About Gwalk900

You mean you don't just "twist'em down" until the lock washer is flat ? That method really raises havoc with the aim however. Get the thing peaked real nice and the lose it when doing the "final tighten"  :) ... View more

Pure copper from FSB's over the years. Hard to see them cutting specs as frequencies rise and trans and rcv  are now multiplexed on the same conductor. ... View more

Seems like it was quad shield, swept to 3GHZ RG6 with the connectors also rated to pass 3 GHZ. I THINK there were "approved" manufacturers numbers in the FSB's but those are getting hard to find these days :) I too would like to see some hard specs listed to use as a cross check. ... View more

Would not restricting his Internet access to only a "white list" of websites using the built-in Parental Controls within Windows accomplish the same thing ? ... View more

Place a password on the computer, create a limited user account on the computer just for him, then set up parental controls within Windows. Teach him that trust is earned. Do it now or try to do when he is 18 or 20. Monitor your data allowance, supervise his internet access. ... View more

Here are 3 of them in the "continental US orbital arc"   ... View more

Here is a link to Satbeams ..... planned : http://satbeams.com/satellites?status=planned One can check the entire Earth's circumference for upcoming launches. After all there are only so many orbital slots up there, only so much bandwidth available in a given frequency range. The building of these things take time and launch facilities are limited. When Spaceway3 was announced it seems that the ability to perform some duties on-board was considered a breakthrough. I'm sure that has been expanded on Echostar17. Goodness only knows what is planned for the next series of birds and beyond.   ... View more

Interesting. I know my system has performed well considering the overall complexity of the system. ... View more

Katie, Do you see the Net Neutrality ruling having any application to Hughes residential subscribers ? It would seem that the ruling applies to Broadband  and that has be defined as being 25 Mbps. The top rated Hughes plan being 15 Mbps and therefore is to be considered High speed  rather than "Broadband".   ... View more

There are 8 "bits" in byte GB is is gigabytes Gb is gigabits ... View more

Christopher, GetSatMan was referring to this test in the modems advanced pages: I have java 8 installed on this computer hence the 0.0 Mbps result. If I do this from one of my older machines that have not updated java it work. The purpose of the test is to ensure there are no network "choke points" on the customers LAN side of the network effecting throughput. Nearly anything from a computers NIC card to a cable to a software firewall to network settings can affect the numbers. None of those items are directly Hughes "related" but can affect performance. ... View more

If I recall correctly it is due to some java issues. The test checks your LAN side connection speed (computer>router>modem) not your connection speed from the modem>satellite>gateway server. ... View more

Poor Alan's well thought out post has been derailed and re-railed more times than a HO Gauge train set (and by his fellow Hughes regulars too) I watch very little TV myself. Paying all that $$$ to DTV as wife is addicted to the western and mystery channels. Oh well, as long as the Internet works, I'm good. ... View more

eventually :) Getting back on track .... From an "average" customers perspective, Hughes is already "riddled with problems" (forget that computers in themselves are complex) but imagine Hughes taking on the burden of "Networking Support" with its current lower tier scripted approach. As it stands now, they have plausible deniability  when it comes to networking issues.   ... View more

I will say that of the two, Hughes is the better deal. $90 for Hughes vs $112 (and going up this month) for Directv. But, I've never had DTV buffer either. ... View more

I have read responses to the effect: "Directv sends out movies in HD all the time and they never  buffer !, I want my Lawyer !" ... View more

Or understand the difference between two way satellite communications and satellite television. ... View more

Wow, I took a bad turn then somewhere ! We have around 2000 DVDs and "sets" Watching Miami Vice complete set now. (also have Mr. Ed, Bewitched, Superman (the old TV series) among a boat load of others) If you can't stream it then you have to own it. One thing about getting old ... you can watch then again and its all brand new :) ... View more

Daniel, Your former ISP didn't have spend a half a Billion dollars for a satellite with a life span of 12 to 15 years and then needs replaced. Nor did they have to spend a few million more to launch and insure the thing. Nor did they have to spend countless millions more to build the Earth side Network Operations Centers nor many milions more for gateway servers that are scattered around the US. That satellite once built and launched can't be repaired and it can't have its capacity expanded. Now if your former ISP or any other ground based ISP thought they could make money by expandind their "reach" into your area they would have done so. The fact that they haven't should tell you something. You will notice as you view and choose among the various Hughesnet service plan levels that they have different prices .... and they have different "numbers " linked to those different plan levels. Whatever did you think all that meant ? Also, did you know that the capacity of a single sided blu-ray DVD is 4.9 GB ? A longer than standard (aprox 2hr) movie on Blu-ray requires a double layer disc. You have THREE usage meters ..... The Download Status Meter desktop utility The built-in always available meter that is inside the modems SCC found at browser address 192.168.0.1 And lastly you have the "at a glance " meter found on the main Hughes support site. How could you not realize that you were on a capped plan and were using data ? ... View more

Mistyblades, In many cases, you will be "rejected" by a game server because of the high "ping" inherent in a sat connection. They simply don't want you to bog down their network. In the end, you just can't beat the speed of light ... View more

It is said that the "upgrade" to Win10 will be free for Win7, 8 & 8.1 ... View more

There was some major under the hood changes (if you exclude Win2K) in the jump from Win98/ME to XP such as moving from FAT32 to NTFS just to name one. ... View more

To me, Win7 is what Vista should have been and most likely would have been if not for "marketing pressures". Having said that, I too was "reluctant" to give up my WinXP, in fact I still run it on a couple of hard drives. I do have a retail copy of Vista Ultimate (as well as Win7 Ultimate) and it (Vista) does take a bit more horsepower to run but there is a big difference between a OEM preinstalled Windows vs a "retail" installation. Wifes Toshiba laptop however runs great on Vista. I have bought the retail versions of Windows since Day One (even ME) but I drew the line at Win8/8.1, I refuse to pay big money for an OS that at its heart is a "mobile OS" (yes I know about classic shell) when my main requirements are for a desktop application. As far as Networking ? Win7 is a breeze. ... View more

Just to be clear on "end of Win7 support" ...... Security updates and patches for Win7 will continue into 2020. ... View more

For those that don't know where to find their ESN: Open a browser, enter 192.168.0.1  into the address bar: If ever you have to post a screen shot of something that has your SAN (DSSxxxxxx) in it open the screenshot in an editing program like Microsoft Paint and user the "eraser" or erase your SAN. ... View more

Hi Charles, Like Gary, I am just to far back in the woods, also using wireless encryption. In my case it is best described as "unauthorized use by an authorized  device" You simply can't trust those tablets, phablets & e-readers to stay within the "rules". That sneaky Nook HD+ of mine once woke up from a "slumber" and downloaded a completely new OS in the middle of the night. It has to be hard off or airplane mode. . ... View more

Gary, Just to show how "slippery" things can be I have noticed in the last two evenings that my ratio of upload to download is out of wack. Now it just HAS to be an "authorized" device accessing my wireless network. It can only be one of two possible devices, an HP wireless printer that is set not to access the web or my Nook HD+ that, as much as is possible with those types of devices is set not to "auto-date" or "sync". Yet something on my network uploaded 2.2MB between midnight and 1am eastern. All other devices were "hard off". I know that is a far cry from 2.5GB, but the principal is the same ... unidentified and unexpected network activity. ... View more