speed test vs real world experience.

[slopok]

not tech savy at all so...  i did a speed test on hughes net site, download speed of 81 mps and upload of 3 mps, wonderful !  real world, videos on you tube still buffer, a 4 mb file will take 2-4 minutes frequently.  web sites dont fully load sometimes.  not complaing just want to learn a little.

[maratsade]

Latency and congestion affect the real world experience.  The latency can't be changed as it's related to the distance the signal has to travel from the satellite to your home.  Congestion depends on the number of users using the system in your geographical area.  The more people using the broadband,the slower things will download, upload, and stream.  Can't change that either; got to learn to live with it.  It's the nature of satellite internet. 

[slopok]

the speed test and real world exp  occured within a 5 minute period, speed test first w/ the above results the to you tube then to email and download a file sent to me.  under those conditions i think both latency and people on the network would have similar impact.  speed test went great, just zipped,  you tube etc as described.

thanks for the reply.

[GabeU]

@slopok 

This is only concerning you test result, not your central issue, which maratsade gave the reasons for, but I find that power cycling or rebooting the HughesNet modem sometimes helps with those things.  You can reboot the modem here, at the top of the page.  To power cycle the modem, which is more thorough than a reboot, unplug the modem at the power outlet, wait for at least thirty seconds, then plug it back in.  Then wait for at least five minutes before trying your activities again, which gives the modem time to be fully back up and ready.  If you're using a LAN cable connected computer, it's best to shut down the computer before power cycling the modem, then start it back up after that five minute wait period after plugging the modem back in.  The network adapter in a LAN cable connected computer can get a little funny if it's on while the modem is power cycled, so it's best to just shut it off h while performing that action. 

Rebooting/power cycling the modem can set it on a new channel within your beam, and that channel can be "cleaner" than the one you were previously on, which can help to improve some online activities. It's not a permanent thing, as your channel dynamically changes anyway, but it can help when you're experiencing an issue with things.  With that said, latency and congestion, the latter of which changes as more/less people are online, can still affect your experience, regardless of a reboot or power cycle.  

BTW, the speed test result you got, if it's from testmy.net, is very likely skewed.  Even the best HughesNet speed usually tops out in the upper 40Mbps range.  Skewed testmy results can happen.  That's not to say that you don't have great speed, but only that the 81Mbps result is likely not correct.  

[slopok]

thank you for taking the time to give me that info,  i agree the speed test was unreasonable, should have done it a second time.  the speed test was done on this website.

believe i have all the info needed to make some decisions.  i'll put this issue to bed.

thanks again