okwriter

Why do people say only WildBlue and Hughes? Why doesn't anyone mention Starband? I had SB for 6 years or so and rarely had a problem. I was on the $49/mo plan until I finally had other options thanks to the Rural Broadband Initiative. I had to watch bandwidth to avoid the 1Gb per rolling 7 day cap and could stream, but it was better than nothing. Large files could be downloaded overnight during the non-metered period. "couldn't stream" Won't let me edit.

Am I reading their site correctly? Starband isn't compatible with Windows Vista? ??? Guess that won't work, either...

Thanks, Tommie.

I don't know what EVDO is, but Cricket service is not available here according to their site.

I'm still trying to decipher what is/isn't available from Sprint for my location.

I'm in a funky little area in north central Oklahoma. If memory serves, this region's communication was tied up for years by a company called Dobson. I don't know if that has anything to do with the current lack of service providers or not.

I'll keep checking...and will check with US Cellular, too. They are pretty big around here, and I used them for cell service before smart phones got so smart. I quit using them and went with a GoPhone.

at 1x (edge) your looking at dial up speeds lol

Thanks for pointing that out.

Do you think a new dish and a new modem would be any help? Or am I dreaming?

Guess I can always stick with what I have (*sigh*) until I absolutely positively can't take it another minute. I was almost there this morning when I spent four hours trying to get online.

Yeah, what Triran said is correct.

What I would recommend, is clearing any debris that may be in the way of your satellite. (I assume that is what Wildblue uses by your description.)

Thanks,

EBrown

It's pointed the same way our DishTV satellite is (they are next to each other), and we don't have a problem with that. But yes, there is one tree we could hack on.

Using the Verizon data coverage map, I am in the Extended 1X Data area. I will assume that ranks right down at the bottom with NO COVERAGE.

Am I missing something? Besides high-speed Internet, I mean.

My first WB contract was only for a year---maybe two (?)---during which time I paid for their highest package. Sometime after that, they ran a promo and since then (about 3 years) I've been paying $49 for that same *highest* package. It's "okay" when it works, but I've just had some issues lately. I know my computers are old, too, and that compounds the situation. I was just hoping by now there would be some other options for those of us in the boonies. *sigh*

I've been with WildBlue for 5 years, so my equipment (and my computers) need upgraded. Should I enter a new contract with them OR go with HughesNet OR is there a better option? Cable and DSL aren't available. I work from home and have reached my boiling point with this crappy service.

I don't know what happened but somethin' did!  I can see it now!

I complained to the coop who provides my Wildblue.  They just said to call WB tech support (no thanks...).  I also complained to the site owner...not sure if they changed anything or not.  Another thing I did (yesterday) was to upgrade to WB's ProPak, as my provider is running a special right now that will actually be $20/year cheaper for the first year for me to be on the ProPak versus their middle package.    Did that do it?  I dunno.  I just know that I can see it now!

Thanks for all your help!

I did these using the largest file...

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Download Connection is:: 1512 Kbps about 1.5 Mbps (tested with 2992 kB)

Download Speed is:: 185 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (Main)

Test Time:: 2007/12/12 - 6:38am

Bottom Line:: 26X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 5.54 sec

Tested from a 2992 kB file and took 16.206 seconds to complete

Download Diagnosis:: Awesome! 20% + : 41.71 % faster than the average for host (wildblue.net)

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-K6FBNTAJL

User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506) [!]

:::.. Upload Stats ..:::

Upload Connection is:: 237 Kbps about 0.2 Mbps (tested with 2992 kB)

Upload Speed is:: 29 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (Main)

Test Time:: 2007/12/12 - 6:41am

Bottom Line:: 4X faster than 56K 1MB Upload in 35.31 sec

Tested from a 2992 kB file and took 103.352 seconds to complete

Upload Diagnosis:: Awesome! 20% + : 109.73 % faster than the average for host (wildblue.net)

U-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-W1OYZ4RFL

User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506) [!]

As a relative newbie here (but a 2-year WB customer), I'm going to post my latest test scores here - even though I'm not quite sure what they mean.     

I just upgraded to the ProPak yesterday because of a special my provider is running.  If I'm doing the math correctly, it is actually $20 cheaper for me to be on the ProPak for one year than the middle package, which is what I've been on.

Are these speeds about right for the ProPak?

:::.. testmy.net test results ..:::

Download Connection is:: 1555 Kbps about 1.56 Mbps (tested with 1496 kB)

Download Speed is:: 190 kB/s

Upload Connection is:: 156 Kbps about 0.2 Mbps (tested with 386 kB)

Upload Speed is:: 19 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net (Main)

Test Time:: 2007/12/12 - 6:23am

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-8WLTK0XIR

U-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-S5I1BJPYE

User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506) [!]

Thank you!  That narrows it down.

I should have at least started by saying that I've been a lurker here off and on for over a year.  Great stuff!  I am a quasi-satisfied WB customer because hey - it beats dialup.   

I have tried everything possible to go to this site (www.fromthebarrio.com), which belongs to a client of mine. 

It is flash based, so when I got the dreaded "Page cannot be displayed" error, I started trying to troubleshoot Flash. 

Then I thought it might be Vista, but I can't get to the site on my XP machine either.   

Then I thought it might be IE, so I tried it on Firefox. 

Then a friend sent me a link to a page on the site that bypasses the flash, and I can't open it either. 

Will you please try to access that site and let me know if this is a "Wildblue" thing or if I need to get with my local coop (ISP)?

THANKS!