After going through the process of seeing where data leaks are, I started to realize that the Usage Meter could be a great tool to figure out what's going on. The problem is was that the data as provided wasn't really resolute for something like that. So I came up with some ideas of how to fix that:
1. More digits: May be my personal preference, but showing the data in terms of MB (like Account/Usage on the web site does) is a lot more helpful than in GB with one decimal place. That will give you only 100MB resolution. Also prefer percents showing to 1 or 2 decimal points depending upon how it tends to vary. In this case using 1 decimal places for the percent usage and 2 decimal places for remaining time (which I added, btw).
2. More data: Again, personal preference, but it's a lot easier if you don't have to math in your head. So, I added a remaining data to the donuts. I also added back the progress bars, with markers showing where you should be (on average) as well as how under (or over) you are. This was always the best way to see if you were burning data too fast or too slow. It also gave you a way to generally plan and manage things better. I also added (as stated) a percentage to the time remaining. If the progress bars never come back, this at least gives you an indication of how you're burning wrt to the percents in the donuts.
Here's a mock-up of the Mac version:
Yeah, it's kind of geeky, but I thought I'd share. Haven't spent much time on the Usage History graph, but have some general ideas for that as well.
Comments?
Make sure that when you are looking at that graph you position your pointer on the last date to get the most accurate current data (the graph is always a little behind current (by an hour or so?)). When you move the cursor to other dates it will reflect the data remaining at that time. Like in the first of your pictures it's showing the data remaining as of the 24th, whereas the second is showing the data remaining as of the 11th, which, of course, would be higher.
In the first picture below I positioned my pointer on the green dot corresponding to the 7th, whereas in the second picture I positioned my pointer on the green dot on the 25th, and the data remaining for the two dates chosen is correct. The current date is always a little behind on this graph, as it's reflecting what I still had an hour or so ago. It's off by about 100MBs, and I downloaded about 100MBs worth of stuff in the last hour or so. Currently I have about 10.3GBs remaining, not the 10.4GBs that's shown in the current graph (Sept 25).
You can explain it all you want, that's not going to make the graph useful. I can see that tokens, service, and bonus are added together for a total of over 100 gigs. That's redundant! There is already a line indicating a total of each individual type of data so once they are added together how do I tell what daily usage is of service data? Did I start with 107 gigs of bonus data? That's what the blue line on the graph shows. It also shows that I started with approximately 57 gigs of service data. I understand that it represents the total amount of data but maybe I'd like to know how much service data I have to the end of the month so I don't use the tokens. I have to subtract 7.3 of token data from the 22.2 of service data I have left. That tells me I have 15.4 gigs of service data left until I get into the bonus data. But on the usage meter it says I've only used 28.8 gigs of 50 gigs of service data while it says I have 42% remaining which is not the true amount of ONLY service data remaining. 15.4 is not 42% of 50! Hughes is a big company with smart people. Someone there should be able to come up with a single page that has this information on it. Someone should be able to put the information back on one page like it was before without this silly graph. I shouldn't have to decipher my data usage from two different pages and subtract my token data, which I’d like to save, but that’s what I have to do.
I’ve paid Hughes a lot of money over more than 10 years which means I’m not going to settle for this useless crap. I will continue to let them know that the change they made was for the worse which, apparently, is a common consensus. I also don’t appreciate the innuendo that I’m slow to understand how this ridiculous graph works. I don’t need to take that crap from anyone. I understand that this method of measuring my data usage is useless to me. And responding to posts about the deficiencies of this meter and the fact that it is often grossly in error is how this thread continued on the topic of meter design. I hope this helps.
Here is the graph with the error. Open and closing a few times corrects it. 
OK, I give. I'll just pretend the lines really start at 100 and 50. I should know by now, Hughes is always right. And the meter really isn't compatible with Windows 10. The other Hughe person told me that.
@dfbeck wrote:OK, I give. I'll just pretend the lines really start at 100 and 50. I should know by now, Hughes is always right. And the meter really isn't compatible with Windows 10. The other Hughe person told me that.
Of course it doesn't start at 50 and 100. You've got 7.3GB of Token data, so it starts at 7.3GB, 57.3GB and 107.3GB, for Token, Service and Bonus data, respectively. Would it be beneficial for them to make it optional as to whether the Token data shows on the graph, like it is with the Bonus Zone data? Sure, but at this time it's not. What's showing for the beginning of your monthly data is accurate, as is what's showing for the 11th and 24th.
Lets talk meters:
I would like to see you start a new topic of your own on this subject. Reason being that this topic of Mark's was intended to have users suggest changes to the present "download Usage Meter". There are a large number of users, myself included, that thought that the latest version was a step backwards.
That being said .... there are in fact five (5) different usage "displays".
Three of the five are "usage" meters and the remaining two are "history" displays and the distinction is important.
Lets look at them.
1st: The SCC meter.
There is a usage meter located inside the Modems SCC (System Control Center)
This can be accessed by entering 192.168.0.1 into your browsers address bar:
Hughes users can draw their data from THREE DATA BUCKETS:
Anytime Data (8am to 2am) (will be used at other times of Bonus Bytes are depleted)
Bonus Bytes (2am to 8am)
Token Bytes (used when Anytime Data is depleted)
This is where the potential confusing "stack" comes in as it totals all three categories.
The display above shows "plan limits" for Anytime and Bonus Bytes. It also shows remaining data in all three categories.
The remaining data values will be up to date as of the last Modem "sync" cycle. The meter is not absolute "real time", there is some delay.
There is one thing to be aware of: The "resolution" of the meter is .1 GB (point one) or the nearest 100 MB. The meter is going to round up or down to the nearest 50 MB.
The meter also displays the time until the next "period" starts as well as time until next data reset.
The above meter is handy in that it is close at hand residing inside the Modem itself but it is not accurate to last MB.
The second (and most accurate) of the Usage Meters is found on the MyAccount page:
This is the "Mother Of All Meters"
This is the one that is taking into account data usage reported by the Modem and is used to update and "sync" all the other Usage and History displays.
It shows remaining data amounts for Anytime, Bonus and Token data. It resolves down to a single MB. No rounding errors.
This is accurate to the last "sync" cycle.
The third of the "Usage Meters" was formerly known as the Download Status Meter, presently called the Download Usage Meter.
This is the utility available for download that installs in you computers systray.
It contains both a "usage" meter as well as a "history" display.
I use an older version because ... I just don't like the new one.
My old version looks like this:
As a meter it shows remaining values for Anytime, Bonus Bytes and Token Bytes.
It too suffers from having a resolution of .1 GB so is subject to rounding errors.
Next up we have your Bug-a-boo meter that I think just tries too hard.
I am more than willing to take screenshots and discuss that meter with you if you were to start a new thread of your own. The information IS there, you just have pull it up. The previous version was better I think hence Marks topic for suggests for the next version.
You can get a very accurate accounting for "yesterdays" usage from it but I would suggest the the MyAccount Meter will give you the most up to date and accurate numbers of remaining data, right to the single MB.
When you hover your pointer over the 24th and it shows that date above the graph, the data given is for the 24th, though I believe it's only through the last complete hour, so whatever you've done during the current hour won't be added to the total for today until the next hour starts. For me it's presently 9:32PM, and it's only showing the data usage through 8:59PM.
