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New Hughes peak period performance record

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GW
Advanced Tutor

New Hughes peak period performance record

I was doing some analysis last night and arrived at a function that told me I should update Silverlight because of security issues. Since I was logged into an investment account, and my internet was basically non-functional for any practical purpose, I thought I'd go ahead with the download and come back to work another time.

Out of habit, I checked the progress of download in the browser and thought... "Really? Another 49 minutes to download 12.6 MB? Lets record this performance."

Screenshot taken at 10:34 PM and saved "Yesterday, ‎September ‎02, ‎2016, ‏‎10:35:13 PM"



I came back in about a half hour or so to see how it was doing. At 11:08 PM it was more than half done. File saved "Yesterday, ‎September ‎02, ‎2016, ‏‎11:09:14 PM". Making progress, only 12 more minutes to go.



Minor miscalculation in the projected download time. After coming back to check a couple of times, I saw the "12 minutes" part wasn't happening. I almost missed the grand finale but arrived in time to watch the last of it tick down and grabbed the final working screenshot. File saved "Yesterday, ‎September ‎02, ‎2016, ‏‎11:33:41 PM"



And after hitting the finish line. The end result, an hour to download a 12.6 MB file




How does this amazing performance rank in history? 2016 HughesNet is providing stiff competition for the early 90's 28.8 modem which would have required an extra minute of download time to get the job done. Impressive.

Yeah, I think Hughes has definitely oversold my beam.



You may wonder, am I in FAP? Nah.




I used the happy, confident, thankful, excited SENTIMENT icon but what I really mean is "Amused". Useless internet but high entertainment value nevertheless. You just can't make up stuff like this.

I sure hope Hughes isn't contracting with KaboomX to launch the next supply of rapidly depleting bandwidth.
99 REPLIES 99
GW
Advanced Tutor

Thank you Liz. I hope this will reveal something although I can't imagine what it could be. The speed drops have always been absolutely consistent with any combination of 4 different computers with up to 5 different operating systems, 2 different routers, a wide variety of LAN cables and no difference worth mentioning whether any were wired direct to the modem or direct to the router. The only possibility I can see here is intermittently poor output from the modem port but I don't see how that could be happening since the dirt poor performance is time of day related.

I did find a slightly loose coax connection at the grounding block this morning but I can't see that causing the problem. The boots look great and the entire coax was replaced from end to end last year to finally solve that persistent SQF15 error.

Is there any way your engineer can connect my modem to a testmy server so we can actually compare apples to apples? Or can they do comp tests using the Hughes performance test?

All of my recent auto test routines have been run near the top of the hour but that's impossible to maintain with testmy. Regardless, it shouldn't make a bit of difference in the big picture.
Liz
Moderator
Moderator

The testmy.net tests are more for the customer's sake if they can't run the HughesNet speed test or question its accuracy. In that case, we suggest using the 12-15 MB file size to get the most accurate results. The drastic drops you're reporting can't be explained by us since our monitoring tools have consistently been showing fine performance, and we can only vouch for our equipment and service. We also hope that the tech can find a possible root cause for your concerns on your local network.

-Liz
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!

GW
Advanced Tutor

PS: I hate I've allowed myself to be drawn back into this exercise in futility but such is life.

They explained it to Amanda like this. Nothing will change until they put a new satellite in service. What I can't understand is how and why you're not inundated by slow speed complaints from all the other users of Beam 55/Rapid City if my account isn't being knocked down by some arcane NOC error.

I wonder if you could hook me into the fringe of a less used beam or route me through a different gateway? Probably not since I'm fairly close to dead center of 55.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

PS: I hate I've allowed myself to be drawn back into this exercise in futility but such is life.
I'll take some of the blame for that.   I was the one who basically kept saying "you never know." 
GW
Advanced Tutor

No problem my friend. It's good to learn. Tonight I'm trying to learn how to test and record results from two different computers to two different testmy accounts. That way I can connect one computer to the modem, test, then immediately connect another computer directly to the modem and test. This will remove any computer/browser discrepancies from the equation. Not sure yet if it will play nice. It seems to get wacked out sometimes with the same IP being used even with logging in and out of the different accounts when switching.
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

GW, Liz said she is sending a tech to your home to try and pinpoint exactly what the problem is. I would wait on that. Running an abundance of tests directly connected to the modem, or not, seems a bit futile at this point.

Wait and see how your visit turns out. Just my opinion, can ignore it.
GW
Advanced Tutor

Hey BirdDog. Thanks for the advice but I already know exactly what he'll find and what he'll say.

Edit: Should rephrase that to say I know as long as Hughes is still contracting with the same service company. I hope so. This company has competent people stationed down here.
GW
Advanced Tutor

Yep, different computers with different operating systems, different testmy accounts, different cables and alternately wired directly into the same Hughes modem. No real differences.

9:41 on GW1 1.33 Mbps
9:43 on GW2 1.03 Mbps

9:14 on GW1 735 Mbps
9:18 on GW2 910 Mbps

8:49 on GW2 1.33 Mbps
8:56 on GW1 1.12 Mbps

It steadily sank from 19.67 Mbps at 5 PM

GW
Advanced Tutor

EXCELLENT Liz. I don't know if it's by design or by accident but you're sending the commercial account specialist to me. He's the most professional and competent Hughes contractor I've ever met. If there's a problem on the ground at my site, he will find it.
GW
Advanced Tutor

I got a new radio and a new (refurb) modem and new power supply. The brand new modem he hoped to install was DOA. He thoroughly tested everything (including my local network) and there is no problem on my end.

He confirms the problems are on your end of the network and it may be very hard to locate because it's much deeper than traffic overload. He'll be filing a comprehensive report with a lot of notes tonight.

We'll see tonight if the new hardware with all the new files makes a difference. Maybe it will. Not sure what it was but my modem had one very old reference file in it. Something to do with decommissioned assets and things like that

I just ran 3 testmy tests and got an unremarkable but higher average of 29.23 Mbps.

The runs of baseline Hughes tests he did before and after the modem change showed a slight average improvement from 23423 kbps to 24393 kbps.

Edit: We discussed the possibility I have some mysterious WAN blocker virus that runs on a timer and chokes off the signal accepted by all of my computers during the evening and weekend hours only. The trouble with that is we don't think it exists so we may have to blame it on evil moonbeams or pixie dust.

Speaking of... you mention my system performance looks great using the black ops Hughes test tools with the super-secret results. Why do I never see any evidence of these tests in my modem logs? Every time they start looking at my site I see an  automated system uploading my stats file at the exact same time every day but I never see anything that looks like testing. Are you sure they're doing the actual testing on the right modem?
GW
Advanced Tutor

Well now, isn't this special? I ran three groups of three tests yesterday before the technician came out today and the same three groups of three tests today after he left. While finding absolutely no faults with anything on my side of the satellite and (ESPECIALLY) my local network, he installed my THIRD HT1100 modem and THIRD radio.

The noonish tests are outlined in green. The late afternoon tests are outlined in yellow and the nighttime tests are outlined in red.


Wednesday mid-day results average 23.70 Mbps
Thursday mid-day results average 29.23 Mbps

Wednesday late afternoon results average 1.13 Mbps
Thursday late afternoon results average 15.28 Mbps

Wednesday night results average 0.70 Mbps
Thursday night results average 2.42 Mbps

To Amanda and Liz, (who have both been deeply involved in helping me deal with this never-ending fiasco) wouldn't it be a bite if these engineers have had us chasing our tails for two years and have done nothing but feed us all a load of nonsense when the only problem all along may have been a continuum of failing hardware?

Let's see how well it holds up this weekend.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

That's a heck of a difference, with somewhat of an exception of the nighttime tests, but maybe those are simply due to a packed beam.  Mine have definitely gotten that low at that time of night. 

Hopefully the improvements hold up. 

Liz
Moderator
Moderator

Good morning GW,

Thank you for your updates and on your news of the site visit. I will send all this up to the engineer.  Glad to see a bit of improvement in speed.

-Liz
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!

GW
Advanced Tutor

The testmy.net tests are more for the customer's sake if they can't run the HughesNet speed test or question its accuracy. In that case, we suggest using the 12-15 MB file size to get the most accurate results. The drastic drops you're reporting can't be explained by us since our monitoring tools have consistently been showing fine performance, and we can only vouch for our equipment and service.
Since I have more faith in the HughesNet speed test and it sounds like that is the only one that has any real meaning, I will now switch back to that one as my main source of data for you.

Please ask your programmers to restore the "export" function.
GW
Advanced Tutor

Ok Liz, great news.

After more than two years, seven technician visits, four power supplies, three modems, three radios, two ground blocks, a complete run of new coax, and more of my time than is required for a decent part-time job, my perennially sick Gen4 system is finally fixed. The major dysfunctional problem (persistent SQF 15 error) took 6 months to figure out and repair while the slow speed problem carried on as consistently and predictably as the sunrise from June of 2014 until Thursday.

It's really amazing how long this has continued despite constant intervention with at least a half dozen so-called escalations, a huge amount of case numbers and an impressive assortment of "engineers" both before and after you and Amanda got involved.

Here are some prime examples of the service I suffered with for more than two years (June 2014 through June 2016) followed by a snapshot of what my system did today.







And now today.


And now to the current forum favorite, testmy. To refresh, Sunday performance for 9/11 between 9 AM and 11 PM was 277 kbps average download.

The average for the same hours on Sunday 9/18 was 567 kbps.

Today's Sunday 9 AM - 11 PM average was 15.89 Mbps. It did hit the wall a little bit during the usual 9-10 PM time frame  but 3 Mbps is so much more tolerable than 38 kbps.


Funny thing is, except for the bad coax causing the SQF 15 errors, I'll bet the speed problems, all the way back, boil down to modem software problems and initial installs not being properly done. Regardless, it sure is nice to have internet that works on the weekend 🙂


Liz
Moderator
Moderator

Glad to hear it GW, thank you for this update.

Enjoy the rest of your week. 🙂

-Liz
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!