Like all new technology, I realize the kinks need to be ironed out. 

My question now after researching this forum, is anyone else experiencing this issue with data usage with the Jupiter 3? I have received conflicting information concerning faster speeds requiring more data and just want to make sure I am taking advantage of all resources to resolve this problem and possibly help anyone else experiencing the same issues. 

[maratsade]

I hope someone will answer your query today. 

"faster speeds requiring more data"

My understanding is that this is not so.  What can happen with faster speeds though is that you may be, for example, streaming at a higher resolution, and that and not the speed will use more data. There might be other issues, and I hope @GabeU and/or @MarkJFine will chime in to give you more information. 

When you're using more data than you feel is normal, you need to do some detective work on your network; the reps can't tell you what's eating data, only what's connected to your network, how much data you've used, etc. You may want to monitor your data usage by installing the free Glasswire app (https://www.glasswire.com) on all your Windows and/or Android devices. That may show you who/what the data hog is.  

[GabeU]

Faster speeds don't require more data, but faster speeds means your devices can use more data, depending on what they're doing. As maratsade intimated, this is especially the case with streaming. If the streaming was limited to a lower resolution because of speed, it may not be now, which means more data use. Even simple things like ads on webpages can cause more data usage when you have higher speeds.

If there is an alignment issue, causing degraded service, this can cause higher data usage because of dropped data packets, needing to resend those packets multiple times for them to get through completely. Keep your fingers crossed that this is the reason for the majority of it. However, if you do stream, I'd check the resolution settings, perhaps locking them down to something that uses less data.

One last thing is satellite TV receivers, especially from DirecTV. If you have one and it's connected to HughesNet, this could also be a source of higher data usage. These receivers can use your data to download things to the receiver that would normally be done via their satellite. IOW, they'd rather use your bandwidth than their own to update the receiver. System updates, guide updates, etc. 

[JSMomof2]

Thanks for the reply but I am confused.

"Faster speeds don't require more data but faster speeds means your devices can use more data, depending on what they're doing......Even simple things like ads on webpages can cause more data usage when you have higher speeds."

So then, yes. Faster speeds use more data. It may not be additionally required data but if my devices are using more to stream, its measurable data, none the less. And I have a 60" 4K HD TV that I have to watch blurry movies on to restrict my data that is now being used faster because the Mbps is faster? I am utilizing the data optimizer. I don't have any receivers. My device count and streaming habits have not changed. The only mitigating factor is the new dish alignment. A technician came out today and re-aligned the dish and also replaced the modem. We have ruled out any hardware issues. I am willing to work with HughesNet to work out these bugs but there has to be a compromise concerning the data usage in the interim. It is not cost effective for me to throw money at tokens to get through a month. I have 43GB left of 200GB. I have 17 days remaining. That's an average of 12GB/day. We watch approximately 6 hours of TV daily and answer emails. I may spend an hour on my laptop. I don't have any social media accounts. Something is amiss. 

[GabeU]

Six hours of TV per day is a lot of data. With your prior service it's entirely possible that streaming used less because of a variety of factors, including overall speed, congestion, and latency. The new service has higher speed, and likely a lot less congestion due to being new and there not being a lot of subscribers on it yet. Even with the Video Data Saver on, the new service could still be using more data to stream the same things you did before, as before the speed for streaming may have been a good bit below what the VDS allows due to those aforementioned factors, whereas now it may be hitting its limit, which is normally between 3Mbps and 3.5Mbps. Six hours at 3Mbps to 3.5Mbps is anywhere from ~8GB - ~9.5GB of data usage. And, of course, that's just the streaming. Anything else done will use more data as well, and again, higher speed can mean higher data usage with webpages. If your laptop is a Windows laptop and you don't already have one installed, I'd recommend installing an ad blocker like Adblock Plus. If you do use that one, make sure to go into the options to uncheck "show acceptable ads". Ads can chew through data, and blocking them can save data that adds up... no pun intended. Also, again if your laptop is Windows, you may want to try Glasswire. It'll show exactly how much data your laptop is using, and just what on the laptop is using it. There's a Premium version, but the free version is good enough. There's also a version for Android.  

With streaming, your best bet is to set the resolution at the source to conserve data, if you can. I know some streaming services don't give that option, but many do. Low def will look terrible on a big TV like that, but standard def may look okay. Some may allow you to set it to 720p, which will use about 0.9GB to 1GB per hour, depending on the service.

I'd check to make sure that any other devices you have connected aren't auto updating or connecting to the cloud.

There's a way you can see data usage by device connection in the modem pages, I believe, or online, but I don't have HughesNet anymore, so I'm not quite sure how to see it. Hopefully one of the reps or other subscribers, including @maratsade , can tell you how to see it.

[maratsade]

"There's a way you can see data usage by device connection in the modem pages, I believe, or online, but I don't have HughesNet anymore, so I'm not quite sure how to see it. Hopefully one of the reps or other subscribers, including @maratsade , can tell you how to see it."

They seem to have changed the available information.  I can no longer see usage by connected device. My previous instructions don't work anymore. 

EDIT: To see the average daily download, go here: https://my.hughesnet.com/en/usage/history

[JSMomof2]

Ok. I can expect to use anywhere from ~8GB - ~9.5GB of data for six hours of streaming at 3Mbps to 3.5Mbps. That contradicts the stats in the "How Much Data Do I Need" charts posted on the app as well as the website. According to the chart under "What Can I Do With 10GB?", it lists 15 hours of DVD quality streaming. Using that figure, 200GB would get me 300 hours of streaming and at 6 hours a day would be 50 days. Of course, I understand that there are other factors such as additional devices but given the 30 day data cycle, I figured the pad would be sufficient. It was. My service started in September. My data usage was more than adequate. I did have to use a token backup for the last days of the cycle over the holidays but that was understandable given a house full of additional family and their devices. Even then, It was just the last 2-3 days. I'm looking at weeks of token use this cycle after switching satellites. Again, I realize this is a new system but the disparity makes the data plans no longer applicable. What do the families that work from home or have kids that game do? I'm a 56 year old that just wants to watch TV. 

[GabeU]

One thing to remember is DVD quality is standard definition (480p). Standard definition streaming uses, on average, between 600MB - 800MB, which for 10GB means between 12.5 and 16.6 hours, so the "15 hours of DVD quality streaming" is fairy accurate, give or take. HOWEVER, depending on the streaming service, the data usage could be more, especially as time goes on. 

[maratsade]

@GabeU,

"Six hours at 3Mbps to 3.5Mbps is anywhere from ~8GB - ~9.5GB of data usage."

8 GB a day over 30 days = 240 GB.  The streaming may explain, at least in part (depending on how many GB a day they actually use), the data usage.

[maratsade]

N/c

[JSMomof2]

Is that No Comment? Understandable after your revelation that you yourself are no longer a HughesNet customer. One wonders why then are you a "Distinguished Professor IV" on their forum? I'm just trying to get some straight answers. Contradictions abound.

[MarkJFine]

Jumping into the fray...

There are a couple of factors that haven't been raised:

1. The chart you're describing is using average numbers to give most people an idea. I, for one, agree that the numbers stated appear to make it look as if streaming has less of an impact than it does.

2. Video Optimization doesn't appear to work perfectly on all services, so you'll see some variance due to that.

3. All streaming services do things differently. Some have a way to set the speed to a lower SD level (which also varies), and some test the connection to see what 'their' optimum resolution would be best. Netflix and Disney+ fall into the first category, but know that Disney+ can use a lot more data per hour than Netflix - up to twice as much. Max and Paramount+ use the latter category and they will always use much more data. As an aside, you can see the test happen in real time - that's the little buffer pause after it starts in HD. followed by a few second rewind that continues in SD.
4. One other factor that causes an increase in data usage: handshaking. Data usage includes upload as well as download. So if the handshaking back to the streaming server happens more often you'll see an uptick in data usage.

Edit: Just to put some qualitative data on this: About 3 hours of streaming (1 hr ep each of Halo and Star Trek Discovery on Paramount+, 1 hr ep of The Witcher on Netflix) plus other things like 2 adults checking social media (incl. small vids), email, etc. will use upwards of 4GB a day. Some apps like Amazon (just the shopping, not Amazon Prime) seem to use a lot of data now, just because of the embedded hi-res images and video ads. It all adds up.

[maratsade]

I'm still a subscriber. You're mistaking me for @GabeU  (see his post at https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/Tech-Support/Data-Usage-With-Jupiter-3/m-p/141495/highlight/true#...)

Edited to add link.

[maratsade]

@JSMomof2 

N/C = no content.

[GabeU]

---

@JSMomof2 wrote:

Is that No Comment? Understandable after your revelation that you yourself are no longer a HughesNet customer. One wonders why then are you a "Distinguished Professor IV" on their forum? I'm just trying to get some straight answers. Contradictions abound.

---

I'm a "Distinguished Professor IV" on this forum due to helping people for 8+ years on it, and that help is informed by 16+ years of experience with HughesNet.

You're getting straight answers. You're just not liking the answers you're getting. The Video Optimizer, previously call the Video Data Saver, does NOT reduce your streaming to standard def. YOU have to do that, either at the source or with the app you're using. It's designed to keep the streaming resolution down to HD by limiting the speed while streaming to between 3Mbps to 3.5Mbps, but it doesn't always work perfectly with every streaming service. The bottom line is streaming burns through data, especially when the resolution is not actively controlled by the user, and the Video Optimizer, while helpful, isn't a substitute for being proactive.

And with that, I'm out of this conversation. 

[JSMomof2]

Maratsade, I apologize for the mix up and I appreciate all of the technical explanations of how this all works but in all honesty, I just want to be able to access the internet without stressing out over data packets. Since Al Gore invented the internet, I have had multiple homes with multiple internet service providers and never had to worry about data. And another satellite internet provider does not cap data but I am on the wrong side of the mountain for Mr. Musk. This is sooooo frustrating. 

I requested to have my dish realigned to the old satellite. That doesn't seem to be an option. Until 5G becomes available, I will accept my fate and buy tokens. Again, thank you for sharing your knowledge and educating an old lady.

[maratsade]

@JSMomof2,

I totally sympathise with your frustration. 

I personally try to stay on the positive side, though, to avoid stress. I think about it in terms of what I have and not in terms of what I don't have.  I can't control the reality of terrestrial internet providers not wanting to bother with rural areas (except by contacting my representatives at the local, state, and federal level and asking them to bring fast internet to my area), and while I could move to a city and have all kinds of fast internet,  I moved to this area on purpose, to get away from the stress of the big city.   Having a "lesser" internet is part of the price I pay for being where I am, as is having a lot of power outages during bad weather, and sometimes cows blocking my driveway or the road (true story). 

It helps, I think, that no one in my household is a streamer; that probably makes a big difference. I use PlayOn Cloud to download content I want to watch (this uses no data), and then watch that on a laptop connected via HDMI to a big TV. That works just fine for me.

I do use the internet often for work-related tasks, but if need be I also have access to a friend's office in a nearby small town, with fast internet. I know many people don't, so I sympathise with those who don't have any other options.

"Since Al Gore invented the internet"

🤣🤣🤣

I'm sorry to hear you can't go back to the old satellite.  I wonder why that is.

I thought the musky guy's internet worked everywhere? Other non-terrestrial ISPs offer "unlimited" internet (often it does have caps, though, hence the quotation marks); have you checked to see if there are offerings in your area?

Best of luck to you! If you have the time and the interest, I suggest you get active in your area and contact local, state, and federal authorities about bringing terrestrial internet to your area.

[eco]

I was surprised that JSMomof2 stated the new Gen 6 install was just a re aim of the dish. The tech that came to install Gen 6 tried that after I said that Jay wrote the dish was a re aim , a new radio and modem . He was unsuccessful with a re aim, and radio , modem change. He called support, they said change the dish also, when he did he had a good signal. The Gen 6 dish is round, the Gen 5 is more oval. My Gen 6 speed is much improved, usually 12 mps and better. No where near the advertised speed, but it is consistent, no more wifi problems, or congestion which slowed Gen 5 to below 600 mps .

The question is- with more subscribers to Gen 6 , will congestion problems arise again ?

I'm hoping the new bird has much greater capacity.

[maratsade]

I guess the whole thing is new tech so they need to change everything.

"with more subscribers to Gen 6 , will congestion problems arise again ?"

It's happened before with the earlier generations, so I imagine it will happen again.

[eco]

What is the supposed speed with Gen 6 when out of priority allowance? Gen 5 was near 1.5 mps That worked ok for me, but in the last 3 months, some nites we had 300 mps,

[maratsade]

Have you checked the subscriber agreement and/or the FAP info?