About BirdDog

@GabeU wrote: @Gwalk900 wrote: @dannyleo wrote: Hughes net meters back all of their signals... no one actually gets what is advertised.     This is soooo very very true ! I can't speak to Gen5 but my Gen4 'up to' 15 Mbps plan routinely gives me 21-27 Mbps speeds. Not at all or even close to what is advertised. I need to contact the NFL about this.   Heck, I didn't even think about my Gen4 plan before I upgraded.  I was getting in the high 20s as well.  How dare they!!!  And my folks' Gen4 plan's advertised speed is up to 10Mbps, and THEY are getting in the high 20s.  Not even close to what is advertised, for sure.   Although I've had some peak time slowdowns lately, my speed is generally above advertised. Even when really slow I can do what I need even stream at low definition. Only impact is I have to wait for off peak times for large file downloads, not end of world, what scheduling downloads with a file manager is for. Latest test is pretty good for a Friday night.   ... View more

Well, I can also stream video when speed reports under 1 Mbps. Yes, interesting. I've kind of given up finding a rhyme or reason with satellite internet. Why I feel a bit useless here anymore. All I know is I can stream about anytime I want. I don't do HD, mostly LD to conserve data.   I digress, sorry.  ... View more

Yes, have been able to use http://www.systemcontrolcenter.com/ for a long time. I am Gen4 though. Satellite internet is a fickle beast.   Maybe the ghost of Barbara is hovering over me. ... View more

Don't know if will work for you but I've been using Google servers for years.   ... View more

@wildcats198308 wrote:  J2SDO068HNSIGW0111   If its SanDiego thats a long way away!  I am in South Central Pennsylvania.  I know that they can be far but.... Yeah, not nearly as far as the almost 45 thousand miles round trip to the satellite. A drop in the bucket. ... View more

@Gwalk900 wrote: I can see Hughes going to a 'one size fits all' feature set to limit the support problems. Rather like Microsoft's approach to OS's. But then they'd have to basically give us Gen 4 folks the same FAP speed as Gen 5. Would be great but extremely surprised if they do that without switching to a Gen 5 plan. ... View more

Hmm, I still have SmartBrowsing displayed on my v6.6 meter, greyed out of course.   Maybe you traded that for a working Purchase Tokens page.  ... View more

@Tony1Pass1 wrote: Attached is a picture of my Device Manager. I don't see anything in there for Ethernet Adapter. The Hughesnet tech had me do all kinds of things like go to cdmi and whatever else to try to get my wireless to connect to my d-link wireless. I don't know if there was an Ethernet Adapter in the Device Manager prior to his help. I just know that prior to his help I was able to get on the internet by attaching the cable direct from my Hughesnet modem to my port on my laptop. Is there a way to get Ethernet Adapter back in the Control Panel without taking  the laptop to a store to get it repaired? Thanks for your invaluable help! Tony   Tony, in the picture it shows your Realtek PCIe adapter is disabled. Right click on it and choose enable then see if a cable connection works. ... View more

To add to what Gwalk said, it isn't like the 7000s situation. Those were leased satellite channels on birds that were already old in many cases and very low bandwidth compared to J1 and J2. HughesNet has total control over the bandwidth Gen 4 and Gen 5 each receive on J1. Sure hoping nothing in the works to slowly choke off the amount Gen 4 receives on J1. Calling the number certainly doesn't address that concern for those not wanting to make the move to Gen 5 right now. ... View more

@normanchilds2, please review the Community Guidelines: https://community.hughesnet.com/t5/About-the-Community/Community-Guidelines/td-p/73099   Thank you. ... View more

wildcats, to be fair the situation with the Spaceway satellite is a bit different. It is getting a "bit long in the tooth" and may not have much time left especially at peak performance which I doubt it even has now. The older Jupiter 1 satellite should have about 10 more years left and the new Jupiter 2 should have at least 15 years.   I would hope also in your situation you would get some kind of better deal. They really should treat existing customers who have stuck with them well past the contract period differently than new customers with zero track record IMO. It is just good business to build customer loyality.   ... View more

@C0RR0SIVE wrote: @GW I have seen a very steady and stable speed with my Gen5 unit...  http://testmy.net/stats/?&t=u&l=250&z=30&q=C0RR0SIVE That will likely also change as time goes on and loading increases. Especially the 40+ speeds. ... View more

@Gwalk900 wrote:   Will those plans be relegated to the Penalty Box where performance is so bad that users are forced to a ES17 Gen5 plan?   Pretty sure I would be history if it came to that unless free upgrade and no contract. Even then not sure I'd go for it with the increase in monthly cost. But to be forced into it in any way would most likely convince me to terminate my long relationship wth HugheNet.    This is along the lines of a question I asked awhile back whether Gen 5 plans would get priority over Gen 4 plans on the J1 satellite and gateways. ... View more

Hi Ricky, I use Macrium Reflect, has always worked for me. Be sure create a boot disk.   https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree ... View more

I have Gen 4 Ultra so I'm good for awhile. Can definitely see people upgrading to Gen 5 just for more data.   PS: @tampasteve1 it sure is nice to see a new customer here educating themselves on the system berfore it is even installed. ... View more

@tampasteve1 wrote: Out of curiosity, how much data do you use, approximately?  Hi tampasteve1, not sure if you're asking me and if you mean per stream or monthly useage but we usually run at about 30 GB per month and videos normally run around 250-300 MB for a 45-60  minute video from Netflix. Of course more for a 90 to 120 minute movie.   The monthly amount is with me also doing much more than just streaming. Like I said already it isn't like we stream movies or series episodes everday for hours at a time but we do watch whenever in the mood and don't feel restricted as to when we can. ... View more

Sorry Ricky, no help here. The file I uploaded awhile back turned into an ad bot and I don't have the older version stored anywhere that I've found. Hopefully someone else might have it. Seems maybe C0RR0SIVE uploaded it someplace not too long ago. ... View more

@C0RR0SIVE wrote: It will do find in that manor, but, if you set for a higher resolution than what the system allows for on the data saver setting it will start to buffer. I'm sure it will. Was only explaining what works for us with few issues for a long time now. Speed has to be really, really bad before we can't stream at all. Again, we stream pretty much what we want without eating through our allowance and I download large files drivers frequently without going over. We don't do hours of watching everyday though, mostly some on the weekends and wife does some during the week.   Granted, no kids in the house, that would be a whole different story. ... View more

@C0RR0SIVE wrote: Just throwing this out there... The Video Data Saver will work with all web-based streams from what I can tell... Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, ESPN, and so on.  DTV On Demand and similar don't use a web-based stream to show movies, it's a straight up download of a pre-set size.  So test the smart-tv with the video saver function, and make sure you leave Netflix on "Auto"! Mine seems to be doing fine with Netflix set to low definition and data saver on. In fact I tested the other night and could stream with no buffering even with speed below 1 Mbps. Took about 90 seconds to load though. Probably beam and gateway make a big difference, mileage may vary. ... View more

@Gwalk900 wrote: Streaming video on a data capped service reminds me of a Bugatti Veyron. The thing will go 253 miles per hour but will burn its entire 26 gallon fuel load in only 19 minutes. While it is possible, its just not practical. Have to disagree. We do just fine especially since we have the Ultra plan. No problem with Netflix on low definition and looks fine to us. We really enjoy a lot of the original shows they put out.   Everyone is entitled to their opinion though. Not forcing anyone to stream, simply saying it can be done and not go through all of monthly data in the process. In fact I believe we had around 20 GB left at the end of last cycle. But yes, 8 hours a day for 30 days is not going to work. ... View more

Gabe, my experience Netflix uses about 250MB for a 45 minute show set to low definition. They also have a new download option for many shows.   I like the way once the playback definition is set I don't have to worry about it no matter which device I'm using: laptop, TV, tablet, etc.   Don't have DirecTV so that's one thing I don't need to worry about eating data without knowing. They do have a streaming service called DirecTV Now but have no idea if the user can manually set the definition being sent.   PS: Streaming works fine on my Gen 4 also.  ... View more

Yea, newer phones don't draw much at all. As for the old ones, don't think many if any places in the States support pulse dialing anymore. I'd bet it will work fine with two newer phones connected in parallel to port 1. ... View more

@larrykelly wrote: Your reading my mind. I have a refurbished Western Electric Model 302, Circa 1940s "Lucy phone". I don't talk on it, but the sound of the Internal Ringer takes me back to childhood.   Had one of those for years, loved it and got lots of positive comments on it. Lost it somewhere during one of my many moves in the service. ... View more

Not a big deal, just not needed is all as "r" has to do an "f" first in order to attempt any sector repair.   Ricky, you may want to check the S.M.A.R.T. statistics on the drive also. Will show if read/write is starting to fail. ... View more

The "/f" is inherent when doing the "/r" command. ... View more

Ricky, before doing that I would run a chkdsk /r on the drive first. It can take quite awhile though. I've had success with it fixing screwy problems in the past. How old is your drive? ... View more

@larrykelly wrote: Okay, "one more thing" as Columbo used to say. As I was really driving at the ramifications of hooking up two phones, what if I ignored the second jack on the ATA and just used a connected to the first jack? Would be concerned about the power draw doubling the output like that, especially if older phone with ringer, maybe not so much newer solid state phones. I know many still like their old style phones. Hopefully Liz can get a good answer. ... View more

According to the Brother site the built-in Windows 8.1 drivers are supposed to work: http://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadlist.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=mfc240c_all&os=135 Not sure why you can't get it to work. I have a Brother MFC-430JW and the built-in drivers are working. What shows up in Control Panel/Decices and Printers, anything? Is Windows up to date?   Maybe this will also help:   http://support.brother.com/g/b/faqend.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=mfc240c_all&faqid=faq00002994_002   ... View more