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 Review by Woodlane 
member for 310 days, 145 visits, last login: 4 days ago
updated 4 days ago
 Gananoque,ON
 Contract price not specified.  "98.2% Uptime, Skype & Netflix (on Wii and Android) OK, 3.1Mbps/343Kbps, 30 Gb/mo. 50 Mb webspace. 1 Gb/hr file download." "No backup, 841ms Latency, 4 Gb daily cap, No customer billing log yet, some delays and pauses" "Recommended if no DSL, cable, fibre or strong wifi signal....Good value... Skype & Netflix justifies this service for me."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
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2012 Year End Summary:
I am very pleased with how this 'Standard' 3Mbps connection has performed over the year. The local installer, »www.Ripnet.com out of Brockville did an excellent job aligning the equipment for a good connection. I have been able to do things that I could not have even attempted over dialup...Skype with family, Netflix, Software Updates, YouTube to see bands I grew up with, experiment with Linux and online services like Google Drive. Since installing the Linux Zorin distro December 1, 2012, my PC is markedly faster with Linux than windows XP Pro. The Viasat-1 4g Satellite is much faster than the old xPlornet satellite service. Satellite is not as responsive or fast as terrestrial cellular or hard wired services but is adequate for social networking, some entertainment and computer support. Only complaint as of end of year is that the useage trakker in the xPlornet User Portal is not set up yet, and I sometimes have to click more than once for the mouse request to 'take.' Support is excellent with delays to get to phone support less than a minute. I have found speed test results to be questionable with Jack Dinn's being the most reliable. I have recorded momentary download speeds up to 17.1 Mbps and got good performance in poor weather showing the potential for 4g satellite technology. In March, I plan to test the 5Mbps package for a couple of months before dropping down to the 1.5Mbps package to complete my testing of this technology.
Ongoing Monthly Updates:
Contract expires March 2014. I am one of 6 neighbours on a rural Eastern Ontario island who subscribe to the new xPlornet/Viasat-1 HTS service. None have expressed any complaints to me regarding service, support or billing so it appears that statiscally, the majority of xPlornet HTS customers must be satisfied. I was the first connect as of March 14th of 2012. The only other high speed options here were Wifi and the Rogers Hub. We are 9 km from the wifi tower, and a neighbour connected to wifi could not check his email occasionally or during poor weather. Another wifi customer experiences frequent slow connections and I would need to install a 45' tower to connect. Rogers cellular had a reliable connection, but was only 3 Mbps at this location, expensive and had less than 6 Gb monthly bandwidth. I decided to try this new satellite service because of it's capacity, cost, and to avoid a tower. Latency is not a concern for my application. This is a '4g' satellite owned by Viasat with xPlornet being the Canadian ISP partner. The potential for 4g speed delivery as demonstrated to customers by Viasat/Exede is what got my interest in this new technology. Currently 4g applies only to the technology...bandwidth is set to the subscribed package (1.5, 3 or 5Mbps)
I subscribed to the xPlornet/EOWC 'Standard' 3 Mbps/500 kbps package @ 64.99/mo. ($49.99 first year). It provides 30 Gb monthly useage and 4 Gb per day. 50 mb personal webspace and one email is included. I only use about 15 Gb per month so I will probably never be affected by overage at $2.50 / Gb.. There is a 'free download period' from 2am-7am local time during which time usage is not counted toward my monthly bill.
Ordering and pre-sales was good except that I had to find out by myself about early termination fees and traffic management policies which are needed for shared connections.
Installation was completed in about 4 hours and the installers were knowledgeable and worked with me to find the best location for the dish. Rx SNR is typically > 11 dB on a clear day. The dish and Surfbeam RM4000 Series Satellite Modem are designed by Viasat Inc. of Carlsbad California. The modem feeds a TP-Link TL-WR1043ND 300 Mbps Wireless N Gigabit Router which I have found to be very stable compared to my old Dlink router.
Since installation, I have been monitoring speeds 24/7 through testmy.net under the SID 'Woodlane'. I have also used ispgeeks and Jack Dinn's Speed Tester (best). I have seen some step improvements in performance and some slowdowns since installation. The average speeds are 2.4 Mbps and 402 kbps with good reliability. This service based on the DOCSIS standard is designed to be less affected by weather than earlier technology. This has been my experience with speeds rarely dropping because of weather except for the other day when the modem SNR dropped below 6.1 and brief outages when the SNR dropped below 4.9 when the signal had to cut through bad weather extending over 30 miles to the west (see attached jpgs). xPlornet customer service is excellent with minimal hold times. Their customer on-line portal is still under development.
Good: It used to take over 5 minutes regularly to just dial in and check email over dialup. Now I can check my email in less than a minute. Popups would drag down apps over dialup. Now they are usually not a problem. Phone free. Good support. No tower. Windows and app software updates are doable now. 50 Mb personal webspace. Netflix and being able to Skype with family. Better than 70% of Skype sessions are OK. Knowlegeable, prompt 24/7 phone support.
Bad: Having to retry sites occasionally before they appear. A second or two pause when starting an internet app like email caused by latency and delays (tcp delays) in the download stream causing app delays like webmail text not keeping up with typing occasionally or the received Skype video to momentarily 'freeze', but this is just an inconvienience at this point. Skype is mostly good when I need it.
Update June 11: A neighbor just got his old xPlornet sat service upgraded to HTS. He said that it's not 'lightning fast' (he is subscribed to the faster 5mb service and is averaging 4.5 Mb down and has not checked upload yet). He can do Netflix with minimal pauses. Correction... he ran into poor speed issues a few weeks later. I'll not try Netflix until this service is more stable. Download speed is dropping to 800 kbps tonight and getting some tcp pauses again. Skype ok though.
Update June 21: Working great. Some occasional evening slowdowns, but even then hugely better than old dialup. Have set up DDNS with no-ip.com, plugged it into my TPLINK Router, and am monitoring response times and uptime through Pingdom.com.
Update June 23: Have configured uptime reporting using DDNS and Pingdom.com. Anyone can view my live uptime and response time report at »stats.pingdom.com/rd6in85lnoxq/589922.
Update June 30:...well the long weekend is here....a bit sluggish at times, but email and Facebook running OK. Hard drive light is on a lot lately causing my notebook to slow down...I'm not blaming the network connection on this......I'll have to figure out the cause...RAM amount is OK, maybe I'll check the paging file size or try out Linux....any suggestions would be appreciated. Still reasonably happy with xPlornet/Viasat. I occasionally see its speed capability in brief bursts. xPlornet still needs to get their bandwidth feed and traffic shaping settings fine tuned to reduce excessive tcp delays and let Viasat shine. This is a shared connection and I accept that fact.
Update July 10...Standard 3Mbps/500Kbps service. Average DN: 2Mbps UP: 279Kbps. Uptime: 99.31%. Me and a couple of other HTS users have experienced some degraded performance since approximately July 1. One 'Max' 5Mbps user is now experiencing excessive buffering in Netflix where it was OK at first. xPlornet is 'aware of bandwidth congestion' particularly in evening hours and is working on it with currently no resolution date. They have offered me a $15 discount until this issue is resolved. To be fair...basic services like email and browsing are usually available and Skype worked OK for me last night.
Update July 17...Speed back up since noon on July 11th. xPlornet added a couple more 'carriers' to the spot beam (#7) that serves Eastern Ontario to help balance user load. Download speed now meets or exceeds 3 Mbps frequently. Now there are four HTS users on this island, and one more soon. One who was upgraded from the old xplornet satellite service yesterday really appreciates the huge increase in performance with HTS......Correction...saw this user on August 3rd and they have also experienced slow performance in early August...comment.."Back to where they were with the old satellite."
Update August 02....Average DN: 2.5Mbps UP: 307Kbps. Uptime: 96.56%. Speed test results have improved, but I continue have some concern with uptime changes to traffic shaping since March, occasional pauses in response and reductions in download speed. The reporting portion of the Customer Portal is still under development.
Update September 01...Average DN: 2.75Mbps UP: 526Kbps Total Used August: 14Gb Uptime: 98.44 (adjusted). 18 hours of downtime removed because I was not available to reboot my modem and router. xPlornet can 're-register' the Surfbeam 2 modem to restore normal speed..done at least twice lately. Continuing pauses in response and reductions in download speed. The reporting portion of the Customer Portal is still under development. ****Started Netflix trial Sept 18. A 1 minute pause / 5 minutes on PC (Microsoft Silverlight issue) but OK on Wii console even in rainy weather...like it sofar****
Update October 01...Average DN: 2Mbps UP: 269Kbps Total Used September: 15+Gb Uptime: 97.09%. Netflix continues to work OK on the Wii but hogs over 1.5Mbps of 2Mbps bandwidth. The xPlornet Facebook presence continues to be uninformative and negative contrary to my experience with this connection. I continue trying to justify $64.99/mo. for rural internet access.
Update November 01...Average (Testmy.net) DN: 1.9Mbps UP: 266Kbps Total Used October: 15+Gb Uptime: 99.23%. Using Netflix is a pleasure. It is always working with rarely a pause. Download speeds are more consistent. Only concern is that every day or two I have to make multiple requests to load a webpage. My confidence in the stability of HTS has improved greatly over the last two months.
Update December 01...Average (Testmy.net) DN: 2.1Mbps UP: 290Kbps Total Used October: 15+Gb Uptime: 98.27%. Netflix up almost 100%. Still have to make multiple requests to load a webpage almost daily. Skype still useable, but video more pixellated up and down since mid summer (maybe xPlornet made a change to their traffic shaping around June/July). Two instances in December already of a very good modem SNR, but having to make a quick call to xPlornet support to restore connectivity. Support was prompt and effective.
Update January 01...Average (Testmy.net) DN: 2.3Mbps UP: 352 Kbps Total Used December: 24.94 Gb Uptime: 98.84% (Not including December 31 reporting outage caused by me having to reactivate my free »www.no-ip.com account). A speed tester is reporting regular evening slowdowns, but interestingly enough, this is not reflected in Netflix. Video streaming continues to work well but in the first two weeks of January, I have been seeing some ooccasional sluggish performance and have been having to repeat click more frequently. Have now migrated to Linux Zorin on an old Dell Inspiron 640m P4 1.8Mhz 80Gb HDD/1Gb Ram. I could have not even thought of downloading an OS like Zorin over my old dialup connection. Zorin has much better performance than my old Windows XP Pro that this notebook was running. No more 'disk thrashing' . I am mainly using Zorin right now for Email, Facebook Skype and Netflix. LibreOffice spreadsheet works great, but I have been getting some crashes with LibreOffice presentations. Netflix is not pausing to buffer even though it runs under Wine and with Silverlight under Linux. I am not able to install Jack Dinn's speed tester under Wine yet, but I'm working on it. Zorin detects USB devices like my Canon SX20 very well.
Update February 01...Average (Testmy.net) DN:2.7 Mbps UP:329 Kbps Total Used January: 20.88 Gb Uptime:98.84% Still was getting regular evening slowdowns to January 7th. but Netflix OK all month. Video streaming was poor around January 25. I still see some occasional sluggish performance and have to repeat click occasionally. Skype to the Carribean was bad around January 25. On 3 of 4 occasions I had to turn off video because latency increased to over 4000mS from 800ms with video causing broken up video and sound. Latency dropped back to 800mS when video was turned off. I am investigating the cause of this. Linux Zorin still working well. I may start looking at Workspaces in Zorin.
Update March 01....Average (Testmy.net) DN:3.1 Mbps UP:343Kbps. Peaks 4.8 Mbps/398Kbps. Total Used February: 19.84 Gb Uptime:98.21%. There was a step improvement in download speed early February when xPlornet added another carrier to the beam that serves this area to balance load. A 16hr outage caused by my router being turned off is not included. Still a very useable internet connection. Had to remove some wet snow from TRIA horn once to restore signal and looked into a dish cover. A bit more sluggish performance and having to repeat click more often in February/March and more 'Server Not Found' and "Connection reset" messages following 'Looking up www...." with the modem stats still reasonable. Netfix still working fine. Still waiting for xPlornet useage trakker to start working and be set up same as Wildblue so that an external graphing utility can use its data
Update April 04....Average (Testmy.net) DN Mbps UP: Kbps. Peaks Mbps/ Kbps. Total Used March: Gb Uptime: %. In the last week, I have not been getting the 'Server Not Found' and "Connection reset" messages. Maybe that issue is fixed. In March, I purchased an entry level Samsung Galaxy Ace ii x 'Smartphone'. I loaded it with Facebook, Skype and Netflix. Netflix actually starts up a bit faster on this unit than my older notebook PC and runs flawlessly over my home xPlornet satellite wifi 'hotspot'.
I am also documenting my experience with this new service on my Facebook tech page 'woodlane.ca'.
Attachments:
Comments:
 | | Xplornet is the worst of the worst Xplornet cost us thousands of dollars and caused extreme frustration during the years that we had no other choice. We now are on with a local company that uses wireless towers. This still isn't great, but it works much better than Xplornet ever did. We were so tired of watching that little circle on the screen go around and around - and around a few thousand more times . . .
Fair access policy? A nice euphemism for oversold.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I'm not interested in trying the new satellite, not as long as Xplornet has anything to do with it. | |
| | Reviews:
 ·Xplornet
| Re: Xplornet is the worst of the worst I tested and logged the old satellite performance at a neighbour's home prior to the upgrade to HTS. I agree it was terrible with a lot of 'throttling'. A 1 Mb file took about a minute to download! Cost was higher too.
Wireless is better than satellite provided the customer is close to the ISP's tower and the ISP is not overselling it. Unfortunately wireless here is no good. Another neighbour on wireless can't even check his email sometimes and it cuts out altogether in bad weather. Like wireless and other shared 'last mile' services the ISP needs to manage access to the bandwidth that they supply or else I could take up all of it downloading large files. This is my first experience with an ISP called 'xPlornet' and I am cautiously watching how they manage bandwidth and their customer service before I sign up for a longer term. To-date, I have seen some evening slowdowns, but I have seen evidence of them working on their bandwidth, and I have had good personal experience with their support of this new generation of satelite service.
I too would have been a very disappointed customer if I was tied by contract to their old satellite service. My total cost over a 2 year term will be $1528. I would like to see the government give residential customers especially those on fixed incomes some kind of 'telecom tax credit' to help reduce some of the 15% HST tax that we have to pay on phone, broadband and satellite services that are becoming 'essential' services. | |
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| |  latency...?
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| | | | Re: latency...? Fortunately latency is not an issue for me. I only use Facebook and Skype to connect with family, email and web browsing for research. | |
| | | dave_caPremium
join:2004-09-01
Royalton, NB | Re: latency...? Thank you for the review - I find it discouraging that the 5Mpbs service has degraded, hopefully they can resolve the issues. | |
| | | | Reviews:
·Xplornet
| Re: latency... and performance improvement Feedback I have received regarding recent degraded speed "there are some issues and they will be resolved as quickly as possible by XCI ... hopefully within the next two weeks." Latency of course is what it is with the distances involved, but I have found that Skype works quite well with it. The issue right now is XCI getting their traffic shaping fine tuned, and striking a balance between customer load and available bandwidth (which isn't cheap). | |
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| | | All the marketing hype in the world can't change the physics of a 20,000+ kilometer connection. 700ms+ for Satellite is actually 'good' relatively speaking... I can't believe that OP Skype's over that though... | |
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| | Upload Speed Since installation of the Xplornet sat service a month ago, my upload speed had gone from 660kbps to 500, to 300, to 120. Download still holds easy at 5mb/s. I wanted the service for a dsl like upload speed, where 5mb or 3mb down was not an issue. Of course they advertise 750kbps for the upload on the MAx package. | |
| | Reviews:
·Xplornet
| Re: Upload Speed Upload speed has remained fairly consistent around 400 kbps on the 'spot beam' that feeds Eastern Ontario. There was a slowdown on both upload and download streams from July 1 to 12. I am now using the JD Automated Speed Tester '»www.gmwsoftware.co.uk/' in addition to Testmy.net. | |
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| | slower speeds I live in South Western Quebec and have been using the new Xplornet Satellite - I was on the old one for about 5 years. In the last week or so my Rx SNR has dropped to roughly 6dB with a cable attenuation of 5.2 dB. I am in the overlap between beam 7 and 8. They are sending a technician to adjust dish. Has anyone else had this problem? | |
| | Reviews:
·Xplornet
| Re: slower speeds - Dish Alignment / Beam Designations The dish is spec'd at around 45mph winds per Viasat. Mine is in a somewhat sheltered location and I haven't had any misalignment problem yet.
BTW... these beam numbers must be internal numbers used by xplornet because '»www.satbeams.com' uses different beam designations. I'm trying to find some corelation between the two identification schemes. | |
| | | | | Re: slower speeds - Dish Alignment / Beam Designations Does the Rx SNR number vary a lot. We had the same weather over the weekend and mine was at around 6.0 dB. Now it is as 8.4 dB. My download/upload speeds over the weekend were 0.18 Mb/s down and 0.16 up. On average it has been 1.84 down and 0.36 up. | |
| | | | | | Re: slower speeds - Dish Alignment / Beam Designations Ask xPlornet to 're-register your Surfbeam modem. The modem can occasionally go into basic install mode which provides only a slow connection to let the installer register it to your speed package. | |
| | | | Reviews:
·Xplornet
| Re: slower speeds - Dish Alignment / Beam Designations - SNR Speed drops off when the SNR drops to around 6.5 or lower. My SNR is almost always over 10. Cloud cover is usually not a problem with reception. My SNR is currently 8.6 with some heavy weather coming in from west and my speeds are still close to package speeds (3Mbps/500Kbps). | |
| | | | | | | Re: slower speeds - Dish Alignment / Beam Designations - SNR Still getting .7- 2.2Mbps today with heavy overcast and SNR down at 4.4 dB. | |
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Reviews:
·Xplornet
1 edit | Satellite Performance - Can DOCSIS Standard deliver? SurfBeam 2 is a modified version of the DOCSIS protocol adapted by ViaSat Inc. to the satellite physical link and adopts most recent technology for modulation on the forward channel .DOCSIS over satellite is basically the DOCSIS cable modem standard adapted for satellite platforms. Data Over Cable System Interface Standard (DOCSIS) is technically not a satellite standard, but a cable modem standard from CableLabs. Critics say the DOCSIS satellite specification falls short because DOCSIS was designed for cable networks, not satellite. They contend that DOCSIS does not account for attributes unique to a satellite environment, such as the variable link attenuation due to atmospheric conditions and long round-trip delay. Also, DOCSIS over satellite is comparatively less field-proven than its competitors.
'»dvb-rcs-mcpc-scpc.atrexx.com/tra···atellite' | |
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1 edit | Re: Satellite Performance - Can DOCSIS Standard deliver? It is the DOCSIS protocol that enables the Surfbeam system to react to poor weather conditions by varying upload and download speeds incrementally thus allowing for the connection to remain active longer. | |
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Reviews:
·Xplornet
| HTS Performance/Speed Testing and Troubleshooting Procedure The true test of my connection is how my actual apps are running like Facebook, YouTube, email etc. because performance is determined not only by my ISP but also the ISP at the other end of the 'pipe'....slow in, slow out. If these apps are all sluggish, then I look at my speed monitors troubleshoot the issue. I normally see good YouTube buffering and no pauses with my 3Mbps HTS connection. I use Testmy.net because it lets me compare to other xPlornet HTS user experience. I also use Jack Dinn's tester to correlate results with different servers.
My troubleshooting procedure:
1. Check modem SNR. If under 6.5 and bad weather, then wait for weather to clear.
2. Resolve any PC performance issue - hard drive 'thrashing', defrag etc.
3. Reboot Viasat 'Surfbeam 2' modem.
4. Reboot TP-Link WR1043ND router (or other/if used).
5. Call xPlornet support. Request modem 're-registration.
I encourage all rural high speed users to get a free '»wwwTestmy.net' account to assist with troubleshooting connections and comparing technologies. | |
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| | Xplornet Sucks i was a customer of Xplornet for 4 years. then we decided to move into the city where we could get a faster ISP provider.
After giving them 30 days notice they cancelled my service the next day and say that they cannot restore my service. | |
| | | Advice needed! We are located north of you on Hwy. #7 near Arden. At present, we are using a Telus Hub for our high speed (WiFi). Needless to say, it is incredibly expensive. Would you recommend Xplornet as a reasonable option? We use the Internet a lot, and regularly go well over 10Gbs a month, without downloading updates or anything else! I have just checked our download speed (6.42 Mbps) and our upload speed (2.36Mbps). Both seem pretty good, but speed is somewhat erratic!
Any advice you can give will be most appreciated.
Thanks, Lin | |
| | Reviews:
·Xplornet
| Re: Advice needed! Hi,
Looking at where you are, it would be a long time, if ever, before you got fibre, cable, or dsl, so that seems to leave you with wifi or satellite or cellular which is what you seem to have now and is expensive..
'»www.telusmobility.com/en/QC/smar···ta.shtml'
On the 'Standard' satellite package, you would drop to 2-3Mbps download speed and 0.5Mbps upload speed with around 800mS latency with satellite, but with a generous 30Gb per month bandwidth. There is a faster package that could give you up to 5Mbps down and a bit faster upload speed.
Wifi would be a better choice if you can get a good wireless signal with an outdoor antenna on a tower. That could give you 5-10Mbps download speed with much lower latency and even more monthly bandwidth I think. I am around 15-20Gb per month useage with Netflix.
Speed on shared connections like wifi and satellite will always be erratic to some degree depending on concurrent users. xPlornet 4g Satellite works for me (for now until something better comes along). We are on Netflix almost daily on our Wii with no problems. Call Ripnet '»www.ripnet.com' in Brockville for more info. They installed my satellite here and they sell satellite and wifi so you can choose which works best for you. Good luck! If anyone there does gaming, satellite latency might be a problem, but Skype is useable for me. | |
| | | | North Frontenac Telephone Company has DSL. Check with them | |
| | | | | Re: Advice needed! Distance limitation - DSL technology is distance sensitive. In short, it means your residence must be located within a certain distance (traditionally about 18000 ft from the CO equipment. | |
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| | graph Hello: What program is this graph from?
»/r0/download/2···0522.JPG
I want to be able to monitor my satellite over time and have a graph to save.I have been having
"issues" so i want to be able to show the bandwidth over time.
excellent-comprehensive post BTW | |
| | Reviews:
·Xplornet
| Re: graph I've pulled csv data from Testmy.net and ISPGeeks.com speed tests into Excel to produce many of my custom graphs. Both of those site can produce their own graphs to save you some time and effort. The challenge is to get a good data set of results for your installation. | |
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| | trouble with Wii access Hi
I have the ExploreNet Surfbeam 2 Satellite/modem, the EnGenius ESR6650 router - they work fine for wireless access to my PC and Mac. I also have a Wii through which I want to get Netflix - but when entering the SSID for wireless connections in the Wii set-up, I get an SSL connection error message. I have used the same SSID/router key as issued for the router.
Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks | |
| | Reviews:
·Xplornet
| Re: trouble with Wii access Try temporarily disabling security in your router.
Ensure your router is set to 'Enable SSID Broadcast'.
Security Disabled - not using WEP or WPA since I am out in the country with no nearby homes.
Maybe the Wii does not accommmodate WEP or WPA.
I use a TP-Link TL-WR1043ND Router. It works OK with my Wii and Neflix runs almost all the time OK. Good luck! | |
| | | | The Wii only supports up to 'WPA2 personal'. Setting a router at 'WPA2 enterprise' will result in no connection being able.
extra: If you still have the WPS enabled, it is a major security hole and easily hackable.
If your SSID is set to invisible, you may have to enable it temporarily for the Wii to see the router for initial connection. | |
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| | pingdom?
I really appreciate how you've recorded all this great info.
I followed your lead and setup pingdom but its reporting a constant outage. How did you determine what IP address to use? I went to whatsmyipaddress.com.
Thanks! | |
| | Reviews:
·Xplornet
| Re: pingdom? DDNS It sounds like you might have to set up DDNS and add a dynamic DNS entry to your Pingdom setup like I did. This is because most ISP's change the IP Address for home connections periodically, therefore PIngdom can't track your connection after it changes.
I did this by purchasing a TP-Link WR1043ND Router that supports DDNS and works well with my satellite 4g HTS connection and setting up a free account at www.no-ip.com. No-ip provides you with a permanent IP address of your choice that points to whatever IP your ISP is using at any given point in time. You can use this fixed IP address to do all kinds of things. | |
| | | | | Re: pingdom? DDNS Thanks for getting back to me.
I started down the no-ip path till I realized my router (Cisco RV042G) only supports a couple of pay services.
Even without that, I've confirmed my ip address hasn't changed through some online tools.
Did you specify any additional values in the Pingdom check?
Thanks again! | |
| | | | Reviews:
·Xplornet
1 edit | Re: pingdom? DDNS Not that I'm aware of...
My TP-Link WR1043ND Router comes with a Dynamic DNS (DDNS) feature. It let me select one of three DDNS service providers. I use "www.no-ip.com. It tem asked for the domain name that I had chosen through No-Ip.com. That's all.
I looked at my Pingdom setup and all it asked for was an IP Address. That is where I entered the no-ip.com DDNS that I decided on with no-ip.com.
My thoughts are...one or both of...try a free no-ip.com address and plug it in to your router, and if your router does not support DDNS, see if getting one is an option.
You can also contact me through my 'woodlane.ca' Facebook tech page.
Regards,
Gerry | |
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| | Stuck with the worst service ever I've had Xplornet for 2 years and can't wait for the day it becomes my X Xplornet. But it's all I have. Every bit of rain, light or hard we lose connection. Sometimes the speed is slower than dial-up. To update the computer I have to bring it to a techy to do the updates for me. They told me they were sending one of their tech guys to check it out and then cancelled the order again as soon as they got off the phone with me. Shame on them praying on the helpless. | |
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Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain rogers.com)
lodged 1 year ago
- K0K3A
- Contract price not specified.
- "Installation and speed"
- "nothing bad yet"
- "very satisfied"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:
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I had Xplornet 4G service installed 2 weeks ago, 1 year contract, 5Mbps. I know it's only 2 weeks but so far I am very happy with it. Installer did an excellent job installing the dish on our very high roof, very clean job. Speed is between 3-5Mbps. all day long, sometimes a little higher sometimes less, but never below 2.85Mbps. I am a very happy customer so far.
Over the past 10 years I had Bell dial-up, Frontier and Reztel broadband. Never achieved speeds higher than 1 Mbps. and rarely that. I also had Rogers Hub for 2 years. Never got any higher than 1 Mbps. I was frustrated. We live in the country near Belleville, Ontario, just 10minutes north of the 401. When I heard Xplornet 4G comes to this area, I signed up and so far have no complaints about them.
Thought I have to let you know something positive after reading all that negative stuff about Xplornet.
Fricka
Comments:
| | satellite I have been on dialup forever, now awaiting installation from xplornet of their satellite, do you run out of gigs? | |
| | Reviews:
 ·Acanac
| Re: satellite It's usually not until after the first month ( when you're stuck in the contract) before the service starts going down the crapper.
I'm going to revisit your review in a month or so and see if it's still glowing... 
Good Luck...You're going to need it! | |
| | | | Well. I have 30 days to get out of it if I don't like the service, also I only signed up for a year. | |
| | | Reviews:
·Acanac
| Re: satellite said by Annnoe :Well. I have 30 days to get out of it if I don't like the service, also I only signed up for a year.
I also opted for the higher cost per month and shorter contract. Mind you they tried like hell to get me to sign up for 3 years (thank god I didn't).
I think I lasted 7 months before I told them to come get their crap off my house and paid for the "early exit fee". Even then they still managed to hit me for a bogus charge claiming the installer couldn't find a piece of hardware. It was only 20 bucks or so and I begrudgingly gave it to them instead of wasting my precious time on hold with these schmucks.
My neighbors now have had the new 4g service for a couple months and loved it at first, but just like magic after the first month the speed halved and the ping times increased. They were also unaware of the 30 gig/month cap but that's their own fault. They are now paying 64.99 for up to 3.0 Mbps (really only 1.0 Mbps) with a 30 gig cap...Lol what a joke. | |
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| | XXX plorenet it sucks so bad i feel like i'm getting f'd out of my money. Can we please have a reliable provider to scugog island. What a waste worst than dial up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | |
| | | Rural areas Who do you sign up with then in rural areas for internet & home phone & TV? | |
| | | your complaining about which service? Everyone is complaining about their service but they don't seem to have the 4G service so.. i have the kaboom service .. 1.5mb down 128kb up with a 50mb throttling per hr.
Yeah ... it sucks compared to the 7mb i had with bell before ... but i get what i signed up for... so im am surprised at how many people that complain about the speed... maybe it is the wireless vs satellite
anyway ... anyone else with experiences on the 4G satellite service from xplornet ?? | |
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·Xplornet
1 edit | Re: your complaining about which service? I had the '4G' service installed here (Howe Island) in March. Skyped with family again today. Both times OK. You can see my review here on dslreports. I also have a Facebook page called 'woodlane.ca' that documents my experiences with this HTS service.
I am monitoring my connection 24/7 at » Testmy.net and ». ispgeeks.com for these first few months under the username 'Woodlane'.
On Facebook, I have a chart that compares your old xPlornet service to this new HTS service.....a world of difference!!! | |
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| | Accounting Issues I canceled my xplornet service on Feb 13/12. Not because we were totally unhappy with the quality but because we bundled with another provider. I emailed and phoned my cancellation in. I was told I would be receiving a credit for the balance of February. On March 1, they took a payment from my bank account. I have made 3 calls so far and I still am not getting anywhere with my refund and my credit. I ask to speak to a supervisor, they won't transfer me. I ask to speak to the accounting department, I'm told they can't be reached. No one can give me an answer of where my money is. So for a company that I would have switched back to, not anymore. | |
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Review by Tig
member for 6.7 years, 632 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 3 years ago
- Consecon,ON
- Contract price not specified.
- "Ease of install if you can see the tower."
- "a bit more expensive for the speed available"
- "Reliable with good technical support."
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I had problems getting DSL installed so I opted for the more expensive point to point wireless solution. Install was quick and flawless.
I am 14 km away from the tower but I can see it. Line of sight is very important if you are this far away.
I have the 3 Meg package. With static IP. My speed tests out at over 3 Meg down and 600 up. Cost is just under $60 after taxes etc
The tech came out to survey the site and gave me the option of on the spot install. Start to finish less than one hour.
They use the motorolla Canopy system. I have a reflector dish installed.
I needed to be able to use my VoIP gateway for internet at this location to give me any benefit. At first the VoIP gateway would not connect. Xplornet technical support was very co-operative when I requested setup information and changes to test different subscriber module configurations. In the end, the setup I required was only available to customers who had leased the optional static IP. All this was accomplished during the free trial period. I am leasing the optional static IP and I have no regrets.
I use this connection for work. One day the connection went down. I called support and found out that this was a scheduled maintenance outage. I commented how this impacted me and suggested that they should send and email to warn customers in advance. Now they send email warnings in advance. Nice to know they are listening.
There were some evening sags in throughput last year where speed could plummet to the point where VoIP became choppy. Although it took some time to resolve Xplornet was responsive in working on and monitoring the situation. Speed is consistent and better than ever now.
I have had this ISP for 18 months.
Update, December 2008
Still a happy customer. Speeds have increased. Over 4M down and 1M up. They do traffic shape but they were very clear about that from the get go. That's fair.
Customer service is still among the best of any ISP I have had. Only Teksavvy is in the same league.
Update December 2009. I would still recommend this ISP. (terrestrial point to point) Xplornet is an excellent solution in areas that otherwise would not get broadband. Very reasonable rates for areas that have no alternative. If I had one complaint it's that at the end of my initial 3yr contract they choose to begin charging $5 a month for the dish rental. Not the modem but the pizza pan reflector. This is no surprise as it was clear in the contract but the idea of paying an extra $5 a month for a piece of hardware that is worth less than $50 bugs me. I called to discuss, they would not.
In my area DSL has always been a cheaper alternative but customer service is important to me so I chose Xplornet. The $5 dish charge made me check the Teksavvy site again. They now market in my area and I am filling out the order today.
Update Jan 2010
I have discontinued my service with this ISP. I called and spoke to a customer service agent. She was friendly and efficient. Billing stopped that day. A technician dropped by the next week to pick up their hardware. My experience with this ISP is that they are professional without exception. They always communicated effectively. No surprises if you read the information available.
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Review by bsigg
member for 6.4 years, 43 visits, last login: 2.8 years ago
updated 3.4 years ago
- Swan River,MB
- Contract price not specified.
- "Sweet."
- "None."
- "It's awesome."
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Pretty sweet. It is so fast.
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Review by dave_ca
member for 8.6 years, 123 visits, last login: 235 days ago
updated 5.3 years ago
- Bristol,NB
- Contract price not specified.
- "Speed as advertised, Installer was great"
- "550ms latency (although expected, its still a negative) and cost"
- "I read many reviews and other information, and did not have unrealistic expectations of satellite broadband."
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*** Update - I have since canceled my contract before the 30 days expired. The Weather effect on the service is too severe... I in good concious cannot recommend this procut to anyone at anytime. Dialup is better in terms of reliability and latency ***
Well I am going to start by saying I did a lot of research before purchasing high speed satellite so I realized the downfalls before signing up. I did not expect latency below 500ms, or a constant 1 Meg download speed at all times.
My satellite high speed story starts by the purchase of my new house. The house is located outside any DSL service, and far enough that not even the WISP's in the area would service me. The closest antenna (not line of site, far from it) is more than 10kms away. This left with two options, neither of which I was looking forward to. Dialup, or the expensive, and often reviewed negatively satellite high speed.
The initial call into Xplornet was painless. I live in New Brunswick, so it was very nice to speak to someone at a call center in New Brunswick. She was very friendly and more then answered any questions I had (Witch where billing/cost questions as opposed to technical questions of the service.) In a short few minutes I had a local installers name and number. I telephoned the installer right away and was very surprised on how quick I was off the phone with an installation date set.
Install day: The installer came on the time requested. He was very well organized and knew exactly what he was doing. I showed him where I wanted the dish placed, and he had no problem placing it. He routed the cable and hooked up the modem in my basement TV room, hidden a closet out of the way (Getting my wireless router to function with the service was a non issue). Once installed, the installer performed a speed test and we confirmed the service was running at 950/189, acceptable to me as I signed up for the 1000/256 plan. Latency was, on average 550ms while doing a ping test to a server in New York City
The cost is the only thing that bothers me. I do realize it’s a new technology, and I realize the cost of launching the KA band satellite was high, but I view the initial cost of 550 dollars (200 for equipment, 200 for installation and 99 for access fee and about 50 with taxes- all figures rounded) to be expensive. Also 99 dollars a month for 1000/256 package is extremely expensive, I was paying 45 dollars a month for DSL 5000/768 before. Given the choice between DSL, Cable, Wireless or Satellite, Satellite would be my last choice, simply because of the high cost for the bandwidth received.
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Review by Pilgrim2
member for 11.1 years, 1342 visits, last login: 1.3 years ago
lodged 6.3 years ago
- Seton Portage,BC
- Contract price not specified.
- "Stable, good Level 2 support, performance always above 80% of advertised speeds."
- "expensive compared to other broadband; both initially for hardware purchase and monthly fee"
- "When satellite is your only alternative to dialup its definitely worth the cost."
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I had been using a Ku Band system for nearly 3 years when Xplornet (aka: Lincsat) offered the new Ka Band packages. Aside from the claims for significant gains in upload speed, just the opportunity to get rid of Hughes was enough to make me seriously consider switching. The system was much easier to install, performance has been most always over 80% of the advertised speeds of my particular package (1000 kbps/256 kbps). Rarely have I ever seen a loss of service due to severe weather. It has been rock solid for the most part. Compared to other types of broadband, satellite service due to its very nature is far more expensive. But if dialup is all that is available in your area, the satellite alternative is certainly something to consider.
Xplornet has been a reasonably good company to deal with as ISPs go, especially when you compare them to Direcway.
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 Review by The Geezer
member for 8.2 years, 1152 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 6.7 years ago
- 43.3Á
- Contract price not specified.
- "Tech support for the Professional Level Installations."
- "Entry Level support marginal. Expensive (like all Satellite accounts)"
- "Best value for the money for Satellite."
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Had Direcway/Xplornet account since January 2005. A few initial glitches were quickly and expertly dealt with. They have the best support technicians of any Internet services I have used so far.
If you have to have Satellite because of no DSL, Cable or Wireless available, this is the best way to go. But if any of the other services are available, grab it and save yourself $$$ and a few headaches.
I wrote a review of LincSat earlier at which is the previous name of Xplornet. The same comments apply.
I have the $149/month Small Office account DW6000 service with a 98cm dish on a steel pole. I will soon be moving to a KaBang account which is the same level of service (SOHO) for about $15/month less for a two year contract. I will update my review soon after the installation date.
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July 4th 2006
I have now gone from the Xplornet DW 6000 account to the "Ka-Bang" (Small Office) Telesat service through Xplornet. The speeds for both download and upload are significantly faster with the Surfbeam modem than with the DW 6000. The upper range advertised is 1.5 Mps on download which I regularly attain or surpass. Since the package is less expensive with faster service, I am upgrading the Value for Money another notch.
But I have to downgrade Install Co-ordination a notch for two reasons. I had to play tag with the installer in my area over several months before the install was done, but once a time was arranged the switch went very quickly and smoothly.
There also seems to be a problem with Xplornet administration, because when I had the DW 6000 installed they set me up with the basic 'value' package even though I arranged to have the Small Office package (and faxed in a signed contract to that effect). The same thing happened with the KaBang install. I sent in a signed 2-year contract at the Small Office level and Xplornet was all prepared to set me up with the KaZam (basic) 3-year contract. So I have had to be back and forth with Xplornet administration to get things straightened out both times.
The equipment is first rate and the install went quite well even though some of it was done during a severe thunder/rain/hail storm. Because the cables and the installation done with the DW 6000 install were done right, I didn't have to buy new cables, ground block, etc. All that had to be done was to install and aim the newer, smaller dish, hook up the Surfbeam modem, turn everything on and wait for the account data to come from Telesat to my modem and I was set. For that reason the install was done very cheaply (No Charge! - in exchange for my DW 6000 equipment).
I am still very pleased with the tech support, although I haven't tested it yet with the KaBang account (and I hope I don't have to!)
I would like to see a few things done at Xplornet: 1) Develop a dial-up service for the times that the NOC is down. 2) Allow users to log into an Administration page where they can review their usage and other details of their account info and their Internet connection (like Wildblue users have). Perhaps a link to one or two speed testing sites would also be helpful.
Geezer
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Review by hytanium
member for 7.2 years, 16 visits, last login: 6.5 years ago
lodged 7.1 years ago
- Canada
- Contract price not specified.
- "Fast! Reliable and fair uploads"
- "None so far"
- "Can't get any other Broadband type. This Satellite access rules."
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I am a 4 year Direcway vetran with the Small Business Plan at $149.99 / month through C-Com. I was even a dealer/installer. Had the 4000, 4020, and then 6000. Also I used the .98m dish hoping for better reliability. Bottom line, Direcway technology sucks.
My installer quickly set-up the dish, modem and ran a couple of speed tests which bursted over the advertised speeds and settled slightly lower. Pings have been reduced by 100-200ms and browsing is enjoyable, not painful like Direcway. For $10 less per month I have 1.5 Mbps down and 300Kbps Upload.
Dynamic IP, but using Dyndns.org
I will rate more once I have used it a little longer. Bottom Line, Fantastic Technology!
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Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain ca.inter.net)
lodged 7.2 years ago
- B2Y 2
- Contract price not specified.
- "speed, reliability (so far)"
- "nothing"
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Had Xplornet Ka service installed on Tuesday, Jan 17th.
Installation painless. Downloads 1.1 Mbps, Uploads 200 kbps.
Set it up with Linksys 802.11b router with no problems.
No complaints at all. Very good for remote areas.
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Review by energy105fm
member for 7.2 years, 2 visits, last login: 7.2 years ago
lodged 7.2 years ago
- Canada
- Contract price not specified.
- "You get a Real Public IP"
- "Servers and connection sharring is tricky, but theres ways around it"
- "One of the less restrictive Sat Isp"
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Explornet ( Can Ver of WB ) My Experiences
Hello most people out there are wondering how good do these new guys work. There is not much tech info. Just a little package details on the speeds etc. It looks good on paper.
I been using explornet now for one month. And these are the observations I have noticed.
1) You better know a little about networking to get this to work... Their tech support is useless. On one case my Sat modem was crashing lights going off and all and I explained that and the tech support tells me that it seems like I am having speed problems and to go to their speed test site. Well I just told them Its off line!
2) the service works ok for now. I got the 2mbps down and 500kbps up package for around 200$ a month. Speeds are not bad at all. I get 2mbps pritty well at all times. And it even bursts faster to around 5mbps for 10 secs. Whats nice about this is you can do some downloading and another pc and the network can surf the net without beeing bogged down.The upload is never canstant but it stays around the 300-400kbps range
3) ping times are around 500-600ms so its still not good for games.
3) people have been experiancing problems with p2p on this system. As far as I know they are not blocking any ports. See the trouble comes from the system itself. Any sateleite connection have high lentency... thats a big no no for p2p and most programs out there like limewire have a timeout limit set that you cannot change so when your trying to connect to sources most of them just "time out" and nothing happends. The fix for this is to go find a p2p client that you can set a timeout value. I don't know of one but in all of them that I tried this one here works very well on explornet. Its called KCeasy and it connects to Ares, Gnutella and openft. Without playing with any settings I can download files with many sources at my full speed
3) servers Ok here is the fun part.. your paying lots of money for this Internet connection and you can't have a server.... I found ways around this. more of a "Patch" job. Since explornet is very anoying with its nerver ending changing ip's You need to get a free dns service. There are tons out there just do a google search. Poeple who have ran any kind of server at all may have noticed after a few hours regardless what port that the sat modem knows about it and starts to firewall the server from the outside world. Unplugin the modem to make it reboot seems to cleer its memory on your server and your good for a little while... an easy fix... put a timmer on the sat modem and program it to reset a few times a day.
3) sharring your connection... Ok they do not support this. I even called and they would not guide me on how to setup a home router to their network. I tried all popular brands.. linkys dlink etc.... most of these routers wont even pick up the dhcp address of explornet and after resetting the modem 10 times it might pick it up and work for some time... nothing but head aches... So 2 can play the game... That fix is a linux gateway. I run Ipcop .. a free linux router.. It works great and I now have no problems sharing this Internet connection... Very easy router.. Its all web based like a dlink router so you ca setup unlimited numbers of virtual servers or do some bandwith shapping if this will be used in a large office
4) VOIP ... I got vonage on this and It works great.. Some people think that theres to much delay I dont really notice it ... My Digital cell phone has more delay and echo then my vonage.
5) Famous FAP...... if you read on their terms of use its there.... but there is no limit set... I been downloading lots of linux iso's at full network speed at once and it did not bother me.. what I think this is is simply like most isp's out there... most all have a FAP notice just to protect them if ever they would catch you abuse the service then they can limit you without you going after them...
So My conclusion is if you know how to work with networks then this system is really not at all that bad for now.
Hope this is some help for the people that want to try it without spending 400$ just to "find out"
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