Wild Blue question.........please.

Old John · #1 02/06/10, 08:11 AM

Our dial-up was so slow, we decided to try Wild Blue.
And it is quicker, a lot.
But yesterday we had sleet, with freezing rain & snow.
The W/B dish is kinda caked with ice.
It kept kicking me off line..........so........

I used a brush, gingerly to brush off the snow.
I'm kind of afraid to use an ice scraper on it.
It's working okay, but slow now.

Can I get away with using windshield De-icer on the Dish of the system?
As long as I'm careful to keep it off the sensitive pick-up, that gets the
signal off the dish is it okay??
Thanks, Folks.

Forty Acres · #2 02/06/10, 08:35 AM

I use a whisk broom to brush the snow off. And then take a warm, wet towel to melt the ice. Then take paper towels to dry it before it refreezes. You will want to do both the big disk and the hockey-puck gizmo (receiver). Works great. Never have tried de-icer.

okiemom · #3 02/06/10, 08:54 AM

wildblue will not work correctly when it is overcast. We have had clouds here since christmas ,I swear, and our connection has been horrid. We have had a ton of ice. the ice didn't bother it on the sunny days life was good the clouds were another thing.

I think also w/ everyone cooped up inside the volume of surfers has gone up and speeds are supper slow from that.

arabian knight · #4 02/06/10, 09:07 AM

Deicer would work. I have used just warm water and poured over the dish and the "eye".
Whether it be a Internet Satellite or TV Satellite, Dish, Direct, they are all the same. And all electrical components are well covered because they are out in the rain and such.
I have even and many occasions sprayed a polish on the "dish" itself.

GoldenCityMuse · #5 02/06/10, 09:10 AM

Try this forum for questions about Wildblue

http://www.wildblue.cc/wbforums/index.php?

I used to have it, but was able to get DSL. Much better.

Tracy · #6 02/06/10, 05:39 PM

I have Hughes net but still satellite. What really works is once you have your dish clear and de-iced, spray some pam type cooking spray on your dish. It will keep the ice and snow from settling on it. It does work. We use this on our dish satellite also

Old John · #7 02/07/10, 08:48 AM

I appreciate the helpful Information.
Everything is working fine this mornin'.

Little Quacker in OR · #8 02/07/10, 12:12 PM

As I am also on the Dreaded Dial UP I would love to know your thoughts people on the Satellite Providers vs DSL(I don't know what DSL is but would like to find out!).

So, opinions please? Thanks! Good Question John!

LQ

arabian knight · #9 02/07/10, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Little Quacker in OR

As I am also on the Dreaded Dial UP I would love to know your thoughts people on the Satellite Providers vs DSL(I don't know what DSL is but would like to find out!).

So, opinions please? Thanks! Good Question John! LQ

DSL is from your phone company, so IF you can "get" DSL, that is much better then ANY Satellite ISP. So tomorrow call your phone provider and ask if where you live if DSL is available. DSL stands for "Digital Subscriber Line", which is your phone line.
In my area we can even get "cable TV" over the DSL lines, plus DSL high speed internet. Now they have even "upped" the high end DSL speed to 6K Kbps, nice and fast. And in my area our phone company went around 3 counties and put in "Booster" boxes so everybody can get High Speed DSL no matter how far from the phone they live.
But if you can't get DSL or "cable" TV high speed service then Satellite service is left. But try DSL first.

Gary in ohio · #10 02/07/10, 12:54 PM

You can also put heated gutter tape across the back of fiberglass dishes to heat them up also..

sisterpine · #11 02/07/10, 12:58 PM

There is also the equally dreadful usb wireless phone modem that you can get from your cell phone company, costs about the same as satellite set up. It can be decently fast if you live in town nearer a tower and incredibly slow if you live on the fringes like i do! This morning the system seemed slow so i checked the speed and it was like 122 kbps downloan and 28 kbps upload! YIKES I just checked it again at almost noon and it is 1802 kbps download and 289 kbps up which is MUCH better. I guess it is just nuts to live in the middle of nowhere and expect high speed internet lol. sisterpine

**Kung** · #12 02/07/10, 04:09 PM

OR (if you know an ice storm is coming) just put a trash bag or two over the whole darn thing. Once the storm's over, pull the trash bag off.

Little Quacker in OR · #13 02/09/10, 11:27 AM

Hey! Thanks everyone! Appreciate it lots! Like Sisterpine said it IS NUTS to expect anything highspeed out here in the booniies. But at least I have some options now and good ideas thanks to you all.

AS always..THANKS!

rambler · #14 02/09/10, 12:45 PM

Cable internet: You need to have cable at your place. Can be real real fast.

DSL: comes over the phone lines, doesn't interfere with the use of your phone for talking. Speeds of 128k - 500k will work as far as 5-10 miles from the nearest 'amplifier' they have on the lines, but some phone co don't bother with such 'slow' settings, so you can't get DSL - more of a management choice than a real limit.

DSL: 1 meg plus speeds are possible if you are less than a mile from the nearest'amplifier'. Those things cost money, so the phone co won't put them just anywhere. Needs a bunch of people within that mile to pay for the thing.

Dialup: Works for miles on the phone, ties up the phone line, is slow (50k, tho 28-44K is normal), takes time to dial-up & connect.

Sat: WildBlu or Hughes, good speeds, but very weather sensitive, and they enforce download limits, and there is a lag time - like sat phone links, where one person has to wait for the signal to travel all that distance... Your computer needs to wait between talks with the other side, the signal has to go up to sat, down to earth, back up to sat, and back to your computer. Lag time.

Cell phone G3: if you can see a cell phone tower, they may have G3 and you can get access to the internet through that. Won't break any speed records, but works.

Wireless: Lot of small companies put antennea on top of water towers, cell towers, grain elevator legs, and broadcast a wireless signal. With grill type of antennea (similar to sat) you can get internet. You need line of sigt to the tower, no trees, etc. Works better than sat, not as good as DSL/cable.

--->Paul

oldmania · #15 02/09/10, 04:33 PM

Have had Wild Blue for 2 1/2 years. Haven't had a problem with ice, but the slightest overcast and we have no internet. This has been particularly annoying during this bad winter here in the Shenandoah Valley. We were scheduled to have DSL installed today, but appointment was cancelled due to weather. Now rescheduled for later in the month. This has just become available to us. I can't wait. We will be able to get 1.5 meg for $19.99 a month, as compared to up to 1.0 meg from Wildblue for $69.99 a month. When the weather is foul, not much to do but surf the web, so winter has been a pain.

arabian knight · #16 02/09/10, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldmania

Have had Wild Blue for 2 1/2 years. Haven't had a problem with ice, but the slightest overcast and we have no internet. This has been particularly annoying during this bad winter here in the Shenandoah Valley. We were scheduled to have DSL installed today, but appointment was cancelled due to weather. Now rescheduled for later in the month. This has just become available to us. I can't wait. We will be able to get 1.5 meg for $19.99 a month, as compared to up to 1.0 meg from Wildblue for $69.99 a month. When the weather is foul, not much to do but surf the web, so winter has been a pain.

Nice price.
I am at 1 meg right now on DSL but that is all I am paying for. If I wanted to be faster and pay more the steps higher are 3 megs and the highest is 6 megs on DSL. Now I am out in the country so far out no Cable TV will ever be "wired" this far out.
But that 6 meg speed would be at 55 bucks a month, I am at 29.95, I still can view Youtube without it pausing so I am happy with 1 Meg.
MAYBE someday i will go up in speed, my friends just 2 miles from me are at that 6 Meg speed and that Is FLYING FAST~! Especially for DSL out in the country.

Mel- · #17 02/12/10, 07:04 AM

I think 10 meg is available through our dsl but it's 79+ a month. I pay extra for 3 meg. my SIL has 10 meg cable and it is wonderful.

I used to have internet through my cell phone and it was just as fast as 1.5 meg dsl. since then though, most companies are limiting *unlimited* cell phone to 5 gigs a months. not sure how that would fly.

try this map for oregon wisp coverage. it just became available in my area in the last year but dsl is cheaper and faster:

http://www.onelasvegas.com/wireless/OR.html

HermitJohn · #18 02/12/10, 09:42 AM

If you have job requirement for high speed, then guess you bite bullet with satellite. But for home use with no great economic benefit, just cant see justification spending that kind of money. Especially when they severely limit bandwidth so you cant take advantage of much video (like howto's on utube) anyway.

By way some of us have especially SLOW dialup. Any of bandwidth tests shows me surfing at like 19k to 21k. Connection speed can be higher, but actual surfing/downloading is SLOW and has got SLOWER. Then the remaining dieing dialup providers seem to think that those of us on dialup need less hours for more money..... Guess they figure anybody still on dialup is stupid or desperate and ripe for the plucking.

beowoulf90 · #19 02/12/10, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Little Quacker in OR

As I am also on the Dreaded Dial UP I would love to know your thoughts people on the Satellite Providers vs DSL(I don't know what DSL is but would like to find out!).

So, opinions please? Thanks! Good Question John!
LQ

If you can get DSL, go with that over Satelite! We have had wildblue for about 4 years. While it is better then Dial Up, there are problems with it. There are 4 of us in the house and 3 of us are computer savy and do use our computers, but with the download and up load limits we have to watch every move we make. We have and pay for the upper limit which costs us about $80 a month. Weather and anything passing between you and the satelite will cause you to get disconnected..
We also know that Wilblue over sold the subscriptions here in PA and the Northeast and that has also hurt the reliability of the connection.
We know that when another type of service comes available we will leave Wildblue in a heart beat. To us they have not lived up to the hype or service they sell..

blooba · #20 02/12/10, 11:06 AM

If you go with cellular service Alltel (if they are still in your area) still doesn't have download limits, just makes ya reconnect every 12 hrs. I get 1.2-1.8 at the house(I use a 12' usb extension cord to put the modem in the window for better service). In town you can get 2.0-3.0 which is really nice. I pay $40/month since i have the phone service $70 without phone service.