Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB in WildBlue Satellite http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20953132 en Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:18:09 EDT Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:18:09 EDT Re: Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20986565 Earth Signal : You need to take a look at the WB forum site and maybe they can resolve your problem.



»www.wildblueworld.com/forum/show···9#post99
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Ron~ Wildblue Select Pak, Beam 26, Dell XPS600 Pentium D~dc 3.0GHz, 2Gig Ram, dual 160Ghd, XP pro, Linksys WRT54G router, client is Laptop, XP home]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20986565 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:50:57 EDT Re: Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20985921 countryboymo : They are still trying after talking with them three times after canceling my account that was in good standing and after my contract was over for attempting to pump me for an early term fee along with who knows how many months of service. OH no biggie only 473.98 they are trying to withdraw from my account and keep trying to pull out for services I never used and that were and are terminated. I can go hook my modem up right now and.... nothing...

I am contacting an attorney this is stupid.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20985921 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:40:52 EDT Re: Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20985087 Island Jeff :
quote:
other than the WB crappy speeds, latency etc (which is Sat. internet after all) I have had no complaints at all against my phone company.

My NRTC co-op was also GREAT to deal with -- great presales, great installation, post installation followup just to be sure I was 100% satisified, etc. I am very happy I got it through the NRTC coop as they were a great bunch of people to deal with here.

As to "which is satellite internet after all" I have mixed feelings. When I first got wildblue in 2005 it was the very best I could imagine being delivered at a consumer pricepoint over satellite and to me took the technology to a whole new level because as I said back then to a friend "everything just works over wildblue... things that the previous starband had always said wouldn't work over satellite."
said by Jeff 2005 :
Also three things that I always had great trouble with on starband: ssh, ftp, and secure »https:// sites, are working very well so far on wildblue, much better than I would have expected they could work on any satellite connection.

ping -n 10 yahoo.com

Pinging yahoo.com [66.94.234.13] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=648ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=727ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=730ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=726ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=723ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=723ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=641ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=642ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=654ms TTL=48
Reply from 66.94.234.13: bytes=32 time=643ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 66.94.234.13:
Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 10, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 641ms, Maximum = 730ms, Average = 685ms

ping -n 10 google.com

Pinging google.com [216.239.37.99] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 216.239.37.99: bytes=32 time=682ms TTL=238
Reply from 216.239.37.99: bytes=32 time=600ms TTL=238
Reply from 216.239.37.99: bytes=32 time=600ms TTL=238
Reply from 216.239.37.99: bytes=32 time=695ms TTL=238
Reply from 216.239.37.99: bytes=32 time=680ms TTL=238
Reply from 216.239.37.99: bytes=32 time=679ms TTL=238
Reply from 216.239.37.99: bytes=32 time=678ms TTL=238
Reply from 216.239.37.99: bytes=32 time=645ms TTL=238
Reply from 216.239.37.99: bytes=32 time=644ms TTL=238
Reply from 216.239.37.99: bytes=32 time=603ms TTL=238

Ping statistics for 216.239.37.99:
Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 10, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 600ms, Maximum = 695ms, Average = 650ms

Now however that we have really heavy traffic shaping that doubles or triples this latency frequently, SSH has slowed down for me simply typing, secure sites got slower, and FTP got noticeably slower changing directories and required workarounds like doing many simultaneous transfers to get back up to speed.

I give them credit for maintaining advertised throughputs on larger files, but before 11/2006 it seemed to me as a customer that the bar had been raised to providing "broadband over satellite" at last but after the traffic shaping it felt to me very much like "satellite speed internet" again. It will never be quite as quick as low-latency terrestrial broadband, but I hope in the future the bar is raised again and ~650ms service can be provided again for all protocols vs. the 1400ms service wildblue delivers now.
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Very happy TDS DSL user | Wildblue in Lake Michigan]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20985087 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:33:13 EDT Re: Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20983346 just2stoned : I was directly through wildblue myself. Trust me I had to ask the woman twice because it was so unbelievable, but I did manage to get billed for an entirely new contract from which she explained it to me. It may have been some mistake or it may have been a scam but thats just what I got..]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20983346 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:46:03 EDT Re: Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20957528 opus74 : I'm on NTSC as well and other than the WB crappy speeds, latency etc (which is Sat. internet after all) I have had no complaints at all against my phone company.

I am often aghast at what I see & hear from the "real" WB folks. :(
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Lordy, I have loved some ladies and I have loved Jim Beam and they both tried to kill me in 1973.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20957528 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:07:47 EDT Re: Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20957162 anon : If that's the case, I wonder how many little business practices WB leaves up to the co-ops. I made double-dog-dare sure that I could upgrade my package before I did because I was leery of a cell-phone contract-like mess where you get shackled with two more, unwanted years! :o]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20957162 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:43:29 EDT Re: Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20957094 opus74 :
said by Shell :

You're being told a fish story!
Not so fast.

There is a vast difference Shell, being on NTSC as opposed to being direct with WB !!

Be happy you are on NTSC !

:)
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Lordy, I have loved some ladies and I have loved Jim Beam and they both tried to kill me in 1973.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20957094 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:30:15 EDT Re: Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20955972 anon : When I upgraded from Value Pack to Select Pack, I got confirmation that it would NOT extend my contract. Here's what my NTSC told me:

"Your account has been upgraded to the select pak. You may need to power cycle your modem. Please let me know if you have any questions. You will see the price change on your June bill. Also, you were correct there is no charge to upgrade but there is a $30.00 charge to downgrade, and it does not
change your contract."

You're being told a fish story!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20955972 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:56:40 EDT Re: Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20955931 Island Jeff : That was not in my contract either from 2005 and definitely seems undesirable. On the other hand, I recently read here that they had considerably reduced the early cancellation fee -- in my contract if I canceled before the 2 years was up I had to pay the full monthly payment, but could downgrade to value at any time so it was basically $49 x the number of months remaining. I just read here that it's now something like $25 for each month remaining only so about half as much.
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Very happy TDS DSL user | Wildblue in Lake Michigan]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20955931 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:27:00 EDT Re: Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20953527 Spice300 :
said by just2stoned See Profile :

Me: "Ok just to clarify before I let you go, your are telling me that anyone under their first 1 year contract who changes their plan will get their contract extended another 12 months from that moment on..even if they are in their 10th month?"

CS: "Yes that is correct."
This condition is not in my contract from back in Oct 2005, but WB may have changed the terms recently.

After quickly searching the WB Customer Agreement last updated on 06/30/2008, I can not find any mention of this policy. This may be a new scam to take advantage of the uninformed and complacent.
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Value Pack, beam 31, Riverside gateway]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20953527 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:02:46 EDT Warning for anyone thinking of canceling WB http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20953132 just2stoned : I just recently canceled Wildblue in favor of Alltel's EVDO wireless. There is no question about the superior service and that's Alltel.

I've been a customer of Wildblue for over 2 years now. I've mostly stayed on pro pak but occasionally, due to budget, I have had to drop my package. When you call Wildblue they are more than happy to do this for you, and very quick to lower your plan immedietely while you are on the phone.
What they don't tell you however is that if you are still under their mandatory 1 year contract, any time you change your plan, you actually are resetting your contract for another 12 months. Yah I know right..

This was only brought to my attention because of an email I got this afternoon. Some background info is needed first though. I called and canceled service on the 6th of Aug, 2008. I paid my last 79.95 bill and that was it. I even got the offer to send them back my modem for a $50 dollar rebate. I've since gotten that box and have already shipped it back to them. My account was closed and that's that. Well, not exactly. Let me copy the top sentence we are all familiar with:

YOUR MONTHLY BILL
Your monthly bill is ready for account WBRES0xxxxx. The charge to your Credit Card is $ 379.12.

Not only was I amazed to see a "Your Wildblue bill is ready!", but I got the pleasure of seeing that too. Without hesitation I called up Wildblue and got in touch with the billing department. After a 20 minute jam session on hold, I finally got to speak with someone. After 15 minutes of waiting for them to access my account info, she finally comes back to say that indeed it was an error and that I will not be paying any more money. She explained the reason for the mix up to me, and that's when I found out about that little bit of information on contract lengths being extended upon any change to your plans.

She told me that whenever you change your plan to something else, whether it be downgrading or upgrading, your contract is automatically renewed for another 12 months IF, and this is a big IF, IF you have NOT already fulfilled your mandatory 1 year contract. Since I had been a customer for 2 years or more, I was no longer obligated to the contract and I was going month to month. This is why I was and will not be charged that rediculous fee, which by the way was for a remaining 4 months of my 3rd year.

After another brief holding session, in which time it gave me a chance to think about what she had just said, she came back on with the # thing they give you at the end of the call. I had to ask her to explain it again for me after I said to her these exact words:

Me: "Ok just to clarify before I let you go, your are telling me that anyone under their first 1 year contract who changes their plan will get their contract extended another 12 months from that moment on..even if they are in their 10th month?"

CS: "Yes that is correct."

Although my situation was resolved I just wanted to bring this to everyone's attention that may not have known this little stipulation in the contract you sign. This lady may have been misinformed and wrong but that is what a customer service representative woman said. It's a shame I didn't even think to get her name.
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Vista Ultimate 64bit, 4gb G.Skill DDR2 800mhz, Athlon X2 6400+ Black Edition, 2x Diamond HD3870 512mb DDR4 PCIe2.0 (xfire), 650w PSU, 2x 200gb HDD, Antec 900 Gaming Case]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20953132 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:32:54 EDT