Hughes Net or WildBlue?

I'll second what Texican has reported about Hughesnet. It HAS gotten a little better. They have their own satellite now, in addition to buying bandwidth on other folks satellites. The stress on the system is less, and speeds have somewhat improved. The worst of the customer service problems have been ironed out and the last problem I had was relatively efficiently handled. Had it not been, I was about ready to try something else.

There are methods of pushing heavy downloads into the free time period, but you-tube does its best to thwart downloads in favor of streaming.

It is a constant battle to limit the websites and programs that want to hog bandwidth.
Don't allow automatic updates on your programs.
Use Firefox with "adblock plus" and "NoScript"
Use the free Hughesnet download manager.

Use the pole mount antenna rather than one on the roof. That allows you to inspect it and brush off wet snow. The plastic that covers the horn is susceptible to cracking, and if moisture gets in there the transmitter will begin to have problems, so keep an eye on that.

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George Washington did not run and hide.

Does anyone have Verizon for wireless broadband (that is, the cell service, not the home service)?
I talked to them today.
They have a closer tower than our current cell carrier so they might provide better service. But they have usage caps, too! I'm coming to realize our $30 mo. for unlimited is a heck of a great deal.
Too bad the signal is so intermittent...

Yeah Joshie, I called millenicom (see my post above. They're on my call list, too, (as well as Millenicom since a member here, Joshie maybe?, has recommended them and their site said they cover our area)

They do indeed cover us but they said they just use Verizon towers. So they're charging more per month with the same usage limits. I figured I might as well go directly with Verizon (though there is a 2 year contract. Something else I haven't had to deal with for quite some time...)

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

I managed the corporate cell phone account for my last job and had about 40 Verizon Wireless broadband cards. Most cellular wireless is going to limited data plans because data usage has increased immensely. The VZW cards were used by traveling staff and a few folks who did not have DSL service at their house. Service is very good, but you can't expect to download a lot of movies or videos.

What company is your current service provider? Do you know where the nearest tower is? Do you have any signal bars at your house? If you have any signal then adding an antenna will help your reception. You can either get a small 3 ft. antenna or a much bigger antenna mounted to the outside of your house.

deb
in wi

We had Wild Blue once nearly 2 years ago and it was about as good as not having service at all. Don't know about Hughes either.

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A closed mouth gathers no foot.

I went with Verizon when Alltel dumped me. We moved from an Alltel area into on the areas bought up by Verizon when Alltel sold parts of their network.

Connection and service reception is very good [so was Alltel's reception]. We went from unlimited useage to 5 GB for about $60 at first, and that was killing me. I upgraded to their G4 network with 10 GB for roughly $80 during a promotional - and it is barely enough for us. 2 computer users with 2 laptops and 2 PCs. We are forever bouncing that little USB modem back and forth between us. It's a pain! I really do not see a difference between the G4 speed and whatever we had before though. I also find very few WIFI spots to use locally - but that may just our hole in the wall country area here...

Yeah, we currently have an antenna on the house. For that matter, we also have a booster.
We wouldn't get any bars at the house, otherwise.

Our nearest tower is about ten miles away, but it's pretty hilly between us.
On the other hand, they're SUPPOSED to be building a tower, 6 miles as the crow flies and it'll be line-of-sight. However, it's been supposedly getting built for the last year...

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

+ 1 here

Hated every minute of Wildblue "service".

If you live in the same town as your store, then the FCC did approve a new tower in February 24, 2011 : FCC Tower Structure Registration. If you follow the link, the new tower is second one . If you click on 1277940, it will take you to specifics about that tower like the address 31825 Hwy 34 and the company's contact for the project. You could try calling that person to find out when the tower is being constructed.

It looks like this tower will be owned by a tower company and then wireless companies will lease space on the tower for their antennae. The contact person may be able to give you some idea when the tower will be fully functiona;

deb
in wi

I have had wildblue for several years and i have to agree with a number of things others have said.

It kinda sucks, but it beats dial-up.

Don't worry about using up your allocation, its slow enough that you won't use it that much.

Find a reputable installer, if you can. Check the dish installation and make sure it won't be moved by a strong wind. Make sure the installer uses software to check the signal strength and adjust the satellite.

We have been using Wildblue for 4 months and no problems. We have the middle of the road pkg whatever that was. LOL

We had more problems with the installer than anything else. The first installer hemmed and hawed finally came out installed half of the dish. Finally we dumped that installer and went with another installer that was here in a matter of days. Good installer is a must.

Sure beats dial up!

Use Hughes. Works great. Installed well, with very clear view of sky. Daily download limit depends on plan I think. I have 500MB per day, but you also get a monthly complimentary token to reset your speed. Extras are like 12.50 and added to your bill. I don't watch a lot of video online, so I rarely go over the daily limit.

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Proverbs 22:3 "A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished." KJV www.informedchristians.com

cell service cards can be more reliable in snow, rain, fog, than satalite. With Wild Blue not only affected by bad weather at your home dish but also if there's bad weather at the service location, for me is the Rochester NY Station. WildBlue customer service has been good when problems or questions come up. There helpful with running diagnoises, Had or dish fryied by lighting a couple of weeks after install, and they replaced it no hassel.

If you go to their homepage, they have a download section, where you can pick up a few handy tools. One of them is a Hughesnet Status Meter. Another is a Hughesnet Download manager, so when you need to dl a file, you can schedule it for the unlimited FAP time period, or dl it right then.

Type into your browser bar the following link: http://192.168.0.1/
This is your hughesnet status page... look on the left side and you'll see download allowance status... click on this and it'll tell ya your download status. Constantly updated. If you have a 'usage meter' on your computer (I use Down2Home 1.3... it's free) it'll 'skewer' your results a bit... still use D2H so I can get statistics on daily usage.

Try the link, go online and read about it in forums, and think you'll figure out how it works and be more pleased than 'flying blind' risking FAP.

edited to add>>>>

Your not supposed to 'like it'... there are costs to living out in the boonies. If I wanted to download and watch unlimited netflix or youtube, I could easily move to town. NOT.

If having sucky broadband is the cost of living in (as close as I'm liable to get to ) nowhere, so be it. I can be crazy as I wannabe out here, without a worry in the world. I'd be in trouble, if I lived in town, in so many ways.

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

We don't have any usage limits. We have Verizon cell phones but their internet does NOT work here. Whatever you decide upon try make sure you have some period of time during which you can cancel the contract without penalty.

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Moms don't look at things like normal people.
-----DD

Deb, this isn't true for internet, at least for us. We have Verizon and it works well at home. We cannot get Verizon 3G here though. Having cell reception and 3G reception are two different stories.

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Moms don't look at things like normal people.
-----DD

Thanks for the link, deb!
That's actually not the right tower, but it took about a minute to run another search and find it.

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

Laura have you ever tested your upload/download speeds? Is it a relatively fast service? (That is faster than dialup, but maybe not DSL?)

In double checking my notes, that is one distinct advantage with millenicom; no usage limits (or contract!)

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

Have you tried Viaero? Looks like they coverr SW NE.

Viaero is who I currently have buffalocreek. They do indeed cover our area. Mostly.

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop