PoorPlowboy
Platinum Member
WildBlue changed their name to Exede. Maybe they're running from their reputation?
HughesNet G4
- Thread starter texbaylea
- Start date
WildBlue changed their name to Exede. Maybe they're running from their reputation?
thatguy
Elite Member
I have hardly ever heard anyone that is 'happy' with satellite internet.. Most are just hoping for something half way better to come along so they can jump ship..
IF you are in the Verizon 4g (or 3g) coverage area their MIFI is pretty good.. We are getting about 12 Mb download on 4g, and 1.5Mb on 3g.. We have been very happy with the service but need more bandwidth so we are considering millenicom (see below). pricing is $20 for the device and then you pay for your usage $30/4gb, $40/6gb, $50/8gb, $60/10gb (each additional 2 gb is $10)
Verizon also has a Home Fusion plan that is only 4g $50 for 10gb or $90 for 20 gb.
Another option is millenicom.com they resell a Verizon 20 gb (10 gb of 4g and 10 gb of 3g) for $70..
Brian
IF you are in the Verizon 4g (or 3g) coverage area their MIFI is pretty good.. We are getting about 12 Mb download on 4g, and 1.5Mb on 3g.. We have been very happy with the service but need more bandwidth so we are considering millenicom (see below). pricing is $20 for the device and then you pay for your usage $30/4gb, $40/6gb, $50/8gb, $60/10gb (each additional 2 gb is $10)
Verizon also has a Home Fusion plan that is only 4g $50 for 10gb or $90 for 20 gb.
Another option is millenicom.com they resell a Verizon 20 gb (10 gb of 4g and 10 gb of 3g) for $70..
Brian
rekees4300
Elite Member
It will take much more than a satellite to fix Hughesnet. I recommend avoiding that company unless you have no other alternatives. If you have Verizon 3G or 4G coverage that would be better than Hughesnet. I had Hughesnet for 2 years. When their contract expired I smashed the dish with FEL...felt good! Have had Millenicom for a few years and haven't had any hassles. They have monthly billing (no contract).
ustmd
Platinum Member
Last year, my provider was bought by Skybeam (posted a thread about it). Service went downhill for about 3-4 months, then recovered. I am fairly sure it had to do with the transition period. Given all of the problems with satellite, it might be worth the effort to stick it out for awhile.
troutsqueezer
Veteran Member
Like some of you, I have been down many roads trying to get fast, reliable Internet service. Wild Blue, Verizon 760 dongle, Verizon MiFi. For the Verizon products, I had to set up an external Yagi antenna (highly directional) and find the cell tower location to point the thing. That worked ok, I was even getting 4G but the signal would fluctuate and revert to 3G frequently.
As mentioned above, Verizon now has a Fusion system, tailored for those who live out in the sticks. We signed up for it a month ago and I am very pleased. First, the antenna (Cantenna, they call it) is in a can about the size of a small pail and is powered (amplified). It was mounted in a place that has wife approval (very important) behind some bushes growing up the house wall. The inside router has by far, the best range of any router I've had (including a $200 Cradlepoint). It goes through walls, sits behind my monitors and gives me three bars anywhere in the house (multiple Kindles here). It also has Ethernet connectivity (hard wire) for my two desktops. Monthly data rate$ is much better than the MiFi at $60/10gigs and $10/gig thereafter.
This is 4G only, BTW.
As mentioned above, Verizon now has a Fusion system, tailored for those who live out in the sticks. We signed up for it a month ago and I am very pleased. First, the antenna (Cantenna, they call it) is in a can about the size of a small pail and is powered (amplified). It was mounted in a place that has wife approval (very important) behind some bushes growing up the house wall. The inside router has by far, the best range of any router I've had (including a $200 Cradlepoint). It goes through walls, sits behind my monitors and gives me three bars anywhere in the house (multiple Kindles here). It also has Ethernet connectivity (hard wire) for my two desktops. Monthly data rate$ is much better than the MiFi at $60/10gigs and $10/gig thereafter.
This is 4G only, BTW.
mikim
Veteran Member
The only cell service I have available where I'm at is AT&T so I went with them for inet service - but the connection was so spotty and the 5G monthly limit was not enough. We then started with a wireless local startup
and it was ok for awhile until he got too many customers. I recently switched to Wildblue Excede....yes excede is wildblue....my limit is 15G which I seem to be able to live with and for now - the speed is very good. Wishing
we had better options. ......I'll put up with the bad internet service any day over living in an area with enough population to have cable. We've had 2 people move onto our road this year.....getting crowded....3 miles of road and now 5 families live here........Wonder if they're taking immigrants in the outback?
and it was ok for awhile until he got too many customers. I recently switched to Wildblue Excede....yes excede is wildblue....my limit is 15G which I seem to be able to live with and for now - the speed is very good. Wishing
we had better options. ......I'll put up with the bad internet service any day over living in an area with enough population to have cable. We've had 2 people move onto our road this year.....getting crowded....3 miles of road and now 5 families live here........Wonder if they're taking immigrants in the outback?
Oaktree
Super Member
Agree that Wildblue leaves a lot to be desired, at least it's $20/mo cheaper than Hughesnet for what seems to be the same service. Supposedly, as they moved customers to the new Excede service the old WB would get faster due to less traffic. Can't say I've noticed any improvement (didn't really want to pay for installation again, pay a monthly fee for equipment and be stuck with a 2 year contract so I stuck with WB), if anything it's gotten even pokier.
Not sure I agree with cell company packages being any better...a neighbor of mine has it and according to him it's just as slow, low data cap and no cheaper. They've got you and act accordingly.
The local telco has been running fiber in the area this past summer...hopefully we'll get DSL soon.
sam5570
Veteran Member
this is intresting and very helpful for me we have dsl but have no cell service for 7 miles our internet is with century link started out work great now it is as slow as our dial up was i was looking into hughs net satelite so guess i just deal with it till something reputable comes along although i have to say it working good for the time of day so maby there getting the problems fixedd
1fastbob
Bronze Member
I have actually had both Wildblue and Verizon. In my location Verizon is far and away better both in speed and uptime. Note: I am NOT refering to smart phone data, I am refering to USB connection device data.
tractorshopper
Veteran Member
Had HughesNet for about a year and a half. Got tired of hitting the 100MB/day limit. Couldn't ever get the software to schedule night-time downloads ;-( Was very slow and the limited use was finally more than I could stand, especially since it was a daily limit. I broke down and bought the MiFi from Verizon. It was much faster from the start. I still have a monthly limit (twice what HughesNet was for about 42% more $), but no daily limits in place. If I want to download a movie for the kids off iTunes, I can do this in one sitting now instead of in 2 weeks. Or a new album, can get in about 10 minutes instead of 2 days.
About 2 months after switching, the purple blinking light turned to green blinking light. (this means I went from 3G connection to 4G) Wow!!! MiFi is even more awesome. Faster than the T1 line at work. I also changed to where now I bundle the data for the MiFi with the wife and kids' cell phone data plan and get more Gigs at a lower cost. Another great thing about MiFi is that you can take it anywhere with you, vacation, riding in the car, whatever. You can hook 5 devices to it at once (not that I ever do) and it is it's own tiny router and all in one. Still wish I had DSL so I could get unlimited data for reasonable price, but this is much better than the satellite.
About 2 months after switching, the purple blinking light turned to green blinking light. (this means I went from 3G connection to 4G) Wow!!! MiFi is even more awesome. Faster than the T1 line at work. I also changed to where now I bundle the data for the MiFi with the wife and kids' cell phone data plan and get more Gigs at a lower cost. Another great thing about MiFi is that you can take it anywhere with you, vacation, riding in the car, whatever. You can hook 5 devices to it at once (not that I ever do) and it is it's own tiny router and all in one. Still wish I had DSL so I could get unlimited data for reasonable price, but this is much better than the satellite.