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Review by oscy See Profile

  • Location: Birmingham, Jefferson, AL, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:

I recommended Exede to my 80 year-old mother based on past experience. It wasn't great when we had it, but it wasn't horrible either. Now:

she was told the install fee would be waived - they just suspended her account for nonpayment of a $300 installation fee. Also, the first bill was $30 higher than she had been told it would be.

She signed up for phone service - one month later, they still have been unable to establish phone service, nor do they appear anywhere close.

The internet is sloooow - much slower than the previous Verizon cell service she had, noticeably slower than even standard cell service (and she lives in a rural area, where cell service is spotty at best.)

The connection to their customer service reps is always atrocious. The reps are barely understandable.

overall - I feel bad because I recommended them, and her experience turned out to be the WORST. if that is the level of service Exede/Viasat has descended to, don't bother. not even worth the effort.

member for 3.7 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 3.7 years ago

OKCAPLUMB
join:2014-07-29
Guthrie, OK

OKCAPLUMB

Member

Non Contract Option

It clearly states on their website that if you take the non contract option, it's a $300 up front charge. I didn't even know they offered the option until you mentioned it.

Review by Venom1 See Profile

  • Location: Leesville, Vernon, LA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Provides internet connectivity to rural areas.
Network speeds nowhere near what they claim, Monthly cost for service is outrageous at $165 USD per month for 30 mbps download
Company extorts customers that have no other options.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:

I have unfortunately been an Exede customer for just over 3 years and have hated pretty much every minute of it, with a few exceptions.

First off after calling every internet provider in my area and being told that my newly purchased home was outside the coverage area I was forced to contact Viasat/Excede for service. Now when I called to order the service the first lady I spoke with was very nice, pleasant and informative. (AKA= one HeII of a salesman) I was sold the "Unlimited Gold 30" which come to find out should be called the throttled pyrite 30 Plan. "Unlimited" apparently means 150GB limit then you are throttled back to pre-dialup speeds. I was told that I would get 30mbps download speeds which I have not seen even once in the 3 years. \

The guy who installed my service was very good and did what he could to get the best signal available

member for 3.8 years, 1 visits, last login: 3.8 years ago
lodged 3.8 years ago

dplantz
join:2000-08-02
Bradenton, FL

dplantz

Member

Starlink

I would recommend you consider Space X's Starlink sat broadband when its available to purchase later this year. You would be paying less for much better bandwidth and likely much higher data caps or no data caps. It won't be known till its available. »www.starlink.com

Review by BellSouthBS See Profile

  • Location: Fort Lauderdale, Broward, FL, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Advertise 25 mbps downlink 24/7; typically unaffected by light to moderate rain
High cost; long outages during heavy rain; Tech Support does NOT resolve issues
You must be able to live with substandard tech service, broken promises, and internet outages during heavy thunderstorms
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

UPDATE: January 27, 2019

Download speed slowing drastically as ViaSat ramps up TV advertising

My ViaSat (EXEDE) dowlink speed had dipped to 8 mhz as of 3 pm Saturday. At 12:37 am, using DSLREPORTS Speed Test, I was only able to get 4.72 Mbps down (less than 2 Mbps down the first time I tried). I was usually able to get around 30 Mbps down, and 40+ in the early morning hours. I believe ViaSat is attempting a major sign-up campaign before Oneweb and other Low Latency, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite TeraByte ISP Constellations can get up and running. Their $99, 25Mbps, 150gb Plan now costs over $130/mo, and their built-in WiFi modem still doesn't work. When I turn it on, nobody can connect, and it wipes out all the other WiFi devices in the house, including those on the other side of the house that are connected to a different Access Point on a different channel.

-------------------

UPDATE: November 12, 2017

Equipment Problem:

Modem speed continues to decrease, and is now under 1 Mb/s down. Since Exede refuses to correct/fix/replace an FCC controlled device and service, I am filling out an FCC complaint form, BBB complaint, FTC complaint, and AG complaint for my State. My download speed was originally much greater than the 25 Mb/s I pay for, but has now dwindled to an erratic 0.665 Mb/s. Hard-wired speeds remains acceptable, but my cellphone, tablet, and Roku all use wifi. There is no way for the customer to shut down the wifi in the EXEDE modem: it is set to blast out at 100% power, making it useless to place your own router next to the malfunctioning EXEDE modem, unless you string up a 50 foot ethernet cable to a modem in another room. See DSL REPORTS speedtest picture at end of my review. This is a far cry from the 43 Mbps down and 5 Mbps upload that I originally had with the same equipment.

----------------------------

UPDATE August 22, 2017

Equipment Problem:

I use EXEDE as a backup for Comcast. A partial failure in the EXEDE proprietary modem occurred after a lightning strike. Ethernet connections became erratic, and WiFi download speeds plunged from ~30 to 40 Mbps down to 1 to 10 Mbps on average, and 0.1 to ~2 Mbps up. After a year of exceptional performance, the EXEDE modem now becomes unresponsive and sometimes fails to give a DNS address. I have connected an outboard router for DHCP and specified GOOGLE's DNS addresses: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

When a Tier 2 ViaSat Tech remotely connected to my laptop, he could not access the EXEDE modem at 192.168.100.1. He then accessed the EXEDE modem through the satellite (by FTP, SSH, or ?) and reported that he ran a speed test which produced more than 40 Mbps down. Tier 2 service then connected to my router and moved the WiFi from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz, then reset bandwidth from 20 MHz wide to 40 MHz wide. (Unfortunately, since most of my equipment is on 2.4 GHz. I had to move the modem back.) Speeds went to 12 to 14 Mbps average, but never again reached the advertised 25 Mbps that I am paying for. An earlier Tier 2 tech named "JOAB" (who by his attitude showed that he didn't even want to be on the phone, let alone be bothered with someone else's problem, said he refuses to authorize or send new modem, and "I should be lucky to be getting more than 1 Mbps, because some customers only get 1"

JOAB used his mute button so often that it was like speaking with someone who was having a fight with his girlfriend on another line. There were VERY, VERY long pauses, and I had to ask a couple times if anyone was there. Having owned and operated my own microwave communications company, and having served as a Federal Communications Commission Liaison Committee for the Society of Broadcast Engineers, I have never ran up against this type of poor customer service. I am also paying extra each month for EXEDE's premiere "EasyCare" customer service. If I didn't know anything about WiFi infrastructure and didn't have redundant 1 GHz failsafe routers, Ubiquiti Unifi switches and access points, all interconnected by multi-mode fiber to isolate nodes because of lightning and related ESD, maybe I'd accept the BS I'm getting from this company. Their infrastructute is actually quite good, but they can't handle a modem that became intermittent after a nearby lightning strike that also took out 2 of my security cameras.

Please compare the last 2 dslreports speedtest pictures below to the erratic and slow service I'm getting now because Mark Dankberg is apparently too cheap to part with a replacement modem to keep a customer happy. The homes in my area are located on acre parcels, so there is no WiFi congestion or strong co-channel interference. Ethernet speeds remain high, but intermittently lose connectivity to this erratic modem.

I am still paying for Exede's 25 Mbps service.

I will now be switching to ONEWEB as soon as they activate their satellites.

-------------------------------------------------------------

New $99 Freedom Plan: 150 gb per month. Actual cost is $119 and change plus tax per month because of modem rental and the optional 25 mb/s download speed. They do have a 2-year contract.

After Comcast went dead all night last Thursday, I looked for a backup. I had a microwave dish aimed at a Clearwire WiMax site until they shut down their system last November. My Clearwire wireless modem indicated I had a continuous uptime greater than 10,000 hours. I have a UPS on all my links and APs, and on the Netgear cable modem for Comcast. Comcast cable ALWAYS goes out during the slightest power grid interruption or even a momentary power grid sag, so I lose TV, internet, and my Ooma Voip service. AT&T dsl had proven unreliable in my area, and the fact that AT&T Tier 2 support failed to disclosed that their modem lost the network password didn't help. I only found out about it when I went to cancel service, and was told I had to put in an access code and re-enter the password into the modem after each power outage. The reason I ended up with dsl was because on the day that AT&T was to install U-Verse, the tech showed up with a dsl modem, and told me U-Verse was still not available in my area.

After carefully looking around, I found an add for Exede satellite internet. I remembered that this company had something to do with some kind of unlimited internet at some ungodly hours after midnight and before sunrise. I looked at their latest offering, and it seemed too good to be true. 150 gigabytes per month for $99 bucks on their new "Freedom" plan, and a spotbeam was available in my area. As an FCC licensed engineer who owns a company that manufacturers microwave equipment, I knew very well that a 30 GHZ Ka Band uplink frequency from my house to a satellite sitting at a bearing of 239.9 magnetic North would have some dire consequences if a cloud sneezed, and worse if it really started crying heavily. Rain fade is a real threat for anyone using 7 GHz and above, but LNA noise has dropped dramatically in recent years, allowing for extreme weak signals to be pulled out, and digital modulation and forward error correction have come a very long way.

Knowing full well what to expect in a heavy thunderstorm, and knowing that 10 gigs per month through Sprint runs around $50, paying $99 for 150 gb sounded quite good. I placed an order, and with modem rental, plus an additional $10 bucks for 25 mbps download speed, instead of 12, my total monthly bill came out to $119 and change. Why satellite? I spent 13 days on generator power and no internet during the last hurricane. I used a Motorola Iridium Satellite phone to conduct business, because local cell sites were down.

I ordered the service on Saturday, and was told it would be installed Monday. I received a call late Saturday asking if I wanted the dish and equipment installed Sunday. I said yes. By 2 pm Sunday everything was up and running. I initially got 32 mbps down, and 5 mbps up through the modem's wifi. The speed never dropped below 25. I did the "check my connection" on the Netflix menu. Netflix popped in at 1080 without any problem. I was surprised and pleased to see how fast regular html pages loaded. They must really have some fast DNS resolvers and other goodies on this network. I expected problems and excuses, and slowdowns during primetime, but the uplink and downlink speeds remained as advertised. Maybe having the DoD as a customer on the same satellite has something to do with the end product. Overall, the only thing that would be better would be to do away with these silly bandwidth caps.

Update: May 18, 2016

My Exede modem's Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) averages 9.4 db on a clear day, and speeds are typically around 28 mbps down, but sometimes much lower. SNR is a measure of the strength (quality) of the datastream from the satellite, compared against all the noise and interference seen by the receiving equipment looking at the satellite from earth. This includes signals from other satellites operating on nearby Ku Band satellites, and the noise generated within the ViaSat satellite's Ku Band transmitter RF stages when transmission density increases due to additional prime time usage by other users. SNR is not just a simple function of increased path loss caused by rain fade. SNR can plunge to unacceptable levels and lower speeds during heavy rain. Fairly good speeds of 12 mbps down, and 2 mbps up were seen with a very low SNR of around 4 db. When SNR dropped even lower to around 3 db, download speed was around 10 mbps and 1 mbps up. Uplink speed was an unacceptable 0.5 mbps at an SNR of 2.5 db.

P1out increased inversely as SNR decreased, and ranged from +28 dbm (a little over 1/2 watt) on a clear day to a maximum p1out of 35.4 dbm (about 3.5 watts) when the receive signal was lost during a heavy rainstorm.

Technical support was of no help in trying to change the dhcp router ip range. The answer to preventing IP conflicts with existing APs or other equipment operating in the range of 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.255 is to change the 3rd section of the IP address to something else. Here is the key: IT IS UNDOCUMENTED THAT IF YOU CHANGE THE DEVICE (modem) IP ADDRESS TO 192.168.15.1 IN THE MODEM ADDRESS AND HIT SAVE, IT WILL ALSO CHANGE THE DHCP RANGE TO 192.168.15.XXX. This might help anyone who already has a system in place, and needs to change the modem's output IP to accommodate a downstream router or load-balancing/failover router or other existing equipment.

Update: July 23, 2016

Called Cust Svc. Could not use Netflix or load html pages. Connected laptop and recv'd a splash screen that said I owed money, and my service had been DEACTIVATED.

PROBLEM: I have a credit card on file, and both my EXEDE account page and my bank account confirm that the account is up to date, and the payment was paid in full on July 16th, 2016. I did not see a disconnect notice on my tablet or phone, only on my laptop when I connected it. SKYPE still worked. MY SERVICE WAS WRONGFULLY DEACTIVATED BY VIASAT, EVEN THOUGH THE ACCOUNT WAS FULLY UP TO DATE. This is inexcusable for any company, and is a red flag for the reliability of this company. I should reduce my reliability rating, not because of satellite Connection Problems, but because of incompetence and wrongful disconnection caused by negligence in administration of customer accounts. After 3 "page failed to load" attempts by the cust svc rep on the other end of the phone, the account was restored by suspending the account and then reactivating it again. The whole process took over a half hour on the phone, but she then credited my account $25.

.

July 28, 2016, 5 am

My 25+ mbps speeds that I am paying for are long gone, and what I have now is VERY erratic, even after modem reboot. Netflix resolution started at 480p at the beginning of a movie when Exede was first installed, then went to 720p or 1080p within a couple minutes. Netflix prime time resolution now typically starts at 240 and slowly goes up to 480p (sd quality, not hd) after 5 or 10 minutes, then goes no higher. Uploads occasionally drop down to 100kbps, and download speed now drops well below the 25 mbps - and this is at 6 am, with no congestion. It appears service goes down the tubes after your first couple months of service.

July 28, 2016, noon and beyond.

Internet speed and quality suddenly was restored and is actually better than it was when first installed! I also noticed that the uplink TRIA transmit power has almost doubled, from a low of around 1/2 watt before, to a minimum of 800 milliwatts now, and typically 1 watt power out. Power output fluction has been greatly reduced. Called CS. They were clueless. The graph on my speedtest app showed that the speed overshoot had previously been around 4 mbps on the uplink, followed by an immediate extreme speed decrease down to around 50 kbps (dial-up speed) to several hundred kbps, has been reduced to a minimal undershoot of about 2 mbps, followed by an acceptable recovery time to rated speed of about 200 to 500 kbps on the speedtest app graph. This extreme overcorrection had killed Netflix, and greatly decreased resolution and data transmission quality. At noon, Netflix went to 1080p resolution within the first 30 seconds of starting a video. By 4 pm (increased congestion), it took almost 2 minutes to display 1080p using Exede. I switched back to Comcast cable internet (I use EXEDE for backup). I started playing the same movie from the beginning. The starting resolution through Comcast was 480p, and full 1080p hd was acquired on Netflix in under 15 seconds. Back to Exede: By 8:30 pm, Netflix started at a blury 240 lines of resolution, and it took 90 long seconds before the video resolution finally crept up to 480p. After 3-1/2 long minutes, the resolution reached 720p, but climbed no higher. By midnight, Netflix started at a very blury and pixelated 240 lines and stayed there for 35 seconds. Step by step it finally got up to 720p after 5 minutes. Only time will tell if Excede's Netflix tweaking will be enough to offset what appears to be bandwidth overselling of ViaSat-1, and pacify old customers, while trying to gain new ones to offset costs of ViaSat-2.

Update: August 21, 2016

Exede updated firmware around the beginning of August. They also appeared to do a few more tweaks for Netflix. Netflix content now typically starts in 720 or 1080, instead of a much lower resolution. There is some kind of bug that lowers the resolution by one level within the first few minutes, then brings the resolution up to the highest resolution within a minute or two. This quirk is typically unnoticeable unless you have a data screen display activated on your tv. Netflix is once more enjoyable, and unlike our local Comcast, all the available movie content is quickly displayed, unlike Comcast, which may take up to a minute to populate the Netflix movie menu and all the pictures. Yes, Comcast is also playing games with Netflix.

Getting back to Exede, l must admit that the digital stream modulation techniques Exede uses is very robust, and rain fade has been minimized, except for the heaviest and most severe downpours. Light to moderate rain has little effect on data rates here in Florida, which has a poor suggested factor of an additional 11 db for path loss fade margin, compared to only a few db for states in the center of the U.S.

.

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member for 22 years, 287 visits, last login: 327 days ago
updated 5.1 years ago

jzmax73
join:2011-05-13
Tampa, FL

jzmax73

Member

Exede Voice

Are you ordering phone through them as well? If you are, how's the quality? And does Exede keep VPN sessions alive fairly well?

Anon23eae
@atlanticbb.net

Anon23eae

Anon

Which is it?

How can you praise them for a "high data cap", then ding them with for a 150 gig data cap?
BellSouthBS
join:2002-03-07
Fort Lauderdale, FL

BellSouthBS

Member

I use OOMA VoIP.

I use ooma. Delay is typically less than my cellphone.
BellSouthBS

BellSouthBS

Member

re: Data Cap

I compared wireless and satellite ISPs that were available in my area, and EXEDE was the best return per dollar spent. HOWEVER, when you bill yourself as a full service ISP for a typical American household, and have the capacity and are launching even higher capacity satellites, Data Caps should be re-considered.

In summation: Exede is good because they offer more data than Sprint, Verizon, and the constantly overbilling AT&T. However, EXEDE clearly states they wish to compete against local ISPs, which includes cable providers. I would like to see the removal of Data Caps on ViaSat's high capacity birds if they ever truly believe they can compete with Comcast, Time Warner, and the rest of the Big Boys.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA

Premium Member

Why would you want Excede?

Why would you want Excede as a backup connection? Wouldn't it just be easier to use Mobile Hotspot on your phone, or have an LTE hotspot around?
BellSouthBS
join:2002-03-07
Fort Lauderdale, FL

1 recommendation

BellSouthBS

Member

Re: Why would you want Excede?

Comcast was out for 13 continuous days during the 2005 hurricane season. Comcast currently suffers from frequent outages during lightning storms, and it appears that battery backup is non-existent in my area.

EXEDE for me was outstanding when everything worked. EXEDE worked great for over a year, but when the modem began to drop ethernet connections, and their own Tier 2 service couldn't even connect through a remote desktop and told me to live with it, that becomes a major problem. We are watching hurricane Irma coming toward us in the Atlantic, and I do not wish to be without Internet.

You are correct, it would be EASIER to use an LTE hotspot, but the data usage among 3 teenagers with laptops, myself (I do medical research and sometimes receive large patient data files), plus my wife's data, small Hotspot data allotments are out of the question (consider Windows updates as a major data hog for 5 laptops). The 150 Gb data plan I'm on with EXEDE fits the bill. I have to unplug the modem when it locks up, but now I'm thinking about using a timer to shut it off every couple hours, and that should help.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: Why would you want Excede?

AT&T has an Unlimited plan for $30/mo now. LTE makes a lot more sense than satellite if you can get it. Of course, it's not quite as bulletproof as satellite, but it also is much cheaper and has much lower latency. It also depends on how your local towers are backed up in the case of a storm. Definitely not something I'd want to be throwing money at every month just for an occasional backup....
BellSouthBS
join:2002-03-07
Fort Lauderdale, FL

1 recommendation

BellSouthBS

Member

Re: Why would you want Excede?

AT&T has been nothing but problems for me, my neighbors, and family throughout the country. I had a grandfathered unlimited data plan, which AT&T shut down after 2 gb per month. They told me it was my sim card, then sent me on a wild goose chase to an "authorized" store. I had to buy a new SIM. Then they told me it was my data card, so I bought a new one. When that didn't work, I spent 3 hours being transferred up to tier 3, who told me my grandfathered account had been "locked" to 2G speed and limited to 2 gb. AT&T is CRAP, and cannot be trusted. I'm guessing you are an AT&T troll who looks for a chance to steer others to "BigA", and that BigA stands for AT&T. The truth is that you cannot buy unlimited service from AT&T at any price! There is always a catch with AT&T, like the time they told me my old DSL modem lost its network password every time power failed or the unit was unplugged. I spent a year trying to find out why pages loaded only 50% of the time. When I called AT&T about your $30 dollar data plan the rep laughed and asked "what planet are you from" ... then continued "data costs money, and good data is what we provide" then added "you have to have a cellphone plan to get that offer, but your speed goes down, and if you continue to use too much, we will terminate your service ..." AT&T was one of the reasons I got EXEDE. AT&T has too many tech problems, and would rather funnel money up to HQ than buy equipment to provide enough bandwidth and good service for their customers. AT&T was one of the first cell services to go down during Wilma. Every time a credit was issued, it was put back on my bill after a phony review. AT&T is the only company that billed me triple for my first month's service. I had one of the first Radio Shack transportable 3 watt cellphones in the 80s, and it would talk to a tower almost 15 miles away. I later paid $2,200 for a Motorola 8000 portable. AT&T was ok then, but has slid downhill along with its "vaporware." AT&T will probably be bankrupt by 2030, when mass Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations in space offer inexpensive data at gigabyte speeds to VoIP phones throughout the world.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: Why would you want Excede?

No, I am not a troll. My point is that satellite makes ZERO sense as a "backup" for cable, fiber, VDSL, etc. It's great if you live in the middle of nowhere, and don't have good LTE service, and have no wired options. If you're just looking for backup, LTE service makes a lot more sense. In many cases, it costs nothing, as you'd have a cell phone plan with mobile hotspot included anyway.

The $30 plan I believe was a SIM swap deal, so their clueless reps wouldn't know about it, or be allowed to tell you anyway. There were a couple of different $20 and $30 Unlimited plans, and they made them harder to get a couple of days ago. Go on HoFo if you want to know about them.

Since you clearly have an irrational hatred of AT&T, then there are other cell providers. Like Verizon or T-Mobile. They have various flavors of throttled or depri Unlimited plans.
BiggA

BiggA to BellSouthBS

Premium Member

to BellSouthBS
For occasional storm outages, you could easily cut back your data usage, and no do Windows updates or download large files until Comcast is back up, and you'd only need a few gigs just for basic use. Having satellite as a backup is a total waste of money for a home user.
BellSouthBS
join:2002-03-07
Fort Lauderdale, FL

1 edit

1 recommendation

BellSouthBS

Member

Re: Why would you want Excede?

Click for full size
Why do I have satellite internet? I'd like to introduce you to Wilma, who paid our neighborhood a visit a few years back. This is a picture taken at the corner of my street, looking South. As a Medical Consultant, some medical files are quite large, especially those containing MRI and other imaging.
BellSouthBS

1 edit

BellSouthBS to BiggA

Member

to BiggA
Click for full size
AT&T 4G Business Lease top speeds
I looked around and found an unlimited AT&T Business Lease Plan for $139/mo. Speeds are good, and it really is unlimited. I canceled Excede (ViaSat) back in March 2019.

Eagles1221
join:2009-04-29
Vincentown, NJ

Eagles1221 to BellSouthBS

Member

to BellSouthBS
redundant 1 GHz failsafe routers? Yeah sounds legit....
BellSouthBS
join:2002-03-07
Fort Lauderdale, FL

3 edits

1 recommendation

BellSouthBS

Member

Re: Why would you want Excede?

Click for full size
Actually, I do. Both EdgeRouter ER-6Ps are coupled by 10Gtek dual fiber to Ubiquiti Unifi Switches with dual SFP ports. Please note that all port indicator LEDs are green, which indicates a 1 Gbps Network.
chrismeyer
join:2002-10-13
Manchester Township, NJ

chrismeyer

Member

Re: Why would you want Excede?

You mean gigabit connections not gigahertz
BellSouthBS
join:2002-03-07
Fort Lauderdale, FL

1 edit

BellSouthBS

Member

Re: Why would you want Excede?

You are correct. The link speed is 1Gbps. The quad core cpu in the ER-6P has each core running at 1GHz, so no loss running DPI. It was early in the AM when i posted. I just got around to doing some reading and noted your correction before going to bed. It's now 5am.

Review by Robin Hood See Profile

  • Location: Robbinsville, Graham, NC, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
worked well at first
slow, slow, slow
The only company worse than Viasat is HughesNet
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Exede (Viasat) worked well three years ago when I signed up. Even when I was over my data cap speeds were better and more consistent than the best days with HughesNet, my former ISP of 14 years. Then, the HugesNet flu struck Viasat. Speeds are acceptable before noon then the rest of the day the service is barely usable. Latency and subpar speeds are the norm.....

member for 6.1 years, driveby review (so far)
updated 6 years ago







Review by raventai See Profile

  • Location: Old Town, Dixie, FL, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Better tha dial-up
high latency, our particular beam is oversold so its only usable at odd hours. its expensive both monthly and for instilation, l
satelite is only reccomended if you have no other choice
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:

My choice is very bad dial up or satellite, our copper lines are in such bad shape they wont even connect at 56KbPS, usually 28 or less.

So for about a decade or so we have had satellite, first Hughesnet and now exede,

Instalation, dish installation was expensive, it was preformed by local subcontractors, ours were nice enough local good ol boys, we had to lace our dish about 50 yards from the house because of trees blocking the line of site, having them burry the cord was going to cost a dolar a foot extra on top of the existing cost, so I had to do that myself.

when we first got Exede it was better thn Hughesnet, better speeds but our beam keeps getting worse as other customers come on line, late at night and into the morning low definition video can be streamed, netflix, youtube and on a good day Amazon video,

but as soon as the kids get out of school about 3pm it goes down hill. by 4 pm streaming video is unwatchable, even youtube at 144p the lowest setting spends more time buffering than playing, the rest of the evening is ranges from very slow to nothing, applications like google sheets refuse to load most of the evening, facebook on android does a decent job of pre-loading stories, you can tell how well it is doing at the moment by weather your facebook feed has pictures or just the text, about 11PM it start getting better. the weekends are a mixed bag sometimes it works other times like when its cold outside and everyone is inside and on the net it is nearly unusable.

For those that don't know satellite uses "beams', our beam covers several counties, when data is transmitted from the satellite all dishes in that beam receive the data the, the modem then has to pick out the needle in the haystack, the tiny portion of the data tagged for your IP, several counties worth of internet in one data stream is a lot of data, and as more homes use data each users share of that common beam diminishes.

our advertised speed is 12MbPS, I see a tad over 8Mbps actual throughput in the pre dawn morning, i use this time to do any real downloading.

that speed is pretty stable and repeatable as long as it is not raining or foggy or even just cloudy so the system is capable of usable speed , its just congested during peak hours,

latency, as i write this my ping is 700ms, that's about as good as it gets, pings approaching 2,000ms are common, those familiar with online gaming will recognize these as unusable much to my sons disappointment, he loves going to grandpas house to play on his DSL. or homes with the "the good internet" as my kids call it. voice over ip is laggy on a good hour to unusable in others.

weather, satellite transmission uses radio waves in the microwave band, like the microwave in your kitchen when these waves strike water they stop and are converted into heat, heating those water molecule, if there is enough moisture in the air the signal is blocked, so on medium cloudy days its on and off to slow, deeply overcast or tall thunderstorms above us or to our southwest (line of site to the satellite) it stops working, this is particularly bad because a rainy day is a great day to get on the net.

TLDR satellite internet is bad, but its better than dial-up sometimes?

member for 11.3 years, 52 visits, last login: 203 days ago
updated 6.1 years ago


Review by Bella_Storm See Profile

  • Location: Leesburg, Lake, FL, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
When it works, it works
When it rains, doesn?t work. Often have to reboot modem
If you have any other choice for Internet (LTE included), go that route
Pre Sales information:
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I have Unlimited Silver package... usually 2Mb/s+ actual download speed.

The built in WiFi in their modem isn’t that good... would recommend using your own (in bridge mode so not double nat)

member for 9.9 years, 2867 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 6.3 years ago







Review by EurekaSpring See Profile

  • Location: Eureka Springs, Carroll, AR, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
x
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Package Liberty 10 (gigs) a month. 70.00. Order and install via third parties went as it should. From that point on I began to actually deal with Exede people and it went completely downhill and stayed there.

So I receive my first billing notice Nov '16, via email and attempt to pay via their web page. It consistently tells me I still owe and I end up paying thee months advance. When i call and finally get a person they refused to refund my over payments. I even dug around online and found some exede executive office number to get the same refusal to give me my money back for over payment. Had I not been under contract I would have dumped Exede for what I consider at that point to be theft and found any other company to deal with.

Since that time each and every month calling automated payment first always tells me i'm declined for one reason or another... a problem with the same card I've always used or insufficient funds which has never been true. SO I finally get a person, and beg them to simply take my money on the very same day the invoice is generated/sent to me has been a bizarre struggle in how many ways they make it difficult if not impossible without making several calls.

I'm thinking of ordering a checkbook and dealing with this company the old fashioned way until my contract runs out... never before have I had to beg someone to simply take my money each and every month.... and they make it a several call multi day task.

member for 15 years, 266 visits, last login: 5.3 years ago
updated 6.7 years ago


Review by nickadams See Profile

  • Location: Linden, Warren, VA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Good install
25mgb/s plan delivers ~2 mgb/s in the evening - unusable
Exede massively over sold
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Plan 25 GB Priority Data, Liberty 25, with boost to 25 mgb/s - first bill $98.59.

I ordered the above service and it was installed 2 days ago. Install went well and speeds were at or above 25 mgb/s. I terminated my Dish internet service (oddly uses the same satellite) which had worked well but I liked Exede's Liberty pass and the 25 mgb/s speeds.

That evening, my speeds fell such that they were measured in kilobytes - unusable except for browsing and email.

The next morning I had ~25 mgb/s. That evening speeds fell to around 2 mgb/s. I called Exede who advises: 1) there is high usage during the evening (I hear "the satellite is oversold"), 2) You get great speeds ( In the morning, not when I use it), and 3) Exede only promises "up to" 25 mgb/s (I believe Exede impliedly warrants usable speed).

I spend hours talking to Exede to try to work something out. There is no magic button that will give me speed in the evening. They offered me $10/month discount x 12 months - still more expensive than my Dish deal and refused to waive the $400 early termination fees if I get a new provider.

Exede generally showed no remorse for overselling the satellite. I have been around a while and can say that I have never felt more abused by a company. It simply is not right - and they know it.



member for 6.9 years, 38 visits, last login: 3.4 years ago
updated 6.9 years ago


balsamea
join:2013-03-06
Plattsburgh, NY

2 edits

balsamea

Member

DISH/Exede/Wildblue/ViaSat Slow in Evenings

(The only link that I put in this post is the one at DISH. I don't know where the other ones come from, automatically applied to my text.)

I don't know what to call the service ... I bought it from DISH (Internet only, no TV package). TestMy says it is Wildblue. Other speed testers say it is either Exede or ViaSat. (I don't know who makes my car, either.) I'll call it DISH because I pay them.

Anyhow, lately I consistently get severe slowdowns below 6 Mbps every evening during prime time, roughly 8 to 11:30 PM. Always recovers by midnight. Runs fine all day and overnight, averaging well above 10 Mbps, often into mid-teens, spikes up to 19, as it has always done since installed in February 2012.

They have problems now and then, about once a year, and after wasting a lot of time with their Support folks trying to prove my system is defective, suddenly their system goes back to normal. But this is the first time I've noticed it consistently matching evening entertainment prime time, in this New World of Streaming.

In 2013 they had an actual, verifiable equipment problem. Tech aligned antenna.

I don't know when this latest failure pattern started. I'm not always active online during prime time. But I started noticing it a few weeks ago, and the past week of testing day and night pinned it down to prime time.

Modem & Tria status are fine, confirmed by DISH. They sent me a free on-site tech who tweaked the alignment. Made no difference. He said he found the bolts loose. SNR increased from 6's to 7's under clear sky. Speed performance unchanged.

While Ookla test results typically run higher than TestMy, during the nightly "down time" both report well below 6 Mbps constantly during prime time. (I never use Ookla, not since dismissing it from my vocabulary in 2012, but DISH now wants me to mess around with it; see below.) DSLR speed tests confirm the prime time collapse.

I pick 6 Mbps because that's what three DISH Support people recently told me is now their threshold for when they regard it as a problem needing support attention. One of them even said, "We guarantee 6." Surprised me they'd ever guarantee even 1. Couple of weeks ago one said I should feel lucky to ever get more than 7, despite averaging above 10 being the norm for 5 years. Same guy also said things were slow because it was a Saturday and high traffic and cloudy. Yep, yep, yep.

After weeks of testing and talking to people at DISH, so far all they can come up with is more hoops for me to jump through. Now I've got daily email with one of them. Every time I think I've exhausted the hoops, he comes up with another one. Sending him more test results today proving that now the past 4 weekdays in a row (Fri.-Wed.; didn't test Sat & Sun night, but it was good those mornings), speeds collapse below their 6 threshold always during prime time.

I assume they will never admit they have a traffic problem. The line just goes silent until you think of something else to ask.

Ask them if other people are reporting the same problem. "Not that I know of." Must be expensive hiring lawyers to do tech support.

BTW, DISH's website customer troubleshooting advice says to test with TestMy. »www.mydish.com/support/s ··· internet
and all their recent support people sent me there to test while I had them on the phone.

After TestMy proved my case, with nothing left to say they asked me to test with Ookla and Netflix's fast.com. So last night those testers confirmed the prime time speed collapse.

They were unable to make a case for an equipment problem at my end. Cleared all those hoops. Tested with two separate computers on two separate Ethernet cables connected directly to the modem, and My Favorite Martian's antennas down. (I even unplugged the microwave because of my New-Age sister.)

My guess is that the next hoop will be to prove to them that there is nothing in these woods interfering with the satellite. ("Do you live near a power substation or transmission line? TV or cell tower? Nuclear power plant? Military base? Satanic cult temple?" No, no, no, no, maybe.)

I'm wondering if the state Attorney General's Consumer Affairs office addresses things like this. Anybody ever look into that?

(I'm in far northeastern NY, northern edge of the Adirondack Mountains, a little west of Plattsburgh/Lake Champlain. Residential installation.)

Thanks for listening. DISH doesn't.

-B.

Review by ghamden See Profile

  • Location: Lerona, Mercer, WV, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
beware
sketchy data usage throttling
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Beware No value here data usage not correct extreme throttling

member for 21.7 years, 126 visits, last login: 7.1 years ago
updated 7.1 years ago


Anon9f9fd
@viasat.com

Anon9f9fd

Anon

exede internet / viasat

I couldn't be more unhappy with the service I have. The internet is terrible. It is soooooooo slow. I run out of my 10GB so fast I know only use it for email and a little internet searching and still cant make it through the month. I use my phone as a hot spot more than anything and dont seem to use hardly any GB's

The process started with a terrible installation person putting the system where I didnt want it. Plus a terrible install. I have asked for help, asked for it to be moved and my house repaired and not reply, I called your office and complained and again nothing. I DON'T HAVE TIME TO DEAL WITH THIS, TERRIBLE BUSINESS. Please get this off my house and pay for the repairs. I truly wish I would have never purchased this with your company. I hope for your sake others have better success with your product, I will, as I have time, make all the negative comments I can to help others not have the same problems I have had. Please take care of this problem!






Review by ghamden See Profile

  • Location: Lerona, Mercer, WV, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
ojk at first
throttling to whee is was insuable
very sketchy data usage beware
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Not worth the money they started throttling my service after a few months speeds dropped off to 100k they said i had used all my data very sketchy data usage beware

member for 21.7 years, 126 visits, last login: 7.1 years ago
updated 7.1 years ago


Anon5c4e8
@att.net

Anon5c4e8

Anon

Unfair billing

I cancelled my service, but they continued auto debiting my checking account. After a call each month (for 3 months) they said my cancellation date was later than my original day I canceled. They refused to refund my money, even after speaking with a supervisor. My advice is to NOT let them auto debit from your account & pay them manually, so you can stop paying when you cancel your account. Be advised!