Viasat Satellite → [Exede] Excede/Wildblue internet a joke

Recently signed up for Excede satalite internet under the recovery act as I live in a very rural area. Was told no setup or instalation fees over the phone. Also was pressured into signing up for a bundle with Direct TV and lied to about how long the contract and disconnecting fees were. I called back twice trying to get answers to my questions, was transferred to four different people until finally told I would have to contact DirectTV as the Excede people did not know anything about DirectTV. So ended up cancelling the installation for satalite tv through DirectTV.

My appointment for installing the Excede was cancelled twice because the original installer kept taking days off, then quit. When the installers arrived, I was told I would have to pay a $49.99 fee for a pole mount which had not been mentioned before. I was told I would get 9-12 mbps download speeds by the installer when asked. Have had the service a month and not gotten over 1.5 mbps download and .58 mbps upload, most of the time it is less. When I called the company, the lady kept talking over me, and finally stated that because I am under the recovery act that's all I can expect. That they are following the rules. I feel the $20 difference in the smallest service is not warranting getting so slow of speeds. The recover act did not apply to higher data allowance packages.

Along with poor internet speed, you also get very poor customer service. They will lie to you and tell you anything to get you to sign up. Any speeds and or service mentioned on the site does not apply if you have the recovery act service.

So, buyer beware, if you have dial up, yes Excede is a bit faster, but if you are expecting high speed or fast internet, look for another option if at all possible as this is NOT it.

For a basic user on the Recover Act, they promised:

1 Mbps downstream

Up to 200 kbps upstream*

»www.wildblue.com/options ··· very-act

Do your research first...your thinking is not in sync with reality.Exede-5

What state do you live in?

Look at this description of the Recovery Act and the map:

WILDBLUE RECOVERY ACT PROGRAM DETAILS*
CHOOSE THE PLAN THAT FITS YOUR NEEDS. THESE ULTRA-LOW PRICES ARE GUARANTEED FOR LIFE!

BASIC $39.95 per month
Up to 1 MBPS downstream
Up to 200 kbps upstream*
10.3 GB per month
For BASIC internet users, this is the plan for email and surfing the web frequently, downloading music, and shopping online.

Commercial $69.95 per month
Up to 3 MBPS downstream
Up to 300 kbps upstream*
27 GB per month
This plan is designed for MODERATE users and families with multiple computers who spend more time on the internet. It has all of the functionality you want; browsing, downloading, music, videos, just more of it.

PLATINUM $119.95 per month
Up to 8 MBPS downstream
Up to 2 Mbps upstream*
60 GB per month
For HEAVY internet users, our Platinum plan gives you the most of all the things you love to do. This is the plan for those who depend on the Internet for work, entertainment, social networking and more.

»www.wildblue.com/options ··· very-act

I don't have any problem with Exede it's speed faster to me.

Here's my result

Download Speed: 22.48 Mbps

Upload Speed: 3.01 Mbps

Fairchild....

Exede is a joke only if you let it be... I have been on Exede under the Recovery act since May '12. When we started they pushed the Basic package on us, but I know we used way above the 10GB a month, we were coming from 50GB Millenicom program to Exede.
I stood my ground w/ Exede outside sales force and got out of the basic plan before the dish was ever installed. then we went the Commercial route for a couple of months, was still bumping DAP at the end of the month, so we are now on the Platinum plan, and using every bit of it each month. And my son is home from a stint in the Marines, and he is a "nite owl" so the LNFZ is being used to the MAX about 120 hrs in a month, so that has to be over 100GB used on LNFZ.
Ever since I installed a PC fan to side of Modem case, for cooling we have been flying high. I watch about 2 hrs of online video every nite. Spouse is into World of Warcraft gaming without no issues.

We been a happy campers most of the last yr w/ Exede, I am not saying we didn't have any bumps in road, when we did we got most of them corrected thru the Exede Customer Service, I will admit the EXEDE customer Service was the worst group of Representative I have ever had to deal with. In my opinion, they need to learn that the customer is paying their salary,
AS they say" WHEN MOMMA IS HAPPY... THE WHOLE HOUSE IS HAPPY.

current speeds thru Speakeasy:
Your Speed Result:
Download Speed: 8500 kbps (1062.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1655 kbps (206.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

Sounds to me like he took advantage of government funds to get the internet (i.e. Recovery Act).

Then it sounds like he took the lowest package that provides a top speed of 1Mbps.

Then he complains about the service.

Want better speed and performance? Use your own money to buy the service. What do you expect when you use a government program to provide you internet? Does the government do anything right

All that you are saying is that you didn't do your research. I paid a $189(?) lifetime equipment lease fee, a $99(?) installation charge, and now for $49.99/month, I get 10 GB/month, LNFZ, and "city speeds". I'm very pleased with Exede 12.

I'm bored and couldn't let this pass without comment. I'd be willing to bet $$$ that you have never had to deal with HughesNet's official customer support. My evaluation of the Exede 12 customer service is that they are new and learning, but they are trying their best to help you. Like fairchild, it took three installations attempts (including an attempt by installers to perform an illegal installation on a metal roof, and a missed appointment, and me having to trench a conduit myself), but they finally got it installed, and it's very fast. I was offered a free months service, but I didn't bother pursuing that. I welcome the competition to HughesNet.

OldSatUser...
"Sounds to me like he took advantage of government funds to get the internet (i.e. Recovery Act)."

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am ··· _of_2009

We all take advantage of Federal Government programs in some fashion or form... Social Security as one, the national highway system, public school systems, local, state government, and so on.

Exactly. Social security isn't solvent. Highway system crumbling. Public school systems...a joke.

My point was if he would have signed up with Exede like many of us without any government funds, he could have up to 5Mbps with Exede 5 or up to 12Mbps with Exede 12. But he gets the lowest and crappiest program available through the Recovery Act and then complains about how bad it is

And I do agree with others on here. If you think Exede's customer service is bad...give Hughesnet a try!

From research, I would NEVER give H--N a try...even to the current Gen4 system.

When we built our new home over 15 miles from nearest cities.. I did research our internet opportunities, NO Cable system that we were used to in town, checked out Satellite provided internet at that time, Spring of '09, none met our usage specs. then looked at cellular wireless, all companies had small caps... then I found Millenicom, as a high usage reseller of Sprint and Verizon wireless systems..Got on the BYOD Sprint system. that system when we left it, was overloaded and very slow speeds. That is when Exede came in the picture, As you have said, Exede is the best system up to now in rural America..I see 4G LTE as one of the next primary Broadband user for rural America.
I now looking at Millenicom Sprint 4G LTE BYOD program to Split our usage with Exede.

Not "we," but Hughes/ViaSat pulled up to the government feeding trough.

ViaSat allowed service mainly on under-filled beams, and those that signed up under recovery act, got a better overall deal, price wise and/or byte wise.

Recovery Act never should have been given to satellite carriers....pork barrel politics.

Although I did not look up Wildblue, I included them in my original title as I further found they were the preceding company for Excede. I thought I had done research on Exede, there was no info on different speeds for the recovery act and I did not ask about being on this option until on the phone with Excede. It was presented as the best option for me. When I signed up I thought I would get the advertised speeds on Excede's website under the 10gb plan, plus by asking the technician who installed the dish, I felt they should know their stuff.

My problem is not with the government providing a program, but with Excede using bait and switch tactics, as I mentioned, the speed is not the only lies they've told me.

Doing a trace on your IP suggests the Riverside, CA gateway is being used. At best, one might be able to get Exede-5, if they allow for a change....if located in an Exede-5 beam. This map,

»www.northlc.com/_images/ ··· _map.png

shows beam numbers....if located with beams with a "B" prefix, that's Exede-12...but, I don't think one is located in those beams.

There is a direct email address to Exede....but it would be best to know if your modem has 4 blue lights...with a single cable from dish?

fairchild, Viasat owns the Wildblue and Exede services. Assuming that you can afford a faster plan, I'll take a Wildguess that you can get switched to a faster plan. It seems like the solution would be to call customer support and request to be put on a faster plan. However, you have gotten involved with a Federal subsidy program, which means that rationality does not apply.

In case you haven't noticed, Exede's customers are defending their ISP's reputation and trying to assist in providing support for their ISP. If you can accept that you are not a victim of a bait and switch scam and can develop a constructive attitude, you might end up being pleased with Exede.

So in paragraph 3, I will note that you have been asked which state you live in, but that you have not answered that question.

In summary, call customer support and report that due to some type of misunderstanding, you wanted the "fast plan" but that you got the "slow plan". Report back what happens.

Hello fairchild,

I will be more than happy to help with these concerns and definitely get them resolved. I do understand that you were expecting to get the Exede services, but is currently on the recovery act services. We do value your business at ViaSat and I am very sorry if you feel that your experience hasn't been the best so far. Can you email me at exedelistens@viasat.com with your name, phone number and a good time to reach you please? It would be appreciated as we do appreciate your business!

Also, please include in your email that you are the forum user farichild on DSLReports, it'll help to expedite things better.

Thank you!

Too much Kool Aid, recently?

Stating factual info is not the same as "defending."

ViaSat/Exede was the company, penny pinchers, with the basic 7.5-Gbyte plan until NRTC/DISH voiced their positions.

A person would be a fool to leave Recovery Act, and I'm sure ViaSat would prefer it that way....more money in their pockets.

Moving up to Recovery Act's Commercial plan would be ideal.

$69.95 per month
Up to 3 MBPS downstream
Up to 300 kbps upstream*
27 GB per month

On Exede 5 or 12, you pay $129.99 for 25 Gbytes.

$129.99
-$69.95

That's a savings of $60.04 per month.

Will Exede let their basic users switch over to Recovery Act plans...fat chance.

It's about number of GigaBytes per month...not the speed.

Good one However, I was referring to the "bait and switch" allegation.

There is a recurring pattern of consumers being bundled with DirecTv and then being displeased with the Exede 12 service and then whatever system fairchild had installed. I have suggested before that Viasat should rework their talking points with DirecTv's salesforce.

That's the government's rule forbidding people who have previously had broadband from participating in the Recovery Act.

Fairchild, since you are eligible for the Recovery Act plans, the best thing is to stay with one of the plans. Hopefully Exede will upgrade you to one of the faster plans, but of course at a higher price.

ViaSat can offer any plan they want...plans was the keyword.

Recovery Act program offered a cheap means to get internet access.

Most of the area qualified for Wildblue's/Gov recovery act does not have spot beams from ViaSat-1 (West of Mississippi is Wildblue Recovery Act territory and East of Mississippi is HughesNet territory).

That means you are assigned to one of the Legacy satellites, Anik-F2 or Wb-1, and speeds will never approach the 12mbs of Exede-12 plans...

The OP's zip code will help a lot in determining what plans he can get, Recovery Act or any other Wildblue/Exede plans..

That is Exede-5 territory, 5 Mb/s download. I am on Wildblue Value pack, and they are providing 3 Mb/d download when I am not FAPed by their screwy meter. That speed appears to be faster than the basic Recovery Act package.

You got to hand it to Viasat and the government. The government awards Viasat funds for their broadband infastructure to support customers west of the Mississippi. Of course, that is where Viasat's oldest technology is, so for the most part they can only provide service up to 5Mbps, but at much, much higher cap levels.

In all fairness, the funds were awarded and the territories were divided between HughesNet and Wildblue long before the ViaSat-1 and Gen4 satellites were launched...

The Recovery Act customer assignments have been in place a long time...as a matter of fact I'm surprised funds are still available for new customers to sign up for under that act..

My original statement - "Will Exede let their basic users switch over to Recovery Act plans...fat chance."

"Will Exede let their basic users" - Basic Users means current $49.99/month users who are under contract.

"switch over to Recovery Act plans" -

BASIC $39.95 per month
Up to 1 MBPS downstream
Up to 200 kbps upstream*
10.3 GB per month
For BASIC internet users, this is the plan for email and surfing the web frequently, downloading music, and shopping online.

Commercial $69.95 per month
Up to 3 MBPS downstream
Up to 300 kbps upstream*
27 GB per month
This plan is designed for MODERATE users and families with multiple computers who spend more time on the internet. It has all of the functionality you want; browsing, downloading, music, videos, just more of it.

PLATINUM $119.95 per month
Up to 8 MBPS downstream
Up to 2 Mbps upstream*
60 GB per month

As you should well know, it's unlawful to allow anyone that has, or has had, broadband services (and satellite internet fits that broad description) to switch to a Recovery Act plan..

Simple answer...NO, basic, or otherwise, customers of Wildblue or HughesNet will not be allowed to switch to a Recovery Act plan, even if they were originally qualified for one..

My point is that most of Wildblue's Recovery Act customers can't get Exede12 spotbeams even if Wildblue could offer it...only beams from Anik-F2 and WB-1, which covers most of the areas Wildblue can offer for Recovery Act plans..

I'm sure the Wildblue Recovery Act customers could switch from the Recovery Act plan to an Exede-5 plan and pay the difference if they just wanted a little faster speed...

Exede is not prohibited, by law, to offer other plans.

They could offer to existing Exede 5/12 users:

BASIC $29.95 per month

Up to 3 MBPS downstream
Up to 500 kbps upstream*
100 GB per month

Recover Act users got a "free lunch" when signing up, whereas Exede/NRTC/DISH users had upfront costs.

Exede/NRTC/DISH users can switch to plans costing more money, but they can't switch to plans with slower speeds and bigger byte-buckets.

For everyone's info: the Recovery Act is part of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
which is not controlled by either of the big satelite internet companies.
It mandates what is able to done with the money. the main reason the monies were handed out to get fast broadband internet in rural america. So rural America could be on par w/ the larger cities.

Exede had to get our address off a Government master list before we were able receive the program. If you was not on that list, no RA... been there. As We were signed up for the Basic plan before I knew about the complete program. we were advised to cancel the basic and get on the Commercial plan... one problem the Goverment master address list then showed we had previous broadband service because of the Exede basic plan that was not installed. We had to wait a month or better, so Exede could convence the goverment program headquarter we never had a dish installed.
Then when our address was reinstalled on the master list we were able to get the commercial plan under RA with Exede.

I will admit we don't have all the current problems with our system as the General Exede population no lost of GB, no modem problems, only problem was w/ LNFZ, and within a short period of time that was corrected and compensated for our loss GB's

Most of our Exede history has been documented on the Exede Forum...

If your able to get on the Recovery Act.. use it...period.

»www.wildblue.com/options ··· very-act
»www.wildblue.com/options ··· -act-faq

"As you should well know, it's unlawful to allow anyone that has, or has had, broadband services (and satellite internet fits that broad description) to switch to a Recovery Act plan..."

DR, you missed the point..the question was can an existing Wildblue/Exede customer switch to the Recovery Act plan.

The answer is a simple NO....it's not allowed by law..

Sure, they can switch to any other non-Recovery-Act Wildblue/Exede plan, but an existing customer can't switch to a Recovery Act program...

Correct....wm4bama
if on recovery plan you can go up or down in the plans.
But when you jump to a reg. Exede plan, can never go back to the RA plan.
So we most likely go to the basic plan if we go to some other type broadband program, like 4G LTE system.