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Impossible to view any video, buffering never stops.

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Cegreen
Sophomore

Impossible to view any video, buffering never stops.

 
28 REPLIES 28
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@Cegreen 

 

1.  Have you checked to make sure you aren't out of data?  You can do so via the HughesNet Usage Meter, the Usage tab under My Account at the top of this support community page, or here.  If you are out of data, your speed will be throttled.   

2.  If using a WiFi connected device, does it make any difference when trying with a LAN cable connected device? 

3.  What speed are you seeing when you go to testmy.net and run a manual download test using the 25MB test size?  If you can, please post the test result URL or a picture of the result.   

3.  If streaming in HD, make sure to either turn off, or snooze, the Video Data Saver, or you'll see a lot of buffering.

I get it. I have verified multiple times during multiple calls and complaints to tech support  - I am not out of data, not using WiFi - (of course it would be even worse), always connected by LAN, and DataSaver is always off. Buffering occurs even at the lowest video playback quality setting. Download test of a 25 MB file is 45.8 Mbps at testmy.net. File download speed has not been an issue....only video playback. I previously had a 22 Mbps dsl connection and seldom saw any buffering at all during video playback, so I doubt it is my hardware.

 

https://testmy.net/db/6Xq33mhCh

 

Intel Core i7-4790K cpu @ 4.00GHZ

ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark 2

16 GB Kingston DDR3 1600 Memory

Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SATA III SSD

NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 graphics

 

BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Curious what operating system you have and what browser you are using? Wondering if people who are having this problem have anything in common when it comes to the configuration on their end.

 

Do you have any other device you can try streaming with?

I experience the same issue with the latest versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer on Windows 10 and when using the current version of Firefox running the current version of Linux Mint.  I can stream video with little or no buffering on my Samsung Galaxy S8+ using Firefox on my AT&T wireless connection. 

 

When I try to stream video using Hughesnet WiFi and my phone I experience the buffering again.  So, the issue seems to be directly related to my Hughesnet satellite service.

 

From your comment, it sounds as though other users are experiencing the same issue.  I didn't have this issue before I began using Hughesnet.

BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Does it buffer even at lowest definition possible like 240p?

 

What is result when you run this test? http://192.168.0.1/#!/home/connectivity

Yes, it buffers at the lowest definition possible too.

 

 

Screenshot from 2019-02-21 18-14-18.png

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@Cegreen 

 

Out of curiosity, how does your upload speed look?  If you can, please run an upload test on the same site (testmy), but using the 4MB upload test size.  Your download speed, at least at that time, looks great, and shows virtually no signs of congestion.  

Screenshot from 2019-02-21 23-53-12.png

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@Cegreen 

 

Well, both your download and upload speeds seem to be fine, and you're directly connected with a LAN cable, so it's not any of those things.  That test you ran also indicates that your connection is good, so it's not that, either, or at least it doesn't appear to be. 

 

Hopefully BirdDog or others will have some further ideas.  A rep will most likely ask some questions to try to figure out what's going on, as well.  

 

Regarding what BirdDog mentioned, there does seem to be an issue with videos for some people, even when they're having good speeds and a good connection, like you, and even when they try lower definitions on sites like Youtube.  It doesn't make any sense.  There's got to be some type of common denominator somewhere that's causing, or at least contributing to, this problem.  I wish I knew what it was.

Thank you.  That's what I have tried to explain to Hughesnet technical support multiple times.  Upload and download speeds are acceptable, but there is an issue with streaming video.  It seems as though technical support doesn't want to acknowledge the issue.  Each time I contact them, I run the same tests, I answer the same questions, and I get the same result - NO HELP.

It is very frustrating to be locked in a contract with a provider who cannot provide the agreed upon quality of service and who is unable to trouble shoot their own service.  I work in computer technical support and I would never dream of providing the low level of support that I have received from Hughesnet.  I would escalate the issue to someone who could resolve the issue rather than throw my hands up in the air and continue to bill an end user for a service that I was unable to provide, troubleshoot, or support.

 

I have been experiencing this issue since my service with Hughesnet began a few months ago, but no one in technical has taken the issue seriously enough to properly resolve it or admit that it cannot be resolved.  After reading other users' complaints, this seems to be a common problem with Hughesnet - poor customer support for a service plagued with issues.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@Cegreen 

 

I don't blame you for being frustrated.  I would be, too, especially if I were experiencing a problem that is only happening with HughesNet and which they haven't yet been able to figure out.  Hopefully the reps here, who are coporporate based reps with direct access to the engineers, will be able to do so.   

For anyone interested - after spending 35 minutes on the phone with Hughesnet technical support so that they could "tweak" some settings, my download speed at testmy.net has now dropped from over 45 Mbps to 12.6 Mbps and my upload speed has dropped from 2.7 Mbps to 1.9 Mbps - AND I still have the buffering issue.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I can't say anything about the buffering, because there could be a multitude of things causing that. But there are things you can check to see why your speed reduced:

 

If you're used to using the 5GHz wifi band or ethernet cable, make sure you're still using it and didn't switch over to the 2GHz one for some reason.

 

If you are using 5GHz and if you still have the reduced speed problem, carefully look at the wifi settings on the modem to see if they possibly switched you out of 11/a/n/ac wireless mode (provided your computer's wifi supports 802.11ac). OTOH, if you're using an ethernet cable, lord knows what they did.


* 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.

i appreciate your reply, and I realize that you may not have been following the thread.  Wifi is disabled on the modem.  I don't use wifi - it only makes the issues worse.  I'm not asking for an explanation for the drop in upload/download speed.  The drop is due to changes made by technical support.  I was on the phone with them when they made the changes and we verified that the speeds decreased.

 

I'm only passing along the progress that Hughesnet technical support has made in resolving my buffering issue.

Understand. And you're correct, I haven't been following the whole thing. I just know they have changed those kinds of settings on people, which does affect people's speeds, and it's rather irritating.

 

Perhaps one of the admins/mods can peer in, see what's going on and reverse it, but they likely won't be able to do so until they return on Monday.

 

Sorry I couldn't be more help.


* 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.

I have much of the same problem.  Just finished my first full month with HughesNet and am very dissapointed with the performance.  Download speeds are measuring approximately 20Mbps and upload at about .5.  I tranferred from a DSL account that gave me 3Mbps but allowed for better video streaming without constant buffering.  Technical support talks to me like I am the first person to ever complain about the issue.  I will follow this thread with a hope to learn what the issue is.  There seems to be a serious issue with many people not being able to stream video that hopefully will be addressed.  The customer service rep repeatedly told me that my family could stream to 2 or more devices simultaneously with the 25Mbps service.  I am using only only a wired connection to a desktop PC.

Thanks,

Mark 

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Mark, the Hughesnet reps on the site can help, but they prefer to address each user's issues separately. Please start a new topic under Tech Support (https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/Tech-Support/bd-p/TechSupport). Just go to the page and click on the button labeled "Start a topic."  Provide as much detail as possible so the reps can help you. 

 


@MarkH wrote:

I have much of the same problem.  Just finished my first full month with HughesNet and am very dissapointed with the performance. 

Hughesnet Reps MIGHT be able to help.  They were not able to help me.  They actually made changes that caused my connection to be slower (according to testmy.net).

 

Before contacting hughesnet tech support, I would recommend checking the BIOS or UEFI settings of your motherboard for your NIC or onboard ethernet controller and verify that they are correct (applies to wired connections only).  You might find something strange, like the network stack being disabled, and yes, you can have connectivity even with that setting disabled in the BIOS or UEFI.  You might also verify that the IPV6 settings within your operating system are correct.  I can't offer specific advice since I may use a different operating system than other users, but it might be worth researching.  If you don't understand the terminology that I used, by all means contact tech support.

Hello Clayton,

 

Welcome to the community and thank you for posting. I apologize you are still experiencing this issue. It appears your issue has been escalated to the proper channel as of 2/20/2019. I see they tried to contact you once but seemed to miss you. They were able to leave a voicemail with callback info as well. They will be making another attempt, but you can also reach out to the number they provided when you are ready. 

 

 

 

@vladams2015

This is untrue. We in no way have the ability to throttle your download speeds manually. Speeds are only throttled when you are out of data and is an automated change process done on our network. Our technicians and representatives also do not have a way to 'unthrottle' you, outside of upgrading your service plan or adding token data.

 

-Damian