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Upgraded to Gen5 and speeds are still extremely slow at times

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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

That is good news! I will continue to update you on the streaming performance.  Should I stay with VDS OFF or switch back to ON?

 

Thank you for letting me know your colleagues will be available to assist me in your absence.

Good question! Engineering said to leave VDS on please.

 

-Liz

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Slow performance? Click me!

I never received a notification email regarding your recent post so VDS was left off during the Prime Video stream described below.

 

11/11/2022 – 8:00pm – VDS Off – 40 minute show. 30+ seconds initial load time, then slightly pixelated for first few minutes.  The only issue during the remainder of the show was when the stream was intentionally stopped 3 times, each time it took 30+ seconds to load.

 

VDS will now be on.

Good to know, thanks for letting us know. Looking forward to hearing how it goes while VDS is on.

Thank you!

-Liz

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Slow performance? Click me!

Below is the latest update on video streaming.

12/01/2022 – 7:00pm – VDS ON – 45 minute show on Prime Video. 45+ seconds initial load time, then screen when black. After a couple of minutes restarted the show. Again buffered for 45+ seconds and the screen momentarily showed ‘Slow Internet Connection’. The show began and was very pixelated for about 2 minutes, buffered for 30+ seconds and then showed the ‘Slow Internet Connection’ screen. Selected ‘Keep Watching’ and the show continued for 5 minutes with the picture noticeably pixelated. After an additional 5 minutes with a normal picture it buffered again for 30+ seconds then showed the ‘Slow Internet Connection’ screen. Selected ‘Keep Watching’ and the show came back on with a frozen screen. Quit watching the frozen screen after several minutes.

At this point I turned the VDS OFF and restarted the show at the stopping point. After 30+ seconds of buffering watched the remaining 30+ minutes of the show with no problems.

It is quite obvious that the Video Data Saver is not functioning very well. Was improving VDS part of the update in my area to address the performance?

I will start watching the next video stream with the VDS ON and keep you updated.

Good morning lakeland4,

Thank you for this detailed update, it helps. I've sent this over to engineering to review. I'll let you know once I have any updates to share.

Your cooperation, patience, and understanding are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Liz

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Slow performance? Click me!

Temporarily locking this thread to clean up so the original poster (OP) and I can continue to work on their concerns. Your cooperation and understanding is appreciated.

-Liz

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Slow performance? Click me!

I want to thank all of you who dealt with the issue that occurred in this thread in early December.

 

Below is the latest update on video streaming. 

 

1/02/2023 – 8:00pm – VDS ON – 1 hour and 20 minute movie on Prime Video.  30+ seconds initial load time, then the screen momentarily showed ‘Slow Internet Connection’.  Immediately afterward the video started and was extremely pixelated for about 3 minutes, then buffered for 20+ seconds.  As before the screen momentarily showed ‘Slow Internet Connection’ and immediately afterward the video started. The video then buffered after 5 minutes, then 6 minutes later and again after an additional 8 minutes, each time for 10-20 seconds.  During this period the picture was noticeably pixelated at times.

 

At this point I turned the VDS OFF and restarted the video at the stopping point.  After 30+ seconds of buffering watched the rest of the video with no additional buffering but occasionally the picture was slightly pixelated.

 

I look forward to when engineering has an update on improving video streaming with VDS ON.

Hi lakeland4,

 

Thank you for your update! Our engineers are still working on this, thank you for this info, I'll send it over now. I'll keep you posted on any news or additional questions.

 

-Liz

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Slow performance? Click me!

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

lakeland4,

 

Out of curiosity, when streaming with the VDS on, have you tried manually setting the definition to low or standard at the streaming source, if that option exists? With the VDS locking the speed down to around 3Mbps for streaming, which isn't high enough for HD streaming with most streaming services, I was just wondering if it might help, being that the streaming service wouldn't be continually and automatically trying to adjust to the highest definition possible for the given service speed.

 

It's just an idea, but not meant to obviate the need to improve the VDS with regard to streaming.

Thanks for the suggestion, but there is no option to adjust the resolution when watching Prime Video on my Toshiba FireTV. 

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@lakeland4 wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion, but there is no option to adjust the resolution when watching Prime Video on my Toshiba FireTV. 


Ah. I have a Fire TV too (though Amazon brand), so I know what you mean. 

Hi lakeland4, 

 

Thank you for your patience. Our engineers are testing some new parameters to see if they will improve streaming performance. If all goes well, it will be rolled out in your area soon. Engineering will let me know if this update will be released.

 

Your cooperation, patience, and understanding are much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Liz

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Slow performance? Click me!

Thank you for the update.  I look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

FYI: I posted the text above shortly after your post last week and realized today that it is not there.  Hope it does not disappear this time.

What is the status of the update to improve streaming performance? 

What is the status of the update to improve streaming performance? 

 

After spending over a year on this topic I should know to reply to you, not myself, as I did yesterday!!  Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

No worries, I don't have news on the update. I've pinged the engineers on this and will let you know.

 

-Liz

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Slow performance? Click me!

Hi lakeland4,

 

Thank you for your patience while our engineers continue working on your case. They are still testing the planned configuration changes, so no news on their rollout yet. They are curious as to how Amazon Prime streaming with VDS off works out for you. I reminded them of your feedback about this from early January, but current feedback may help as well.

 

Lately, we noticed a bad alignment diagnosis on your site so we have decided as a courtesy to dispatch a technician to address this. Your dispatch is currently scheduled for our earliest available slot: 2/27/2023 between 08:00AM - 11:00AM. The tech will reach out to confirm the visit, so you can use that opportunity to reschedule if needed, alternatively you can reschedule online. Please let us know how the site visit goes.

 

Thanks,

Liz

 

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Slow performance? Click me!

Thank you for the update. I appreciate knowing the engineers are continuing to work on improving the streaming performance.  I will provide Prime Video streaming observations shortly with VDS OFF as was requested.

 

This coming Monday morning will be a good time for a HughesNet technician to arrive who, from the sounds of it, will check the dish alignment. I will keep you posted.

Oh glad to hear the scheduling works out well for you! Looking forward to hearing back about the Prime performance. Thank you again!

 

-Liz

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Slow performance? Click me!

Here’s an update on Prime Video streaming performance with VDS OFF.

 

2/23/2023 – 8:00pm – 1 hour show.  20+ seconds initial load time, then video became very pixelated for roughly 5 minutes.  At this point the video buffered for 20+ seconds. After approx. 30 minutes intentionally paused the video briefly.  It then took 15+ seconds to load and became very pixelated for about 5 minutes.  The video then pixelated slightly on and off for the remaining 20 minutes.

 

2/24/2023 - 8:00pm – 1 hour show.  15+ seconds initial load time.  The video noticeably pixelated 4 separate times spread out over the entire show, each time for approx. 4-5 minutes.

 

2/26/2023 - 7:30pm – 1hr 50min movie.  30+ seconds initial load time.  The video buffered 9 separate times spread out over the entire movie, each time for approx. 15-20 seconds, including immediately after an intentional pause.

 

 

Regarding the visit of a technician, I never received a call ahead of time to confirm the visit and a technician never arrived.  That said, there was heavy rain and high winds at times this morning so I would understand if they chose not to visit, especially if it was a long drive.  But if that was the case I wish they would have contacted me at some point.