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coysolar
join:2012-03-12
Carmel, CA

coysolar to hdman

Member

to hdman

Re: New Exede customers, please post

Attention: see the short summary at the bottom for the short version!

I started service about a month agp on 2/11/12 with the Excede Viasat 15GB plan with 12Mb down and 2MB up.
The sales person actually guaranteed VOIP but would not give a latency number.
Viasat plans are all the same speed with various data caps just like the telecoms bill you.
I feel data caps are a responsible way for BW managment ... and that is really fine to pay for what you use. It is an incentive to not wast the bandwitdh resources just like turning off a light in your house when you do not need it.

Our installation was very similar to the other stories about hitting a block at the authentication process of the install. The local installation TV dish company was very bad with confirming and following directions ... but they got here by the end of the day after a few miles driving in circles. Fortunately our two installers ... in training and on their second system had the hardware install down enough to not question it .... and did know to just keep trying to reboot and go to the authentication page until the wild blue site was working properly. After 2 hours of rebooting I had to kick them out since I had to leave. I ask them to come back another day. They actually took the LNB in case I decided to give it a try.... and end up with service before they completed the install!
They came back a week later as promised ... but did not call to set up an appointment and could not get in the locked gate. They came the next day and did the authentication one more time ... after the LNB was re-installed ... and it just started up.

I have a technical background in electronics, computers, and even customer services.
I was excited to maybe become an installer when I found out about the better Viasat system with lower latency and high speed on the up load side.
It looks like the sales people make about $300 per sale (after probing our sales person) and $149 for the install person.
Unfortunately it looks like they do not have a need for new installers or sales people since I have not even goten a reply for my dealers app.
It only makes since to use the existing cheap local Dish TV crews and keep the sales profits inside Excede marketing dept.

Many people around here in the canyon I live in have no cellular or DSL ... much less any wireless companies. They are hard up for good service. I have at least 25 neighbors in my canyon that would change over to the service if they new that I was the installer ... and could actually trust me to be upfront with service and performance with a quality install... maybe even a free dish tweak after a storm or two.
Oh well ... at least exceed will take forever to fill up the BW with the reputation they have already started for bad service.

On the up side my service/hardware has worked very well for about 30 days except for the problem below...even in the heavy rain/cloud cover (about 0.5 in/hr) and high winds/gusts to 50mph.
I am located about 100 miles south of San Fransisco Ca on the west coast about 1 miles inland and 800ft altitude. We are usually above the fog line.
I have had a steady 18.5Mb down and 2.5 Mb up speeds with 600-800mS latency. Skype app gives me the average rating popup. It works good for 800mS delay... but not so good on speaker phone.

The one exception to this is about 2 hrs on 3/09/12 Friday with down services. The viasat rep was not of much use in trouble shooting .... didn't really know about what lights blink or stay steady.
I checked all connections ... unpluging and repluging in .... they all seemed fine. The dish was still firmly attach to deck base .. very stable. No insects or bird poop.

There are 4 lights on the modem: pwr, rcv,xmit and Ethernet. All the lights except the pwr light should flash ... with the 3rd light from the top(upload/xmit) flashing the most. They should be on most of the time (about 90% duty cycle) with about 5hz flashes. They will just tel you all the lights should be on when it is working. During the boot up process they come on one by one. The pwr light actually flashes just a bit ... from the bleed over light of the other lights if you view the modem at an angle .... very annoying and impossible to troubleshoot if you do not look at the brightest angle to make your eye less sensitive to the bleed over. I rebooted about 4-5 times ... and almost tried to realign the dish ... but decided to just wait.
I made a service request and the rep said they would call on Monday. She also mentioned it would be free this time since we are in the 90 days period. I informed her that I expected Wild Blue to maintain their own equipment since I was renting it. Her answer was that they just charge for vandalism or physical damages to the modem or dish .... including branches hitting the dish.
Still no call at 4pm monday. They will probable show up unannounced again when we are gone ... waisting time but maybe getting paid from wild blue for a service call. I actually tried to cancel the service call with exceed ... but their system seems to be down for "upgrading system" at noon during day business hours. Hmmm oh well.
In about 2hrs service was back. The rep said "she had no information about any service or outages" ... but I have to guess it was something more on the other side ... having nothing to do with my modem or dish or LNB. I did not reboot at this point and service just started.

The usage page has been down at Wild Blue since service has started. The wild blue site has this message:
"We're sorry, our data usage meter is currently offline.
During this time we will not slow your access speed except for extreme usage cases."

...not sure what this means by extreme ... but it seems we have only used about 9GB per the rep with about 30 hrs of project TV showtime episodes(40 shows) and regular browsing/email for the month. That should mean about 2 hrs per day on the 15GB or 3hrs/day on the 25GB plan.... not bad!

Summary of Experiance with Wild Blue Excede Viasat service:

The Viasat system works very good with 18Mb down and 2.5Mb up rates with 800mS latency times.
Good/average operation with skype.
Good performance in rain/wind/clouds at 800 ft alt.
Terrible almost non existent customer service and installation services.
They seem to just be following the AT&T model of "most customers phones work most of the time" but when you need to change or fix something expect a headache and 1-2 hours of calls and recalling .... and then again to get maybe the 3rd rep/employee that still cares or knows a little bit.
One of the best things I have learned with these type of profit/marketing heavy companies is .....to get action just recall and get a rep that cares .... try it out when you get to a road block.
coysolar

coysolar

Member

Sorry for the multiple posts ...seems to be something of a delay to view.

When I see a successful post I will share allignment procedure!

ExedeBlue
@comcast.net

ExedeBlue to coysolar

Anon

to coysolar
Yeah, when WB is down nobody at NOC knows until calls comes in.

They should have it so, when there is call volume spike Page every one in NOC and check all beams for system status, I don't think it happen like that.

They should make caller punch in their Zip code so calls can be narrowed down. If 10 people form same zipcode for near by in call queue, there is a outage. Automatically alert NOC to check system health.

But it doesn't work that way. They wait for people to call, ask them if they're using a router.

Reboot everything, do direct connection after that doesn't work, find way to get them off the phone. Another one comes in same problem, same procedure that doesn't work.

Finally person on front line will tell the super people from this area calling about service.

Then super visor will call NOC. NOC will tell IT guys to stop playing WoW and look for a problem. Simple problem get fix, nothing was noted every one goes on with their lives.

grohgreg
Dunno. Ask The Chief
join:2001-07-05
Dawson Springs, KY

grohgreg

Member

said by ExedeBlue :

Yeah, when WB is down nobody at NOC knows until calls comes in.

Huh? What happened to their canary network?

//greg//

hdman
Flt Rider
Premium Member
join:2003-11-25
Appleton, WI

hdman to ExedeBlue

Premium Member

to ExedeBlue
Man, that is so opposite of the service I get when I call the NRTC support hotline. I have only had to call once and that was to make sure they updated some info on my account that was wrong. The tech still wanted to go through my modem and setup just to make sure it was a good install. He looked at my numbers and said all was well, which again was not the purpose of my call. From what I am told, the number I was given was WB support but for NRTC customers. They actually answer the phone with the name of my coop which is cool. Sorry to hear that ViaSat service is not up to par, but I have always suggested and recommended people use NRTC coops when dealing with WildBlue and I stand by those recommendations to this day.

WildblueUser
@myvzw.com

WildblueUser

Anon

The NRTC is one of the primary reasons I switched to Wildblue. That being said, they are only as good as the system they have behind them.
tim_lightfoo
join:2012-03-15
College Station, TX

tim_lightfoo to hdman

Member

to hdman
Thanks to all that have posted in this forum. Because of all of you and your experiences (and not b/c of ViaSats sales pitch) convinced me to take the leap and give Exede a shot. All I can say is "Wow!"...Installed today, consistently over 14 mbps download, upload usually less than 1 mbps (using testmy.net). Ping speeds b/t 700-800 ms (but we don't game, so that's okay).

We've had HughesNet, Wildblue, and most recently, a Verizon 4150 mif (only have access to 3G). Mifi worked great until the December meltdown in the Verizon network, and then bricked during a firmware upgrade, and was never the same afterward - even with a replacement. Frankly, it became intolerable.

But Exede - so far- has delivered. I'm cautiously optimistic....

Thanks again to the community for sharing your experiences with Exede over the past two months....

Cheers!

Tim

bobbin
Gone Fishin
join:2001-08-15
Lynchburg, VA

bobbin

Member


turns out the Exede modem needs RG-6 with all copper center, my old wire had a steel core. Rumor is that line length needs to be between 50 and 100 feet.

DrStrangLov
@wildblue.net

DrStrangLov

Anon

said by bobbin:

turns out the Exede modem needs RG-6 with all copper center.....................Rumor is that line length needs to be between 50 and 100 feet.

I wonder if cable could be rolled up if extra length is needed?
exeder
join:2012-03-17

exeder to hdman

Member

to hdman
We've had HughesNet since 2004 and were lured to Exede by the advertising of the higher speeds. Well, what a big costly mistake and waste of time.

We installed Exede 12 on Feb 22 and were exited for the first couple of days with download speeds averaging around 7.5 Mbps. Then the evening of Feb. 28 something happened and speeds are now less than what we get with HughesNet, particularly in the evening and weekends. We called in for service on 3/1 when our download speed was 0.16 and upload was 0.08. Service rep came out the following Monday and replaced all of the connectors and added a terminator to the Tria. He indicated the new dish only uses one of the cables so the other pin needed to be terminated. He also re-peaked the dish as it was not locked.

Tuesday morning I had no internet service at all. Service was called again and the same tech arrived several hours later. He decided the dish needed to be moved so he proceeded to put in a new post and moved the dish. Once moved, he couldn't get the dish to lock in so he decided it was the modem and replaced the modem. Still not able to lock, he called in for support and was told they couldn't see the modem and that SVP (their provisioning system) was down. After spending the entire day onsite (and me not being able to work the whole day - I work from home), he was finally able to provision the modem around 6:00 pm.

Daytime speeds continue to run in the 3.5 Mbps range however around 7:30-8:00 each night the speeds drop and average around 0.2 Mbps down and 0.1 up. After monitoring posts on sites such as the Wild Blue forum, we determined there was something going on within the Exede system as many others were posting with the same results.

Thursday morning, March 8, we had another complete downtime, with no connectivity until about 10:30 AM. Original retailer informed me that they had been told to stop installing systems but that as of 9:00 AM that day issues had been resolved and they could start installing again - wonder why we still had problems after that...

Saturday and Sunday, March 10 - 11 the system was down again and we had no connectivity for the weekend. The third light down on the modem kept flashing. Sometime Sunday evening, service came back still slow but at least modem was connecting. Monday morning, speeds were back to 3.5 Mbps down, 1.2 up (which is where we've seemed to settle in to during the days) and we continue to drop to 0.2 and below in the evenings.

Support was called again on Tuesday (3/13), which was a very painful experience. I was told that there was no way I could be getting speeds that low and that it might be 1.5 but not 0.15. I argued with the tech for quite awhile while he continued to tell me that there must be something wrong with our system. I told him the satellite dish had been moved, the modem replaced, the router replaced, re-peaked multiple times, etc. etc. "Well you must have a virus then"! he said he would send a Customer Service Manager out the next day.

Next day the same tech as previous 2 times showed up. He indicated there was nothing he could do and that he has been on many service calls with the same problem. He indicated everything was setup correctly and that there was a problem on the ViaSat side of things. He indicated he would talk to his supervisor and call me back within a half hour of leaving. Bet you can already guess that there was never any kind of follow up call received.

We posted a private message to the moderator with the Wild Blue forum because he asked people who were having issues to do this. We have not heard back from him either.

So, here we are Saturday afternoon once again with poor speeds -currently running at 0.4 down and about 0.1 up. While Hughesnet may have been slow, they are still faster than the Exede slow and they are at least consistent and available.

From what we've been able to determine from our research, we are locked in to this 2 year contract even though we did not sign any agreement because they send you an electronic version and as soon as your modem is provisioned they associate the credit card # given to install with it. Apparently, the contract locks you in and you cannot file any kind of suite but need to go through an arbitrator. Our only option is to have the service removed and buy out the 2 year contract.

If you are thinking about installing Exede, I beg you to do your research and really think about it. We have no other options except for satellite where we are - no cell coverage, no cable, DSL, etc. so we felt like since we were already on Hughesnet that at least the higher speeds would help. This has been a very frustrating decision with no where to turn and no help in site.

Sorry for the length of this post but the intent is to help others from our experience. Please, please think twice before going down the same path we did.

grohgreg
Dunno. Ask The Chief
join:2001-07-05
Dawson Springs, KY

1 edit

grohgreg to DrStrangLov

Member

to DrStrangLov
said by DrStrangLov :

I wonder if cable could be rolled up if extra length is needed?

That's how it was done when WB first introduced the Surfbeam(1) modem. Customers on short runs generated a signal to hot for the gateway front end. But that was a temporary fix, the eventual solution being a global software fix at the gateways. Sorta humorous to see them re-invent the wheel with Surfbeam 2.

//greg//

DrStrangLov
@wildblue.net

DrStrangLov to exeder

Anon

to exeder
said by exeder:

Please, please think twice before going down the same path we did.

Oh, so having a Tornado in Kansas means watch out for a Tornado in Montreal?

Exede represents individual spot beams on ViaSat-1, and individual spot beams on WB-1 & Anik-F2; its rather doubtful the whole system is broke.

Maybe an Exede Rep should come to your place...or maybe one might do a clean install on their computer...or hook direct to modem...etc.
Spice300
Premium Member
join:2006-01-10

Spice300 to exeder

Premium Member

to exeder
Because you do not specify your spot beam nor gateway, no one can determine if your problems are regional or system wide. The problem with provisioning new systems appears to be system wide and was resolved after a few days, but your other problems are the type that are restricted to particular spot beams or gateways.

DrStrangLov
@wildblue.net

DrStrangLov to exeder

Anon

to exeder
said by exeder:

Daytime speeds continue to run in the 3.5 Mbps range

One of the functions of this forum is to assist others. Could one start a new thread, with some of these aspects detailed?

1. RG-6 Cable Nomeclature - Brand Name and Model type

2. Using a DOS Command: tracert 12.123.16.86

and post results

3. Screen Shot of Modem's Status: 192.168.100.1

See: »SurfBeam 2 - Modem Status (Settings)
exeder
join:2012-03-17

exeder

Member

The concern we have is not with the 3.5 daytime speeds - this at least lets me do my job during the day - but the 0.1 and 0.2 speeds we drop to in the evenings and weekends which renders the system unusable during these times. We are aware that the evenings and the weekends are when other people are utilizing the system and could possibly cause a slowdown but we were told they would not over sell the beam and with it being so new is there already that many customers on it to cause this?

The comment about the whole system not being broke just because we are not able to use the system is exactly our point. We have tried to get someone from ViaSat to let us know what is happening. Is the issue with our beam, the gateway or the satellite itself? Is the issue something which can be resolved and if so, what timeframe are we looking at so we can make an intelligent decision? Since I am dependant on my internet connection for my job, should I expect to have the system drop out for hours at a time and if so, this will help me make my decision on what works for me. My post asked people to do their own research before making their decision.

What I do know is that we are not the only ones experiencing this drop in service at night. There are other posts on www.wildblueworld.com where others started experiencing the same issue at the same time we did. All indicate the system was running great until the evening of Feb. 28. It does look like many of the posts come from the VA/MD area like us but there are others from TN, MO, FL, NC, MS, AL and it goes on. The actual thread was labeled "Exede service severly slow at night?".

If it was our computer (and the speed has been tested on 5 different ones - no, not all running at the same time and also direct connected to the modem), or the cabling, the modem, etc. why do we get 3.5 during the day and then drop more than 10 fold each night only to return each morning? We've had a ViaSat tech out 3 times, the dish moved, modem replaced, and have been told it is not the local equipment/install.

In response to what beam, gateway, etc. we are on, we do not know how to answer this as we've never been given this information. From our research on the ViaSat-1 map, we've narrowed it down to either beam 21, 28 or 29. My husband was told by one phone tech that he thought we were coming out of the TX gateway, but we don't know how to confirm this.

This particular thread asks for new Exede users to posts their experience which is what I have done. I appreciate the offer to help diagnose the issue and agree that this should be done on a different thread. We appreciate any assistance we can get at this point since Exede support is not helping any.

dana
@iristransport.net

dana to coysolar

Anon

to coysolar
I am a retailer for Wildblue and your margin is incorrect. Just to let you know The sale is $140.00 / install $179.95/ The $149.00 goes to Wildblue directly. Not the installer or dealer. So the margin is not as high as you think.

DrStrangLov
@12.189.32.x

DrStrangLov

Anon

said by dana :

I am a retailer for Wildblue and your margin is incorrect.

If I understood my local Coop sales rep correctly, I think they are only charging $79.00 installed price for existing WB users.

Hence, flip the WB dish off, insert Exede's dish, hook up modem/tria with existing RG-6 (or a short new cable at dish), and align dish.
DrStrangLov

DrStrangLov to grohgreg

Anon

to grohgreg
said by grohgreg:

Customers on short runs generated a signal to hot for the gateway front end.

This was not an issue for those on peripheral-beam areas, just those within central area of beam.

Maybe next week I'll find out if my cable needs to be lengthen or not; but, I will not be located in central beam area.

WildblueUser
@wildblue.net

WildblueUser to DrStrangLov

Anon

to DrStrangLov
I would go back to your local sales rep. That installed price does seem too low. From all my research, if your two year committment is fulfilled, you get one install price. If you are still under a two year committment, there is a different install price. Of course, if you qualify for the Recovery Act, I think that is a completely different price.

I also have read they cannot use existing cable, but I could be wrong on that. However, I guess the new system only uses one cable, so perhaps that is why they need to replace that too.

grohgreg
Dunno. Ask The Chief
join:2001-07-05
Dawson Springs, KY

grohgreg to DrStrangLov

Member

to DrStrangLov
said by DrStrangLov :

This was not an issue for those on peripheral-beam areas, just those within central area of beam

As usual, you found a nit to pick before actually grasping the full point. I was addressing the curious similarity to the Gen1 Surfbeam rollout, and wondering why they are seemingly reinventing the wheel with Gen2

//greg//

DrStrangLov
@12.189.32.x

DrStrangLov

Anon

I was just bringing out a fine point, nothing more!
quote:
wondering why they are seemingly reinventing the wheel with Gen2
I am clueless about physical dynamics of TRIA's uplink side...but I would suspect operating characteristics of Ka-band uplinking is the issue at hand....as in its physics determines circuit design.
JBB2
join:2012-04-03
Washougal, WA

JBB2 to exeder

Member

to exeder
I just got set up and have had a similar experience to hdman. First day up, speeds exceded 12 Mb. However speeds gradually declined and latency went up so that on third day my download speed was 1Mb. I called the service number, 25 minute wait, and then because I'm a DISH customer I was transferred. After another 20 minutes on hold. DISH couldn't find me in their system and transfered me to their "main" call center. I waited another 20 minutes and was given another number to call. I called, waited on hold for 15 minutes and found out the number I was given was for Century Link?????. I started the whole process over again. Finally after more time on hold I got to a rep for the DISH/Wild Blue team. He took down my phone number "in case we get disconnected". 10 minutes into our conversation, we actually did get disconnected and guess what...he never called back. These were all issues I had read about on another blog, but when I brought them up to the sales rep he stated that those qwere issues they had when their installers were just learning the new equipment/system.

I called the sales rep and the install tech, both who said they would be glad to help if there were problems and 24 hrs later neither have called me back. I've decided to cancel the service which means I've made a very expensive mistake that will cost me well over $500 (installation plus 24 months x $17.50 for early termination)

If you have other options, I would recommend avoiding Excede like the plague. This has been a nightmare. Service is terrible and the contract states that they offer no guaranty of system performance, so if the speeds they advertise are not delivered you have absolutely no recourse.

grohgreg
Dunno. Ask The Chief
join:2001-07-05
Dawson Springs, KY

grohgreg to DrStrangLov

Member

to DrStrangLov
said by DrStrangLov:

I am clueless

An astounding (and refreshing) admission. The issue was never with the uplink. It was with the software at the gateway. Same then, almost certainly the same now.

//greg//

DrStrang
@184.20.74.x

DrStrang to grohgreg

Anon

to grohgreg
said by grohgreg:

WB first introduced the Surfbeam(1) modem. Customers on short runs generated a signal to hot for the gateway front end

I'm running less than 20' RG-6 with Surfbeam2, but I am on fringe area of beam.

Tidbit - I hope they improved Tx side, cause being on the fringe requires more Tx RF Power: dBm. I went thru two WB Trias.
DrStrang

DrStrang to grohgreg

Anon

to grohgreg
said by grohgreg:

The issue was never with the uplink. It was with the software at the gateway

My gut feeling is that this stat (found within Modem's menu),

Loss of Sync Count

is related to how fast you receive and transmit; as is it fine tunes what speed can be handled. I would like to think the fine points of Tx/Rx have been integrated into this equipment via knowledge learned from ViaSat's military equipment.

compuguybna
join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN

compuguybna to JBB2

Member

to JBB2
No way I'd pay any termination fees. Write a complaint to the BBB and most likely, you'll not owe any more...you might not get any fees you've paid so far. I guarantee BBB complaints get their attention. Back when i had wildblue and bbb'ed, I got a call directly from the CEO.
said by JBB2:

I just got set up and have had a similar experience to hdman. First day up, speeds exceded 12 Mb. However speeds gradually declined and latency went up so that on third day my download speed was


DrStrang
@184.20.74.x

DrStrang to JBB2

Anon

to JBB2
said by JBB2:

If you have other options, I would recommend avoiding Excede like the plague.

I would suggest posting over at Wildblue World

»www.wildblueworld.com/forum/

I'm sure WB Steve can assist, and resolve your situation.
ddachauer
join:2006-10-03
Nanty Glo, PA

ddachauer to tim_lightfoo

Member

to tim_lightfoo
Hi Tim!

Just wondering, is the Exede service still working well for you? Where do you live?

My mother lives in rural Wisconsin, and has nothing available but dialup and satellite...I was excited to find Exede yesterday, but don't want to steer her in the wrong direction.

Appreciate your help & input!

Thanks,
Dave

hdman
Flt Rider
Premium Member
join:2003-11-25
Appleton, WI

hdman

Premium Member

Where is she in Wisconsin? If she is near the Waupaca/Appleton area, I highly recommend MidWisconsin dbs as an NRTC provider of Exede.

HDMan

Karmana
@184.20.85.x

Karmana

Anon

Hello all,

I am a geek, and have been with Satellite ISPs for going on 9 years now (HN, then WB.) I live in NE WA.

I am also clueless to the technical details of how the equipment works, but know more than the average Internet user.

Yesterday, I made the switch from the WB 17GB plan to the Excede 25GB plan. New dish, modem, etc.

Speedtest.net has ranked me at best since install:
ping: 800ms, down: 2.89Mbps, up: 1.46Mbps, with my "best server by ping time" located in Hayes or Caldwell Kansas.

Note- the installer told us that Exede is experiencing extreme, wide-spread issues, and that it was likely we would NOT get the advertised speed for a while.

Just adding my experience,
Karmana