New user with ethernet and wifi set up questions.

[2yearwait]

Hello all, 
I'm new to satelite internet and my installation was a few days ago. I have some questions.

My backstory: I sort of rushed into contracting for this service because my last ISP wasn't capable of shipping me a new modem. Their shipping department had failed to ship it after 3 weeks and 3 requests by customer service. So, I gave up on them and HughesNet was the only option available to me in my rural setting. Frankly, I'm not sure if I will be happy with satelite internet (from any company) because I do enjoy streaming videos, taking classes with long video lectures online and steaming music. Even though I did mention all that to the salesman, he assured me I would be able to watch Amazon Prime videos, youtube and stream music and podcasts with this service. So did customer service, when I called in after installation, fearful that I'd made the wrong decision. They assured me that one person, with one computer will be able to view several movies per day and stream videos at will as well as other online activities without exceeding the limits of the 20GB plan. Well, I hope so, but after reading this forum, I am unsure. However, I am resigned to making the next two years as painless as possible and have been trying to learn everything I can about managing my data and keeping my usage under the limits while still enjoying the benefits of an internet connection.

My technical situation:

I have one device, a Mac Mini desktop computer and I am used to a wired high speed internet connection through the telephone cable. My installer connected my computer to the modem via the Ethernet cable. In the future I might be interested in wireless computing or using wifi with our satelite tv service. For now, I'd like to keep things as simple as possible and just focus on getting set up properly and safely. I've heard so much about stolen wifi signals and I'd like to prevent such things if possible.

The installer pointed me to the HughesNet site for more information. There I found the Quick Start Guide and Users Guide for the HT2000W modem. The guide mentions that I should log in, change the password right away for safety reasons and it also explains how to adjust some of the wifi settings. My questions are: 

1. Since I am connected to the modem by the Ethernet cable and don't plan to use wifi at this time, should I disable wifi on all four ports as the guide indicates? 
2. If I do that will my Ethernet internet connection still function?

I'd appreciate any help as all this is quite new to me. 

[GabeU · Accepted solution]

@2yearwait 

If you're not presently using your WiFi, it would most certainly be a good idea to disable the radios, as you can never be too careful.  And your internet via ethernet cable will definitely continue to function, as disabling the WiFi radios will only affect the WiFi.  

Regarding your statement about possibly wanting to use your HughesNet with your satellite TV, I would recommend against this, as there is no way to control the data that satellite TV receivers can and will use, including when you are not actively watching something on demand.  They will use your internet data for guide and program updates, as well as downloading those "instant watch" movies that are currently downloaded through the DirecTV dish itself.  It will also cause the receiver to switch to using your internet service for a lot  (perhaps all) of your searches.  Because of this, HughesNet recommends that customers do not connect a satellite TV receiver to their HughesNet service.  People have seen their HughesNet data wiped out in short order by a satellite TV receiver.  

As for streaming, while you should be able to, you're not going to be able to do a lot of it with the 20GB plan.  Even if you had the 50GB plan, you still wouldn't be able to do a lot.  Going by Netflix's data amounts, streaming uses around 3GB per hour in HD, 700MB per hour in SD and 350MB per hour in LD.  The amount will vary by service, but it's stiil going to use quite a bit, so how much you can stream will be limited.  

"They assured me that one person, with one computer will be able to view several movies per day and stream videos at will as well as other online activities without exceeding the limits of the 20GB plan." - I would say that this is not at all true.  20GB will not last long using the service in that way.  You may still be able to stream some things and watch some videos once your high speed data is exceeded and your speed is throttled, but there are no guarantees with this, and doing so in HD will almost certainly not work.  

You do have the option to request a sales call review in order to determine if the sales rep set appropriate expectations.  You can do so in the "MyAccount and Billing" section.  Depending on what's found in that review, you may have some type of recourse.

[2yearwait]

Thank You for all the information, GabeU. 
I will disable the WiFi radios asap. I may request a review of the sales call, but even if I were allowed to get out of the contract, I don't really have another provider that I could use in light of all the issues with the other ISP that serves this area. I need email and other internet functions, even if I have to cut back on the streaming services I love so much. It's also good to know that satellite internet will likely not work with satellite tv - I will keep that in mind going forward. At this point, I am completely puzzled about what the future of streaming content will look like.  I was happy with my phone line, high speed internet but internal communication within the various departments of large corporations seems be sorely lacking at this point in time. Hopefully, there will be more companies offering cable or wired connections that can handle the data streams required. 
Thanks, again!

[GabeU]

@2yearwait 

You're very welcome.  🙂

BTW, if streaming is important, you may want to look into PlayOn Cloud.  A few of us here use it.  It streams your chosen item to a cloud based DVR, converts it to an mp4 file, then gives you a link so that you can download the file.  You can also schedule the file to download to whatever device it is you have the PlayOn Cloud app installed on.  It's a great way to take advantage of the Bonus Zone data without actually having to be up to watch the stream at the time.  Once you've downloaded the file, you can keep it forever.  You can also watch it on anything that supports mp4 files, which many devices today do.  I watch the files from a USB flash drive connected to my LG Smart TV.  The other great thing is that there is absolutely no buffering, as you're watching from an already downloaded file.

It's just an idea, but it might be worth looking into.  I've been using it for the last four or five months, and it's worked perfectly with the Netflix and HBO Go that I've tried it with.

https://www.playon.tv/cloud 

[2yearwait]

I will definitely check into it. Looks promising..

[Liz]

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