Hughes for Internet

[DJW]

Sister looking to building a new house where there is no cable at this time.  She will work from home and must log onto her company network which will be in Omaha, NE.  She will be in BV, AR which is about 400 miles south of Omaha.  Will the Hughes Sat system for internet provide her good and fast service?  The connection with the network is about retrieving/researching data.  She is not a gamer so that should not be a problem.  It looks like about 25 MBPS is the speed for Hughes in this area.  Can she expect to see that speed for downloads?  I think uploads were around 3MBPS.

Thanks

Dennis

[Yarome]

Darn near. I typically get between 21-23 down, but usually only around 2.75-3.25 up. Speeds are actually just about the same anywhere you go in the continental U.S.

One thing to consider though is that is can be affected quite a bit by poor weather. Still though... for general internet browsing, email, etc. I've never had any complaints (other than the cost ;-)). If you consider that a streaming HD video only requires around 3mbps download speeds it's typically more than sufficient.

Latency can become an issue. Not that it's that big of a deal, but if you're used to instantaneous page loads on request then it may "feel" as if the connection is slower than your average internet, but it's really not. It just takes a moment for your "click" to make up all the way up, back down, through various server gateways.. then back up and back down again. KWIM?

[Dutch_12078]

If "BV, AR" is Bella Vista, AR, then all four major cell carriers appear to have good coverage there. One of several available unlimited data plans may be a better and more economical option than satellite Internet.

[docj]

23 hours ago, Yarome said:

One thing to consider though is that is can be affected quite a bit by poor weather. Still though... for general internet browsing, email, etc. I've never had any complaints (other than the cost ;-)). If you consider that a streaming HD video only requires around 3mbps download speeds it's typically more than sufficient.

Unless things have changed dramatically Hughes has some pretty restrictive limits on data usage PER DAY.  It's fair usage policy used to make streaming impractical for more than very brief usage.  Yarome's comments imply he streams video so maybe things have changed?

[Chalkie]

When we had a mountain cabin I looked into Hughes as I worked from home and wanted to be able to work from there as well.

I had to log in via a VPN and Hughes was very specific that VPNs might not work due the inherent latency of satellite internet. I tried connecting on a neighbors Hughes connection and they were correct. I could never get the VPN to connect. 

Therefore she should look at the requirements her company has for connecting. The company I worked for did say that cable or DSL was required but I had to try.

 

[DJW]

Dutch

Yes BV is Bella Vista, AR.  And yes the site has good cell signal.  She uses Verizon and had good signal when we went out to look at the lots.  That is what I suggested just use your iPhone or get a hotspot and up your data plan.  My suggestion was that she should keep her Verizon as her personnel plan and then get a ATT account for her work at home stuff and then for tax purposes it would be much easier to keep track of, she could just wright off the entire ATT cost as business expense.

docj

Would logging into her companies network to retrieve data and to upload data to files be considered streaming?

Dennis

[DJW]

Chalkie

Good tip will pass on to sister.  I still think the cell hotspot would work best.

Dennis

 

[docj]

7 hours ago, DJW said:

docj

Would logging into her companies network to retrieve data and to upload data to files be considered streaming?

Dennis

Your internet provider doesn't care what you are doing with your data.  All it cares about is the number of bits downloaded and uploaded.   Use of a company system or VPN is no different than any other data usage.

[DJW]

docj

True but it is not like streaming live video is it?

Dennis

[lenp]

Dennis,

Look into other providers in the area.  My S&B is out of town with no cable service.  I use a wireless company that installed a small dish (16") pointed to their tower a few miles away.  There are at least two providers in my little Central Oregon town.  There may be something available where your sister is going.

My provider has a 100GB monthly cap but if I go over it is only $6 a GB.  Speeds are more than adequate at 16/8MB.  And it only cost me $50 a month.

Lenp

[docj]

2 hours ago, DJW said:

docj

True but it is not like streaming live video is it?

Dennis

I'm not sure why you act as if streaming is some special case of data usage.   Data is data.  There are lots of other ways to use data that will use as much or more than will streaming.  The only thing your ISP cares about is how much data do you use in a specific time unit.

[eddie1261]

On 9/8/2017 at 10:40 AM, Yarome said:

It just takes a moment for your "click" to make up all the way up, back down, through various server gateways.. then back up and back down again. KWIM?

There's the key. Many people don't understand why upstream speed is important. When you click that link you send a request for the page to be delivered. If your upstream is next to zero, it will take a while for your "Hey. Send me your web page" request to get to the server.

Many years ago when Hughes first came into the game I was working at an internet provider. Had to be 10 years ago now. (Worst IT job EVER is having to deal with people who have ZERO idea how any of this works.)  At that time they required a phone line, and your upstream requests went by phone line, while the downstream came from their satellite. I thought from the start that a hybrid connection was an awful idea, but it's not like you have a transmitter in your house that can send an http request out via satellite. What are they like now?

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

We used HughesNet when we first went on the road and had to use VPN for Dale's job.  Normal satellite transmission or compressed to get more throughput.  VPN packets cannot be compressed as that would violate the check codes that VPN relies on to insure privacy.  That means VPN traffic is slower than the rated speeds.

Under HughesNet, the download speed was the limited bandwidth.  Upload did not count.  A big difference with satellite versus cell traffic which is counted both ways.  But back then there was a window of 2 AM - 7 AM that did not count in the download.  For most of our traffic, that was okay but for many workers, they need to be online during the day for customer interface.

In 2010 we switched from HughesNet to using park WiFi and Verizon wireless.  One things for HughesNet, it was available anywhere we could get a satellite shot and that was not the case for wireless.

[Big5er]

On 9/9/2017 at 10:30 PM, docj said:

I'm not sure why you act as if streaming is some special case of data usage.  

Maybe because many providers offer "unlimited streaming" where data charges do not apply? That sort of makes people believe that streaming is "different" when in fact it is the site you get the data from that matters, not the "type" of data.

[eddie1261]

On 9/9/2017 at 11:30 PM, docj said:

I'm not sure why you act as if streaming is some special case of data usage.   Data is data.  There are lots of other ways to use data that will use as much or more than will streaming.  The only thing your ISP cares about is how much data do you use in a specific time unit.

I think that comment was referring to a provider like 4gantennashop.com where HD video and audio streaming does not count against your usage. That may be what he meant.

Though if you read their fine print, you see:

"On all plans, during congestion the top 3% of data users (>32 GB/mo.) may notice reduced speeds until next data cycle. Video typically streams at DVD quality (480p) unless you add an HD Pass or have Plus." So in some specific situations they WILL throttle unless you buy a higher end package.

Bottom line is that there's no free lunch no matter how they may spin it.  You may see a customer testimonial raving about the service and making statements that they never saw throttling, but if you ask the right questions and see that they don't use a lot of data (and may not know it depending on their experience level) that explains why the raves.

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, Big5er said:

Maybe because many providers offer "unlimited streaming" where data charges do not apply?

I have seen those and remain a skeptic. It seems to me that there must be a catch somewhere. Do you know anyone who has used one of them? 

[Dutch_12078]

11 minutes ago, Kirk Wood said:

I have seen those and remain a skeptic. It seems to me that there must be a catch somewhere. Do you know anyone who has used one of them? 

AT&T calls it "Stream Saver", and as mentioned, it limits the resolution to 480p to save data. I have it turned off on my Connected Car unlimited plan, and it's not uncommon for us to hit 70GB or so in a month when we do lots of streaming. If we've ever been "deprioritized" on a congested tower, it was either functionally unnoticeable or for such a short period that we just didn't realize it. We do see some speed slow down during peak usage times on some towers, but that's pretty much expected regardless of whether we're subject to deprioritization at the time or not. At least in our case, we do seem to be getting exactly what was promised, unlimited data. And so far always at very usable 4G/LTE speeds...

[Trekman]

I used to have a Hughes Sat system and was able to move it from location to location, although this was not supported by Hughes it did work.

Am planning a trip to Baja and Mexico and am considering getting a new Hughes system if it can be moved from location to location like the old one. Is this possible now?

Bought my old system from Maxwell Sat but they are out of business. Any suggestions on who to get the system from that can help with changing locations?

[Trekman]

Just got off the phone with Hughes and they offer the 10GB service for $59.99 a month with no charge for the sat equipment. Quite a change from the $1800 I had to pay for the original Sat system plus $60 a month.

So the question is can the dish and modem be moved as we are RVing or will it only work at the location is is installed by them?

[Bill Joyce]

New Hughes satellites spot beam and can only be moved about 100 miles before an installer needs to come out and put you on a new spot.  But the spot beams only cover the USA.  To get training to move your dish, contact http://www.mobileinternetsatellite.com/ .

[hasnae002]

Search for other internet providers in the area. You may find more choices there.

[Zulu]

On 10/5/2017 at 4:25 AM, Bill Joyce said:

New Hughes satellites spot beam and can only be moved about 100 miles before an installer needs to come out and put you on a new spot.  But the spot beams only cover the USA.  To get training to move your dish, contact http://www.mobileinternetsatellite.com/ .

That's not true. See this IRV2 thread on the Jupiter 2 Hughes Gen V.

[Dutch_12078]

Hughes Gen5 is indeed spot beamed, but with an extra cost VAR/Mobile plan, you can relocate your dish as often as you want without contacting anyone. The lower cost residential service allows three location changes per year, but does require a call in to make the change. I don't know just how necessary the installation and repoint training that Mobile Internet Satellite offers is, but at $125 for the VAR/Mobile plan, it's probably worthwhile.

http://www.mobileinternetsatellite.com/Downloads-Documents/HughesNet/Mobile-Residential Setups.pdf