HughesNET Gen 5 Evaluation 4 Results

In 4 of the last 11 campgrounds we stayed, we had to use our HughesNET Gen 5 portable satellite Internet system. We’re using it far more than we expected.

We thought our Verizon and AT&T Internet data devices and plans (+ campground WiFi) would suffice. So the portable dish is turning out to be a good purchase . . . otherwise there’d be no streaming Game of Thrones.

Click on graph to enlarge

Here’s a link to my RAW DATA (PDF).

You’ll notice that some of the latency (or “ping”) times are quite long . . . where typical cellular wireless latency times are well under 100 ms, satellite Internet times can be well over 600 ms. Latency is the time it takes to send and receive data from a source. Shorter times are better. While Internet servers on earth may be hundreds of miles apart, Internet satellites are thousands of miles (~ 22,000) above the earth. Even at the speed of light it takes significantly more time to communicate with a satellite than an earth-based system.

However, I found that under most circumstances long latency times are not an issue, but there are exceptions. For example, using VOIP (Voice Over Internet) for telephone calling is problematic at best. Also, when using HughesNet, I’ve been unable to upload large (e.g. video files) to my blog. I have a feeling that this website uses some sort of ACK-NAK upload protocol that continuously checks how an upload is going. The long satellite latencies screw this process up. C’est la vie.