About hamradio

Now, at 8:45 PM EST, 19 Feb, performance is rather bad again.  General observation:  All web sites very slow to load. ...To sign on here at HN - After entering credentials, it took > a minute to begin to start showing opening page loading. ...Testmy:  Many long pauses during download test, loosing connection / reconnecting, report was  3.1 Mbps !! ...Tried to download a thermostat manual and after a lot of very long stalls, the download failed.  Same thing on second attempt to download.  Site: https://customer.resideo.com/resources/techlit/TechLitDocuments/33-00000s/33-00269ES.pdf   Wodoy   ... View more

Liz, Since replacing the Ethernet cable, and using a different modem port, I cannot detect any difference.  Lately, performance has not been as terrible as the instances I reported eariler, but is still is not consistantly decent.    Today, 19 Feb at 5PM EST,  testmy was reporting 26 to 64 Mbps and a ping to testmy averaged 632 ms.  Having said this, sites are slow to load and when running the speed test, there were multiple pauses in the progress.   Buffering of youtube videos is still common.     As of 5:25 PM, performance has improved.  At this time no pausing of testmy speed check and no youtube buffering.   Seems that one can never tell when a slow down will occur....   Woody   ... View more

Liz, Before changing my Ethernet cable I ran well over 100 pings to the router.   Zero reported packet loss... Is there a better way to check this? Woody ... View more

Liz,   Packet drops due to a 3' Ethernet cable seems strange, but I will try another cable to see what happens. Will use a different modem Ethernet port as well. However, since my problem manifests itself not only on the hard wired PC, but two wifi connected PCs - and coupled with the symptoms of dropped connections and pauses in data transmission,  I think the issue is elsewhere.   My wife has an Ipad (wifi), but since I do not use it, cannot comment on the performance of that device. Any additional updates on this situation will be greatly appreciated! Woody - KZ4AK ... View more

Liz, A list of observations for the past few days follow.   Performance has not been good, so the list is long... Unless otherwise stated, signal strength > 100 5 Feb 7:24 PM EST, Took 1 minute, 10 seconds to return this error (Multiple attempts, failures): Secure Connection Failed An error occurred during a connection to tvlistings.zap2it.com. PR_CONNECT_RESET_ERROR Was able to connect OK using smartphone. Addendum: tvlistings.zap2it.com still unreachable using Firefox or Chrome as of evening of 7 FEB, available on smartphone - strange. 5 Feb 7:38 PM Other sites loading, but slowly. 45 seconds to load; https://www.cvfcu.com/ ...Just the login page. Youtube videos taking a very long time to start, then some buffering while playing. 5 FEB 8:40 PM PC Time sync repeatedly "timed out while waiting for a response" - SNTP / NPT connection via Dimension 4 software At times the sync does not work. Not certain what is happening. NPT Server: npt-2.vt.edu Inability to time sync PC is causing malfunction on another application. *** NOTE: For the following 4 entries on 6 FEB, signal strength may have dropped as low as 65 at times (some rain, clouds), mostly at 75 to 80. 6 FEB 12:23 PM Sending (SNTP/pop) email failed. Went through on second attempt. 6 FEB 12:30 PM Download of 2.5MB text file (from QRZ.com - https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.qrz.com/k/kz4ak/logbook/kz4ak.120776.20200206172651.adi) stalled. After several minutes, canceled download and restarted. The second try worked. Other connections to qrz.com services very slow to respond, much of afternoon 6 FEB 1:04 PM Logging in to Paypal exceedingly slow, then timed out when trying to pay ("too long to respond"). A re-try worked, albeit very slowly. 6 FEB 1:18 PM Simple, short text email failed due to timeout. 7 FEB 8:30 PM Noticed many web sites loading very slowly. Ran testmy. It took about four minutes to run the 25MB test. Lots of hesitations (stops) in the test progress bar. Results: 1.1 Mbps. Tried to run again. This time got warnings: Lost connection, trying to reconnect... I aborted the attempt. https://testmy.net/quickstats/KZ4AK 8 FEB 11:10 AM Took over one minute to complete a 25MB download test. Indicated 3.87 Mbps and was loosing connection / reconnecting. https://testmy.net/quickstats/KZ4AK   Is this enough, or should I continue to log?   Thanks, Woody @Liz      ... View more

Ronkonguy, Hope you can get the problem resolved.  Would be interesting to hear... Woody ... View more

  Hello Liz,   I just finished a session with engineering (Ellen).   They were very nice and seemed to have a number of staff on their end listening.   Unfortunately, for me the system was performing at that time as good as it ever has - at least from my perspective.   Web site loads were fast and there was no buffering on youtube videos.  In fact, the download bar was typically well ahead of the "playing" progress bar.  They said they detected some issues on their end while looking at the connections I made, but they did not elaborate...   The bottom line is that engineering did not come up with a diagnosis / fix and said the situation would need further evaluation.   Ellen (engineering) requested that I log issues including day, time, device, and internet source - then report this data to you so that it can be passsed back to them.  I mentioned the period on  12 Jan when it took two hours (including six download failures) to get two 25MB PDF files downloaded.   Sadly, their monitoring records did not reach back that far.   So, I will continue to monitor and record trouble periods and report to you with the information.   If the system worked as well as it did during the engineering session it would be wonderful!   But, time will tell.     Regards, Woody @Liz  ... View more

Hi Liz,   Just received a call and set up a session for next Monday.  -  Thanks!   The call back is scheduled for near a period of time when I plan to be away from the Hnet connection for some time.   During that time, I will have internet, but not on Hnet.   Want to get as much done as possible while I am here for testing. Long pause during downloads and lost connections (testmy reported) problem is still coming and going.   Also, I use "Dimension 4" program, via SNTP, to sync time on my PC for some programs that require the exact absolute time.   Gitting a lot of timeout reports there also.  Thanks again... In the meanwhile... Yesterday I got a phone mail from Hnet about my situation, so I called back.  After a little conversation, I realized it was an old message and was about the replacement modem (which didn't help).   While I had support on the line, inquired again about my issues.  Got nowhere with first level, they didn't seem to understand the problem (delays / dropped connections) so finally transfered me to "Home Tech Support".   Got pretty much the same from HTS.   The mantra is always that their checks indicate no problem (signal strength, testmy speed, etc.).   It seems what whatever the "standard" checks are, they will not discover the type of issue I have.   Support mostly focused on what might be wrong with my PC.   Sort of ignored the fact that it happens on the Ethernet desktop and two different wifi laptops.   We checked several modem settings which turned out to be OK.   However, one change was made.  My modem DNS was set to obtain DNS from ISP.  Changed it back to 8.8.8.8 (Google).   Previously I had it set for DNS from Google.  I am assuming that when I replaced the modem, it defaulted to ISP and I didn't think to reset it.   That change should not hurt, but from pre - new modem history will not solve the issue. Woody ... View more

Hi Liz, It would be great to get a call.  I should be generally available on the 27th, 29th, and probably the 31st.   Don't know my exact times that I will be available these three days, but likely most of the day. Thanks, Woody ... View more

Liz, Thanks for the update.  I hope engineeering can get to the bottom of the problem.  It continues.   I can not comment on the weather at the Hnet gateway but it would have to be really bad much of the time to cause what is happening.  I can say that there is no doubt that weather is not an issue on my end.   With clear days here and signal strength between 100 and 110 it happens.    It has, as usual, been intermittent.   The average is fair performance, sometimes good, but far too often very poor.   Performance today (12:30 PM  22 JAN) is in the fair catagory compared to the dates mentioned eariler when it was extremely bad.   Please do not let this drop without resolution.   Thanks, Woody ... View more

Still experiencing many long pauses/delays in downloading and having to re-load to complete many web page connections.  Any news? Woody @Liz  ... View more

Thanks Liz,   I will be monitoring.    ...Woody ... View more

I have not kept a performance log so can only speak in approximate terms.   The best I remember, performance was not too bad in the middle of last week, 7th, 8th ?    The performance began to degrade, bottoming out on the 12th.  Since then, performance has increased - a little.  Downloaded a zip file today and although the download proceeded slowly and with pauses, at least it did not time out requiring a restart.   Woody ... View more

@Liz    Perhaps engineering could take a look at activity on 12 JAN 20, between 2 PM and 3PM EST.   I downloaded two 25.5 MB PDFs from https://www.anyplaceamerica.com/directory/va/bedford-county-51019/ It took over two hours to get the files doenloaded!   There were many, many very long pauses in download activity.  Also, there were a total of 6 download failures that required a restart of the download (Firefox restart download seems to resume from the failure point so that saved some time).   Thanks, Woody ... View more

I hope they monitor for a while.  For the past day or two, performance has been equal to or above average and could be misleading. Woody ... View more

Thanks Liz,   Today at noon EST - 9 Jan, performance is pretty decent.  Even youtubes not buffering much.   Sadly, history indicates this will not hold.  Hope whatever is causing the problem can be resolved! Woody ... View more

Hi Liz,   In one respect disabling the ad blocker helped, BUT that was only because it was keeping the text rool from loading.  Therefore, I could not edit fonts, post images, etc.   The ad blocker was not related in any way to the problems I am expereincing and makes no difference on internet response speeds. I would like to reitterate that the problem is intermittent.  It does not exist all of the time, just a lot of the time.  Performance can range from good (rarely) to nearly unsuable (far too often).   Woody. ... View more

Thanks for answering, Liz...   I will answer your questions below, interleaving with your query.  @Liz    A bit earlier I could not login here, to Hnet. Testmy also failed to load . Two hours later here I am, but throughput is still miserable .  This is the error that, after quite a long time, appeared when connections failed Got the same error when trying to access testmy.   A few other web sites loaded, albeit very slowly.  Others timed out. Here is a tracert to testmy: This is a connectivity test on the router that does not indicate trouble.  Latency is as expected.  I believe the trouble to be out beyond this point.   Hi Woody,   Thanks for posting your updates. From my end the HughesNet system appers to be working normally, and the latest TestMy.Net results look great.  Looks are certainly deceptive ;)  We definitely would like to help address your concerns. If you provide us with details, we can better assist you. Thanks !!! What top 3 URLs are you trying to visit? QRZ.com (my ham radio radio logbook), FaceBook.com, various news outlets + general surfing What are you trying to accomplish? Making logbook entries, reading news, general surfing, banking According to your previous posts, what you're experiencing is slow loading websites, correct? Yes, slow loads, excessive buffereing on even small, low res video,  sometimes complete timeouts with failure to load.  Multiple "Lost connection/Reconnecting" when I do access TestMy. This problem is slow in throughput / performance, not in speed reported by TestMy. Have you ever been able to successfully visit those URLs? Yes, if I persevere, and with sufficient passage of time, I can finally establish a connection. Have there been any changes to your system prior to your concerns? No Does disabling Web Acceleration make a difference? (Enter 192.168.0.1 in your browser then follow the steps here to find where to toggle Web Acceleration: http://hninfo.us/WAS) I have not tried this lately, but several prioy attemts, it made no difference. Does this happen in different browsers? Yes Does this happen on different computers/devices? Yes, both the Ethernet connected desktop and wifi connected laptop. Does this happen on a non-HughesNet connection? Little experience, but the few times I have used my smartphone as a (ATT) hotspot, No. Does this happen even after clearing your browser cache? (How-to here: refreshyourcache.com) Yes, and I have also tried flushing DNS, rebooting the PC, and powering down the modem - all to no effect Does power cycling your modem make a difference? (Unplug the HughesNet modem's power cord from the brick for 30 seconds before replugging.) No Does this happen even when directly connected to the HughesNet modem? Yes, Ethernet connected with <5' cable. Does power cycling your router make a difference? No Does power cycling your computer make a difference? No Your cooperation, patience, and understanding are greatly appreciated so that we can address your concerns. Thanks, Liz   I would like to add that "Engineering" sent me a new modem.  As I suspected, given my analysis of the symptoms, throughput performance was just as bad after installing the new modem. Also, TestMy has been flaky sometimes.  It usually reports my "speed" at about 20 Mbps.  However sometimes, rather slow, other times crazy fast - like 2000Mbps.   https://testmy.net/quickstats/KZ4AK The "measured speed" seems to have little or no bearing on the actual performance/throughput.   Seems like data delays between bursts, waiting in a queue somewhere, or the like. Just an "aside"...  When I am at my home in Florida, I have Xfinity.  The performance difference approaches infinity ;) Thanks for working on this! Woody - KZ4AK       Tags (0) Add tags     ... View more

After a few days using the new modem, I can say that (as I suspected) there is no improvement in performance.   Testmy speed is currently in the neighborhood of 20 Mbps but the connection to Testmy is still being intermittently dropped and, in general, the waiting times still there.   Again will say - the poor performance is intermittent.  Sometimes not too bad, other times terrible (even at off peak traffic times). I spend a lot of time watching this.  The site does not matter... Woody ... View more

Ran another test.   Testmy is still dropping connection then reconnecting - as it has been for weeks or more.   The tested speed improved, but the actual throughput is still awful.   3 Mbps is not good, but due to the periods of no data waiting, even my reported 19.69 is super slow.  :(     12/26/19 10:36:40 pm   19.69 Mbps 2.46 MB/s Hughes 25 MB 48534989369573   gVem0JNWz     ... View more

UPDATE 2 @Damian  @Liz The replacent HT2000W modem arrived, is installed, and booted.     Some testing over time will be needed to appraise any changes.  However, so far connectivity is worse, not better.  There is still very much "waiting" inactivity and a testmy.net result was miserable. In addition, the connection to testmy was being repeatedly dropped and re-established!  See the test : 12/26/19   at    https://testmy.net/quickstats/KZ4AK   Woody   ... View more

UPDATE Hnet "engineering" just called.  They are sending me a replacement moden to try.  I sure hope that will fix the problem, but considering my symptoms, not too optimistic that the modem is the source of the problem.  However,  I have noticed one particularity involving the modem.  When logging into it (Firefox), occassionally the resultant screen shows the "code" instructions rather than what the code is supposed to display.  A reload has always fixed that... Sure willing to give the modem a try!   It is supposed to be delivered in 2-3 days.   After the change and several days have elapsed for trials, I will report back. Seasons Greetings to all!   ...Woody ... View more

Gabe,   Roger that...  I just turned off the blocker for this site.  Seems to be fine with that setting.   BTW, service is pretty good today, Sunday.   My connection is like the proverbial box of chocolates, you never know what you will get  ;) ... View more

Another thing - I am not going crazy.  The tool bar for attaching images, etc. that I could not locate also re-appeared.  Wondered where it went ;) Woody ... View more

Thanks for the tip Gabe. You nailed it. I am running ublock and when I disabled it for this site and reloaded, there were the three dots! Woody ... View more

Mark, That would be nice because something might be fixable. But... A ping to the router indicated zero ms. Mark, A tracert to the router indicated <1 ms. The signal strength is usually >100. Currently 112 Would this be down if an alignment issue? Sometime back service came by and re-adjusted the dish and changed the polarization. That did not have any affect on the signal strength or "waiting" times. Slow download speed summed with excessive "waiting" time seems to be the root of (at least) some of my problems. The HT2000 - ? Don't know how to evaluate it alone- and why would the issue abate sometimes? FWIW, the last 3 download checks (requested by phone support) are 2.25, 3.22, and 3.07 Mbps. Add the waiting time that affects actual throughput - and that is why I say "almost" unusable. With this information, could it be the network / router / up to satellite ? I know this has been discussed previously but it is getting even worse. I will sat that this problem is not always present. Sometimes the connection works pretty well. However, more often than not, I have a very poor throughput connection. It does not appear to be solely a prime time issue. It can be terrible on a weekday morning, sometimes OK in the evening (albeit rarely these days). Woody - KZ4AK ... View more

Mark, you are certainly right. ...And no fixes are forthcoming. It seems to be getting worse. Today it took me almost 45 minutes to pay four online banking bills. Should have taken 5 minutes. ...Many "reloads" were required and then - super slow responses when the reload actually worked. Incredibly frustrating! Woody - KZ4AK ... View more

Thanks for you reply. Cannot locate an edit option (no dots), but your warning is good to know. It is pretty certain that Mark and I are on the same beam. We have compared notes and frustrations. I have also compared notes on tracert and pings. Somewhat similar results - lots of timeouts. Reported latency, when not timing out is between 600 and 700 ms which is what I would expect for transit time to the satellite. The diagnostic code from the HT2000W is after a power-down reboot, but several days after... Roger on the latency check. Thought I would give it a try, but flaky results on some sites. Ran a tracert to microsoft. All was OK to a point, with the typical 600-700 ms latency reported After hop #5 ( 4.14.190.73 ), #6 was a time out. Hops #7 through #13 ( ae160-0.icr01.dsm05.ntwk.msn.net ) worked. The rest of the hops to 30 were all time outs. Thought I once was able to add a screen grab image to the post, but can't seem to do it now. Any suggestions on posting / attaching an image to a post? FWIW, the browser could not find the two address hops mentioned. No doubt, there is something flaky with testmy. It is not uncommon for it to report download speeds between 1000 and 2000 Mbps. I wish! The latency test is inconsistent. It usually hangs on some locations, like Dallas. Works and reports "normal" latency on some other sites. Finally got one to work for Dallas and it reported >2150 ms... Cloudflare repeatedly reported an average of ~649 ms which sounds OK. Maybe @Liz or @Damian can kick-start an investigation when they return to work. The level 1 phone support is useless and, so far, "engineering" has not contacted me. Woody ... View more

Sorry that on my post the line feeds (CR) got filtered out for some reason Woody ... View more