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Review by comitatus1 
UPDATED: 306 days ago
member for 1 year, 53 visits, last login: 36 days ago
 Oxford,Granville,NC
 Contract price not specified.
 "Good Installation. Download Speeds consistently low."
 "FAP is way too low. Latency is awful."
 "Better that Dial Up...But Not Much Better..."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
Wildblue sucks to the very end...
I cancelled my Wildblue service today.
Of course it couldn't happen without WildBlue sticking it to me just one more time. Here's what happened:
I called the local coop. I cancelled the service. The rep said, no problem, we'll cancel that for you right away.
The thing is, when he said "right away" he really meant RIGHT AWAY. I was cut off within 30 minutes.
Funny, where I grew up January has 31 DAYS, not 29.75. Do I get a partial refund?
I won't hold my breath.
Thanks, WildBlue. Disappointment right to the very end. "Customer" and "Service", either as individual words or as a phrase are not in your dictionary...or reality.
For the rest of you WB users, ENJOY the new bandwidth my leaving will enable you to take advantage of. Oh, wait, that's right, you won't be able to. Well, you may see some more speed.
I'll pray that your local telco brings you DSL soon so you can be free...
Just like me.
Chris
Edit/Delete Message
Update January 3, 2009:
Connection reliability: In the time that has passed since I wrote my first review my connection speed has deteriorated dramatically. While, as I mentioned before, I would usually get a 1.4Mbps download speed on HTTP downloads, it is rare nowadays to see anything above 700Kbps. I don't really know what is going on. I would call customer service but I don't feel like wasting my time. It's obvious to me that WB has screwed something up on the hardware end or simply oversubscribed their service.
On a positive note, I had heard that on the 30th and 31st of each month the fap meter algorithm doesn't work so I decided to give that a test. Sure enough, I downloaded 3.5 gigs on Nov 30th and around 7 gigs on Dec 30th and 31st and it NEVER SHOWED UP on the meter. So, my total download for Nov was 18.5 gigs and for Dec it looks like it will be around 22.5 gigs.
Anyway, all of this is a moot point now that Embarq has run Extended Reach DSL to my home. Got hooked up and it's working great. I'll be saying goodbye to WB on Jan 31st.
For all of you who are stuck with it, I wish you the best. I hope they get their speed issues taken care of. In case you didn't know, there is a new, official, WB website with forums. It is:
»www.wildblueworld.com/
[end new section!]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------
Let's just run down the list:
Pre-Sales information---From Wildblue [or rather, TouchNC, the local coop]: Not so good. I did the research myself, though, and wasn't really suprised by anything, either good or bad.
Install Co-ordination: Installer arrived when scheduled and the install went off without a hitch.
Connection Reliability: Good. We never really have hit the max download speeds. I have the 1.5 Mbps service but the best sustained download speeds have been about 140 KBps. Still, not bad. Latency is another issue. Dial up is much faster with initial loading of webpages. Satellite sits there for a second or two before it starts loading. If it is a regular HTTP page, then it happens fairly quickly. If it is HTTPS, then it's significantly slower.
Tech Support: I don't want to be rude, but for all practical purposes there is no tech support, either from Wildblue or the Coop, because there is no one intelligent enough or familiar enough with the service they sell to deliver tech support. I have never gotten an intelligent answer regarding any of my queries, just scripted responses. For example, I was VERY close to my fap limit during mid September and I had left my modem disconnected for the vast majority of 3 days, only hooking it up long enough to get connected to check the FAP meter page and then unplug again. The total usage never budged, even though I KNEW I had mb's from 30 days' previous dropping off, since my router keeps a record of my daily usage. When I called the coop, "techs" kept asking my about anti-virus programs and whether or not I ran P2P apps. Like those things somehow magically run and keep running up one's usage when the modem is unplugged. Please. I called 3 times in 2 days. Magically, at the end of the second day, the mb's started dropping off as they were supposed to. Two weeks later I got a response to the support ticket I generated with my 3 calls. Their advice? Make sure my antivirus was updated and quit running P2P Apps. Their ignorance astounds me.
FAP page: Is a joke. I suppose it would just be too easy for them to post what you actually used every day for the previous 30 days so that you would KNOW how many mb's you could download on any given day. But no! They instead give you a rolling 30 day total, and then, get this, tell you that IT MAY NOT BE ACCURATE. Here is the text straight from the page:
"This chart is updated periodically and may not reflect your most recent usage. Though not common, it can take up to 24 hours to update the chart. Please use this only as a guide to help monitor your usage totals. Usage is measured within a 30-day rolling period and does not correspond with your billing cycle."
In other words: "WE DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CAN DOWNLOAD ON ANY GIVEN DAY BECAUSE THAT IS HOW WE KEEP YOU FROM ACTUALLY USING ALL THE BANDWIDTH YOU ARE PURCHASING, AT $80 A MONTH, FROM US, BECAUSE WE ARE IN THE BANDWIDTH DENIAL BUSINESS".
Wow, that felt good!
If I had to do it all over again, I would add two phone lines and get an ISP that does multilinking and forget satellite ever existed. Fortunately for me, I am getting DSL just before Christmas. My best Christmas present will be the phone call I get to make to Wildblue cancelling my service.
If you have to get it, I'll be sad for you but I understand.
Best of luck with that.
Chris
Followup comments:  clayusmcret
join:2000-11-14
Holly Ridge, NC
 ·WildBlue
| Unimpressed with no other choices I live 400' from charter cable lines but they won't run it up my street and our telephone lines won't support DSL. Ergo, I had no other choice but go satellite. I pay for the Pro option but rarely am even near the throughput it is supposed to pay for; averaging 300 vice 1500Kbps.
Besides consistently slow speeds, the usage meter drives me batty. It only goes up and, considering it's supposed to be a rolling meter, it never goes back down. I tried contacting WB via email several times about it and they would only respond by repeatedly telling me to call. I can't understand what they can't tell me in writing. "I understand that you would want to know about the usage meter for your internet service. Because, we are limited to what we can explain by email, but we want to ensure you would get the best resolution."  From the sound of others on the forum, it would have been a wasted phone call. By the by, my download speed dropped almost 500Kbps within a day of my testy response to their comment. Coincidence?
I'll stay with WB until I can get Charter to run the line up the street - then I'm outa here. The increased speed and stable connection will be worth the lost deposit. | |
| | pistachionut
join:2008-11-09
Waverly, WV
 ·Verizon Wireless B..
·HughesNet Satellit..
| Re: Unimpressed with no other choices Clay,
If you are truly within 400' of Charter's dead end pole then you are essentially only 100' out of an RG11 drop range. Usually they will extend the mainline one pole if you agree to cover some of the cost and/or sign a contract of some sort to keep their service for 1-2 yrs so the company doesnt eat the full cost if you jump ship 1 week after they hook you up. You need to talk to someone local though, dont go through the 1-800 call center/customer service. Go to your local office and ask to speak with someone in Construction/Engineering. Extending the line one pole only takes a couple hours. But a lot of this depends of course if there are more poles to hook to, or if one needs installed, or if property crossing and right of way issues exist. Give it a shot, cant hurt. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of WildBlue |
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Review by .
Posted: 307 days ago
(review was emailed in)
undisclosed location
Contract price not specified.
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
WB locks you in for a two year contract before you see how there product performs because they know it does not perform like it should for the price you pay. If they would give you a grace period to get out of your contract if you're not satisfied, they wouldn't have as many customers.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of WildBlue |
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 Review by Siryak
UPDATED: 311 days ago
member for 4 years, 1759 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Sidney,Comanche,TX
Contract price not specified.
"The dish is great for target practice...."
"Horrible latency!!!! Way worse than Hughesnet even!!!"
"Go Hughesnet if you haft to use satellite"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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Update3: Well at no surprise to me the downward trend continues. The satellite is becoming overloaded and download speeds are becoming less and less of what is advertised. Latency is still absolutely atrocious. The way things are looking right now Hughesnet is the lesser of the 2 evils.
Update2: Still same crap with no improvement whatsoever and no sign of improvement to come. The only thing that has changed is I think Hughesnet might be right down there with it now. If your looking into satellite do yourself a favor and lower your expectations to it being very little better than your dial-up in some areas and 0 better in others and you "might" not get disappointed. Also check to see if you have EVDO in your area first!!!
Update: Almost a year now with no improvement and no sign of improvement. The service just keeps getting more and more unreliable as time goes on. Between the weather outages and Wildblue related outages it is beginning to get to the point that there are multiple outages a week. If you are looking to get satellite internet, I would recommend you go with Hughesnet. They are **FAR** from perfect, but still seems to be better than Wildblue. It is more or less the lesser of the 2 evils. Unless satellite internet is all you can get though stay FAR FAR away. There is only 1 connection out there that it is better than and that is dial-up.
Since the November update the pings have gone to crap. It is basically gone down the tube. I would not recommend this service to my worst enemy.
Pinging yahoo.com [66.94.234.13] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1554ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1159ms TTL=46
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1206ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=2933ms TTL=47
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=2379ms TTL=47
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1223ms TTL=47
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1144ms TTL=46
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1170ms TTL=47
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1158ms TTL=47
Request timed out.
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1169ms TTL=46
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1156ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1160ms TTL=46
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1158ms TTL=47
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=1160ms TTL=47
Ping statistics for 66.94.234.13:
Packets: Sent = 15, Received = 14, Lost = 1 (6% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1144ms, Maximum = 2933ms, Average = 1409ms
Wildblue Pro Pack / Beam 40 / Laredo Noc
Followup comments: sahallie
join:2005-05-13
Sandy, OR
| I agree!! I feel your pain. I have two months left of a two year contract and I will be ripping the dish from the side of my house and using for target practice as well.
1500ms latency?? That is a good day for me here in Oregon. Unbelievable packet loss. A FAP policy that has changed 3 times since I fell victim to this scam. 24/7 customer service?? What a joke. Any poor sap stuck with this company will know exactly what I am talking about. Rain fade, unexplained outages, poor customer service, slow page loads, it just goes on and on.
Don't even think of using bandwidth or they throttle you back for using what you pay for. (after the threatening emails)
All this for only $79.00 a month. LOL
If you are considering this technology because is is all you can get, do yourself a favor... move!! | |
| |
Siryak
join:2005-11-26
·WildBlue
| Re: I agree!! said by sahallie :If you are considering this technology because is is all you can get, do yourself a favor... move!! I hear that!!! Maybe some day I can rip that dish off and use it to make an antenna to get some real internet lol. | |
| 
jcaj22
@aol.com
| terrible service we made the horrible decision to purchase wildblue on march 31st. i run a business, homeschool 2 kids through the internet, and my boyfriend is in college through internet. i explained all of this when i called to get some rates for this "high-speed". after 7 days we were FAPd!! what the heck it was i had no idea until i was very rudely told, that i used the internet too much and it wasn't unlimited!! i am now stuck with 28 speed internet until my 30 days is up, and maybe i get my high speed back! thank god we only have 18month contract, in the mean time i will have to go back to dial up so i can actually use the internet. in the 7 days before we were FAPd, the satellite was down 3!! | |
| jeeperjennie
join:2009-01-31
Hockley, TX
| hughes v.s. wild blue I had wild blue for 2 years got sick of their poor customer service and switched to hughes net
hughes net was great for the first 6 months but went down hill fast....it is so much slower then wild blue...their customer service was good in the beginning but has gotten real bad you can not use more then one computer in the house if you do it becomes slower then dial up...
we had no other choice out where we lived at first but found on that most other cable and dsl companys will get service in your area if you can get more people to commit to signing up in the area ...we were told that is we had 15 people within a 3 mile block to commit to signing up with AT&T that they would wire the area and they did we ae getting our DSL on Tuesday...YEAH!!!!!!!!
But if you have to use SAT I suggest you stay where you are Hughes Net is going down hill fast!!!!
All of their customer service reps are not in the States and speak very poor english and are hard to deal with. | |
| |
Siryak
join:2005-11-26 | Re: hughes v.s. wild blue The problem is Wildblue has gone downhill right with Hughesnet. I was trying to use it today and I can guarantee you dial-up would have moved faster than it was. | |
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Review by sissy
Posted: 312 days ago
member for 312 days, 0 visits, last login: 312 days ago
Portsmouth,Scioto,OH
Contract price not specified.
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
The satellite was installed 18 months ago. Nothing worked so the installer replaced the tria. Still wouldn't work. They sent another tech to check the system and they did a complete reinstall. Still wouldn't work. Eighteen months later, 7 modems replaced, 9 trias, 4 adaptors in modem line, speeds are still incredibly slow and it's offline more than online. Pages hang and won't open. I have the basic but tried the high end with absolutely no difference in speeds. Other than uploads and download speeds, this is no better than dialup. My contract is up this month so instead of paying $50 a month, I'm returning to dialup for $9.95 a month.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of WildBlue |
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Review by arkpaly1
Posted: 312 days ago
member for 3.3 years, 7 visits, last login: 246 days ago
Benton,Saline,AR
Contract price not specified.
"reliable, performs as advertised, professional installation."
"Damned happy with service."
| |
Performs as advertised. Rarely is "out" unless rain is heavy. Spray dish with de-icer before storms, and ice and snow will not affect it. Considering we had no alternative when we originally went with WB, it has been fantastic. Alternatives are now available and we will switch, but if satellite is your only option, WB, at least for us, has been all it was presented to be. I'll be passing it on to my mother-in-law out in the boonies.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of WildBlue |
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 Review by tim_k
UPDATED: 317 days ago
member for 7.8 years, 2731 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Stewartstown,York,PA
Contract price not specified.
"Download speeds are as advertised."
"upload speeds are lower than expected"
"Great for satellite service"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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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 and I've lost connection a couple times, but nothing serious. 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.
UPDATE 1/20/09
I just cancelled service a couple days ago. As with others, service went downhill when they started traffic shaping and pings doubled. Traffic shaping made going to secure websites a real pain. Most all webpages loaded rather slow. I never had a problem with download speeds though. Service would go out when storms hit, but was up pretty much all the rest of the time. About 1 1/2 years ago an engineer stopped by to check my service since they determined the modem power numbers didn't look good. He remarked of problems with the install and left a flyer saying they would fix it for free. They never did and all attempts to contact engineering failed. Since service still worked I didn't worry about it. After I gave up trying to get upload speeds fixed I never had to contact tech support. If not for the traffic shaping I believe WB would still be the best bet as far as satellite ISPs. I'm trying EVDO now and it looks like it's going to take some effort to get it to work right.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of WildBlue |
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Review by delta_queen
UPDATED: 318 days ago
member for 1.8 years, 24 visits, last login: 59 days ago
Searcy,White,AR
Contract price not specified.
"good download speeds considering my rural options"
"upload speeds are pokey"
"it's my second and final option"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I had 3 good months with cellular bb and 4 bad months. see
(»Review of Alltel Axess by delta_queen)
I defected to satellite, my last remaining option. The installers did a fine job and even followed through on a special install location for me. I have not had to deal with tech support and I don't use wb email so I can't comment on those areas yet. My speedtest results during the day are :
1567 down
121 up
I paid for the pro pack.
peak hours test coming soon.
b/c this service is 'always on' tech at my company will be happier and I am able to use our wireless router which was not an option with celluar bb (unless pay $$$ for special equipment). I should have gone this route to begin with.
6/25/2008 >Update 17 days after install
Have not had to call tech support yet
speeds and connectivity are consistant
(5pm test)
1512 down
87 up (yucky)
half way through my first 30 day bandwidth monitoring I have used 9% of DL and 6% of UL. So this is something of a big relief.
I am on the internet and emails for 12 hours a day sending PPTs, watching videos here and there and hosting webinars with no probs. No gaming and no movies for me....
Happy Camper to date. I'll keep providing updates.
UPDATE: Jan 17 2009> 7 months after WB install
Have zero complaints. I installed bandwidth meter pro and this helps a good deal. I don't watch a lot of video, but I'm able to click at will on news clips and short youtube vids. Haven't downloaded any movies and only a few songs.
No outages in 6 months with the brief exception of bad storms
No problems with equipment or connections.
My job has me connected 10 hours a day and we keep surfing until bedtime. Never hit near the DL or UL limit.
Speeds are worse in the evening than they are in the day.
Followup comments: Brigrat
join:2003-09-01
Lovington, NM
| you will be an alltel customer again... Trust me...I made the same choices you did...I am back with Alltel.
wait till somthing breaks in the warantee period, and they wont send you a knew one with sending a tech out, and charging a $90 fee for the service...
Not to mention Wildblue continued to change me four months after my service was canceled! what a pain! | |
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Review by buggycrazy
UPDATED: 322 days ago
member for 322 days, 0 visits, last login: 322 days ago
Lebanon,Linn,OR
Contract price not specified.
"I cancelled after 1 year of wasted money"
"this nightmare will never end"
"use homing pigeons, it is faster"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Salesman lied about reliabilty, (or I NEVER would have wasted money trying it) every time it drizzled service was out, he said only hard rain would put it out, it was out most of the winter. Speed was NEVER as advertised. I canceled as soon as possible and upgraded to dial-up, I have a website to run and slow is better than NO internet. Trying to run my business on Wildblue was a nightmare and I just didn't have the time to sell much. I had basic service, they told me for $20.00 MORE per month I could have 10 hours of back up dial up, well I got unlimited dailup for $10.00 from someone else so I could have a connection. I didn't get sucked into upgrading my service as I know they were lying when they couldn't provide the service I was already paying for. And after reading the other reviews about this company I WAS LUCKY.
15 months after canceling my service I got a bill in the mail, complete with interest and penalties. This was a complete surprise as this was 15 months later and the FIRST bill ever in the mail. In the order cancellation email sent to me (I did NOT use wildblue for email) there was NO mention that there would be a special billing or anything else owed since they only way they accepted payment was directly charging my credit card. Since the customer service rep was so snotty I will never pay them or even bother opening another piece of information from them, this company is as crooked as they come and many complaints have been filed with the Atty. Gen. I know this is yet another sneaky way Wildblue has of ripping off customers, they are not satisfied with taking a huge amount of money for 1 year while not providing services promised, they will keep stealing form you after you think you are free of them.
Stay away from Wildblue! DSL service was finally brought out to me, I am a record distance out and due to new switches or something I can now get it, check with your phone company! Or just stick with dialup, speed is the same and it works all the time!
Plus we now have a permanent leak on the roof from the install and will have to completely re roof, after 1.5 years of trying to fix it we give up.
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 325 days ago
(review was emailed from domain wildblue.net)
Lusby,Calvert,MD
Contract price not specified.
"Works about 80% of the time"
"Download speeds are always below what you are paying for; tech service is non-existant, just people reading scripts."
"Wireless internet providers - your wireless phone company - is becoming a better bet now most people."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Stay away!!!.... if you can't get cable at home, go with wireless if available instead of WildBlue or Hughes.
We've been WildBlue customers for more than 3 years. We have no cable or even DSL options on our rural road. Our cell phone signal is improving as more towers go up, so I look forward to the day when I can switch to Verizon or AT&T for our wireless internet connection and call WildBlue to cancel.
WildBlue has has driven us crazy with slow and unpredictable speeds, outages, and total lack of customer support. However, our neighbors with Huges aren't any happier. Both services stink. They know people are stuck with their services and so do little for customers.
Satellite internet is very slow relative to cable (generally $70 a month, and WildBlue dropped our speeds by more than 90%. I believe this is a ploy to get people to pay for a more expensive (higher speed and increased download) service, since they will reinstate your "normal" speed if you pay for a higher level package.
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Review by hpurcell
Posted: 330 days ago
member for 3.8 years, 5 visits, last login: 325 days ago
Marshall,Madison,NC
Contract price not specified.
"fast, reliable, good customer service"
"none"
"Excellent for me for three years in western NC"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
(ratings well above consensus)
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I've have the medium speed service, 1 gb download speed for $70 a month for three years. There is an outage less often than once a month, lasting from a few minutes to a couple of hours. Heavy rain of course will defeat it for a while.
I had an equipment problem once and they were there the next day with a replacement modem, with no charge.
This is likely a "franchise" operation, so a bad experience in one area of the country doesn't translate into another area.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of WildBlue |
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