Speed comparison: Verizon wireless vs. Hughesnet

[maratsade]

I have access to some GBs from Verizon wireless, so I thought I'd test performance to compare it to Hughesnet. I'm sure people's mileage will vary, but I was pretty disappointed with Verizon.  With Hughesnet, I can stream something, download a game, and check email, all at the same time, and I don't notice a degradation of service. With Verizon Wireless, I can download the game and do nothing else.  Outlook has been trying to load up for 30 minutes, and forget streaming. I think Netflix actually chuckled.  So, verdict is: Hughesnet wins. And we're talking about satellite! The info goes to the satellite in space and then comes back down to my computer, using sci-fi style technology, and it beats Verizon wireless, which does not leave Earth. Boo to Verizon, hurrah for Hughesnet. 

[Gwalk900]

Wife's GMC Terrain has WiFi, costs an arm and a leg and really is far behind my Hughes Ultra plan.

[maratsade]

I think Verizon wireless is a skosh more expensive than Hughesnet, but what's annoying and frustrating is that it seems to only work well if you just use it for regular surfing. Anything else seems to really tax the system, and this doesn't happen (well, to me) with Hughesnet.  VW does carry over data, which is nice, but what is the point of extra data if the system can't multitask??

[GabeU]

Years ago one of the folks had a USB dongle for either Verizon or AT&T for a work computer.  It would barely connect here, and when it did, it was pitifully slow.  Now, of course, the speed may have improved somewhat, but the tower is still on the other side of the hill, so the connection would be just as bad. 

Hughesnet can be confident in the fact that I'm not going anywhere, though I will admit that years ago I tried to get Verizon to install the necessary DSL equipment nearby so we could get DSL in the immediate area.  I got forty some odd signatures, all from houses right in a row.  Everyone signed.  This was back in 2007 or 2008.  They decided not to do it, then stopped installing DSL altogether to concentrate on FIOS.  DSL was a possibility here, but you know where will freeze over before they will ever install fiber optic lines down my road.  And cable?  About the same chance....ZILCH.  
 

[maratsade]

There's no incentive for them to install DSL or cable. In the meantime, HN does a good job providing high speed internet where no one else will go.  Verizon wifi is fine as long as all you do is surf. Anything else and the speed is abysmal.

[GabeU]

At the time there would have been incentive.  All the houses that I went to were limited to the same options as me.  Even if only ten people had signed up, it still would have been worth the cost of installing the used Catina Card system for them. 
 
Even the engineer I was in contact with told me that if I had done it just six months sooner it would have been installed.
 

[fuzwuz]

There are different channels of wireless, at least for AT&T VIA A VW TOWER. Should your device get on a slow channel, it will not download file data fast. Talk to VW & have them to check if you are connecting on a slower than LTE channel, even if it says LTE on your device.
THIS COULD BE YOUR WHOLE PROBLEM OVER ANY LTE provider WIRELESS SERVICE.
When my iPhone DOWNLOADS DATA, slower than 20Mbits/sec, CALL IN & AT&T MAKES SURE I'm really on an LTE channel, even though VIA a VW TOWER.
HOPE THIS HELPS. בובי

[fuzwuz]

There are different channels of wireless, at least for AT&T VIA A VW TOWER. Should your device get on a slow channel, it will not download file data fast. Talk to VW & have them to check if you are connecting on a slower than LTE channel, even if it says LTE on your device.
THIS COULD BE YOUR WHOLE PROBLEM OVER ANY LTE provider WIRELESS SERVICE.
When my iPhone DOWNLOADS DATA, slower than 20Mbits/sec, I CALL IN & AT&T MAKES SURE I'm really on an LTE channel, even though VIA a VW TOWER.
HOPE THIS HELPS. בובי

[maratsade]

I've talked to VW -- they claim things that are not really borne out by reality.  The problem (for me) started when they came out with the unlimited service. From what I have seen on the forums, a lot of people noticed their speed take a giant dive then. Verizon tells me nothing's wrong. We agree to disagree.

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@fuzwuz wrote:
There are different channels of wireless, at least for AT&T VIA A VW TOWER. Should your device get on a slow channel, it will not download file data fast. Talk to VW & have them to check if you are connecting on a slower than LTE channel, even if it says LTE on your device.
THIS COULD BE YOUR WHOLE PROBLEM OVER ANY LTE provider WIRELESS SERVICE.
When my iPhone DOWNLOADS DATA, slower than 20Mbits/sec, I CALL IN & AT&T MAKES SURE I'm really on an LTE channel, even though VIA a VW TOWER.
HOPE THIS HELPS. בובי

---

[MarkJFine]

---

@maratsade wrote:

I've talked to VW -- they claim things that are not really borne out by reality.  The problem (for me) started when they came out with the unlimited service. From what I have seen on the forums, a lot of people noticed their speed take a giant dive then. Verizon tells me nothing's wrong. We agree to disagree

There's actually a couple of things going on here from my perspective:

1. This latest iPhone update does some weird things when it comes to indicating whether wifi or wireless (LTE, 3G, 1x) is being used. Many times the display at the top of the phone doesn't show reality. I've literally seen 'LTE' when the 5G wifi was showing as engaged in the wifi settings. The wifi symbol won't even show until I switch from 5G to 2G.

I'm also in an area where I can actually get LTE on 2 bars of signal. Sometimes it gets stuck on 3G when it shouldn't and can only 'get' LTE unless I physically toggle airplane mode on then off and wait for the wireless to reset itself and reacquire the tower. I say this like I have any complete faith I'm really in either mode dispite what the indicator says, but you have to trust something.

2. I too have Unlimited, mainly because it was cheaper than being on my older 2G plan and wanted a fairly good backup connection that was usable in a power outage (happens a lot here in C. Virginia). What I've noticed is that the resulting speed is very subjective to peak times of use, just like every other system. And yes, they will intentionally throttle your speed after you've reached a certain amount in your cycle. Wireless just seems slightly overall faster because of the ping times to the local tower are a lot better than to something several hundred miles above the equator. Can't change the physics and the speed of light is a governing factor. Too bad, so sad.

3. Verizon's LTE is rated at around 5-12Mbps, but I've only seen it get as high as 5 due to the signal quality I get here. Typically it's around 1-2 at best, depending upon how my phone is pointed, which floor I'm on, which way the wind is blowing, and whichever arm/leg I have held up - not an optimum full-time solution, but workable.

[maratsade]

I don't have unlimited myself -- I have the 4 GB account.  VW claims there's LTE in my area, and that may be true, but my speeds are never over 1 Mbps with their wireless.  Before they unveiled their unlimited option, I was getting much better speeds (well, for VW), sometimes up to 5 Mbps, and pretty low latency.  After they started offering their unlimited option, my speeds and latency plummeted.  I often see the same complaint on the VW forums.  I used to have 3G, and that was actually more consistent than LTE.

I get great speeds when I'm in a metropolitan area -- living in a rural area, I basically have to live with bad internet. It's just the nature of the beast. Not enough towers, not enough interest from providers, etc.  It is what it is. 🙂

[maratsade]

Well, that stinks. So close, and then nothing.  Where I live the cable/DSL companies are not interested at all. 

[GabeU]

Yep, and when he told me they decided not to do it, I was disappointed, to say the least.  The engineer that I was in contact with actually said, at one point, that it was "on the wall", meaning that the installation wasn't yet scheduled, but it was sort of scheduled to be scheduled.  He was genuinely trying to help.  The access panel where they would have installed the equipment is right at the corner of my road and the main drag, only about a third of a mile from here, so if we were on the beginning of the line loop, we would have gotten pretty decent speed, though it still would have topped out at about 3Mbps.  At the time, though, I had a legacy plan, and thought of unlimited 3Mbps speed was drool inducing.  LOL.  
 

[BirdDog]

For me a bit of a toss up when it comes to speed. Both are up and down but the cost is the deciding factor since I have Ultra. Never tried streaming a Netflix on the hotspot though, may give it a try tomorrow. 




PS: The lower latency is nice when on hotspot, shorter page loading time is noticeable.

[GabeU]

At 10:07PM on a Saturday night I'm getting this?  WOW!  Superbowl weekend changes people's habits, that's for sure.  


 

[BirdDog]

Nothing to do with Super Bowl, slow prime time for awhile now.

[BirdDog]

Well, ATT&T seems to fudge their speed tests for sure. Here is Networx meter showing actual down and up when running their test and the results they show and what Testmy.net shows. I am getting better speed over hotspot right now.








Still better than my satellite connection right now.

Can still stream Netflix at low def over satellite though and looks fine.  http://testmy.net/quickstats/sgoshe

[GabeU]

In my case, I mean.  Something's going on right now, as I have NEVER had a speed as high as that during this time in the evening, even on a Saturday night.  Normally, at this time, I'm sitting in the 3Mbps or 4Mbps range, and even less as of the last month or so (probably the Gen5 tinkering).  

Perhaps the people in my beam and Gateway are all out partying.  LOL.
 

[BirdDog]

Many times Testmy.net reports high for HughesNet, it is why I have the throughput meter. Can be as much as 5-6 mbps over true speed.

I think even the engineers know this but they've established a norm and baseline with Testmy.net and compensate for it when troubleshooting.

[GabeU]

While that's true, I had NetWorx installed until I had to restore with an older system image a little while back, and it was always within about 2Mbps of my testmy.net results.  I have had skewed results in the past, which is one of the reasons I installed Networx in the first place.  

My normal speeds are around the mid 20s, sometimes going up into the lower thirties, like that test, but NEVER at 10PM.  I just ran another one and it was 24.5Mbps, but I'm now starting to get into where it will normally speed up for me.  

BTW, below is a test I had done about five minutes earlier while trying Firefox (the reason it's not signed in).  Just VERY unusual for me to get these speeds at 10PM.  Something is a bit different tonight.  

[BirdDog]

"Different" not so much for me lately during prime time. Is heading back up right now though.