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Extra Slow Speeds on Gen5

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Danny89
Junior

Extra Slow Speeds on Gen5

First im gonna preface this in that I AM indeed on Throttle right now

However, since maybe sometime last year, not sure the exact time, maybe October, ive noticed that my speeds in general have gone down bad. When downloading games from Steam, I used to have speeds in the MBps or whatever, really fast speeds. I saw up to 7, just amazing. Even when throttled(I am a gamer so I have a bad tendency to blow through some data when getting new games) I was getting speeds near 1MBps. But even with full data, I was having slower and slower speeds, around 1 to 2 MBps

Now, im currently downloading a 25GB game on Steam, and my top speed is 47.7 KB/s, which is horrifically slow. Im using WiFi, but I HAVE tested this computer on a hard line direct to the modem, only a slight increase in speed

Ive not noticed any strange use of data thats unaccounted for, so I don't think theres a data leak or something hiding in my house slowing everything down

What are some possible other solutions, if any? Also I am using the HT2000W modem, Gen 5, got the 50GB a month plan

Edit: Been getting a lot of Web Acceleration Down problems on the System Status screen since yesterday(8/16/19), however the lower speeds has been chronic now for months, but has gotten particularly bad recently

19 REPLIES 19
maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Many things can affect speeds,  congestion being one of them. It's possible there are more subscribers now in your area and so the overall available broadband is being shared by more, which will reduce speeds especially during times of high traffic.  Could be other things,though, so troubleshooting is necessary. 

 

To begin troubleshooting in this community, please follow the protocol outlined here:  https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/Tech-Support/Think-you-have-slow-speeds/m-p/110034#M74607

 

Also, when you go to your modem's status page, do you see any error messages? What's the state code? Besides being in FAP, are there any other issues indicated on that page?

I'll begin the tests soon! Gonna have to get the long cord or set up an older computer though. Should I have it use the default testing center? Im in North Carolina, and it's using a server in Dallas

No, everything shows up as green checks, except of course, for it being State Code 24.1.1

I finished a 25MB speed test, but using Wi-Fi, and my download speed was 241 kbps. My upload speed isn't affected that I've noticed, its 1.7Mbps. 

EDIT: I also should note that I get data back in 4 Days 14 hours, but I have these slower speeds even when im on full data, compared to what I used to have

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Your best bet for the tests is Testmy.net, which is what the HN staff on this site will look at (see the article linked above to get more info).  Create an account and run tests like the protocol details, and post the link t your tests results, not individual tests.  Make sure you're connected to the modem via an ethernet cable (this is done to isolate the modem and take the wifi out of the equation). 

The HN staff are on M-F, 9-5 Eastern, so you may not hear anything until next week, but this will give you time to collect a few tests. I'd run batches of 3 test, separated by a minimum of 5 minutes, and run these batches 3 times a day at least, once in the morning, once in the middle of the day or the afternoon, and once in the evening. 

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Danny89 wrote:

Should I have it use the default testing center? Im in North Carolina, and it's using a server in Dallas 


The testing server in Dallas is fine.  It's likely that testmy is either connecting you to the testing server that's closest to your Gateway, or it uses the Dallas server by default.  I can't remember which, but either way, the Dallas server is fine.  🙂

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

I think Dallas is the default. I change mine to San Francisco or LA. (Edit: because my gateway is in San Diego).

How do I find out where my gateway is? But I'll just use the Dallas server

Oh, and im noticing that in the evening theres a LOT of Web Acceleration being down. Seems to start around 6PM and ends by 8 or 9. 

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Danny89 wrote:

How do I find out where my gateway is?  


What do you see listed for the three letters after the J1 or J2 in your IP Gateway Association State on this page, like in the following example, which shows ROS?  

 

Capture.JPG

I got ALB after J2 on mine

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Albuquerque, NM.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Danny89 wrote:

I got ALB after J2 on mine


Your Gateway is in Albuquerque.  

 

Knowing where your Gateway is can also be helpful if you have a temporary service interruption, as you can check to see if Albuquerque is experiencing bad weather, as bad weather at your Gateway can affect your service in the same way as bad weather at your own location.  Well, you can check it if you have alternate means, that is, like a cell phone or something. 

 

Weather disruption at the Gateway doesn't happen as often, as their signal and dish are much more powerful that what you have at your home, but it does happen.

Interesting! I wonder if they are doing some kind of maintence or having problems(weather doesn't seem bad there though) since I have been having bad Web Acceleration Down problems the past two days. That wouldn't explain the degredation of speed since I first got Gen5, but that might explain the recently extremely slow speeds, and maybe more people in my area have gotten online. I dunno if its real or just whatever its called when you see something that you have, but ive seen more DishNet and HughesNet dishes around

Once I seem to be more stablized on the Web Acceleration front, I'll really get those tests going! I managed to do one tonight through through a direct connection to the modem with Wi-Fi deactivated, and got 383kbps(48kB/s) for the 25MB download on TestMy

Is it possible that there is a "progressive" throttle, or heavy users get throttled harder? I've wondered that as my upload speed is great

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Danny89 wrote: 

Is it possible that there is a "progressive" throttle, or heavy users get throttled harder? I've wondered that as my upload speed is great


I don't believe that heavier users get throttled any more than anyone else, but the system does prioritize different types of traffic during peak usage periods.  I don't know if it's done individually or as a whole, though.  When one is subject to FAP (Fair Access Policy), like you are now, I don't know if that optimization still applies.  You can read a bit about how it works here, though the description of what they do is fairly basic.    

 

That you're seeing Web Acceleration issues, though, is a bit troubling, as it may be indicative of some type of problem.  Perhaps an equipment issue, or even an aiming issue.  The reps can run remote diagnostics to see if anything's amiss.  So they can do this, it would be a good idea to leave your modem plugged in if you normally don't do so.  It could just be a temporary issue at the gateway, but they'll still likely want to run the remote diagnostics to be sure.  It's doubtful that it's being caused by bad weather, though, as bad weather usually causes total, though temporary, loss of service.  

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

When it comes to the speed testing, I would use the manual 3MB test file for download tests that you run while you are still subject to FAP.  The 25MB test size will be overkill, and may even take so long to run that the test times out.  So, just for the tests you run while subject to FAP, it would be better to use the manual 3MB test file.  However, if the test ends up completing, then automatically retests using a larger file size, you should switch to using the manual 6MB test file.  This is unlikely to happen with your FAP speeds being so low, but just in case.

 

When you are no longer subject to FAP, however, please be sure to use the manual 25MB test file for download tests, as is shown in the instructions for speed testing that maratsade linked to.  

The interesting thing about the Web Acceleration being down the past two days is that it was going from about 6PM to 9PM. Yesterday, 8/17, though, it was giving me issues until about 11PM. No issues since though. I always thought Web Acceleration was something at HughesNet and had nothing to do with my programming or equipment, so thats worrisome. Ive got an original, I presume, Gateway from August 2017 about when Gen5 was released, before then I had DishNet's Gen 4 or whatever they called it. I also have my modem plugged in at all times. I may unplug it and let it rest some later tonight to see if that offers any improvement

My 25MB speed tests, three since 11:30PM, are showing total download speeds of 53kB/s to 118kB/s, last test being 118. I'll do the 3MB tests until I get back to full condition. None of the tests timed out, thankfully! Up until a few months ago, I was still having download speeds of over 1MBps, or at least in the high triple digit kB/s, even during Throttle.

Ive done a little searching on my Wifi enabled devices. My Dish Hopper has no downloaded VoD or streaming anything that I know of, so its not like its taking up bandwidth, nor is my PlayStation 4 or Nintendo Switch on and downloading. So theres no leak or bandwidth hog to my knowledge. The Router is reporting nothing strange connected to the network either. I do have a WiFi printer though, is it possible it could be doing anything?

Danny89
Junior

Well this is kind of embarassing. I set Steam to show things in bits per second as opposed to bytes, and my download is holding strongly at 1Mbps, which is what Hughes promises for speeds while on throttle. With the TestMys oover the night, my average has been .77mbps. So I guess im just feeling the crunch, and obviously im not very familiar in using the kbps/mbps set up for speed

I was having far greater speeds up until the end of last year, but I'll presume theres more users in my area or on the beam, however that works! But man those were some good times. Before the topic is closed, I welcome any tips on how to get as much speed as I can though!

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Do you have a lot of stuff connected to your network?  If you do, disconnecting some stuff may improve your speed marginally.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Danny89 wrote:

Well this is kind of embarassing. I set Steam to show things in bits per second as opposed to bytes, and my download is holding strongly at 1Mbps, which is what Hughes promises for speeds while on throttle. With the TestMys oover the night, my average has been .77mbps. So I guess im just feeling the crunch, and obviously im not very familiar in using the kbps/mbps set up for speed 


I've done the same thing, though with Networx.  For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why the results were so different compared to everything else.  I then realized it was because I had it on bytes per second, which is the default, rather than bits per second.  Once changed, "the mystery" disappeared.  😛  

 

Also, though it sounds like you already may be familiar with this page, you can see devices that are currently connected, and those that were connected, but are no longer, on this modem page.  However, it only shows devices since the last time the modem was plugged in, so if you did, in fact, unplug the modem last night, it will only show devices since you plugged it back in.  This can be especially helpful for seldomly used devices, as we can forget that they're connected, and possibly using data/bandwidth on their own.   

 

To answer your question about the WiFi printer, yes, they can use your data.  They can sometimes call home to get system updates and even advertisements, and if they happen to have an issue while doing so, they can continually try, sapping your bandwidth and data.

 

 

Edit:  I should add that power cycling the modem can sometimes help with speed, at least somewhat.  To power cycle the modem, shut down your device(s), then unplug the modem.  After waiting at least a minute, plug the modem back in.  Then, after waiting at least five minutes so that the modem can be fully ready, turn your devices back on and see if your speed has improved.  This doesn't always help, and when it does it's normally only when a modem has been plugged in for a very long time, but it is a little trick that sometimes works.  

Hello @Danny89,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. I am sorry to hear you are experiencing this issue. After running diagnostics on your account, it does appear that you are experiencing the effects of peak hours which were explained above. This in addition to being out of data will certainly slow things down. I checked for any underlying issues such as signal quality and equipment health as well, and all appear to be fully operational. Our engineers are aware of this congestion on your beam and are working hard to fix this. While I do not have a time frame on a complete resolution, I do recommend following the tips mentioned in this thread such as disconnecting any devices that are not actively being used and using an Ethernet cable for direct connection to the modem. 

 

-Damian 

Thank you very much! 😄 Ive noticed an uptick tonight in speeds, and during my game download, it peaked at 1.7Mbps, so thats a happy improvement!

Are there any good programs for PC to hunt down and see what devices on the network, AND what amount they are downloading/how fast?

Im curious though, can anyone explain, or give me a link to the information, on what the Beams are and how they work? Does it mean there are more people in my direct area using Gen5, or does it mean state, entire region, or what?  Hope it goes well decongesting it! 😄

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@Danny89 

 

To answer your question about the beams, there are many other customers on your beam, though the actual number only HughesNet would know, and it's doubtful they would say.  The footprint for each beam varies.  For the Echostar 19 satellite, which is the satellite most Gen5 customers utilize, there is no present map to show where the beams are, but you can see the beams for the Echostar 17 satellite, which is what many Gen4 users utilize, here.  You can see each beam's location in the image on the lower half of the page.  It's an automatic slide show type, which you can control below the picture, and you can click on the link (above the picture) for a specific beam and have it open the map for that beam, which you can then zoom in on.  There is beam information for the ES19 satellite on that site, but it's a duplicate of the ES17, which means it's incorrect.  

 

As an example, this is my old Gen4 beam footprint on the ES17 satellite.  It's beam 24.

 

Capture.JPG

 

As for your question about data on your network, there is Glasswire, which monitors all data that your Windows PC uses, but only for the PC it's installed on.  It will tell you not only how much data is being used, but also what is using it, as in programs, apps and system processes, and how much each of those things is using.  It's a VERY handy tool which many of us HughesNet customers use.  It's free.  There is a paid version which will monitor items on your network, but I don't know if it monitors anything more than Windows PCs, and I don't know what it shows for the other PCs on the network.  But, for PCs, you can still just install the free version on each.  There is also a version for Android based smart phones, though I haven't tried it.  

 

The best option you have for monitoring all of the items on your network and being able to see how much data each one is using is a good 3rd party router with 3rd party firmware.  You can use 3rd party routers with the HughesNet HT2000W modem.  Asus routers with Merlin firmware are popular, but for the options your looking for they aren't cheap.  Maybe $150 and above.  There is also DD-WRT firmware, which works on many brands and models of routers, but, like with the ASUS routers and Merlin firmware, what options are available to view will depend on the model of router.  Usually, the more expensive the router, the better the capabilities with that 3rd party firmware.  To study this option, your best bet would be to go the Merlin and DD-WRT websites and utilize their forums.  You can explain what you're looking for and people can most likely recommend some routers for that purpose.  The forum/community for the Merlin firmware is under the Contact header on the Merlin site.  For the DD-WRT, you'll see the link on the main page.

 

Hope this helps.  🙂