How to fix satellite Internet speed issues

3 min


There is no doubt that satellite internet is not as fast as its terrestrial competitors. Most Americans living in populated areas with advanced tech facilities prefer opting for cable or fiber internet connections. A very among them go towards DSL, which we don’t recommend as it isn’t reliable. Dialup is old school now and does not provide good speeds or stable service. The last option for broadband that we have is satellite internet.

It is the only type of internet connection that works everywhere. The signals are transmitted as radio signals. They travel to and fro between the dish antenna on earth and the satellite orbiting in space. Due to the long distance between these two, the signal coming back to earth faces half a second delay, causing higher latency. It isn’t so bad that your internet connection won’t work but, it is enough to cause some delay or lag in the service.

Problems can occur with any ISP. There can be equipment or technical issues, or there can be old software/firmware problems. Whatever they might be, there are a few simple ways that you can get the ongoing issue resolved.

If you are using HughesNet services, you can click at the following link, https://www.localcabledeals.com/hughesnet/customer-service, and get in touch with the customer services. They will guide you properly about everything, from buying a new connection to troubleshooting a slow one. There are certain steps that the customers can take on their own, saving some precious time instead of waiting for their call to be connected to the customer service department.

Check your connection speed

While HughesNet speeds are definitely consistent over all the data plans, it still is a satellite connection provider company. You can’t forget that satellite internet comes with some latency. Therefore, all the high-end functionality is going to suffer. There are games you cannot play, HD movies you cannot watch.

One cannot be sure of slow connectivity unless the internet speed is thoroughly checked. To get this done, open up the browser on your computer and search for a speed test application. Now, select an option from the given results.

The website will automatically detect your connection and its bandwidth. Run the speed test a few times until you get stable figures. If you find that the numbers appearing in the speed test are much lower than the advertised speeds then you have a problem on your hands. You can call customer services for help. Or you can try troubleshooting and resolving the matter on your own.

Satellite connectivity is a necessity for rural area residents. Every citizen deserves a stable internet connection as we’re bound to the internet for literally all our tasks these days. This is what you should look for and subsequently do if you find that your satellite connection is running slow or glitchy.

Troubleshooting your satellite connection

For a satellite connection to work, there is outside equipment and then there is inside equipment. They should both work in complete harmony:

1. Outside equipment

This will consist of the dish antenna and the wires or cables that are connecting it to the inside equipment, that is the modem. Customers living at rural locations can face inclement weather conditions like snowstorms or blizzards, rainstorms, tornados, etc. These naturally occurring phenomena can harm the dish antenna hosted outside homes.

  • Your equipment may have suffered some damage if there was a storm the previous night. Especially, if the internet speed gets slow right after. Or, the cables may have been destroyed or chewed by rodents. To confirm whether or not the dish has been damaged, take an inventory. If there is simple dust or leaves sticking to the equipment then just clean them up.
  • If the angle is tilted wrongly then adjust it carefully back to where it was. If the antenna was installed by professionals, then giving the customer services a call will be the best choice. To get the maximum bandwidth, these satellite dishes are installed quite high on the roof. Similarly, get the cables replaced if they look destroyed.

2. Inside equipment

HughesNet internet connection comes with a free dish antenna. There is also free standard installation included in the deal for all new customers. The built-in Wi-Fi modem/router however comes at a cost. You can either lease it for $14.99 per month or buy it by paying the one-time amount of $449.

  • The most common problems are resolved just by resetting the device. There is a reboot button available with most devices. Just press it down long enough so that the light stop blinking on the device. Then after it is completely shut down, wait for 30 seconds and reboot the device again. Go back again to the sped test service. Look at the results of the speed test. They should be better by now.
  • For instance, let’s say you have a huge house and the modem is buried somewhere deep in it without air surrounding it then the signal strength will get low. To resolve the issue of getting optimum signals, try putting your device on a higher platform. This will ensure that the signal strength is good and that they are not dispersed.
  • Your device firmware may have expired. Or there may be some pending updates. To ensure that your connection keeps working at optimum strength, it should be updated and upgraded to its newest version. If your modem/router is old then you may require a new device altogether. Call the customer services and talk to them about it. They may take a few days but they will provide you with new equipment.

If all these steps turn out to be unsuccessful then you may have a technical issue on your hands. Only the professional staff can take care of such concerns. If you are in such a situation then try checking if your neighbors are facing a similar issue. If yes, then it may be some bigger flaw. You can contact the service providers’ customer care and ask them for a solution. If not that, you can check out the Localcabledeals webpage for assistance.

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