HughesNet Satellite → [HN7000S] Better speeds?

I downloaded a bunch of stuff last night in the 2-7 AM FAP free time and was averaging 860MB/Hr, I have never had download speeds this fast, typically around 630MB/Hr. Is Hughes finally trying to speed things up with a bit of competition from WB? The extra tokens help too, but still no daily overage past 475MB for the Pro+ here in the East.

That's not to say some evenings it's nearly useless, but not many eves.

So you can DL 4GB+ a night during 2am-7am with ProPlus?

I'm on the home plan (HN7000S) and DL at 120KBps during unlimited hrs which results to about 1.8GB during those hrs.

an extra 2GB a night is tempting. I dont even care about the extra 200mb "daily allowance" lol

I think that you are likely to find that, if you are willing to pay for higher-tiered plans above the basic level, you are going to see performance improvements well beyond the larger daily allowance and well beyond better performance during the daily FAP-free time period.

The cost to Hughes of providing internet service via satellite is extremely high, and that is especially true when compared to other means of providing internet service. The only way that Hughes can make even a minimal level of profit on a $60 per month plan is to oversell the available bandwidth and to crowd more customers than would be ideal onto gateways for that plan. Thus, it is often the case that, on those gateways during times of heavy bandwidth demand, speeds slow to a crawl. On the other hand, when you pay more for a satellite plan, besides the faster advertised speeds and larger daily allowance, you are also sharing available bandwidth with fewer other customers, and, thus, system performance during heavy bandwidth demand times, is likely to be significantly better.

When I had Hughes plans for $60 and $70 a month, speeds during a good part of the day were only a fraction of advertised speeds. When I had the $80 per month plan (called Pro Plus at that time), performance was at advertised levels during most of the day, and, while there were evening slowdowns, speeds were still at a much more acceptable level. When I had a $100 per month plan (called Small Office at that time) and when I had a $120 per month plan (called Elite plan at that time), I saw advertised speeds virtually 24/7. Again, the reason why is that, the more you are willing to spend, the fewer the number of other customers with whom you will be sharing your bandwidth.

After following threads on multiple internet forums for about 7 years, I can say that there is no question that the vast majority of complaints about Hughes service come from customers on the lower-tiered plans, and complaints from those on higher-tiered plans are quite rare. Even on the thread currently going about performance issues (»anyone notice service problems lately?), while there may be some current technical issues, I would make a confident guess that at least a few of those who are complaining are seeing performance issues related to being on crowded gateways with the basic $60 per month residential plan. While the thought of having to spend more money is not one that most would welcome, there is no question that, with satellite internet service, the quality of that service is directly related to how much you are willing to pay.

Yes, it appears that I can download 4+GB during the free period.

I experience advertised speeds (230kbps) only in the morning periods and the free period. Around noon and on into the evening, the speeds drop down to 150 or so, and some evenings although they seem to be getting more rare in the 50 range and then I just don't use it.

I can't speak to whether or not different plans use different gateways and the competition between customers is greater for the cheaper plans. I doubt if you would get an answer from HN on that one either.

Spending more money than necessary does'nt always mean better connection/modem that will get the job done.. Recently i have not noticed any unusual speed drops or anything off the ordinary. People over on the Hughesnet forums page seems to be getting alot of trouble lately (don't know why)

Pages for me has been loading fine and so does my FPS online games, but if i were to download a file this evening around 4PM (EST) than my download will be slow but if i download around 10PM my speed increases much better (must of the time)

Sure, Hughes acknowledges that, with more expensive plans, there are lower contention rates for available bandwidth. I'm not sure that I know a reason why they wouldn't. There is nothing to be ashamed of with the concept of giving people who pay more better service. The rule of thumb for years has been that, with $60-70 per month plans, you can expect drastic slow downs during peak periods. That includes, not only afternoons and evenings, but also the FAP-free time because large numbers of people now use that time on a regular basis for large downloads. For around $80 per month, you can expect significant slowdowns during times with high bandwidth demand, but those slowdowns will be at a more reasonable level. On the other hand, customers who are willing to pay $100 a month or more are generally getting performance at advertised levels most of the time. If you need confirmation of this, spend some time reading threads on this board going back over a period of several years. You will consistently see large numbers of people with the basic residential plan complaining about speeds and slowdowns, and you will almost always see people with $100 or more per month plans saying that their speeds are consistently at or close to advertised levels.

I know that there are some/many people who do not want to accept unpleasant realities, but the reality is that, for $60 or $70 a month, you are buying a bottom-of-the barrel satellite internet plan, whether it be from Hughes or from Wild Blue. If your needs are to be able to send and receive emails and to be able to do light to moderate browsing, and especially if you can adjust your usage to times when there is not heavy bandwidth demand,that $60 or$70 plan should be satisfactory. On the other hand, if you want/need to do more bandwidth-intensive internet activity, you need to accept the fact that, either you need to step up to a more expensive plan, or you need to live with a higher level of frustration with your service. Again, you may not like that reality, but it is reality.