[Homestead] Communications
Leslie
cayadopi at yahoo.com
Sun Feb 7 11:55:13 EST 2010
Hughes & Skype
Experience, on the old 7000 series modem, unreliable for heavy download data users. Allegedly it was the bird in the sky (the one that the 7000 series points to) that was aged and failing, so they moved me to a different satellite,,,, after several months, ditto, same thing. I just switch to a 9000 series modem and new dish a couple of days ago. Initially there were problems and no connection. The techs were working on it. I have had good connection over the weekend so far, however, the real test will start on Monday, as that is when I start with massive volume of data download and stress the system....
Technical support - since it is subcontracted out of country, you go thru the typical routine, they only read the script. Most of the time when I've had to call, the problems were resolved. Sometimes the first line of techs couldn't resolve the problem, and they schedule a call with a US tech with more experience. They call, and either they fix the problem or they schedule a local tech to come out. When I've had equipment failure, resolution has taken up to 9 days. You wont' get credit for no service unless you arrange for it with the tech.
Do not buy a 7000 series modem and do not get on the old satellites. (I think they told me there were 17?, and the local tech guy told me some of them are scheduled to be retired).
Download speed on the 7000 was sufficient, and I'm a heavy download user.
I'm now on the 9000 series, and have about 60% more download speed. Using speedtest.com, I have more download speed than promised to both the recommended test site, and a site in Chicago that I'm logged into directly..... again this will be tested more on Monday, so I'm reserving judgment.
There is a MAX amount of data that can be downloaded in any 24 hr period, and uploaded per day. See below
Hughes at the less expensive plan, $59.99
I suspect if you play high intense internet game on the internet, this won't be sufficient speed. Assuming you don't.......... this plan meets most people's needs.
At 1.28 kbps upload speed, it is NOT sufficient to use any type o VOIP (Skype, Googletalk, YahooIM, AOL, etc. none of them) You can hear the other party perfectly fine, but the lag time on the upload delays your voice reaching the other person, so you interupt them, AND it loses voice "packets" so your voice stutters and has missing words/sounds.
Alledgly at the $79.99 plan (which I'm on), this is supposed to be improved. I think officially Hughes says no, but the local tech says he's been using it. I'm waiting for a new router with faster speed on it to test it as my old router is too slow to test the faster speeds.
On the old satellite, since I was dealing with live streaming data all day, I noticed frequent signal drops. On routine surfing the web, or doing email, I was not aware of brief drops. I do not know yet if on the new satellite with the 9000 modem if this problem will cease, or if the problem was strictly related to failing birds in the sky.
Other
Very thick high thunderstorm clouds will at first degrade the signal, and then knock you off line until the cloud moves away.
Dust on the radio (it looks like a lens) pointing at the dish, will degrade the signal if it gets too thick, and in the case of mud storms, to much dirt on it knocks you off line.
Too much snow on the dish & lens will knock you off line, just brush it off.
The speed is definitely not as fast as cable, and just a teeny tad slower than DSL, but most people won't notice. Only people working with live streaming data probably notice the very brief lag time between the time the "enter" button is pressed and the time there is a reaction at the other end. (1.5 seconds - like I said very brief....)
Accessing hughes email via their website is insufficient. Use any other mail program Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird (free) etc.
Oh, and I would recommend installing a separate pole to mount it on, instead of attaching it to the building, unless you know the area of the building is super strong (no termites, no thin wood, no water damaged wood. etc) no matter what they say. It's worth the extra money.
http://consumer.hughesnet.com/faq/fair-access-policy.cfm That's the maximum threshold policy, and for most people the lower priced plan is sufficient.
You will exceed the 24 hr period threshold if you try to watch > 1.5 hrs movies on line (i.e. Netflix) There is a "free" period in the middle of the night (eastern standard time), so if you don't have TV and really really want to watch a movie, you'd have to stay up and watch in the middle of the night. I've done that a few times..........but it wasn't worth it, as then I was brain dead for a couple days.
You tubes no problem. Sometimes they take a while to download if internet traffic is heavy (although that could also have been old equipment failing, and another thing I need to test).
I have had heavy data download during the day, plus youtubes running without much delay in the youtube.
I'm hoping the new equipment and new satellite will resolve the hardware related problems I've had in the past.
________________________________
From: Marie McHarry <mmcharry at gmail.com>
To: homestead at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sun, February 7, 2010 12:02:56 AM
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Communications
Hughes is in my area. Are their upload speeds useful with Skype. I
rarely call locally -- when I was in the ditch during our last great
blizzard I used my phone a lot -- but I do talk to a lot of people in
the US and have a good friend now in Thailand who just got on Skype.
I've got another friend in Nicaragua (she may move back to Texas soon)
who I'd love to talk to on Skype with. What's your experience with
Hughes, Leslie?
Marie
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