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Quill
@206.213.209.x

Quill

Anon

Need Help Understanding Satellite Data Usage/Caps

Hello!
I am going to be moving to a rural area in northern PA – where DSL, Cable, and Wifi is not available. Satellite internet is my only option, and so I am debating between Exede and Gen4.

My concern is that I am a fulltime teleworker for a health insurance company, and I also use a VPN. I use Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client V3.0.4235 – and will be on it continuously between 8:30am and 5:00pm. I understand that the speeds will be reduced while connected to the VPN, and I also understand that there will be latency. What I am concerned about is the Data Cap.

Last week when I found out that I will be moving to satellite internet with a cap, I started to measure my current usage. According to the iPass Mobility Client on my laptop, I am using approx. 600mb per day – and I’m currently using a 10mbps cable broadband connection. My question is – will using satellite internet use data faster? Will the VPN itself eat data? Can I correctly calculate that using 600mb/day would equal approx. 12GB/month? Many of the reviews talk about ‘eating up data faster than they thought’. I do not stream videos, surf the web, or video chat – most of my work is email, editing documents on the shared drive, and using websites to maintain insurance claims accounts. Occasionally I will share my desktop with a coworker through Lync, or participate in a Live Meeting. Will 20GB/month be enough to do what I need to do?

I am going to go to an Exede test site tomorrow to test out accessing my VPN – to make sure it works, but after speaking with customer service at both HughesNet and Exede, it sounds like it will.
A Tech
join:2008-11-10

A Tech

Member

The data cap is easy, its just like the tank of gas in your car, except you have two tanks. Anytime data and off peak. 10 gig anytime is just what is says. 10 gigs available at anytime. Off peak is late night early morning. Hughes give a specific amount of data off peak, where the other guys are unlimited, however hughes gives you a wider time frame to use off peak up till 12-8 am vs 1-5 am. Somebody correct me on these times if I am wrong.

So unless you are using in the 1-5 am time frame hughes gives you more bang in your package. Hughes is ten dollars higher on the 10 gig package about the same on the rest. It appears that Excede is having some band width issues in some beams which I attribute to the ten dollar price difference on the 10 gig package. i.e. I have read some beams are being closed because they can't handle the number of customers. Maybe an exceder can clarify more on this.

Many here will attest to the effect on satellite internet when there is to many accounts on a beam.

A key thing to consider is do you use the net between 5 and 8 am and not much between 1-5 am. Excede is unlimited 1-5 which attracts bandwidth hogs.

gwalk
Premium Member
join:2005-07-27
West Mich.

gwalk

Premium Member

A Tech, as an installer please try to provide accurate information or link to same.

To Quill:

I am going to post the "range" of things because there is always the possibility of you "inheriting" a system "in place"

Gen4 system: HT1000/1100 Modem:

Stay away from the "Connect" plans at 5 Mbps .. just stay away.

Plans:
Power, Power Pro, Power Max.

Those are the REAL Gen4 plans aimed at Echostar17.

There are THREE "Data Buckets" on each of those plans:

There is a "Anytime Bytes" bucket: All the data you use, both download & upload between the hours of 8 AM to 2 AM is deducted from THIS bucket category.

Those hours are your "local" time zone times.

The second "Bucket" is called "Bonus Bytes" period.
There is, despite its name, no "bonus" involved.
This is a fancy name to describe the data allotment "Bucket" that both up & download usage is deducted from during the hours of 2 AM to 8 AM.

This is your local time zone.

The amount of data loaded into each "bucket" depends upon which of the plan levels you choose.

10/10 GB per MONTH for "power", 15/15 GB for "power pro", 20/20 GB for "power max".

There is a "fake" "Connect" plan with 5/5 GB per month

The THIRD "data bucket" is the "repository" for any "Tokens" you may purchase and stack up for use if/when you deplete your regular allotment "buckets"

The cost of "Tokens" for Gen4 is:
500 MB= $5
1000 MB (1 GB) = $9
2000 MB (2 GB) = $16

Under Gen4 "rules" if you deplete your "anytime" bytes, during the hours of 8 AM to 2 AM local, you will be in "FAP" or effectively slowed to the point that dialup looks fast.

This assumes you have no purchased "Tokens".
If you have purchased Tokens, then you will "draw down" from that "Token Bucket" until it is depleted, refilled at the start of your billing period or it becomes 2 AM, assuming you have not depleted your "BonusByte" allotment.

If you happen to deplete, during the month your late night, (2 AM to 8 AM) "BonusByte" bucket, it will, regardless of how much you have in your "Token Bucket", drawdown form your "Anytimebytes" until they are entirely gone.

The HN9000 Spaceway3 system can come in (if you inherit an existing system a split deal:

It could be a "daily refill" with a 2 AM to 7 AM (YES SEVEN) free unmetered period but that system will have(roughly) a 1.5 Mbps "up to" max download speed"

That unmetered time is your local time zone.

It could have, depending on geographic location a Gen4 wannabe "Connect" or "Connect Pro" plan with a monthly refill like the true Gen4 model with a Anytime & Bonus Byte period and no late night ... those times at local time zone.

Then there is a system you could inherit from an existing install, a DW/HN 6000/7000 system, daily limit/hourly refill "drip" and the overnight "free period" is from 2 AM to 7 AM but it is Eastern Time zone regardless of where you are.

As you can see there is a boatload of variation within the Hughes systems depending upon where you are, when you began or upgraded your system.

I cannot attest to the details of Excede as I am a Hughes subscriber.


james1979
Premium Member
join:2012-10-09
Quinault, WA

james1979 to A Tech

Premium Member

to A Tech
said by A Tech:

Hughes give a specific amount of data off peak, where the other guys are unlimited, however hughes gives you a wider time frame to use off peak up till 12-8 am vs 1-5 am. Somebody correct me on these times if I am wrong.

Well, OK.

The HughesNet "Bonus Bytes" (aka "Nighty-Night Bytes", "Night Owl and Cock-a-Doodle-Doo Bytes") period for residential plans is 2 AM - 8 AM. Exede's Late Night Free Zone is midnight-5 AM for their "Classic" plans. The "Bonus Byte" period for HughesNet's business plan is from 2 AM - 10 AM. The Early Bird Free Zone for Exede's Evolution Plan is 3 AM - 8 AM. Exede has an "Early Morning Data Zone" (similar to "Bonus Bytes") from 3 AM - 8 AM for their new business plan. And I have not tried to keep track of the various "DishNet" plans which both Hughes and Exede have offered.
said by A Tech:

It appears that Excede is having some band width issues in some beams which I attribute to the ten dollar price difference on the 10 gig package. i.e. I have read some beams are being closed because they can't handle the number of customers. Maybe an exceder can clarify more on this.

Well, OK.

Exede is actually not accepting customers on some beams so as to keep their speeds near what is advertised - 12 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up. (i.e., Exede will not "stuff their beams"). Hughes is less concerned about beam stuffing and speeds, and they will happily accept any new geographically available Gen4 customer. (And Hughes seems to be making more money with Gen4 than is ViaSat with their Exede-12 service.)

(Ah, it seems that Gwalk posted while I was fixing typos ...)