Viasat Satellite → [Exede] HN7000S -> Exede questions.

I'm thinking about changing to Exede since they said they could get me 12 Mbps in my area. I do download games from steam, stream full movies on youtube, hulu, maybe netflix if I have it that month, etc from 1-6 AM (Hughesnet's open window my time).

So, I do need that 12-5 AM open..

Other than that, would should I expect from switching ? I figure the speeds will be much faster.

Also, they said I need to pay a $10 a month equipment rental , but it'd be under warranty.. ? I was thinking of trying to start with the $50 plan to see if we can keep the normal usage under 7.5 GBs. (Seeing as right now I only get 475 MBs per rolling 24 hours and only have gone over a few times I don't THINK we'd use all that 7.5 just on farmville, browsing forums, shopping, etc..)

I called Exede Friday, and I was up this morning. It was just installed right on the old pole. Of course I am a satellite weeny. So I uninstalled the Hughes, while the installer put the other dish together. It was over and done with in an hour. I am having no problems on the Exede 12 plan.

You can prepay the lease and save $40.00 for the lifetime of the contract. My costs came to 249.99 I think. The 199.99 prepaid lease fee, and the 49.99 set up fee. That was with a 100.00 discount rebate.

I use a Netgear router and he went right to work. I set up all the emails I need, and I even have the MFC Brother machine set up with its own email and that is working now too.

I wanted the FAP free time as well. I knew, that if I had speed, I would want to use it, without fear of that dreaded FAP.

I have been testing my speeds at the Xfinity site. I have broke 12Mbps down, and also broke 3Mbps up too. I think it is working pretty good for us today.

And I hope it is not just a new broom, you know how that goes right?

Can you run a testmy.net download test and paste it for me ? I am in Gilmer, Texas BTW.

Also what's your latency? Pinging google.com [74.125.225.130] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 74.125.225.130: bytes=32 time=956ms TTL=49
Reply from 74.125.225.130: bytes=32 time=995ms TTL=49
Reply from 74.125.225.130: bytes=32 time=934ms TTL=49
Reply from 74.125.225.130: bytes=32 time=1012ms TTL=49

Ping statistics for 74.125.225.130:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 934ms, Maximum = 1012ms, Average = 974ms

Gilmer, Texas looks like it is serviced by spot beam 339 and the gateway in Tornillo, TX. Ideally you should find someone using this spot beam to check the performance that you would likely receive.

If you can get Exede through an NRTC, they have a 10 GB/month package for $49.99 / month plus the lease fee.

NRTC ?

We have DISHNetwork as our TV provider, they said they could give me a 10 GB deal but only a 5 Mbps option... and the idiot didn't know anything about download limits, GBs, etc.. So I told him no and hung up.

Where did this come from, CSR?

Oh, maybe DISH wants to put you on Hughes bird...NO EXEDE. If want Exede, one will have to use NRTC member or Exede Direct.

Put your zip code in the box: »www.exede.com/internet-p ··· -pricing

It seems like I need to get it directly from Excede and not DISHNetwork, etc.

But what is this "NRTC member" stuff ?

NRTC = National Rural Telecommunication Cooperatives. Traditionally they are the co-op (not for profit) organizations that provided electric to rural America. Now some of them offer Exede.

Anyhow, IMHO, if you can get Exede from a NRTC, do so. You can get 10GB for the same price as 7.5GB from Viasat AND you get the LNFZ. Hard to beat that deal.

do they offer a higher package? 7.5 just aint gonna cut it I don't think. 10 .. maybe.. Right now I get 14.something GBs (not that I use it) daily from hughesnet.

I was really looking in to the 15 GB package.

Exede-12 using the satellite Viasat-1 should be available in Gilmer, Texas. As far as I know, Exede-5 and Exede-12 areas do not overlap, so there is no choice about which one they can sell you.

I actually want service in Pittsburg, Texas (Camp County). I guess that doesn't really matter seeing as it's just a few miles away. Anywho, from what I can tell I'll be paying $10 more a month due to the 9.99 equipment rental.

edit: is there any silly stuff ? credit checks ? blah blah.. like DirecTV or DISHNetwork tries to pull when you get their service ? "HerpDerpSalesMan: Duh... you got no credit. duh.. We gonna charge you $400 then give it back $50 a month.. duh.."

That location is close to the edge of the spot beam, but it would be either spot beam 339 or 331 which both provide Exede-12.

There is a 24 month service commitment which you can buy out of at some fraction of the remaining term.

Exede and Wildblue have a Network Management Policy (NMP) that slows the speeds during periods of congestion. On Wildblue's Value Pack it makes downloading and streaming perform poorly, but there may not be as much of a problem on Exede-12 because it is much faster. If you stop transferring data, your speed is restored in 30 minutes to an hour. The NMP probably will not be active during the LNFZ because it is not prime time. For me the NMP stopped triggering last spring but returned last summer.

I figure there wont be much downloading going on with a tiny 15 GB cap lol. (other than during the free period).

You might be surprised on your usage. I had the highest package on Wildblue Legacy (17GB down/5GB up) per month. Now with Exede I am averaging 7.5GB/month (up and down combined). The main difference is the LNFZ. I just wait until after midnight to do software downloads, updates, etc.

You can always start out with the 10GB plan (if you go with the NRTC package)...and then upgrade if you need to. The cost of the 15GB plan is the same when you buy from Viasat or the NRTC. I wouldn't even consider the 25GB. I think Exede then becomes cost prohibitive and if you don't need the LNFZ, Hughesnet Gen4 becomes the better value.

Unfortunately, there are no local service providers (NRTC) offering Exede in your ZIP code (75686) at this time. If you’d like us to try to find a local service provider in a neighboring area, please e-mail (wbmarketingATnrtc.coop) or call 855-exede87 (855-393-3387).

»www.localexede.com/us/wi ··· s.action

I do need the "LNFZ" . I think ANYONE that actually uses the internet would..

Exede 12 is available at your zip code: »www.exede.com/internet-p ··· ip=75686

But, call that NRTC number and see if one of the surrounding counties offers NRTC's Exede.

You would be surprised at the number of people who don't use the LNFZ. There are people that have Exede that use less than 200MB a day and claim they use the Internet regularly.

But I agree...the LNFZ is a tremendous feature for those who actually use the internet for more than just reading the daily news, checking email, etc. I still can't believe Hughesnet is transitioning away from that with Gen4.

At the risk of not starting my own topic, here's another Exede question. Equipment lease is currently the only option. Is there any speculation that an equipment purchase option may be in the future?

//greg//

Yeah I'll be using it everytime steam has a sale and I got the money lol.

Skyrim is 40% off right now, but still $36.. Pft.. it can wait longer :-p

Steam is one of the MAIN reasons I need a LNFZ. I remember a Fallout: New Vegas upgrade that only took 9GB

But I can say the LNFZ and Steam work great together.

With respect to the lease question...I do believer there is a purchase option now of $219. I know it was offered to me...but with the deal I got...purchase protection was included with part of the lease cost...so I opted not to buy the equipment. While I am not big on purchase protection...modems and in particular LNB's are prone to failure after x number of months.

There is no option to buy Exede hardware, nor are there any plans to offer that option in the future...you have two lease options, one is to pay $9.99/month for as long as you have the service, or two, as an added savings, customers have the option to prepay a lifetime lease for just $219.99, which means after 22 months there is no lease fee for as long as you keep the service active.

Hardware warranty and installation warranty expires after 90 days, then the customer has to pay for a service call but faulty equipment, not caused by the customer, is replaced free...

It's not lifetime anymore. The up front payment of $199.99 only covers the 24 months of the contract. The terms have changed.

They didn't offer me a lifetime option but a 199.99 pre-pay lease option for 24 months. After the 24 it'll be 9.99 a month lease. I took the pre-pay option myself. If there was a 219.99 lifetime option I wish I'd known about it.

I did just have Exede 12 installed last Friday.

I pay $49.99/month TOTAL; They maintain equipment for 2 years, and after 2 years, if equipment fails, I have to pay for truck roll and what ever fails.

They haven't offered the lifetime lease fee for a while.

Aint no way in hell I'm paying $200 up front.