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Unusable service continues... cancellation impending

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Gills
Freshman

Unusable service continues... cancellation impending

I've talked on the phone a few times with a few tech support people. Now I will TRY to do the recommended speed tests to prove that my service is unusable. I say TRY because most of the time I can't even bring up a web page successfully. I'm posting this message from an internet cafe.

 

I have no intention of paying early termination fees since the service is not being provided as billed. If I'm supposed to work with support reps through this site first, then tell me what to do. My re-billing date is the 15th, so it's less than 5 days away.

17 REPLIES 17
maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Your termination fee is valid unless you work with the reps here and they determine your service isn't working as intended. Your first step is to follow the instructions for running speed tests. Make sure you follow them as closely as possible, and post the URL for your Testmy.net results here. 

Understood, and will do. However, I will not accept "oh, you're throttled" as an acceptable answer to why my internet is unusably slow in the last month, when it used to be at least usable. This is the stock answer the techs give me.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

If it's so bad that you often can't even open a web page I would wait to see what the reps have to say, but make sure to leave your modem plugged in so that they can run remote diagnostics to see if anything's amiss.  It sounds more like it could be a connection issue.  Also, the reps may need some personal info from you in order to be able to locate your account, but they'll ask for it to be sent via PM for the sake of security, for which they'll provide a link.  You can still try running the tests if you like, but they may time out.

 

Regarding the speed testing, just so you have the full instructions...

 

------------------------------------------------

 

To help the HughesNet Customer Service Reps get a head start on your speed concerns, please create a testmy.net account (if you do not already have one) and, while signed into that account, perform a batch of 3-5 tests during different parts of the day, then share your testmy.net "My Results" page URL with us here. A batch each in the morning, afternoon and evening is the most ideal, but the reps are well aware that not everyone can do this, so please just run a batch when you can.

Most important points to remember during this test:
-do the tests while directly connected to the HughesNet modem with a LAN cable (NO third party Router or Wireless devices can be used)
-disable the WiFi in the HT2000W modem while the speed tests are being performed
-the testing device should be the ONLY device connected to the HughesNet modem while testing
-use the manual 25MB size download test file
-if testing upload instead of download, use the manual 4MB size upload test file
-space each test in the batch at least 5 minutes apart
-post your testmy results URL here, it may look something like http://testmy.net/quickstats/yourusername


For a more in depth guide on running the tests, please see this site.

The Reps are on M-F from approximately 9AM to 6PM EST. They will be the ones to address your speed issues, but they will need these tests to do so.

If you don't know how to disable the WiFi in the HT2000W modem, please see "How do I manage my built-in WiFi modem?" in this PDF. Please be sure to click "Save Settings" after unchecking "SSID Enable" for each of the four tabs individually (2.4Ghz, then 2.4Ghz Guest, then 5Ghz, then 5Ghz Guest).

Gills
Freshman

Thanks for all the input, but other than running the specific self-test that Hughes requires, I've done it all. I plan on running the required self-tests when I get home.

 

I can run the connection test from the "system control center", and it all looks like it's running perfectly. And I can say that everything does run relatively well when I'm not in "throttled" mode. It's "throttled" mode that's broken, which I have explained to the tech support people multiple times. Supposed to be "normally around 1-3 Mbps", but in the last month it's dropped to unusable 0.5 Mbps or less. Between the system control center test working perfectly and it only being broken when throttled, it tells me that they're having technical issues with throttled mode only. I've given them 2-3 weeks of patience to solve the issue, but it persists.

 

Gills
Freshman

Test result... as expected:

https://testmy.net/db/A2Et3evV8

 

I will also be uploading a video that documents my setup and procedure to prove that it's done right.

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

You need more than one test. Follow the instructions as given, and also, post the URL to your MyResults page: https://testmy.net/quickstats/[your username]

 

EDIT: this is the URL that's needed:  https://testmy.net/quickstats/Gills

Every time you run a test while logged in to your Testmy account, the results will be recorded under that URL. 

But you may want to wait to run those tests until you hear from a rep here. 

 

I will do a few more tests and post based on the url you requested.

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Are you in FAP (throttled) at the moment? If you have used up your data allowance, your speed will be throttled significantly until your allowance resets. See https://legal.hughesnet.com/fairaccesspolicy2022

Yes, I've mentioned this multiple times. The throttled speed is unusable - it's not the 1-3 Mbps that Hughesnet claims is "normal". Again, I will reiterate that the throttled speed used to be usable until the last 3-4 weeks. Something changed and broke it.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@Gills wrote:

Test result... as expected:

https://testmy.net/db/A2Et3evV8

 

I will also be uploading a video that documents my setup and procedure to prove that it's done right.


Though you're certainly free to do so, it's likely unnecessary, as the reps should be able to see that the tests have been run properly, both by the info in the test results themselves and from your modem history.  

 

However, I do have to say that, when it comes to FAP speeds, the tests might not actually help that much.  When I initially replied yesterday I mistakenly assumed the problem was with speed during normal, data dependent operation, not with speed while in FAP.  Because speed while in FAP can vary so much, there may not be anything they can do.  They can still use the tests you've run as a reference for the speeds you're seeing while in FAP, but they may not help in the endeavor to improve it.

 

That's just based on what I've seen on here in the past.  I can't speak for the reps themselves and what they may or may not be able to do with your particular FAP speed issues.

Gills
Freshman

Test results: https://testmy.net/quickstats/Gills

The results confirm that throttled speed is unusably slow and unreliable. Certainly not what I'm paying for.

Here is my video demonstrating the testing process and some of the real-world slowness in action. I had to upload this video from the internet cafe, of course.

https://youtu.be/ePpKDOQJIRM

Nobody from Hughesnet has contacted me about this thread.

 

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Thank you for your answer. Slow speeds can be expected with the service (EDIT: due to congestion, latency, being throttled, etc.). You pay for a data package, not the speed, and the slow speeds you may experience are unrelated to the subscription price. Managing the data you have (which doesn't last long even if you have a large data package and [edit] use the data for data intensive activities such as streaming) is paramount.  You can also purchase tokens when you run out of data. 

Neither speed nor performance are or can be guaranteed due to many different factors -- see the subscriber agreement and the HughesNet website for more information. 

 

I am very familiar with the subscriber agreement. It says that I get 25 GB (now 30) of daytime data and 50 GB during "bonus zone", and after that's used up, the speed slows down, which is "normally 1-3 Mbps download". It's that last part that Hughesnet is not following through on right now. 1-3 is already slow, and I accept that it's going to be that slow most of the time, as long as it WORKS RELIABLY. It stopped working reliably 3-4 weeks ago. I'm sorry, but a business can't say one thing, underdeliver, then expect customers to continue paying full price.

 

The early termination fee is assessed by Hughesnet because it KNOWS that people will be cancelling as soon as they realize how bad it is and have better options. But not living up to their end of the subscriber agreement doesn't mean they can collect on that. I will not be paying it.

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

You may then be familiar with this: " Stated speeds and uninterrupted use of service are not guaranteed. Actual speeds will likely be lower than the maximum speeds during peak hours.  In addition, when connected to the Service using Wi-Fi, the user’s experience will vary based on the proximity to the Wi-Fi source and the strength of the signal, and its usage is subject to the Fair Access Policy." (Section 1.1)

 

Speeds and performance are not guaranteed. 

Of course I'm familiar with it. But since I know the unusable speed is directly related to throttling and not other factors, this argument is moot. They have the ability to control the data speed, and all of my tests are very consistent, regardless of time of day.

 

Also, if usable service is not guaranteed, then neither is payment.

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

"Also, if usable service is not guaranteed, then neither is payment."

 

Utter nonsense.  

 

If you need to cancel, you will need to call 866-347-3292. You will have to pay the cancellation fee. To avoid equipment charges, you will also need to return the equipment (modem, power pack, and the radio from the dish). You will get a kit to return the equipment when you cancel the account.
The instructions for removing the radio are here: http://support.hughesnet.com/sites/support.hughesnet.com/files/inline-files/1041328-0001_b_0.pdf
They'll also be included in the return kit.

 

Best of luck to you. 

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@Gills 

 

For reference, under the "How does the Fair Access Policy work?" header for both the 'between March 10, 2017 and February 1, 2022' and 'after February 1, 2022' descriptions of the Fair Access Policy, which can both be found here, it states...

 

"The speed of the Services may be reduced to as low as or lower than 1 Mbps"

 

That's not an attempt to mitigate your frustration of dealing with lower than expected FAP speeds, but only to give the legal description of the speed aspect of FAP as set by HughesNet.