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Review by Moon_Dog See Profile

  • Location: Nokesville, Prince William, VA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Solves a problem in a very rural area, it works, so far so good
Pricey, data cap, sketchy connection when the weather is bad
For what it is, I won't complain.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:

I'm going to be as thorough as I can with my review, so here it is:

Other options I considered: Well, I had satellite, satellite, or...satellite. Wait, if I'm to be honest, I can say that I could have signed up with Verizon for 3G mobile broadband, but really, that service would have been far less reliable. I just barely get 2 bars of service and my phone goes in and out of the 3G range (forget 4G). It was either sign up for a data plan that I could maybe use with Verizon or sign up for a data plan with satellite that would at least be there when I need it.

Speed/Package: I went cheap. I have the 10 gig plan at $50/month. I realize that people wince at the price for such a small data allowance, but on my 2 gig smartphone plan I have never once used even a quarter of my data. I don't stream anything, rarely Skype, and only use the internet for work and web browsing. 10 gigs has been adequate thus far. $50 is about what I would pay elsewhere for a basic plan (unlimited, sure) once all of the incentives wore off.

Order/Install Process: I couldn't have been happier. Personally, I'm a heckler when it comes to signing my name on something for 2 years. I must have called these people 10 times over the course of two weeks to ask a million questions about the services, the contract, and installation. While I got a different person each time, it was never outsourced (meaning, I got a fluent English speaking native), they were always friendly, and readily able to answer my questions. Also, they weren't pushy, which I appreciated. The install went extremely smooth. My two installers showed up on time, were nice and funny, they didn't charge me out the whazoo for the install (only $49!), and shared some great stories. I believe they were at my home for only 45 minutes. I was up and running in no time at all.

Connection Reliability: I signed onto this realizing it was going to be sporadic at times with the clouds, rain, wind, weather...etc. So far, my speeds haven't dipped below 4 mbps down and 1.5 up. This also means they haven't cut out. I've had a few instances where pages take a few tries to load, but it's no big deal. It's usually data heavy pages (like Facebook) that take a little bit of time when speed is down. However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, when speeds are up, they're great! I clocked speeds of 22 mbps one day and was thrilled. Granted, it didn't last long...but I was very pleasantly surprised, nonetheless.

Tech/Customer Support: I can't comment on this, yet. However, I'm going to be giving them a ring tomorrow as my supposed "Usage Meter" hasn't been very helpful in showing me how much data I've accumulated since the install (two weeks ago). In fact, it's telling me I still have 10 gigs - which can't be true. If I find my experience to be horrific, I'll update. Otherwise, I've not once had a bad experience when calling in to them to ask general questions.

User Account: It sucks. You have to log in to all of these different pages to access the information you want and it's extremely tedious. I also feel it's a waste of my precious data to have to navigate through all of these log-in pages to gain access to sections of my account. Sheesh.

Value: Considering it was this or nothing...well, it's valuable to me. I refuse to spend more than $50 a month on an internet package, so as long as I don't run into any of these infamous billing issues, WB and I will remain on good terms as far as value. They also claimed that my $50 initial set-up fee will be credited back to my account within the first 2 billing cycles. Two rep's assured me of this, so if it happens, that's a HUGE bonus. That means I get my install fee back.

What I use the service for: I have a wireless network set up, and it runs smooth. I purchased a Linksys router that was middle of the road as far as strength and distance is concerned. On the network I run a Macbook Air, Apple TV, Playstation 3, and sometimes my work PC to VPN. Again, even though I have fancy gadgets that doesn't mean I do a lot of streaming or online gaming. I can't say that this service would work well for online gaming, since the ping rate is rather low and speeds vary with the weather. I've read elsewhere that streaming works fine, and what little time I've spent on youtube has proven that theory correct. I have watched probably 20-25 minutes worth of youtube in the past two weeks and had no problems loading the videos on my laptop. My PS3 updates just fine and the Apple TV hasn't had any issues with connecting to my network or laptop since hooking up to satellite. The VPN has been the biggest setback, as connecting to my work's network can be pretty slow, annoyingly so actually, but it does work. All in all, every device seems to work well with this internet service for what I need it for.

Overall: I'm happy. If things change, I'll update my review accordingly.



member for 11 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 11 years ago