Internet Disconnecting Randomly

[hellovolchitsa]

Hello!
I've sent two emails about this. One email gave me a stereotypical "It's Fair Access Policy, I gave you more data, it should be fixed." The second email has no response yet. I am in FAP. Normally, my connection is. This is NOT the issue. The speed isn't the issue - it's the disconnections. The connection will randomly drop, nothing loading, and when troubleshooted, I will get something about being unable to connect to the DNS server. This is a NEW issue. It is not my computer - it happens across multiple computers (and no, they are not connected at the same time, nor is my phone or tablet!)

This is occurring when I have full data, right at reset with the same amounts of disconnects, when I was given extra data last night (same amount of disconnects), and during the extra data time (ditto), which I have data. It will randomly stop loading any webpage - even ones with just plain text - and time out multiple times in an hour, probably five times, for 2-5 minutes each time. I cannot email. I cannot do anything.

This is a new issue - I've had this service two years almost (and many years before this time) and this has NEVER happened until the last month or so and has been gradually getting worse.

I don't know how to find what beam I'm using or anything like that. I just want my internet to work. I'm paying too much money for this and can't even use it, and I have online classes and they're impossible to do because of this. Thank you guys so much.

[GabeU]

@hellovolchitsa 

On this page, what do you see for your Satellite Receive Signal Strength in the WAN Info box on the bottom left?  

You can see what beam and satellite you're on in the Satellite box on this page.  If you can tell me which beam and satellite I can tell you your Gateway location, which can be important to know when looking to see if inclement weather can be the cause of a given issue you're experiencing.

[hellovolchitsa]

Satellite Receive Signal Strength	99
Data Packets Received	8831
Control Packets Received	184594
Bursts Transmitted	986
Packets Transmitted	3855

Satellite Name	EchoStar-19-NAD
Gateway ID	16
Beam ID	83
Outroute ID	2

I think this is what you were looking for! Yesterday, it was a perfectly clear day (absolutely no clouds in the morning, etc.) and it was doing that. But it's been doing it for over a month, regardless of weather, sadly.

[GabeU]

@hellovolchitsa 

Okay, your Gateway is located in Santa Clara, CA, so if you're ever having connection issues or an outright outage and you can still get on the net in some way, you can check the weather there.  Your gateway is the collection point for your signal on the "other side" of the satellite, and like the dish at your home it's susceptible to bad weather, though it usually takes a bit more to affect it due to being a larger dish with a stronger signal.  Right now it's only cloudy in Santa Clara, so it's doubtful that the weather there is contributing to your issue, though it's still possible.  And being that it's been happening for over a month, it's even less likely that this is the cause, even at the current time.   

Your satellite signal strength is pretty good, so it's unlikely that this is the cause of the issue, though only the reps can say for sure.  They'll likely be the ones who are going to have to help you, as there doesn't seem to be any obvious causes, or any cause that a fellow subscriber like myself can see.  The reps here are on M-F from approximately 9AM to 6PM EST, and they usually reply within a day.  When they see your post they'll likely want to run remote diagnostics on your HughesNet equipment before replying, so it would be best to leave the modem plugged in so that they can do so.  Some people unplug theirs when they aren't using the service, so this is why I mention it.  

They should reply tomorrow.  Sorry I couldn't be of more help.  😞 

@Liz @Damian 

[hellovolchitsa]

Thank you so much for your prompt reply! I wondered if it might be the equipment, or something. I honestly thought it was my desktop, but it consistently happens across all my devices, and I can't even access the System Control Center on anything else when it occurs.

My stuff is never unplugged, so they can run whatever, whenever! Hopefully that clears up the issue.

Thank you so much again!

[GabeU]

@hellovolchitsa 

Your'e very welcome.  🙂

[hellovolchitsa]

Hi again!
I'm not rushing but I do want to clarify again. Last night, after 2am, I entered the Bonus Zone. I have around 5-6gigs left during it. I was not able to stay connected more than 20 minutes. I was just browsing tumblr, FB, etc., but it consistently disconnected to the point where I am sure it was more disconnected than connected. I went to bed at 4am because there's no point in dealing with that. Which points back to I really don't think it's FAP (like my first response via email suggested) and is something else with the service. 

[MarkJFine]

Is it possible there are tall trees blocking the dish or any branches hanging in the dish's vicinity?

If so, it may be possible that some kind of foliage is intermittently blowing into the dish's way blocking it from the satellite. Either that, or trees in the vicinity could be causing intermittent signal reflections back into the dish.

[hellovolchitsa]

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@MarkJFine wrote:

Is it possible there are tall trees blocking the dish or any branches hanging in the dish's vicinity?

If so, it may be possible that some kind of foliage is intermittently blowing into the dish's way blocking it from the satellite. Either that, or trees in the vicinity could be causing intermittent signal reflections back into the dish.

---

If so, this would have been more of an issue in spring and summer, when the trees (oaks) are in full foliage. Right now, it's bare, and this issue started about a month ago and has progressed to the state it is now.

When it was installed, the tech had no where else to put but facing the southern tree line, but it worked fine for over a year until only recently. Last winter, it was excellent - stable, etc. It's just been the last month (maybe a tad longer - going back through my records, it seemed to start around Black Friday weekend) it's been near unusable. No trees have fallen or anything, however. Just the same usual treeline.

[Damian]

@hellovolchitsa

Thank you for reaching out to us, I am sorry to hear you have been experiencing this. I see that the representative who contacted you via email was unable to find any issues with the equipment. This, of course, does include you running out of data and experiencing throttled speeds. I noticed that some of the devices connected to your network have a fair or poor signal instead of good. When your speeds are already being throttled, poor signal quality can really slow things down even further. This can also result in a time out from failing to establish a connection for too long. I recommend moving your devices closer to the modem if possible. I will run deeper tests in the meantime, to make sure that there was nothing missed by the representative. Thank you for your patience in advance. 

-Damian 

[hellovolchitsa]

---

@Damian wrote:

@hellovolchitsa

Thank you for reaching out to us, I am sorry to hear you have been experiencing this. I see that the representative who contacted you via email was unable to find any issues with the equipment. This, of course, does include you running out of data and experiencing throttled speeds. I noticed that some of the devices connected to your network have a fair or poor signal instead of good. When your speeds are already being throttled, poor signal quality can really slow things down even further. This can also result in a time out from failing to establish a connection for too long. I recommend moving your devices closer to the modem if possible. I will run deeper tests in the meantime, to make sure that there was nothing missed by the representative. Thank you for your patience in advance. 

-Damian 

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Hi! Thank you for the response.

I understand this, but is there any reason why this would suddenly change? Nothing has been moved, etc. This problem is fairly recent - I cannot move things closer to the modem, or vice versa. It has been fine in FAP before, but now I am consistently getting a "DNS server" error every twenty minutes.  And regardless, even during Bonus Zone, or when the rep gave me a gig, it continued to perform the same way. I understand throttling can cause it to time out, but why would this continue when my connection is not being slowed and I have data?

[MarkJFine]

Seems like nothing to do with FAP or data at all.

This wasn't the tree thing I suggested, but this is a similar type of thing to that: Seems like there's something intermittently interfering with your wifi signals. If the wifi from the modem to the devices are really weak, something simple can intermittently disrupt it... For example: Heating food in the microwave, wireless phones ringing, etc. One person even had a wireless health device that was interfering with it. Could be something that was introduced to the home when you first started noticing the problem.

If you're using the 5GHz band wifi, sometimes changing to the 2.4GHz will limit your speed, but give you a little better range and therefore a more consistant wifi signal.

[Damian · Accepted solution]

@hellovolchitsa,

After further troubleshooting, I was unable to find any issues with the equipment or signal. I did, however, reset a few things on the modem side. Please let me know if you see any improvements over the next day or so. If there is still no improvement, we will need to have a case escalated to our advanced technical support. 

-Damian 

[hellovolchitsa]

---

@Damian wrote:

@hellovolchitsa,

After further troubleshooting, I was unable to find any issues with the equipment or signal. I did, however, reset a few things on the modem side. Please let me know if you see any improvements over the next day or so. If there is still no improvement, we will need to have a case escalated to our advanced technical support. 

-Damian 

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Hi! It actually cleared up recently - after going on for over a month! I am not sure what changed, but it's 100% better now - thank you so much if that was you!

I appreciate the help (also sorry for the slow reply !)

[Damian]

@hellovolchitsa,

I am glad to hear the service is working better now. What I reset on our end did have something to do with the DNS server, so it is possible this corrected the issue.

I will leave this thread open for a while,  just in case anything changes. Please respond here or create a new thread if you ever need further assistance. 

-Damian