Showing Token Usage Would Be Helpful

[DougMac]

My wife and I are both teleworking. Since starting, we are running over the last few days of each month. I have tokens availabel and are using them, but once I've purchased them, I can't see how much token usage there is.  There's just an idiot light (a green check mark) showing the token usage is in use.

It would be really helpful if I could see how much of the token coverage there is so I could purchase just enough to tide me over.  

Being the nerd I am, I do have a spreadsheet that allows me to graph daily usage.  It will even "fill in" the usage if I don't update the numbers every day. This spreadsheet does help me track usage compared to a daily average of data available. I can see how much I'm running over/under with month to date usage. For this month, I was able to guesstimate how many tokens to buy.   While I'm not happy with the data restrictions, I'm buying the equivalent of one week's worth of gas for just one of us that we would be using to commute to work.

[maratsade]

That's a great idea.

Right now all you can see (using SCC or app) is how much data you have left in your token data. 

[GabeU · Accepted solution]

@DougMac 

If you bring up the HughesNet Usage Meter and click on Usage, you can see how much Token data you've used by hovering over a particular day, and comparing that to the day prior.  Granted, it's only by day, but you can still see how much token data you've used in a 24 hour period, and longer if you compare wider dates.  

You can also do this by signing into the HughesNet My Account site, hovering over My Account and clicking on the Usage tab, then clicking View History on the Usage screen.  

Granted, neither of these are real time like the Service Plan and Bonus Zone data graphs, but it'll at least give you a daily idea.  And you can, of course, see how much banked Token data you have remaining at the same places you can see your regular data levels, as in the Usage Meter, the Usage page on the My Account site and the System Control Center.

[DougMac]

Gabe,

Thanks.  Sorry for the missing in action.  I tried your suggestion.

I went to Usage History, but now that raises another question.  On the graph, I see two areas, one green, which is normal usage, plus one yellow. I've been buying tokens and I get a message on the "Buy Tokens" page saying X mbytes available.  Does that show how much I've bought? 

The green part of the graph is getting thin, since my wife and I are both telecommuting.  I'm guessing that when we run out of data before the end of the month, the yellow will decline as well.  Only when it gets low will I have to buy more tokens.  Is that a correct assumption?

Thanks, 

Doug

Ya'll stay safe!

[GabeU]

@DougMac 

You're very welcome.  🙂

Where you see "Token Bytes Available" or "Data Tokens Available", that's how much total Token Data you have available and ready to kick in if/when you run out of your Service Plan Data or Bonus Zone data, depending on the time of day.  As an arbitrary example, if it showed 13.5GB of "Token Bytes Available" or "Data Tokens Available", the name depending on where you look, and you then purchased a 3GB Data Token, within the next few minutes you would see the "Token Bytes Available" change to 16.5GB.  

Data is used in the following manner, with each successive data bank automatically kicking in when the prior one has been exhausted....

8:00AM to 2:00AM - Service Plan Data >> Token Data >> FAP

2:00AM to 8:00AM - Bonus Zone Data >> Service Plan Data >> Token Data >> FAP

FAP = Fair Access Policy, which is what your service is subject to when you've exhausted all applicable data during the given time period (8AM - 2AM or 2AM to 8AM).  When you enter FAP your speed is throttled.  

Regarding your last questions, yes, that's correct.  Once the green part of the graph (Service Plan Data) drops to zero, the yellow part (Token Data) will then start dropping, as you'll be drawing from your Token Data.  However, in this scenario (Service Plan Data being exhausted), during the hours of 2AM to 8AM any Bonus Zone data you still have will be used until exhausted, and only then would any Token Data you have kick in during that time period.  And yes, only when the Token Data bank gets low would you really "need" to buy any more Token Data (if you don't want to go into FAP and be throttled), though you can buy Token Data at any time.   

Lastly, on a related note, I would buy Data Tokens in the manner you mentioned, as in when you're getting close to running out of Token Data rather than buying them too far in advance, or a large amount of them.  The reason I say this is that Data Tokens aren't refundable, and if you buy a bunch to have them ready, but for whatever reason you end up leaving HughesNet, it will end up having been a waste of money.

[DougMac]

Thanks Gabe.  I'm glad I was on the right track. 

Regarding "squirreling away" tokens, you make a good point. However, good or bad, I don't think I'm going anywhere soon. We are in a fairly rural county and in our part of the county there is a low population density. I've been talking with my county commissioner who is a big proponent of universal high speed internet.  He's working hard to make it happen. I understand where private providers do the numbers and the infrastructure is to costly for the potential customer base.  My commissioner agrees with me  that this is no different from rural electrification. In the 1930's, 90% of urban areas had electricity. Only 10% of rural areas had electricity, 9 out of 10 farms had none. Electrification did not make economic sense, but forward thinking men like Roosevelt realized those areas would never thrive without it. I feel the same about high speed internet.  If the market won't provide it, government needs to create cooperatives.  It will pay off in the long run. Covid 19 has driven home the need because of telework.

I hope to get high speed in the future, but I'm not a Hughesnet basher. I understand the limitations of the technology and have come to terms with it.