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Extremely slow web page load times

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hamradio
Senior

Extremely slow web page load times

I have been using HN for a little over a month.  Since the beginning, web page load times take from 30 seconds, to over 2 minutes, sometimes completely stalled.   I have seen posts about this, but found no solution.  Anyone help?

Have Gen5 with HT2000W "modem".  Same issue with several computers and browsers.   Download speeds tested by HN are usually 20 to 40 Mbps, uploads usually 1.5 or more.

Have reset the HT2000, flushed DNS, and turned off web accel to no avail.  HN support says my down/up speeds are fine and totally ignores my question about excessive page load times.  No help there....

I understand the 600-700 ms latency, but that cannot account for this issue.  This is very frustrating, especially since my previous 3G connection (1.5 down / 0.5 up) would load pages orders of magnitude faster than HN.   Sure could use more suggestions.   HELP  !!

Thanks, Woody - KZ4AK

 

36 REPLIES 36
hamradio
Senior

Just performed several HN speed tests.  At the moment the average is 1.9 down and 1 up.  That sucks, but the slow web page loads have historically occurred with the higher values.  ...Woody

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@hamradio

 

I don't know that this will help, but have you tried using a different DNS server, like Google's?  Sometimes that can make pages load faster.  

 

8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 for the IPv4.

2001:4860:4860::8888 and 2001:4860:4860::8844 for the IPv6.  

 

Are you connected via WiFi or with an Ethernet cable?  If the former, have you tried the latter to see if it makes any difference?  

 

BTW, the Web Acceleration should really only be off temporarily, so if you still have it off it'd probably be best to turn it back on.  

Thanks for the tips.  Have changed the HT2000W DNS setting to Cloudflare.  Will see how that does.

 

Interesting tidbit...    I thought that my 10GB plan would be fine since I don't stream video, except for an occasional Facebook or Youtube video.   At first that was true and my projection was that I should have data remaining at the end of my period.   Then, a few days ago (apparently for no reason I can discover) my data began to drain at an alarming rate.  For a few days, it das disappearing at a rate of >2GB/day.   A few days before the new period, I was throttled back (from 25 - 40 Gbps to  ~ 0.8 Gbps).   The "interesting" thing is that there is almost no difference in the load times for the web sites I usually visit.  Apparently there is a bottleneck, not with streaming downloads, but with HN getting the data to send to me.  Hope the new DNS helps.

Thanks all,

Woody - KZ4AK

Oh, FWIW - I am connected to the router via Ethernet.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@hamradio

 

If you've exhausted your monthly data allotment you'll be throttled to around what you're seeing now.   The official statement concerning speed when subject to FAP (Fair Access Policy), or when you've exhausted your monthly data, is, "If you do not have bytes available in the period, your speed will be reduced to approximately as low as or lower than 1 Mbps."  The period being the given time period, as in during the Anytime Data period or the Bonus Zone data period.  Additionally, many websites don't require all that much bandwidth to work well and load relatively quickly, though the more data intensive ones do.  And though using a 3rd party DNS can increase page response times, it won't increase your overall speed.  If you are, in fact, out of data, it will refill when your new monthly data cycle begins.   

 

Regarding your data draining that quickly, some devices may still use data when they're seemingly off, as they aren't really off, but in standby.  One device that is notorious for this is a DirecTV satellite receiver.   If your HughesNet is connected to such it can chew through your data VERY quickly.  

 

The following two posts may help with your data draining issue...

 

https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/Tech-Support/HughesNet-Data-Management-Tips-n-Tricks-How-To-Elimi...

 

https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/Tech-Support/Understanding-data-usage-data-loss-and-connection-pa...

 

If, after reading those two posts, you're still not sure what could be using your data so quickly and you would like some help in figuring it out, let us know and any of a number of us would be happy to give you a hand.  If you would like that help, please let us know what you have connected to your HughesNet service to help give us an idea of where to start looking and how to go about discovering what could be using the data so quickly, as simple browsing definitely shouldn't be using anywhere near 2GB+ per day, even with the occasional Youtube of Facebook video.  A quick tip, though - if you don't already have it set this way, you should go into your Facebook settings and change the video settings so that videos do NOT auto play.  

Cloudflare's DNS is probably faster than the default. However, any benefit seen will be when the site is being looked up. The actual loading will be the same speed.

Ryzen 7 2700/16GB RAM/X470 Motherboard/250 GB m.2 SSD/2TB HDD/4GB RX560/Windows 10 Pro

Hello all...

No DirecTV connection and FB autoplay has been off for a long time.

 

Will have to wait a few days until the next usage period (fast speed) is restored to fully evaluate data usage rates and web page load times.  The DNS change may or may not have affected page load times.  ...Not a big enough change to notice right now.  Will see what the perfomance is like when speed is back up.  Since the DNS change, have not received the error " ssl_error_rx_record_too_long" (or something close to that) when logging on to Fbook - so far, at least .  That was the only site that presented the error.   More usage needed to evaluate that glitch. 

 

With the slow speed, it took 75 seconds to fully load cnn.com, 90 seconds for cnet.com, 40 seconds for qrz.com, 25 for arrl.org, 50 for wunderground.com, and 15 seconds for my web site, albe24.com.   Will be interesting to see what it is like when speed returns.  The graphics don't change much for arrl.org and not at all for albe24.com so they might be best for comparison.

Thanks again, Woody

The reason for the 'slow' load times is likely due to the amount of things these sites incorporate into them. Most sites now have all sorts of fonts, images, javascript that are to be downloaded if not cached internally by the browser.

 

Usually, download speed is not the issue on satellite with a web page, because the basic information provided is quite relatively small and can be seen within one or two packets. Individually, all of those javascripts are pretty small too. Images can be another story, and that's actually complicated.

 

The main issue on satellite when it comes to these pages is the lag time it takes to ping each one of these items. Again, it depends upon how the full page is cached. But it can take literally minutes for some complex sites to load because of lag time.


* 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.
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

CNN main page can take around 20 seconds to fully load, as in address circle to stop spinning, and that is with AdBlocker blocking 14 items. It is a heavily graphic page with lots of elements, many active .gif type images also.

 

Taking 75 seconds does seem excessive though. Are you using an adblocker @hamradio? They do significantly speed things up.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Wow.  I hadn't gone to Cnet in a long time, but that site is ridiculous.  It didn't take 90 seconds to open for me, but I can definitely see why it would take a lot longer than most others.  There are dozens and dozens of things that have to open on that webpage, and so many of them include pictures.  Sheesh!  

 

And I thought CNN, which I frequent, was bad.  SMH.  

Try using uBlock Origin. It will block ads and trackers while not eating up as many resources as other blockers. If you use Firefox, also turn on tracking protection.
Ryzen 7 2700/16GB RAM/X470 Motherboard/250 GB m.2 SSD/2TB HDD/4GB RX560/Windows 10 Pro
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Websites, especially news, are turning into multimedia panoramas on their main pages. They eat as much data as a short video clip.

I certainly agree that too many sites cram way too much graphic content in their opening / index page.  Not much we can do about that.   Sometimes I long for the times when I was accessing a local RBBS with my dialup CP/M (pre DOS) computer!  OTOH, no worldwide access without expensive long distance charges...  Guess I am showing my age.

 

The Fbook errors still happen from time to time.  Either timeouts or the ssl_error_too_long....   OTOH, if one is persistent it will eventually load.  Changing the DNS didn't fix those  ...But multiple reloads will.

 

Since page loads were so slow before I was throttled back, I get the impression the problem I have is with the HN earth gateway.  My page (albe24.com) with no load calls from elsewhere, loads pretty quickly.  When I guestioned this with phone support, they sort of ignored me and kept repeating my download speeds were fine.  Most page loads do not take significalnty longer (for lower graphic content pages)  at 0.85Mbps than they did at 30Mbps.   To look at the bright side, lower download speeds hardly impact my usage. 😉  

 

Not using an adblocker but going to look into doing so to see if that helps.  Will report back in about 3 days when my "normal" speed returns.  

Woody

Yeah, I wouldn't expect phone support to understand any complex issue. Most of those people work for a company that bid so low that they can barely pay their people peanuts. The people you're talking to likely have only the core qualifications of speaking some English and reading from a script.


* 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.

When I say "bid" just want to make clear they are a service contracted to Hughes to do first tier helpdesk support, and are not HughesNet employees.

 

Anyway.. your handle reminds me I really need to re-run some coax to my longwire... maybe this week.


* 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.

Hope you get the antenna work done OK.   I am using  3 wire ants.  2 @ 68', 1 @ 110' -- Tower to 80' oak trees.  More details at albe24.com.

Woody - KZ4AK

Yep!  you are correct.  When I was having trouble with my Verizon 3G ISP, called them.

I had a 13 element beam at 50 feet pointed to their tower (Cradlepoint router and PC770 express card).  The measured EVDO signal strength was at -65dbm a lot of the time but would also drop to less than -125 dbm.  No fade, just died. - Then back up after an hour or two.  The person at support totally ignored the -65 dbm report and just kept repeating the mantra that I was in a fringe reception area - and their towers never had any problems.  How frustrating...  Here comes HN!

Speed has been restored (new billing period) and uBlock Origin installed.  Web page loads may be slightly faster, but for typical low graphics page, still slower than than my former 3G (1.5Mbps) isp.   Also FaceBook still fails to load (SSL error - too long, or time outs) anout 7 out of 10 attempts.  I guess it is, as they say, it is what it is....

Woody - KZ4AK

@hamradio
That definitely does not seem normal. You may want to verify clear weather at both your location and the location of your gateway (@GabeU can probably help you find that). Hopefully the Reps can fix it for you!
Ryzen 7 2700/16GB RAM/X470 Motherboard/250 GB m.2 SSD/2TB HDD/4GB RX560/Windows 10 Pro

Thanks, but it is a constant.  When clear here - and doubt it is always stormy at the HN earth station...