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NEW User: Questions on speeds versus performance

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Spike1966
New Poster

NEW User: Questions on speeds versus performance

Hello gang,

I'm a new user here...just installed last Friday, Dec 8th.

Previously we were using a small local provider (America Internet?) here in farm country in SE TN. My wife works from home, and we just had too many outages for her to survive. So, we heard HughesNet was available from a neighbor, and I called to install. Installation was quick and easy; no problems there. We did some recreational use through the weekend...not so much difference was noticed.

However, when my wife went back to work on Monday morning she found her desktop spinning and spinning on small pdf files she was trying to acces from a renote VPN setup here at home. She showed me the difference between the HughesNet signal (spinning, spinning) and the old signal which is still installed (not nearly as much spinning). I was convinced that there was a BIG deficit in performance.

So, we did some speed tests on both speedtest.net and testmy.net (as drected by HughesNet Tech support). We had purchased a smaller 25Mbps/10GB plan for roughly $60/mo. We have been paying $40/mo for the local service. I'm sorry, but I don't know the stated performance for it....and, I'm not even totally sure how it works. The local guy has a 40ft tower installed at the crest of our subdivision which connects to others towers in town back to a source somehow?

Anyway, here were the repeated results of the speed tests.

 

HughsNet:    Ping: ~700ms;  Download: 15-22Mbps;  Upload:  ~2-2.5Mbps

Competitor:  Ping:  ~30ms;   Download: 8-12Mbps;    Upload:  ~11Mbps

 

(Disclaimer: I am a greenhorn at such data, so bare with my assumptions.)

So, based upon these test result, my question is whether you would expect such a gap in performance?

I can understand the ping difference due to a tower being so near here; but, I can't see a large performance gap there.

The download speed, though not near the stated 25Mbps MAX is far better then the competitor.

Is it the upload speed deficit (quite large) that could explain the performance gap?

 

Please help if you can.

HughesNet is working on bumping up the download speed, but we didn't even get around to talking about the upload speed.

Meanwhile, I ponder whether I need to cut my losses and cancel HughesNet; as it performs now, it is unusable for us.

 

Thank you, Spike

19 REPLIES 19
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Hi Spike1966, VPN does not work well on satellite especially if heavily encrypted. The FAQ page explains it: https://www.hughesnet.com/frequently-asked-questions

 

Capture.PNG

 

 

Did you tell the sales agent you wanted to use VPN?

Thanks for the quick reply and for the VPN warning.

No, I did not know I needed to mention that. Sales rep did not ask such detailed questions to lead me to the realization.

 

So, back to my original question...where should I be able to see this performance discrepancy in the speed data?

I'm comparing directly with a competitor signal in real time; I should be able to explain this challenge for HughesNet in that data, right?

 

Thanks again, Spike

On second thought, I DID mention my wife works from home. Usually working from home and accessing files at the office requires some sort of remote access or VPN.

BirdDog
Assistant Professor


@Spike1966 wrote:

On second thought, I DID mention my wife works from home. Usually working from home and accessing files at the office requires some sort of remote access or VPN.


That should have triggered the question. One of the mods ( @Liz or @Amanda ) can have the sales call reviewed and hear what was said.

 

In the meantime, you could try disabling Web Acceleration then see if the VPN is any better:

 

Please follow the directions below to disable Web-Acceleration.

1: Visit http://192.168.0.1 in your web-browser.
2: Click the "i" icon at the top of the HT1100/2000w System Control Center (also known as the SCC).  It is highlighted in red in the image below.
photo skUivVb.png

3: Click on "Web Acceleration" then "Control" outlined in red.
photo jnchLQt.png

4: Click on "Web Acceleration Enabled", this will change to an orange button that says "Web Acceleration Disabled".
photo mQGk0j9

5: Restart your browser and try using the service that isn't working, please let us know how that works for you.


Thanks BirdDog, sent Liz a PM. I'll try disabling the Web Accelerator later. Haha

H Spike,

 

I'm glad you found the community, thank you for posting. As BirdDog pointed out in our FAQ, VPNs will slow down speeds significantly, so that's why we don't recommend their use. As for your sales call we can certainly request for it to be reviewed. I'll post back once I have an update on the review findings.

 

Your patience and understanding are much appreciated.

 

If you have a tech or billing question and need help, please start a new thread in the appropriate board. Unsolicited Private Messages may not get replies.

Slow performance? Click me!

Thank you Liz. I'll be expecting a reply from you soon. Spike

Hi Spike,

 

Thank you for your patience while your sales call was reviewed. The call review findings are as follows:

 

After reviewing the call, there was no discussion regarding the customer working from home our needing the service for a VPN. We do require our agents to probe the customer about VPN usage (and provide a disclosure describing the 50-75% slowdown if necessary) if the customer mentions working from home. All terms and conditions were read to the customer and they did not have any questions prior to giving consent to process the order.

 

To be sure, I followed up with a question about discussing your wife working from home, and the reviewer's finding was:

 

There is no mention from the customer on the call that their wife would be using a VPN or working from home. 

 

Based on these findings I wouldn't be able to waive the Early Termination Fee, as it is a valid charge. I do apologize for this inconvenience, VPN usage and the latency inherent in satellite technology just does not provide optimal performance. If you need to cancel, it must be done over the phone at 866.347.3292. If you have any additional concerns, please don't hesitate to post back so we can address them for you.

 

 

If you have a tech or billing question and need help, please start a new thread in the appropriate board. Unsolicited Private Messages may not get replies.

Slow performance? Click me!

Liz,

 

Thank you for the quick reply; although I remember the call a little differently.

I want to ask for some information before we proceed this issue further:

 

a) Please allow me access to that sales call audio; I'd like to review it myself. As it's my call, I believe I have rights to it's full content.

b) Please also share with me the nature of your training instruction for your salespeople regarding this issue. I want to understand their instructed responsibility. This should be HN's biggest concern to prevent future similar occurrences. Honestly, I cannot see how this glaring gap has not been closed before now looking at the sales complaints listed here on the community.

 

Frankly speaking, if HN's product has an inherent weakness, I believe the burden is on HN to divulge that weakness up front and make sure HN is not making an invalid sale to a person that HN will turn around and hold responsible for that product's concealed weakness.

The salesperson mentioned nothing of an inability to support VPN's; to me that is an inherent product weakness in the market you serve. He did not ask if I had a VPN; that is a grave oversight on his part....unless he's just trying to make a sale that someone else (me) will have to deal with later. I would hate for my mind to go that cynical route.

Basically, I don't see how this is my responsibility unless you can convince me with some compelling evidence.

 

If you cannot provide me with proper evidence similar to above, I will be pursuing further action. I do hope you can cooperate.

 

I'll be awaiting your prompt reply.

Thank you, Spike

 

BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Spike, I'm a customer like you, for 13+ years in fact. Trying to support you but the bottom line is a customer has to to do research before making a purchase. You say you have other Internet still available. If I were a gamer or someone using something like VPN for work I would do a thorough search before going with an ISP, especially satellite. There are tons of posts about VPN and gaming on the Internet not working well with satellite.

 

My first thing to do anymore is a research on the Internet before buying anything, especially something with a contract.

 

Trying to be supportive about the VPN but a quick search shows it is not friendly with satellite ISPs. Folks need to be more technology literate these days with all the stuff out there. Searching the Internet helps.

 

I personally trust Liz, do not believe she would lie about the sales call. She stated nothing was mentioned about using the service for work. They will not release the sales call log, just a fact.

 

You can pursue legal arbitration channels as the User Agreement states.

 

Again, I understand your frustration totally but personally would have been proactive about the VPN support before committing to a contract. Not a lot different from folks who sign up for cell phone contracts then find out the coverage is not what they expected.

 

 

Thanks BirdDog, I appreciate your support.

 

I understand your points completely. I agree, in hindsight, that I wish I knew what I know now.....more than I did anyway, and that I no doubt could have known more....especially if HN had informed me.

 

However, this issue should not come down to a hair-splitting process over who said what? who thought what? who knew what?

If I have a customer who is not happy, not satisfied with my disclosure, unable to use my product after one day's service....then, I'm making it right, just as quickly.

I don't blame the customer for being ignorant; I don't set up a sales process which is sure to result in such customer consternation; that's counter-productive to long-term business health.

 

If HN were to treat their customers in such a respectful way, and thereby suffer the negative cost of such occurrences themselves, then I GUARANTEE their sales system would be improved, PRONTO. As long as people like me bear it, there is no impulse to improve.

 

About Liz, I have no reason to doubt her integrity at this point. It seems she knows as little about the sales call as I do, probably less since I was there. She's evidently been told by some other entity that the customer did not detail his needs well enough, and that the sales person was "spot on". It's too easy for someone to say that. I want to hear it myself. If that is the evidence, please share it openly with me. I see no reason to fear releasing it. It's my call.

If the call will not be released to me, then I begin to doubt someone's integrity.

 

I'll stay tuned for now.

Blessings, Spike

BirdDog,

 

I appreciate your "cell phone contract and poor coverage" analogy.

I understand what you want to say, but I believe checking poor coverage is a much more well-understood consumer factor for such service.

For example, even in the case of HN, the first thing the sales person checked was my address for coverage.

When the installer arrived, the first thing he checked before even moving the first stone in my yard was to check the signal strength at my house and to all floors of my house from the modem.

 

HN sells data transfer speeds, download/upload speeds are well-stated, retierated several times on the sales call. If I go over the data cap, my speeds will slow...repeated. Sales person asked me if I'm a gamer.....why? He knew the limitations. He knew I may need a larger package if so. I appreciated that...that is the customer servcie I expect.

 

However, by not asking about one factor which by HN's own assertion slows their speeds by 50-75%, HN's resposibility was violated.

I liken it more to selling me a car which cannot be driven through mud puddles, instead it mels, but not telling me.

Hey, car's are meant to get me from point A to point B, safely, efficiently, comfortably, etc.

If FORD Motor Company were to sell me a Mustang which cannot survive a mud puddle, guarantee they would make it right.

 

VPNs are no less common than mud puddles.

It's almost like selling me internet service which does not worh with, uh let me see, computers.

 

That's my view of the situation.

Blessings, Spike

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@Spike1966

 

Are you sure that you didn't make a prior call to ask about the service?  Only the sales call itself is recorded.  

 

With that said, I highly doubt they will release the recording to you, as it's their property and they aren't required to.  But, with that said, I've seen examples of people being released from their contracts because of incorrect information told to them by the sales rep during the call.  If you search through the Community you may find examples of this.  They are very honest with their sales call reviews.  Like BirdDog, I trust Liz, and I have no reason to doubt that the info she received from the sales call review is correct.

 

"However, by not asking about one factor which by HN's own assertion slows their speeds by 50-75%, HN's resposibility was violated."  The sales reps can't ask about every situation and everything that anyone is going to do with the service.  They ask the most pertinent questions.  And while I think that they should start asking if the customer uses a VPN during the sales call due to more and more people using them, that they didn't, and therefore didn't explain that they don't work well, didn't violate Hughesnet's responsibility.

 

While the situation is unfortunate and I feel for you, I can understand their position.  

Good morning Spike,

 

Thank you for your response, I totally understand where you're coming from. I've already requested permission to review the call myself after I received the sales center's response. As the others mentioned, we don't share call recordings, but I will listen out for any VPN discussion or anything that does not sit right on the call. 

 

Your patience and understanding are much appreciated while I investigate your concern further.

 

If you have a tech or billing question and need help, please start a new thread in the appropriate board. Unsolicited Private Messages may not get replies.

Slow performance? Click me!

Liz,

 

Thank you for your due diligence. I'll await your reply.

 

In the meantime, if there is anyone else to whom I can appeal, please share that contact with me.

I cannot discern your role with HN as I can only see you as "Moderator" of this community.

(This community is very confusing by the way, with all the nebulous titles and the company spokespeople posting as impartial customers.)

 

I would really love to speak to Ms Ellen Martz, Senior Director of Customer Service. I believe she should endeavor to grasp such "customer voice" for her to be in touch with customer service. If you have access to her, please let her know I'd love to speak to her. I think I can improve this process for everyone. Even an email address for her would be great.

 

Thanks Liz, Spike

 

Btw, I don't really understand why you cannot release that call audio to me. Surely HN has the technology. I'd be glad to listen to it with you over your speakerphone. I'm totally flexible.

C0RR0SIVE
Associate Professor

@Spike1966

Ellen doesn't typically speak directly with customers...

As far as community titles goes, unless someone has the title Moderator, Employee, Admin, they are a regular customer and nothing more.  Titles like mine, yours, and BirdDogs is just to help show the difference in Community Participation, such as Solved Problems + Post Count, just like any other forum.

That aside, @Liz works in the corporate office, while not having as much power as Ellen, shes rather capable on her own.

C0RR0SIVE,

 

Thanks for the reply.

I believe a capable woman (or women) can speak for themselves. Liz can answer my questions. Ellen can try them too if she will.

 

Actually, this is my conversation I opened with like customers, who seem afraid to comment on anyone else's post. As soon as they do one of the "community watch" members tells them to creat their own thread....from what I've read here. There is no community dialogue between customers here.

 

When Liz joined in as a recognized agent of the company, I welcomed her.

If other customers were to join and answer my original question, they will be welcomed.

 

Right now you are speaking to me on behalf of HN. Why do you speak for Liz? Why do you speak for Ellen? They can speak for themselves.

You may portray as a like-minded customer, but you speak like an agent of HN....just so you know.

If you are speaking for HN, indicate that and I welcome your input.

Otherwise, you are no longer helpful in ths conversation.

 

Regards, Spike

Liz,

 

I am sending you PM's....there is no need to discuss this issue in front of the community watch.

Please check your PM's

 

Thanks! Spike

Thanks Spike. Please check your private messages in the top right corner of the community page as I've sent you a PM to further address your concerns. Thank you for your feedback, I'll send it up to management, this helps us improve. 

 

 

If you have a tech or billing question and need help, please start a new thread in the appropriate board. Unsolicited Private Messages may not get replies.

Slow performance? Click me!