Author Topic: Hughesnet VS. Century Tel (QWEST) as Internet Provider  (Read 12814 times)

K5WK Ken

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Does Hughesnet provide quick enough internet service to be satisfactory for RTTY and SSB?
I am experiencing problems with CenturyTel (QWEST) on these two modes.  Upload speed seems too slow.
« Last Edit: 2012-12-02, 03:57:37 by K5WK Ken »

dj0qn

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Re: Hughesnet VS. Century Tel (QWEST) as Internet Provider
« Reply #1 on: 2012-12-02, 13:43:47 »
Does this answer your question?:
http://www.remoterig.com/forum/index.php?topic=1529.msg6431#msg6431

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

K5WK Ken

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Re: Hughesnet VS. Century Tel (QWEST) as Internet Provider
« Reply #2 on: 2012-12-03, 14:51:20 »
I come to Yuma AZ in the winter.
I am going to test Century Link 1.5M DSL (Yuma, AZ RV Park) and Hughnet  1 Meg side by side.  I am going to use the modem Century Tel recommends (PK5000) so they can not hide behind "wrong modem" excuse.  That is as fast as I can get for DSL in this RV park.
And I have a 30 day test window for HughesNet, at 1 M speed but faster upload speed (.2 Meg).  The problem so far is that Century Tel upload speeds have been about .05 Meg. This makes RTTY go at about 1 character per second, and is impossible for SSB.   I think I might be better able to work with latency  rather than with impossibly slow upload speed.
« Last Edit: 2012-12-03, 14:57:32 by K5WK Ken »

dj0qn

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Re: Hughesnet VS. Century Tel (QWEST) as Internet Provider
« Reply #3 on: 2012-12-03, 15:33:14 »
Ken,

I still think the latency will be a killer in any case, but let us know how it goes.

Note that 200k bps up is very tight for RemoteRig, because it uses the same bandwidth
in both directions. Make sure that you optimize for a low bandwidth (I think I already gave
you my low bandwidth settings).

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

K5WK Ken

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Re: Hughesnet VS. Century Tel (QWEST) as Internet Provider
« Reply #4 on: 2012-12-03, 17:56:31 »
Based on your comments, I have delayed the Hughesnet install.  I want to fully test the 1.5M DSL with the new modem, and see if I can trade download speed for upload speed, or whatever, to use the DSL.   I much prefer this if it can work.

 I have not seen the minimum bandwidth settings, so they would be appreciated. It might be a good thing to publish them here in case others have internet issues.  I have had no issues with download speeds that I can identify.

dj0qn

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Re: Hughesnet VS. Century Tel (QWEST) as Internet Provider
« Reply #5 on: 2012-12-03, 18:10:15 »
Unfortunately, the speed of light is a limiting factor, sorry to be the bringer of bad news.
I have seen RemoteRig do strange things at a latency of 100+ ms (like partially blank TS-480
displays on startup or CW being useless), so a 7x worse latency won't help much  ;)

Here is my low bandwidth checklist. I have posted it on the forum several times and mailed it to
50+ persons, so no problem posting it again:

3G Checklist
------------------
Try reducing your bandwidth to a minimum and changing some parameters to compensate
for a poor line. Here are some tips:

1) These two are important:
- audio quality to 0 (half the bandwidth of codec 2 and more than adequate for SSB & CW)
- turn continuous RTP on or set RTP to continuous (depending upon firmware version)

2) Play around with these 3 until you are satisfied:
- increase rx jitter buffer to min 10
- increase rx jitter delay to min 12
- audio packet size 20 or 40

3) Also, make sure that serial ports COM1 and COM2 are turned off if not used,
or that either being used is set to the minimum bps necessary to handle the serial
communication. For example, use 4800 for CAT on a rig like the TS-480 and not
a high speed like 57600, since the higher speed is completely unnecessary.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

K5WK Ken

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Re: Hughesnet VS. Century Tel (QWEST) as Internet Provider
« Reply #6 on: 2012-12-05, 21:28:51 »
It seems my Century Telephone (QWEST) 1.5 M DSL will work OK now that all the fixes are in place.
You really DO need the PK5000 modem.  Otherwise you will experience sometimes on sometimes maybe.  Then you need a quality feed line between the termination point and your PK5000.  And be sure all filters of anykind have been removed from the line, especially phone line filters - else your uplink speed will be a tenth of what it should be.   I am experiencing download speed of approx 1.3 MB and upload speeds approaching 700 Khz.