Re: Playon having issues with slow download speed? - Page 2 - Hughesnet Community

spydermike · ‎01-22-2021

I have tried to find a solution to actually be able to use our HNS service for something other than just emial and very light browzing (no videos). It was suggested here that Playon could be a solution - to download during the early morning so as to have better performance due to less traffic and to not affect our daytime data cap. I am now working with Playon Tech Support (who have been great) to understand why that is hit and miss. We are able to download maybe one or two shows and then due to stalls and buffering the recording stops. This happens to at least 50 percent of the attempts. Sometimes we have to try several days to download a single one hour show. Meanwhile, each attempt takes away data from our allotment. This is all being done after 2am and before 8am. Ugh.

Anyone here have any advise or experience with this?

Thanks

spydermike · ‎01-24-2021

Other downloads in the last two days have included attempts at Playon desktop downloads during Bonus Zone time - those are failing too due to Amazon detecting an "unstable internet connection".

We don't download much at all due to continually slow and bad internet service. We are down to just light browsing, no videos at all, and email. Kinda sux.

GabeU · ‎01-24-2021

@spydermike

Hopefully between the two of them (PlayOn and HughesNet) whatever is happening can be figured out. Slow speed and/or buffering is one thing, but file downloads shouldn't be flat out failing.

Something is definitely not right. 😞

spydermike · ‎01-25-2021

I don't see Hughesnet doing anything to help. They gave up a while ago...offering a trite $20 monthly discount for 6 months for our "patience and understanding".

Funny thing is, last night was the end of our last month's data cycle. While still having a gig of data to go, we decided to try to stream a show at 11:30pm...it worked flawlessly. To me this supports that they have simply oversold the capacity of their system in my area. There is nothing they can do about that. They don't offer solutions to try to help us, they just continue to try to sell the service. Our local friends get offers to join still and we advise them to stay away. They have cell service and even basic cell service kicks HNS to the curb.

We have neighbors that are putting a petition together for better internet service for safety and learning issues...the current poor cell and satellite internet optionsin our immediate area are simply not working.

I am hoping that Playon can step up with a solution on their end...for the downloading failures on the Cloud app (it failed again last night) and for Amazon recording/downloading failures on the desktop version - both seemingly due to the unstable internet service.

Why is the Bonus Zone performance as bad as during the day? Is there any way to get data from that besides doing it myself?

maratsade · ‎01-25-2021

"Why is the Bonus Zone performance as bad as during the day? "

I would imagine because people know it's less congested, so they are flocking to it and causing congestion. The bonus zone was less congested because fewer people used it. As soon as people started using it more, the congestion grew.

So there is good cell internet service in your area? And who are your neighbours petitioning?

spydermike · ‎01-25-2021

It would be really helpful if HNS put a congestion meter on the system so we could manage our expectations. I know I am dreaming here, but for us to spend so much effort on trying to work solutions that have no hope of working really just pushes the dagger deeper in.

The closest cell signal from us is 7 miles away. We are in rural area (the kind of area that Hughesnet was supposed to help with). Our friends live in that cellular coverage area and I am helping them with a cellular internet solution...pretty easy really. Recently, I needed to respond to someone and drove the 7 miles only to not have cellular data capability. I drove further into town and still had issues. I ended up not being able to deal with it - not sure why the data pipeline was down except for maybe the consolidation going on with two of the majors which has caused issues here recently.

The neighbors are petitioning the local and state government. It is a safety issue because we live in a rural fire zone (you saw this on national news this year where whole towns got wiped out - that was here), we can not connect with fire or law enforcement and kids are not able to learn without decent internet. Seems like a worthy cause. Basic internet service, in this day and age and country, should be as available as a utility like water or electricity...in my opinion. We are not that far from a fairly large metropolitan area and a major highway corridor. No company is yet willing to step up and provide the services, and the company(ies) that do provide a service (like HNS and some cellular providers), render the service unreliable due to whatever reason. Not enough profit in it...until the governement steps in it seems.

maratsade · ‎01-25-2021

Not sure if the idea of a congestion meter is feasible, but it sure sounds interesting. Good to hear people are becoming engaged and petitioning the local and state government, and I hope it works!

spydermike · ‎01-25-2021

Thanks

I have to imagine that HNS can monitor each beam's traffic as part of their normal metrics. A simple chart showing the typical beam traffic pattern that is updated once in a while would make a huge difference in helping us manage what beam width we all are fighting to use. I would think. It would keep me from posting here as much...now that would be a benefit!

spydermike · ‎01-27-2021

From Playon regarding their Desktop app failure to record/download on off peak hours:

"It is a timing issue. The latency is so much worse than what is considered normal that adding extra steps is going to make our product worse overall. It will cause all failed recordings to be delayed."

The second part of that statement relates a question I had about a possible work around.

What happens, primarily with Amazon content, but also with Netflix sometimes, is that the download starts off soooo slow that Amazon puts up an error code 7017 called streaming delay. They ask if you want to "stop" or "continue waiting". If you select "continue waiting" the video starts playing within 10 seconds and everything seems to work. I just can't get past the error code without manually selecting "continue waiting". If this happens during off peak recording/downloading and no one is present, then about 30 seconds after the error code pops up, the attemp fails, and the effort terminates.

I asked if they could recognize the error code and auto answer with a selection of "continue waiting". That was the second part of their reply above.

Ugh.

spydermike · ‎01-30-2021

well, after several attempts, I decided to try downloading the Playon Cloud content NOT during Bonus Zone but during the day so that I could observe. A couple fo attempts stalled out, failed and restarted. I thought the file might be corrupted somehow, so I recorded it again and tried download it again. It still failed. Finally, I mus have hit the right window of opportunity with my internet service and, although it took about 20 minutes, I got the episode down.

I will continue to try the Playon Cloud, because 1) my internet service provider can not provide this streaming service, and 2) although it doesn't work perfectly over the last few attempts, it does provide a much needed solution, and 3) I have 358 more attempts available to me (bought and paid for). I will spend more time trying to determine the origins of our download issue. It could be a phone setting, or a bug in their software, or, heaven help me, my ISP.

maratsade · ‎01-30-2021

Interesting. I guess it goes to show YMMV. I have no issues downloading POC content, as long as I download items individually and do it before 8 am.

spydermike · ‎01-30-2021

Not a true/fair comparison...I have seen your download speeds! Much much much much much much much better than ours. We reside in the black hole on the west coast.

maratsade · ‎01-30-2021

It's not a comparison but a statement -- YMMV due to a great number of variables, including geography.

spydermike · ‎01-30-2021

Sorry, part of your statement was a comparison from my viewpoint: Me saying I am unable to download reliably vs. you - "I have no issues downloading POC content...".

I think it has been demonstrated through testing and data that my HNS experience and system performance is not nearly as good as yours - not by a long shot. Nothing personal here...just facts. If we got your performance at our location, then I wouldn't be posting here on a support forum.

Yes, I agree that it is most likely due to our overcrowded beam, our lack of access to Jupiter 2, being merely Gen4, and having decided to live in the HNS black hole (and whole knows what else that has not be determined). Believe me we definitely understand that.

maratsade · ‎01-30-2021

"Sorry, part of your statement was a comparison from my viewpoint: Me saying I am unable to download reliably vs. you - "I have no issues downloading POC content.."

I wrote "Interesting. I guess it goes to show YMMV. I have no issues downloading POC content, as long as I download items individually and do it before 8 am." No comparison with your statement. Everyone's experience with POC is different, varied.

"I think it has been demonstrated through testing and data that my HNS experience and system performance is not nearly as good as yours - not by a long shot."

Yes. Mileage. Varies.

spydermike · ‎01-30-2021

@maratsade wrote:
"No comparison with your statement. Everyone's experience with POC is different, varied."

Wow. Okay. Hmmm.

Hey, one could pretty much replace "POC" in that statement above with just about anything and you would hit it out of the support forum park pretty much every time.

"Yes. Mileage. Varies. "

Your point in posting this helpful hint on my thread documenting our woes is...somehow...lost on me. Thanks for trying though.

GabeU · ‎01-30-2021

@spydermike wrote:
It could be a phone setting, or a bug in their software, or, heaven help me, my ISP.

Are you downloading the Cloud items to your phone or directly to your PC?

spydermike · ‎01-30-2021

@GabeU wrote:
Are you downloading the Cloud items to your phone or directly to your PC?

Initial attemtps were via phone. The final download was to PC through the emailed link. I need to use the phone so that the scheduled download feature (the most important one in my mind) can be utilized.

GabeU · ‎01-30-2021

@spydermike

Since you ultimately ended up having success with it, I would continue to use the computer for the downloading and use the phone only for setting up the recordings.

I hope you have better luck going forward.

spydermike · ‎01-30-2021

@GabeU wrote:
@spydermike

Since you ultimately ended up having success with it, I would continue to use the computer for the downloading and use the phone only for setting up the recordings.

I hope you have better luck going forward.

Thanks, but the PC defeats the purpose of me having Playon. The desktop version doesn't work well with Amazon Priime due to latency. The cloud version, so far, doesn't download relaliably using their scheduled download. We want to download at bonus zone so as not to have the poor internet service we are experiencing impact us even further. I need to troubleshoot the phone download issue as try to understand what is happening.

GabeU · ‎01-30-2021

@spydermike wrote:
@GabeU wrote:
@spydermike

Since you ultimately ended up having success with it, I would continue to use the computer for the downloading and use the phone only for setting up the recordings.

I hope you have better luck going forward.
Thanks, but the PC defeats the purpose of me having Playon. The desktop version doesn't work well with Amazon Priime due to latency. The cloud version, so far, doesn't download relaliably using their scheduled download. We want to download at bonus zone so as not to have the poor internet service we are experiencing impact us even further. I need to troubleshoot the phone download issue as try to understand what is happening.

Sorry. I sometimes forget that many people don't have the ability to be up late enough to download things during the Bonus Zone. And even if they could, it's still a pain to have to do so.

spydermike · ‎01-30-2021

No worries.

I am not ruling out that the issue with downloading to the phone is mine to resolve lcoally...I am looking to Playon support for some insight, but they haven't been responsive lately. I need to investigate further on my end. I am trying other shows/episodes tonight and each night until...I come to a conclusion.

I really think Playon seems like a viable soution for buffer free streaming if I can get it to reliably download during Bonus Zone. It makes up for one of the biggest deficiencies of our internet service provider. It is a shame that they can't help out with work arounds like this.