Hughesnet Community

Upgraded to Gen5 and speeds are still extremely slow at times

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
lakeland4
Junior

Upgraded to Gen5 and speeds are still extremely slow at times

I upgraded from Gen4 to Gen5 about a month ago due to extremely slow speeds at various times, especially in the evening and during the weekend.  With Gen4 it would quite often buffer when trying to stream, especially during those times, and the length of time each buffering lasted would range from annoying to not ending which required stopping and restarting the stream.  This problem did not change when I switched to Gen5, which is very frustrating to say the least.

 

To help solve this problem I followed the instructions in: http://hninfo.us/speedtest and ran several speed tests on different days and at various times of the day using testmy.net. Below is some information on the setup for these tests:

 

PC setup with Windows 10 and Chrome

Disabled the wifi on the HT2000W

Disconnected my router

Connected the PC directly to the HT2000W with an Ethernet cable

Nothing else was running on the PC

 

Here is the URL with the test results:

 

https://testmy.net/quickstats/kilroy

 

Let me know if there is any more information you need to help solve this problem.

 

Thank you

123 REPLIES 123
maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Your tests on Testmy.net, which is what's needed to have speed issues addressed in this community, are all during times of high congestion. You may want to take some more tests in the morning and in mid-afternoon as well, as the issue may just be congestion (too many people doing data intensive activities at the same time).  

 

I would focus only on downloads, since your issue involves downloading. Your upload speeds look mostly OK, if not stellar.  

 

Also make sure you only have one device connected to the network when you run tests, as all devices in your home that are connected share the signal, which means the quality suffers.  It's not clear from your post whether you have one or more devices connected. 

Thanks for the quick response.

 

I will run some download tests earlier in the day and send you the results.

 

There were no other devices connected to the network during these tests.  All 4 wifi bands on the HT2000W – 2.4GHz, 2.4GHz Guest, 5GHz, 5GHz Guest – were disabled.  The only Ethernet cable connected to the HT2000W was the one from the PC used during the test.

As you suggested, I ran a few more tests earlier in the day to help determine the cause of the slow download speeds.  The download speeds measured during a weekday morning to mid-afternoon are great. Way higher than the advertised 25Mbps.  That is much appreciated. 

 

However, the problem is that as the day progresses into late afternoon and evening the download speed slows down to what you would be limited to (1-3 Mbps) after you exceed the monthly download limit! 

 

https://testmy.net/myaverage/kilroy?dateFull=12-30-2021%20/%2001-12-2022

 

I have been a HughesNet customer long enough to know that download speeds this slow can at times cause periodic buffering or continuous buffering that requires the streaming to be stopped and restarted. I understand that the download speeds vary during the day, the evening and the weekend and, as you stated in your reply above, congestion can certainly be an issue.  I do not expect to have 25Mbps speeds all the time.  All I am asking for are download speeds fast enough to stream a DVD-quality video in the evening, watch our church service on Sunday morning live on Vimeo or on YouTube, or use Zoom for a virtual doctor appointment late in the afternoon without the likelihood of the stream continually buffering?

 

FYI: I always set the playback quality to the lowest possible setting and also disconnect our other devices from wifi if the stream starts to buffer.  The HughesNet Video Data Saver is always enabled,

 

Let me know if you need more information to help solve this problem.

 

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

This is the URL the techs need:  https://testmy.net/quickstats/kilroy

 

That your speed tanks later in the day is evidence that congestion is likely the culprit. Later in the day more people hop on the web and it takes very little to burden the beam, as the limited available broadband must be shared by everyone.  This congestion and its resulting issues can't be avoided. 

 

Speeds and performance are not guaranteed, and this is stated in several places, including the legally binding subscriber agreement. While wishing for speeds that allow streaming is reasonable, it may not be possible given congestion issues.   Satellite internet is not ideal for streaming. You may want to investigate satellite TV; it uses no data and it typically has no buffering issues, and offers hundreds of channels, including premium ones. 

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@lakeland4 

 

Unfortunately, that congestion is pretty significant in the evening, and it's almost assuredly due to people having the same idea, as in trying to stream or perform some other kind of bandwidth intensive activity, not only on the system overall, but especially your beam. 

 

Equally as unfortunately, when it comes to congestion there's not really anything that can be done to alleviate it.  It's just not a system that was designed with significant amounts of streaming in mind, and over time the negative impact from such an activity is increasing.  🙁

I would like to thank both of you for your no nonsense posts. I will admit that I was at first taken aback by your statements that there was nothing HughesNet could do to solve my extremely slow download speed issue.  But after spending some time searching through the Community I came to realize that this is a real problem that seems to affect a lot of people, not just me, and right now there is no real solution. In hindsight, I wish I would have searched the Community, run the www.testmy.net speed tests and consulted with you before upgrading to Gen5.  Now I am not only dealing with the same problem I was having with Gen4 but will also be paying a higher monthly fee for the next 23 months.

 

That leaved me with 3 issues I hope you can help me with.

 

First - Live streams

This really is the biggest issue.  We have real problems streaming things such different Sunday church services, one that uses YouTube and the other Vimeo, and late afternoon doctor appointments using Zoom.   Every time we make sure to set the quality to the absolute minimum.  We wanted to take an evening remote learning class through our local library but did not want to fight the likely buffering issues.

What options are there to avoid the effect of the extremely slow download stream on live streams?

 

Second - Streaming video

One option suggested was looking into satellite TV, in particular the premium channels.  When you are on a fixed income that is not a realistic option.  Is there any way to download the videos during day or the bonus period and watch them offline?

 

Third - Switch to another HughesNet satellite?

I will apologize now if I am way off base and wasting your time on this one. 

I switched to Gen4 in Oct. 2016.  When upgrading to Gen5 last month the customer rep told me I only needed a new modem. A service technician did not have to come out to the house because a new dish was not needed and the current one did not need to be adjusted because, and I quote, ‘my dish will be pointed to new satellite as is’.  I did some more searching on the Community and there is discussion on there being 2 satellites and both provide Gen5 service.  If this is true is there any way the other satellite could improve my current situation?

 

Look forward to any help you can provide.

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

@lakeland4 

 

Any kind of streaming over satellite is highly sensitive to congestion, so while it may work at times, it's not dependable. 

 

For recording shows you may want to look into PlayOn Cloud.  Some of us use it to record stuff and play it back later, plus you can keep the files. It works as a cloud DVR, and uses no data to record, though it does use data to download the shows. You can always download the shows during bonus time or during times when the speed is good.

 

As for changing satellites, the reps here will need to answer that. Not sure changing would make a difference, though, but hopefully they will have some good info for you.  They should be back on Tuesday. 

 

EDIT: By the way, you're very welcome. I do hope your issues get resolved in some way. 

 

 

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

I second PlayOn Cloud.  I've been using it for a few years now and it's great. 

 

There's no buffering, as you're watching from an already downloaded file rather than streaming.  Basically, you use the PlayOn Cloud app on your Android or Apple device to select the item you want from the service you use, it's recorded on a cloud based DVR (really a remote server) in real time (a two hour movie would take two hours to record), and it's then converted to an mp4 file you can then download, either manually, automatically or by scheduling it.  That mp4 file can then be watched on anything that can play mp4 files, such as a computer, a smart TV or even a DVD or Blu Ray player that has a USB port and the ability to play those files.  After downloading them to my computer I then copy the files to an external USB hard drive, then plug that drive into my smart TV, which has a built in app that can play mp4 files. 

 

I've even played them on my laptop and wirelessly cast it to my TV, though only as a test as I don't have any need to watch them that way.

 

I've built up quite a library of TV shows and movies.  So much so that my external 4TB hard drive is about 3/4 full.  

 

PlayOn Cloud also tends to use less data than actual streaming.  For example, this is a movie from late last night, and it's in full 1080p...

 

Screen Shot 2022-01-16 at 8.53.32 PM.png

 

Edit:  The Jan 23rd is the date it will be purged from their servers, not when it expires, so I have to make sure to download it before that date (I already did).  Downloaded files never expire, and you can watch them whenever and as many times as you like, as they're yours.

 

The only thing is, PlayOn Cloud has to support the source you're wanting to stream from, and you have to have an account with that source (like Netflix, Hulu, etc).  If you click on the link maratsade gave you can see all of the services PlayOn Cloud works with near the bottom of the page.

Good morning lakeland4,

 

Thank you for troubleshooting and sharing what you've done so far. I looked into this for you and see that your HughesNet equipment is working normally. However, I do see an engineering notice indicating they're currently investigating performance in your area. I'll ping them for more details to see if that has relevance to your situation. I'll post back once I have any updates to share.

 

Your cooperation, patience, and understanding are much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

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!

Thank you all for your kind and helpful replies.

 

I appreciate all the information regarding PlayOn Cloud and will definitely take a look at it.  I also look forward to any updates regarding the current performance investigation.  Improving the download speeds enough to make live streaming, with the quality set to the absolute minimum setting, viable during evenings and weekends would be greatly appreciated.

 

Let me know if I can provide any more information to help with solving this issue.

Good morning,

Have you received any updates on the performance investigation?

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

Liz will post updates once she has them.  Sometimes this takes a while.

 


@lakeland4 wrote:

Good morning,

Have you received any updates on the performance investigation?


 

Good morning lakeland4,

 

Thank you for your patience while our engineers investigate. They would like to get on the phone with you for live troubleshooting and data capture. Please let me know when you're free next week, these calls typically are an hour.

 

-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!

I would be more than happy to work with your engineer to help solve this problem.  Any evening during the week will work for me. 

Hi lakeland4,

 

Thank you for your reply. The engineering team is asking if it's possible for an earlier session? Sometime before 5 PM Eastern time?

 

-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!

It would work better for me to have the session start later than 4 PM Central time, but if that is not possible I will make myself available.

Hi lakeland4,

 

Thank you for your flexibility. I'm still trying to see how late our engineers can go. I will let you know as soon as I find out.

 

-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!

Good morning lakeland4,

 

Thank you for your patience while we sort things out. Can we do the call at 4 PM Central time tomorrow?

 

-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!

Yes, let’s plan on 4 PM Central time on 2/10/2022 for the call.  I do appreciate the work you are doing to fit my schedule. 

 

What is the procedure for this call?  Will someone contact me using the phone number associated with my HughesNet account?

 

Thank you

Wonderful, thank you for working with us. Typically engineering will create a conference room with a dial-in number and code. I'll privately message you that info once that's available.

 

-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!