Latest Modem Update causing degraded service with Apple products

[mweasner]

While there have always been issues with our HughesNet Gen5 Internet access, since the last modem software update (08/22/2019 05:21:31) we experience more frequent iCloud IMAP email connection issues, failure to load pages on many web site connections, and stalls during software downloads. (And of course, the ftp connection failures that began in December 2018 have gotten worse.) "Speed" may or may not be the issue; reported download speeds vary from 46.9mbps to 2.67mbps (and sometimes 0mbps) with our top tier Gen5 service. We have rebooted the computers (MacOS Mojave 10.14.6), devices (iOS 13.1.2 and iPadOS 13.1.2), and modem, and have changed the modem DNS settings (it is back to "Obtain from ISP" for now). When we switch the connections to cell LTE service there are no connection issues. The HughesNet Gen5 service definitely doesn't like working with Apple systems. I welcome suggestions for Gen5 modem settings that will end the degraded service for our Apple systems.

[Liz]

Good morning mweasner,

Thank you for your updates, I've sent these over to engineering. I'll post back once I have any other questions or news for you.

  Your cooperation, patience, and understanding are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Liz

[Liz]

Hi mweasner,

Engineering would like to know if that's a public FTP you're using, if so, can they test it? Please private message me with any info engineering they should need to test.

  Your cooperation, patience, and understanding are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Liz

[mweasner]

Thanks Liz.  My ftp server is not a public one.  It is hosted by Network Solutions.  However, while the ftp issues were the first to appear (mid-December 2018), it was only the beginning of issues that possibly resulted from the modem firmware update that was applied about that same time.  In 2019 the issues began hitting various iCloud.com services (which Apple Inc. controls, not me).  If Engineering would like to do a screen sharing session with me (like Apple has done) we can schedule a time to do that.  Of course, since the problems are hit-n-miss a screen sharing session may or may not demonstrate the issues.

[Liz]

Good morning mweasner,

Thank you, I've relayed your post to engineering. I'll post back once I have any news to share.

-Liz

[Liz]

Hi mweasner,

Just got off the phone with the engineer looking at your site. For testing purposes, let's try isolating your main device (like a computer) on which you are trying to FTP. So please disconnect everything from the network except for the device that's using FTP. Please let me now how your FTP experience goes so I can let engineering know.

  Your cooperation, patience, and understanding are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Liz

[mweasner]

Thanks again Liz.  I had already done that test and it didn't make any difference.  So unless there has been a specific change to address the issues with various protocols (ftp, IMAP, etc) there won't be much point to repeating the test unless they want to screen share with me to see the issues in action.  Of course, for a real valid test I invite the engineering team to come to my location with both a Mac and Windows computer to do their own testing.

[Liz]

I've sent along your message to engineering for their input.

-Liz

[mweasner]

I don't know how or even if  this issue is related to all the other issues, but in the last few days logging into my HughesNet hosted email accounts has been problematic from my Mac using the macOS 10.15.3 Mail program.  Even getting logged in via a web browser is sluggish.  All will work well with HughesNet email but then the password stops working.  I re-enter the passwords for these accounts and they may or may not be rejected.  Once they work they will work for hours or minutes before failing again.

If I believed in conspiracy theories I would start to think that some routing server on the Internet doesn't like HughesNet (or geosynchronous satellites in general).  But seriously, I do wonder whether routing servers updates since Dec 2018 have assumed that latency is well under that experienced with geosync satellites.  I know one developer who made that assumption several years ago until I pointed out the error in his thinking.  If this is the case it will lend more support for the LEO megaconstellations like SpaceX Starlink. As an astronomer I am not thrilled with Starlink right now, but it may become the only viable solution for Internet connectivity in many parts of the world, including the USA.

[Liz]

Hi Mike,

That's interesting, just so I'm clear; you're saying that even when trying to log into your HughesNet email via webmail (no 3rd party clients) your login info is rejected? You get the login info is incorrect error message?

-Liz

[mweasner]

Logging into HughesNet web mail is sluggish but it does work.  I suspect the client app is timing out due to the login delay.  And the same thing happens when logging into my ftp server; it times out more often than it is successful.  But that's not the only issue with the ftp server.  Usually when it fails it is because the domain name can not be resolved, which sounds like the routing issue on the Internet.  I guess if that times out, domain resolution will fail.  So if some routing server on the Internet is expecting low latency, it will fail more often with geosync satellites.

[Liz]

OK, thank you for this clarification.

-Liz

[mweasner]

Earlier today I successfully changed the password for one of my HughesNet email accounts.  The Mac Mail app was able to log in with the new password several times over a period of a few hours.  But then just a few minutes ago the app could not log into that account, nor any of the HughesNet email accounts.  Such is our life on the Internet using HughesNet.

[maratsade]

Have you tried restarting your computer and the modem? It's likely a problem on your side. 

[mweasner]

The computers (two, Ethernet connected) and handheld Wi-FI devices that have been experiencing unreliability with HughesNet Internet access since December 2018 (yes, 2018) have been restarted multiple times.  The modem has been frequently restarted.  I last manually restarted the modem in early February 2020 to see if that would help some severe connection issues that had started happening; it did not.  I have been waiting to see if the modem automatically restarts for a firmware update, which may or may not appear, although an upgrade was mentioned in this thread sometime back.  The modem and dish electronics were replaced in early 2019.  The same devices connect reliably to the Internet when using AT&T LTE instead of HughesNet.  There are no obstructions to the satellite line-of-sight.  I live in a rural area on 3 acres of land.  There are no trees near the house where the dish is on the roof.  

The problem is NOT on my end.  And it can not be blamed on Internet overloading due to increased Internet demand resulting from COVID-19 since the issues began over a year ago.

I can see one possible cause of the problem at my location. When the system was installed in 2013 the installer did not place the coax cable in a weather protected conduit.  So the dish connection and the cable are exposed to the elements.  I will allow an experienced HughesNet engineer to visit my location as long as that engineer comes prepared to fully troubleshoot the problem, correct any original installation errors, and perhaps point the dish at a different satellite if one is visible from here.

[GabeU]

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@mweasner wrote: 

I can see one possible cause of the problem at my location. When the system was installed in 2013 the installer did not place the coax cable in a weather protected conduit.  So the dish connection and the cable are exposed to the elements.  I will allow an experienced HughesNet engineer to visit my location as long as that engineer comes prepared to fully troubleshoot the problem, correct any original installation errors, and perhaps point the dish at a different satellite if one is visible from here.

---

The installers normally use special protective fittings that they fill with dielectric grease.  Did they not do this?  

The cable itself doesn't need to be in any conduit.  It's outdoor rated.

They'll only send a tech to your location if it's necessitated.

[mweasner]

I have no idea if any grease was used during the original installation in 2013 or when another installer came out after Gen5 was available.  At my age I'm not about to climb up onto the roof to check.

[mweasner]

In my efforts to troubleshooting the HughesNet connection issues, I decided to try the Microsoft Outlook email client.  I entered the email settings from the HughesNet Knowledge Base (http://customer.kb.hughesnet.com/Pages/7014.aspx).  Outlook connected once, retrieved and sent email OK.  The second time I tried it failed to connect.  Now like other Internet protocols, sometimes it works and sometimes it fails.

I then logged into my.hughesnet.com to check my account.  When I click on the Account Information tab it says "Something went wrong. Please try again, or contact customer care if you receive this message again."  at the top.  The Billing Detail Information does show my correct billing information.  Now I wonder if my HughesNet account has somehow become corrupted AT HUGHESNET.  I have been seeing this same error over the past few days when trying to troubleshoot the connection issues but rarely checked it over the past 6+ years so I don't know when this account information error began.

The saga that began in December 2018 continues...

[MarkJFine]

Nah, this is different. The network is overloaded and email is having authentication issues.

[mweasner]

Since I can not get my Hughes.net email reliably I decided I had better change the Community Forum email address used for notifications to a non-Hughesnet address.  When I log into MyHughesNet and click Account: Notifications I get the "Something went wrong. Please try again, or contact customer care if you receive this message again." error.  Sheesh, I can't even change notifications.  Such is life for me on HughesNet.  

I have to wonder why I'm paying a premium price for the top-tier service when I have been getting less than premium service since December 2018...

[GabeU]

@mweasner 

The notifications on the My Account page are for things like billing.  Community notifications can be controlled from the Community Settings page, but only the hughes.net email that is connected to the account you use to sign into the Community can be used for Community notifications.  You can't use a 3rd party email address for Community notifications.  

With this said, I use the forwarding option in my hughes.net email to forward my Community notifications to my MSN email address.

Edit:  Just in case you want to do the same...

[mweasner]

It has been many years since I'd changed the notifications so I assumed that HughesNet Notifications would be for HughesNet notifications.  Silly me.

Thanks for the tip.  Done.