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jmogey
Sophomore

very poor download speeds

Last June I upgraded from Gen4 to Gen5. A month or so later I noticed that my connections were sluggish and gradually they got worse and worse. By mid August our internet connection became. I did numerous speed tests and finally called tech support as I thought the modem might be failing. After many speed tests with tech support they accepted thast my system was very slow (generally under 1Mbps, often 300-500 Kbps). They had a techician come out to check everything and everything was working fine.

From here it went to another level of support and eventually I was told that my problem was probably connected to my being on the Echostar 17 satellite and that I was in Western Oregon I was blacked out of Echostar 19. I was also told that they were trying to move people over to 19 and that that should help my service.

Well nothing has changed and has actually got worse. About now I'm getting about 300KBps. I've called tech support again and another higher level tech support has been set up. I'm guessing I'll have to again and again prove that my service is slow and can never get a response to my basic "what will you do for my service?"

I've been using Hughesnet for 7 years with fine service until these past few months.

I know that I'm not the only person experiencing this and wonder if anyone knows whether Hughesnet has plans to remedy the problem (phone people seem to be oblivious).

 

 

 

39 REPLIES 39
C0RR0SIVE
Associate Professor

Truth be told...  For those users that live in a blacked out area, Hughesnet is trying to move as many people that are on those beams, from ES-17 to ES-19 if they are able to see it.  There's really nothing else that Hughesnet is able to do for users that can only see ES-17, as ES-17 was starting to bog down badly towards the end of last year.  It's going to take some time, as Hughesnet can't forcefully upgrade those users from ES-17 to ES-19...  They have to place the order their self...  

The long term "fix" for those in one of the areas that ES-19 can't cover is a new satellite named Echostar-23.  Details on when that satellite might launch, or where it might actually provide service, are not available, and wont be for a while.  It took about 3 or so years for ES-19 to launch from the time news started popping up about it.  Best projected launch date for ES-23... Probably 2021.

However, if possible, it would be best to keep a log of your test results on testmy.net as it's a reliable platform that records your results, and makes sharing with others easy.

Please visit testmy.net and create an account there, and run tests while logged into that account, I highly suggest reading the information on how to perform the tests in the link below, as well as keeping the notes below in mind.

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)
-use the 25MB size download test file ONLY (the 12MB might be best since you are on ES-17)
-If testing upload instead of download, you must use a 4MB size upload test file
-space each test at least 5 minutes apart
-post your results URL here, it may look something like http://testmy.net/quickstats/C0RR0SIVE


For a more in depth guide on running the tests, please visit: http://customer.kb.hughesnet.com/Pages/7001.aspx

The Reps are on M-F from approximately 8AM to 5PM Eastern. They will be the ones to address your speed issues, but they will need these tests to do so.


Aside from all of that, and the reps here may HATE me after I say this...  You might want to look into Hughesnets primary competitor some time next year...  They have launched a new satellite as well but are taking a bit longer than Hughesnet has to get it going, it's possible that you might fall into its coverage and could seek immediate relief.  Just make sure you do your research, and weigh your options.  If you go to them now, you will certainly end up on their older bird which is also oversold in most all areas.  So if I was in your shoes, I would hold out till a short time after that other company has gotten their new services rolled out, and weigh your options then.  It will also give Hughesnet some time to try and lighten the load on your beam.  Trust me, I normally wouldn't point others to a competitor, but I do understand the need for usable service.

I really appreciate your reply.

I have been keeping records of download speeds and will keep doing so as I am thinking of a more formal complaint. For the past week speeds have rarely gone over 1Mbps and oddly today they are over 10Mbps and as high as 15.

What process do I go through to have someone check if I have a sight line on Echostar 19?

I'm not interested in switching because I have heard too many complaints about Excede and getting cable to our place would mean laying a quarter mile of cable to our place, which is not cheap and the cable out here isn't very reliable.

Can tech support (a higher level are supposed to call back within a few days) do this ?

 

C0RR0SIVE
Associate Professor

Really, when the installer was out to do your upgrade, he was supposed to check for LOS to ES-19 and see if you fall with in any of the footprinted areas...  I am sure @Amanda can confirm what satellite you should be on based upon your address.  If there is any chance of you being able to get reliable service on ES-19, I am sure shes willing to look into figuring out what can be done.

 

However, if you do fall into a blacked out area...  There's really nothing that can be done till customers in adjacent areas leave to ES-19...  I know it sounds a bit confusing, but below is a graphic that should help explain the situation.

The purple outlines are ES-19 beams, the blue outlines are ES-17 beams, the redish colored areas are ES-19 only areas, and the black are ES-17 only areas, while the green areas can be on EITHER ES-17 OR ES-19.

 

beams.png


In your situation, you are on that top left blue circle that covers a green, and black area, but you live in the black area.  Over time, those people in the green area will upgrade and end up on ES-19 instead of being on your beam for ES-17, performance on your side should improve dramatically, but this will take time as it requires customers in the green shaded area to initiate their upgrades.  You might also want to note that ES-17 and ES-19 beams will overlap in most areas, but they are offset from one another.

I don't understand how the beams work. If a beam is overloaded doesn't that become a bottleneck? If nobody on beam 10 can move to E-19 I wonder how things will improve. Maybe the beams can handle far more than they do and the bottleneck is in the satellite and its communication to the ground station. I'm curious about this, although I do see that it's a bit off-topic.

 

 

Hi jmogey,

 

While we wait until I get a response I'll go ahead and answer your questions. You live very west of the E19 beam... its really a longshot. There is some overlap on E17's beam 27 and the E19 beam over OR. Most peoples' first thought is that everyone in the state of Oregon is in a beam, when in reality it is just the rural community (some states have more, yes) who decide they want/need internet. 

 

Beam "overloading" is something that gets tossed around in here a lot. The amount of people on a beam does not determine "load", bottleneck, or performance - their traffic does. An area with slower peak times does not necessarily mean there are 'too many people' or that it is  'oversold'. It means the people in that area generate a huge volume of traffic. In the age of cord-cutting and 'always-on' there is an incredibly high demand for data/speed where there are technical and physical limitations. Based on recent ads, I can confidently say cell phone providers are seeing the same thing. 

 

~Amanda

C0RR0SIVE
Associate Professor

To make it easier to imagine....  Imagine you have a two watermains, one serving one area, another serving another area.  The mains are the same size, and the pumps are the same, the design is meant to handle 5,000 people with the water turned on at one time before pressure drops for everyone.

Now, imagine one main serves 100,000 people, while the other one serves 10,000 people.  The one with 100,000 users might never see a water pressure drop, because they rarely turn the water on all at the same time, or, they do and don't turn it to full blast.  But the one with 10,000 people is always dropping pressure, because you have 5000+ homes that want to wash their car 24/7, run the dishwasher, wash clothes, and take a shower all at the same time.

You can actually see this effect in a home when you turn multiple faucets on, and then crank the shower on.  

So if I understand Amanda's and Corrosive's last replies there is a real problem of potential beam overload. Are some beam 10 users going to be moved to E-19? And if not, does that mean that beam 10 will always be prone to erratic service?

Are there statistics on how many users are on each beam?

There is a potential of overload on anything, anywhere. Internet, roads (I drive in one of the worst states in the USA for traffic!), electrical grids... Beam 10 will see some users move to E19. There is no statistic per beam that I know of outside of our internal database. It really, really varies. 

 

Since Spaceway service, Hughes has developed so many new solutions to consumer network demand and implemented even more patented designs from individuals in our engineering group. Without getting into stuff I am not an expert in (frequency efficiencies, color spectrums, etc), I can safely say that things will balance out. Not just in terms of your beam 'load' but by using E19 and E17 in tandem, this opens up so much capacity. Think of it as a dollop of jelly on bread right now, it just needs to be smoothed out a bit. 

 

From what I know regarding how we are improving performance, I am definitely optimistic that these speed concerns on the forum will get better. 

 

~Amanda

 

I'll vouch for that... the network and the roads (although 270 vs. 66... now there's a debate).

 

Seriously tho. When I saw what this network could do I knew it was the real deal.

There are some acknowledged rough spots and nobody's hiding them. Regardless, I am pretty sure they'll be worked out.


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Would like to add that people looking to satellite Internet, at this point in time, as a cable TV/Movie HD streaming replacement (ie cord cutting) is not helping. Trying to stream at HD for even 3-4 hours during the peak time periods has the potential to overload even the best performing beams and gateways. It is like @C0RR0SIVE explained. I know of no infrastructure that can withstand all users asking for 100% efficiency/capacity if using it at the max capability at same time. Roads, bridges, electrical grids, stores, banks, etc.......you name it. They will all suffer extreme slowdowns or brownouts in the case of electrical grids.

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

I think there's a lot of that; unrealistic expectations.

 

"Would like to add that people looking to satellite Internet, at this point in time, as a cable TV/Movie HD streaming replacement (ie cord cutting) is not helping. "

The best I can make out from all this is that there is nothing that can be done.

The tech people who run their tests say that there is no problem with my equipment. The problem has to lie between me and the satellite and I connect to the satellite on this beam 10 "straw." This is how I understand it. Maybe it is some mysterious problem with the modem, but that seems unlikely from the symptoms.

I assume that there are statistics on beam 10 traffic and whether it is higher than other E-17 beams. This morning I am getting 255K download speeds. That is 1% of 25M. I am told that the standard is 60%, i.e. 15M. I have been given a reduction in what I pay because Hughesnet is unable to provide what they advertise.

I need a decent functional internet, I don't do streaming, but I do need to download things in a reasonable time and be able to load a web site in less than a couple of minutes. If Hughesnet is doing nothing more than hope people will upgrade unbidden then I may have to do find an alternative. I've been on Hughesnet for over 7 years and have never had such a slow system and don't want to switch.

It would be good if I had some idea that this will change and that I could get reasoanable service.


@jmogey wrote:

 

It would be good if I had some idea that this will change and that I could get reasoanable service.


What I personally would like to see is an official message from Hughesnet that we are experiencing issues, they are working on it, and some kind of roll-out of what is happening.  Maybe that was posted someplace and I just don't see it?  I only see spattering of threads about slow speeds from customers and Hughes saying they are sending it to engineers.  I don't see acknowledging that there is an issue on their part.

 

Being in the dark with very poor speeds and having an unknown lingering daily does get old.  We continue seeing the same messages to be patient, which many of us are, but I don't think to date I have seen an official post from Hughes there appears to be an issue and we have some game-plan on attack to get this licked.   Even if that means rolling out a few small fixes here and there and we hope to have all back to normal in X amount of weeks or months.  I would rather see truths like this and having some horizon to look foreward too versus no confirmed issue and game-plan to get this licked.  Even if that truth is weeks or months out...

 

Otherwise we just see a blackhole and no fix on the horizon.

 

Just my opinion.

 

Continue being patient,   TJ

Having heard nothing about what may be going on here I'll adda few things.

I've been assuming that this may be due to heavy usage that paricularly affects my location on beam 10. I am now thiking that this may be incorrect because I've been doing regular speed tests over the last week, including today, Saturday, at 7 am. This morning I'm running from 200K to 500K. It's hard to beleive that so many people are downloading away this early. For the past week I have generally had speeds of about 1M, with occasionl burts up tp 5-6M.

My equipment tests out ok according to phone tech support.

Last night I started software updates on m system (about 600MB). It is still going on over 12hrs later with the packags downloading at 10KB/sec and at one point overnight the connection dropped (I do realize that these speeds are not simply related to actual speed tests, but are indicative of overall slowness and how it impacts use.).

What can be going on? My signal right now is 124. Something is not ok. Modem? Receiver on the dish?

I'm waiting for another call back from tech support and wonder how I can get someone at Hughesnet to come up with a plan that will solve this problem.

This morning I'm at a blazing 707K download speed.

I would like to hear from some Hughesnet person acknowledge that 1) I have a "real" problem and 2) that someone at Hughesnet is looking into it. I have been asked to be patient and have been over these past three months and all I see are poorer performance and all I hear is silence.

I hope that one or both of the moderators would give me some indication that things are being looked into. Even to have a techician sent out to check the equipment (without my paying for it) would feel like someone cares.

I read a lot of intemperate rants from people and think there would be less of these if they had a sense that someone cared. I've been a happy Hughesnet customer for over 7 years and have referred other people to Hughesnet and that I can again have a good experience with Hughesnet.

 

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV

I agree, but what if they don't see an issue on their end?  The engineers may be trying to figure all of this out and it may take time.

 

 

"What I personally would like to see is an official message from Hughesnet that we are experiencing issues, they are working on it, and some kind of roll-out of what is happening.  Maybe that was posted someplace and I just don't see it?  I only see spattering of threads about slow speeds from customers and Hughes saying they are sending it to engineers.  I don't see acknowledging that there is an issue on their part."

If there's no problem on their end it can only be equipment on my end. So send someone out and replace my modem/and or reeciver. That's a plan that may work. In chess it's said that no plan is worse than a bad plan.

"The engineers may be trying to figure all of this out and it may take time."  Just saying that they are working on it helps, it says "you are being heard" and that soothes hard and frustrated feelings.

Your reply is apprciated/

And regarding unrealistic expectations: it is important to separate issues of service way outside what is reasonable and unreasonable expectations of reasonable service.

My download speed in the neighborhood of 500K is unreasonable.

maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV



Yes, good points.  Forgive me if you've gone through all of this already, and if this is a stupid question, but have you tested your equipment to rule it out as the cause of the problem? (Of course, without the necessary speed, this may not be something you can easily do -- do you always have this low speed, or only at times?)

 

I think it may be a good idea for this community to have a section where the reps can keep us updated -- they do update us, but the updates get lost in the threads. Perhaps there could be a section where only they can post.

 

 


@jmogey wrote:

If there's no problem on their end it can only be equipment on my end. So send someone out and replace my modem/and or reeciver. That's a plan that may work. In chess it's said that no plan is worse than a bad plan.

"The engineers may be trying to figure all of this out and it may take time."  Just saying that they are working on it helps, it says "you are being heard" and that soothes hard and frustrated feelings.

Your reply is apprciated/


 

"Yes, good points.  Forgive me if you've gone through all of this already, and if this is a stupid question, but have you tested your equipment to rule it out as the cause of the problem?" -maratsade

I assume that you mean the dish, receiver,modem, and cables by equipment on this end (I've done tests of direct cable to the modem with same low performance). Two and a half months ago a technician came out and said everything here checked out ok and everytime (and that's been often) phone techs tell me that my modem checks out. But checks out and checks out at full speed may be two different things and I wonder if simply replacing the receiver and modem might make sense.

I like your idea of a section where we can be updated on problems and progress.