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Review by chachalaca 
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 7.5 years, 255 visits, last login: 96 days ago
 Rosebud,Falls,TX
 Contract price not specified.
 "faster uploads; quicker ping, better install compared to direcway"
 "would be nice to have a lower price but still good value compared to D'way"
 "First impressions--- yippeeee skippeeee -- finally, serious competion for satellite connections"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
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Mail,DNS,News:
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(ratings above consensus)
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After a love/hate relationship with Direcway for the past 3 years, we today just completed a new WildBlue install. First impression: cool beans!
A month ago, the 'radio' on the D'way dish died. It took two weeks (arrrrgghhh!!) to get a repair done and, once finished, our upload speeds, slow before, cratered to well below a very slow dial-up. Calls to D'way tech finally got elevated to tier 2, then a promised call from 'engineering', which never came (still hasn't, ten days gone). When waiting for the promised call became excessive, I in turn made a call to the local provider for Wildblue, making the appointment for a new install for today.
The tech arrived right on time, got the system up and running in just a bit over 2 hours. The tech used a signal strength meter on the roof top instead of as in the past with D'way having me sit in front of the computer and relay strength reports from set-up software. And I was totally blown away when the tech used a torgue wrench.. a torque wrench, for Pete's sake!! ... to snug down the securing bolts on the dish once it was pointed properly. A very pleasant experience, the install.
We don't at the moment have the promised speeds but even so surfing seems a lot crisper. Ping times seem to be mostly in the low to mid 600's - a fair bit quicker than the 800 - 950, on a good day, that seemed most typical of d'way. I never saw anything in the 600's with d'way. A couple of comparison uploads show a vast improvement over the D'way speeds. A trial upload that took about 15 mins on the old system completed in something around a minute flat on the Wildblue connection. A couple of calls tech to help configure my network were a real breath of fresh air, getting a tech who actually listened, understood, and replied appropriately to my questions, without first making me go through the scripted steps like d'way, or totally ignoring my questions or observations about the problem I was experiencing. Sound familiar to any of you other D'way users out there? And wonder of wonders, the techs all spoke standard US amerikun, too. As yet I haven't broached the subject of not seeing the advertised speeds but I am failry confident my inquiry will be fairly considered once I do.
Folks, it looks as though d'way finally has some serious competition. Yippee skippeee. For now, two thumbs up for the new kid on the block. Here's hoping that success doesn't spoil them, know what I mean, Vern?
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Review by dossman
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 6.8 years, 178 visits, last login: 273 days ago
Gilbert,Maricopa,AZ
Contract price not specified.
"it rocks"
"takes a while to install"
"best mobile internet (not locked in to local providers )"
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this is finally what sat isp's were supposed to be about I get 1.9 dwn 650 up for 69.00 mo call 602-405-1455 to get your system today i do this for side work and i like it ten times more than i liked dway so i started my own dealership>>>
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 Review by s0121
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 7.6 years, 147 visits, last login: 192 days ago
Coldwater,Comanche,KS
Contract price not specified.
"Excellent Tech Support"
"Use the Telephone to ask for install - 6 Emails unanswered"
"I would recommend - good price, great tech support advertised speeds"
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Had Starband Vsat for 4yrs and 7months... 500/50 @ 69.95 a month... actual speeds 500/23...7 weeks now and NO REFUNDS as posted on the SB site...
Use the Telephone to ask for install..6 Emails unanswered -waited till Nov 18th the Wife called... Installation on the 22th... Install on a very cold AM...approx 9:30, finished and set working by Co-oP... and out the door..(Acct activated 11/22/05:11:46 CST Value Pak 500/128 @ 42.95). original speeds not quite what I expected. DL;s in the 500 range GREAT.. :::.. Upload Stats ..:::
Connection is:: 64 Kbps about 0.1 Mbps (tested with 97 kB)
Upload Speed is:: 8 kB/s
Tested From:: »testmy.net/ (server2)
Test Time:: Fri Nov 25 14:02:41 CST 2005
Bottom Line:: 1X faster than 56K 1MB upload in 128 sec
Diagnosis: May need help : running at only 49.61 % of your hosts average (wildblue.com)
Validation Link:: »testmy.net/stats/id-Z2005SGV8..
Call to techsupport was great.... minor changes.. add Qos that *SB r4emoved to work correctly.
After tech support: average speeds are :1PM Speakeasy Dallas 12-02
Last Result:
Download Speed: 509 kbps (63.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 108 kbps (13.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
working on XP SP3 Corp - (WildBlue should inform you that (my case) Co-op install does not give you Wildblue.com access to[ Home page, email, billing] it is thru the co-op site...Co-op installed with Proxy.... Tech Support recommended removal... Things were faster after WB Tech support - when speeds drop below advertised... I have repaired connection... and when that did not work - Rebooted Modem 3 times. I dropped this service for UCOM.net $49.00 a month Wireless DSL - Download Speed: 1471 kbps (183.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1758 kbps (219.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
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Review by wildillinois
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 4 years, 1 visits, last login: 2.7 years ago
Rockford,Winnebago,IL
Contract price not specified.
"Great for those that don't have a choice in speed"
"Expensive compared to DSL"
"Get Wildblue if you don't have anything else"
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Order the install at the beginning of Nov of 2005 and was install 2 weeks later only because I wanted them to install on a weekend. The installer of very knowledgable and answered all my questions. Install was done in 1 hour 45 minutes. So far upload and download speeds are about as stated ( got the Select package 1 M down 200 K up $69.99 month). Have only had to reset the modem once when upload went down to 10 K. Have networked to XP stations and Unix station with no problem. Tried to get DSL but Verizon wouldn't even try DSL even though I was at 19800 feet from the CO and have read nothing really good about Directway. All in all I would get Wildblue again if there was nothing else besides dial up.
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 Review by tim_k
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 7.8 years, 2736 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Stewartstown,York,PA
Contract price not specified.
"Getting advertised download speed. Service has been up ~100%"
"Upload speed lower than expected. Latency causes slow web browsing"
"Great service compared to other satellite ISP's"
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Ordered service directly from Wild Blue. Three days later the equipment arrived, but I still didn't have an install date. Another call to Wild Blue and soon after, I had the phone number of an installer. Installer arrived on time the following week. Install went fine, with no problems. I hooked the modem up to my Zyxel router. Didn't need to configure anything. It connected to the internet with no problem. I've had the service for two months now. I had to reboot the modem and router a couple times the first two weeks. Since then, I haven't lost connection. My upload speed is lower than it should be, but it varies depending on what speed test I use. Many other people also complain about their upload speeds. Wildblue is aware of the problem and is trying to fix it. Overall, for satellite service, I'm very pleased.
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Review by sahallie
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 4.5 years, 12 visits, last login: 26 days ago
Sandy,Clackamas,OR
Contract price not specified.
"Slightly better than Dial Up"
"Extreme Latency, Horible FAP Policy, Inacurate Usage Meter"
"Run Away!!"
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I signed up for WB in November 2005 and it has been steady downhill ride ever since. I am experiencing an average of 2008ms of latency with a 38% packet loss. Combine the new lowered FAP policy with a usage meter that reports bandwidth usage EVEN WITH THE MODEM UNPLUGGED and you get an idea of what a "value" this ISP is. Research carefully before committing to contract with this company.
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Review by bmwfish
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 8.5 years, 23 visits, last login: 4 years ago
Grass Valley,Nevada,CA
Contract price not specified.
"Quick install, good speed, and free installation"
"price, long contract"
"Sat doesn't get any better than this"
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After enduring five long months of Direcway, I could stand it no longer and signed up for WildBlue. Installation was scheduled for three days after my call. The installer called the night before to confirm and was here exactly when he said he'd be. The installation went pretty quick, since he could use the mast from the direcway dish. I've been online for about four hours and so far, no glitches. Download speeds are running a consistent 1300kbps, but ups are pretty meager at about 60kpbs, which may be due to our inclement weather or some other backend provisioning issue. I'll check again tomorrow morning to see if the up speeds improve.
So far none of the problems that made me want to shoot my dway dish: servers not found, ping times >2400ms, dropped connections, outages, continuous requests for email passwords, etc. Heck, even the modem is half the weight of the dway unit 
I'm routing to five macs and one pc on my home lan and setup went exactly as expected.
I bought the Pro Pack, which is $80/mo and is rated at 1500/256. 24mo contract.
Sure, the novelty shine is still on the dish, but as far as I'm concerned, satellite broadband doesn't get any better than this (althought I'd still love to have either cable or DSL, but I live in the boonies, so nogo).
Update 11/30: just tested upload speeds and they're around the expected 200-257kbps. I also tested with Fidelity Investment's ATP application, which requires a fast, reliable connection, with low ping times to display streaming quotes. And I'm getting streaming quotes! I'm quite happy.
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 Review by wellsdsgn
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 4.1 years, 32 visits, last login: 3.1 years ago
Rescue,El Dorado,CA
Contract price not specified.
"Great option for rural internet users"
"No self-install options"
"Best option for low cost, always on internet access where no other options exist"
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Wildblue has been running in our household for over two months now. I've used two WIN XP computers and one WIN 98 computer networked on the system without trouble. Download and upload speeds smokes the 28k dial-up we had before and I can finally use my outlook program for e-mail since my ISP before (Juno) couldn't quite get configured to work.
If you're in a remote area and want relatively high-speed always on internet, Wildblue is worth the cost.
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Review by pappyd
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 7 years, 35 visits, last login: 3.3 years ago
Delaplane,Fauquier,VA
Contract price not specified.
"Fast, IP fairly static so far"
"Occasional outages, tedious first-level support"
"Better than Direcway SOHO DW6000, still satellite"
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WB Pro, dish installed on roof. Install went pretty smooth, inconsistent results first couple days. Installer repointed and things stabilized, ~1500 down ~200 up as expected. TRIA failed a week later, swapped that out and things stabilized again. Now it generally works, generally up to speed, occasionally dies requiring a modem power cycle to restore .. average once every couple of days. IP is dynamic, but seems to be not changing very much. Had a spot outage (37) last weekend but they got it straightened out in a reasonable amount of time.
I had been on DW (through Skycasters) and this beats the pants off it, especially since the SOHO consolidation on G4R last June. I'd still rather have cable/fiber/wimax/dsl/HALO/*anything* else, but this is surely the most cost-effective solution for rural people.
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Review by wxwest
Posted: 4 years ago
member for 6.5 years, 203 visits, last login: 119 days ago
Loyalton,Sierra,CA
Contract price not specified.
"timely install, faster than Direcway, no cost conversion"
"took 4 hours for installer to obtain a static IP."
"jury is still out... so far, much faster than Direcway."
| Pre Sales information:
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I finally took the plunge and converted from Direcway to Wildblue. My Direcway service was through a Value Added Retailer. They abandoned Direcway and opted for Wildblue. They made an offer that was hard to refuse. I had fulfilled my Direcway commitment (18 months), so they installed the Wildblue equipment w/o charge (equipment and labor for which they normally charge $300). I opted for the Pro Pak and with it, they gave me a 12 month contract with no upfront charges. Because I had fulfilled my Direcway commitment, they gave me the Direcway dish and equipment. (buyers???)
I called on Monday to schedule the install. It was scheduled for Friday between 8 and 12. The installer showed up on time (8:30). He was knowledgable and professional, had all the equipment and tools that were needed. I was online (with a dynamic IP) by 10:00.
I had requested a static IP. Yes, they are available if you are insistent. He had to obtain the IP address from NRTC. He sat in my computer room for about 4 hours waiting for the call back from NRTC with the IP address. Five minutes later after plugging the IP, gateway and DNS into my router, I was on-line with a static IP.
My Direcway speeds ranged from 700-900 down and 25-75 up. Using the same speed tests, Wildblue is 1281-1439 and 117-191 on about 5 tests throughout the day and evening. Going directly to Speakeasy, the speeds are higher... close to 1.5 Mbps down and 220 Kbps up.
I have not rated Connection reliability, Tech Support and Mail, DNS, News because I don't have enough information yet. I will update them when I have had more time to evaluate them. The pre-sales and install cordination were rated lower because of some mixups a couple of months ago when I first decided to convert. The value for money was rated high for my particular situation. Others situation may be different it they have other options (DSL, cable, etc.)
Spot beam 21, gateway Riverside, CA.
Pro Pak - download up to 1.5 Mbps, upload up to 256 Kbps $80 per month. Static IP at no extra charge, 10 emails at 25MB each, 20MB webspace, 10 hours dialup per month when traveling, newsgroups and 24/7 tech support.
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