Wild Blue Internet speeds

[zalternate]

If its like when the Wildblue tech came out to check my system, wouldn't ya know it was running at or above my plan "gold".  There was not a problem with the system the entire time he was here.

Thats been noted in various posts on the Internet. Either the installer shows up in the am to correct the problem. "Oh look. great speeds. Nothing wrong here".

Or the satellite service provider turns up the customers 'base line' speeds, for the technical testing time. Or simply, everyones speeds float with the amount of users online. So a override is enacted for several hours or 24 hours. Then speeds drop back to floating mode. Kinda like the providers with the 30 day guarantee and then the speeds drop from a certain preset to floating mode around the 30 days end time.  The 30 day drop doesn't happen to everyone supposedly, but then again, who checks their speeds for a couple of months and more, from the install?   Squeezing every drop out of dialup made us people who check their speeds and know what times are slow or fast..

You could see these type of speed settings for a corporate customer who needs a certain speed all the time and will pay for it. So their speeds will not drop below a certain speed or their speed may stay at one speed(1500Kbps 24/7).

[cebjr_2008]

I know when I first got the service it was great I usually did a test at least once a day & it was always good, but about a couple months later my speed went to crap in the middle of the morning so I had to call the tech support. They had some one come out & realign my dish because it was off just a little bit & it helped but a couple days later same old thing.  I went through dish network not directly through Wild Blue so yea I've had a tech some out again & they didn't charge me since I've been a long time customer with them for over 10 years. But thats still not the point they need to upgrade there systems or something because now on the weekends I usually have problems with my speed.  But I guess you get what you pay for, & I'm not paying for crap right now. Like every body else said I get good speeds until about 2 then it goes to crap until about 11 pm so yea fun fun. I'm trying to get Alltel, but I've already had them & I have a floating signal so yea I need to get a amp or a grid antenna but all in good time, then I can drop Wild Blue for ever hopefully.  & our Alltel in southern il didn't get bought out by verizon so yea until they get bought out then they are still gonna be Alltel.

[generallee76]

  It would be nice for Wildblue to actually experience the internet speeds that we do.  Its also VERY amazing that up to the few hours before a tech comes out and after the tech leaves the system runs like shit.  Isn't it AMAZING, the system NEVER perform like crap when NEVER  the tech is here.  They always come back to you and say I can't find any problems from either end.  I don't understand......THEY DON"T WANT TO,  Thats why....I feel the BBB should be up their BACKEND :knuppel2: :tickedoff:  But its I'm sorry we'll give you a 30day credit and seems its all ok now... SAY WHAT       BUT it is what it is and they know your stuck with it...........

[tommie gorman]

Those that can switch to the first available exit internet plan possible. I was never so glad to get EVDO in my area a couple of years back. I almost cried I was so tickled. 

Never quit looking. It'll happen one day and you too can flip satelite service off. 

[generallee76]

Well put Tommie, it is what it is and I'm waiting for EVDO to come to me.  VERY soon I hope from what I'm hearing.  But at this point from what I've heard Wildblue is the better choice for now.  There are many more horror stories with Hughes.net that Wildblue.............And why has the BBB not looked into the problem with either of these two companies???  Is there something going on there??  Who knows

[fikester]

Well put Tommie, it is what it is and I'm waiting for EVDO to come to me.  VERY soon I hope from what I'm hearing.  But at this point from what I've heard Wildblue is the better choice for now.  There are many more horror stories with Hughes.net that Wildblue.............And why has the BBB not looked into the problem with either of these two companies???  Is there something going on there??  Who knows

The BBB has already revoked WildBlue accreditation......

http://www.bbb.org/denver/business-reviews/internet-access-providers/wildblue-communications-in-greenwood-village-co-9036631

Hughes has far less complaints with the newer Ka band system, seems most issues are with the older Ku band. WildBlue on the other hand must have problems they cant or wont fix? Hughes will respond to most BBB complaints with a re-point, transponder change, refund, credits etc... obviously Hughes responds to the BBB shows an "A" rating

http://www.dc.bbb.org/report.html?national=y&compid=9864

[Earthsignal]

Left Hughes for WildBlue 01-2006 and overall had very good service.  Some slowing on the upload side lately.  When you call WB customer service they speak English I can understand.  Nice to see they employee people in this country.  More recently they have created a WB forum where you can contact WB  employees directly.  However if your through Dish or another VAR it limited what they can do.

http://wildblueworld.com/forum/

[fikester]

Left Hughes for WildBlue 01-2006 and overall had very good service.  Some slowing on the upload side lately.  When you call WB customer service they speak English I can understand.  Nice to see they employee people in this country.  More recently they have created a WB forum where you can contact WB  employees directly.  However if your through Dish or another VAR it limited what they can do.

http://wildblueworld.com/forum/

I have already been there and ask to see speed test during evening hours.... from what I have read WildBlue is having pretty good slow downs and as you say the upload is not performing either? Just dont buy the great customer service otherwise the BBB rating would be much different.

I like this response by a WB dealer/installer to a complaining customer:

The installer lied to you. He just wanted to get out of there rather than make sure your system was working the way it should. He should have installed the optimizer and run a couple speed test before he left. Hopefully one of the moderators will see your post today, if not send them a PM asking for help.

it does take forever for the google page to come up. a couple things to look at here was it a peak time when you were installed ? there is no requirement for a speed test on the installers part. they can not guarantee speeds. If the tech was pulling up your home page he did his job. four greens in the qoi.

my self i do not do speed test at a customer site unless i see something i do not like in the connection., like a slow locking modem or a easy site that grinds and does not load. i do not base the speed on the wb homepage loading it sits there and grinds what seems like for ever.

http://www.wildblueworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2426

[compuguybna]

Been thru Wildblue (absolutely AWFUL).  Two engineers came out here.  "Nothing's wrong with your system".  BULL!

200K speeds was the best on the 1.0mpbs plan.....

Been thru TWO Hughesnet systems.  Speeds were PERFECT until day 31 when they throttle you down (you're NOT a new customer any longer, and you are IN a contract).  Cancelled Both of them.

THEN CAME EVDO Rev A of Mobile Broadband.  What a relief.  I can finally surf the internet like it was meant to be.

I have a Millenicom (Verizon) card, and consistently get about 1.2mbps at all times.... No contracts, No taxes, No repair bills, No foreign tech support, No high pings, No throttling, NO peak time suffering...

There is a 5gb usage limit, but there is no FAP daily like Hughes.

Going to Mobile broadband was the best decision/move I ever made.  If you can get Verizon in your area, consider it!!!

[fikester]

Nothing here but dial up or satellite....the cable company offers internet (previous subscription demonstrated outages for weeks at a time, internet on the best day was 128kbps) believe it or not satellite is actually better than the cable here.  My new  pole location is set waiting for the Spaceway3 equipment tomorrow from hughes, this has always been quite an adventure in the past years.....already printed out the email from Hughes executive stating "zero cost to me", almost certain somehow installer will want paid for something.

[micwa1]

I have already been there and ask to see speed test during evening hours.... from what I have read WildBlue is having pretty good slow downs and as you say the upload is not performing either? Just dont buy the great customer service otherwise the BBB rating would be much different.

I like this response by a WB dealer/installer to a complaining customer:

The installer lied to you. He just wanted to get out of there rather than make sure your system was working the way it should. He should have installed the optimizer and run a couple speed test before he left. Hopefully one of the moderators will see your post today, if not send them a PM asking for help.

it does take forever for the google page to come up. a couple things to look at here was it a peak time when you were installed ? there is no requirement for a speed test on the installers part. they can not guarantee speeds. If the tech was pulling up your home page he did his job. four greens in the qoi.

my self i do not do speed test at a customer site unless i see something i do not like in the connection., like a slow locking modem or a easy site that grinds and does not load. i do not base the speed on the wb homepage loading it sits there and grinds what seems like for ever.

http://www.wildblueworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2426

You like it because it's honest?

It's not a hidden fact that there ARE some bad installers in the business (that are not actually "employed" by WB, mind you).  Both WB and HN.  I bet probably half of people having problems, were due to a faulty install by a lazy installer.  That should be reported to WB, not the BBB, for christ sake.

[fikester]

Just to throw a number out there likely less than 50% of installs are done correctly......my own experiences DirecTv and Hughes myself have redone the install on both after the jokers left. The DirecTv was left with a signal of 74-75, I peaked it to a 97-98. The Hughes, DirecWay then grounded the transmitter to the coax etc... pole mount much better, xpol was 60's got to 89, and correctly grounded the system and installed RG-11 coax. There is no doubt in my mind Hughes and WB both have a very high number of jokers installing systems.

I can guarantee one thing the installer may get away with a few short cuts, but will he leave me an install not working correctly, no speed test? yeah only after he packs up the stuff he just installed.

My point to the previous post is WB originally sounded like a true beating for Hughes, but as it stands WB is not winning the game.   

[zalternate]

Then installer needs a little black box to properly do a Internet satellite dish install.

The box tells him what satellite he's pointing at and to allow for proper peaking.

Now when a user calls in to support, to diagnose speed problems.... The support agent 'should' be pulling up the users dish on the screen and check alignment numbers. And also making sure that if the numbers are low, is there is not a big black cloud pizzing out hail stones in the path of the beam, via weather confirmation by the user or a online satellite radar map also showing the NOC's weather.

But thats a perfect world. Instead many have posted about first being made to waste time(hours/days) with all sorts of stuff, blaming the users computer, before that thought may even be tried. It would be nice if the agent were allowed by WildBlue to say that the beam/NOC is at maximum capacity, and speeds will be degraded at PrimeTime for the foreseeable future.

Before someone calls in, they should reboot the modem and computer. And by-pass the router, by plugging the computer straight into the modem.

And this sites speed test does give a time of the test. A new user thinking of a satellite Internet service should look for that time. As a evening speed test time may show a major slowdown compared to the early morning speed test.

And the funniest thing support says to users? "Well surf in the middle of the night, if the evening is so slow."  But people only need 4 hours of sleep a night, right?  Oh I know. Come home from work and eat dinner. Have a nap afterwards till 11pm and then surf for three or 4 hours.  

[Earthsignal]

My point to the previous post is WB originally sounded like a true beating for Hughes, but as it stands WB is not winning the game.   

I have no idea who is winning the game but if you go to dslreports and check the reviews on both companies you find a lot of negatives on both.  There are many happy people with both companies but those people tend to not post their experience.  Like I said in another post it is refreshing to speak to a customer service agent and be able to understand what they are saying.   

Middle package up to 1000Kbps

3:14pm CDT

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

Download Connection is:: 1065 Kbps about 1.1 Mbps (tested with 3064 kB)

Download Speed is:: 130 kB/s

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

Test Time:: 2009/09/21 - 2:14pm

Bottom Line:: 19X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 7.88 sec

Tested from a 3064 kB file and took 23.564 seconds to complete

Download Diagnosis:: Awesome! 20% + : 20.2 % faster than the average for host (wildblue.net)

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-ACDW0SI1T

User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; GTB6; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) [!]

Ron ~ Wildblue Select Pak since 01-2006, Anik F2 Beam 26, service through NRTC, Dell XPS, 2Gig Ram, XP Pro, Router DD-WRT- WRT54GL, Laptop, XP home

[fikester]

Whats your upload speed...? your paying for 200k up on the select pack.

WB has what one sat in the sky, and service how many compared to Hughes? I think this makes a fair comparison:

http://www.nationwidesatellite.com/HughesNet/service/HughesNet_vs_wildblue.asp

[Earthsignal]

Seems the BBB has revoked WB's accreditation. I was thinking of switching to WB but have decided to go with a re-point to Spaceway3 at no cost to me instead. The more I read about WB the worse it sounds.

Your doing the smart thing staying with something that cost nothing to update.  Here is some of the consumers complaints about Hughes to sort of balance things out (26 pages of them)

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/internet/hughes.html

Ron ~ Wildblue Select Pak since 01-2006, Anik F2 Beam 26, service through NRTC, Dell XPS, 2Gig Ram, XP Pro, Router DD-WRT- WRT54GL, Laptop, XP home

[Earthsignal]

Whats your upload speed...? your paying for 200k up on the select pack.

WB has what one sat in the sky, and service how many compared to Hughes? I think this makes a fair comparison:

http://www.nationwidesatellite.com/HughesNet/service/HughesNet_vs_wildblue.asp

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

Upload Connection is:: 220 Kbps about 0.2 Mbps (tested with 2992 kB)

Upload Speed is:: 27 kB/s

Tested From::

[Earthsignal]

WB has what one sat in the sky, and service how many compared to Hughes? I think this makes a fair comparison:

http://www.nationwidesatellite.com/HughesNet/service/HughesNet_vs_wildblue.asp

I forgot to mention WildBlue has 300,000+ customer since late 2005 compared to 455,000+ for Hughes in how many years.  Not bad for start up company in three and half years.  They are far from perfect but considering they are taking on a giant like Hughes, not to bad.

[tommie gorman]

I forgot to mention WildBlue has 300,000+ customer since late 2005 compared to 455,000+ for Hughes in how many years.  Not bad for start up company in three and half years.  They are far from perfect but considering they are taking on a giant like Hughes, not to bad.

Not bad if you consider they are copying Hughes in every way including poor service. Like you said they are comparable even down to their complaints. 

Again, satelite sucks. That about sums it up.

[zalternate]

I forgot to mention WildBlue has 300,000+ customer since late 2005 compared to 455,000+ for Hughes in how many years.  Not bad for start up company in three and half years.  They are far from perfect but considering they are taking on a giant like Hughes, not to bad.

With the subscribership. It needs to be noted that before the KA satellite services got up and running(Telesat), satellite Internet equipment and data rates were rather expensive. Or there were the one way satellite systems, needing a dialup modem for uploads.    I remember seeing some install prices of about $700, with equipment, before the full takeoff of KA technology methods.

But some people do complain about how 'low cost' the modems parts are. And with TRIA's that allowed water to leak in and cause a TRIA failure as well(not saying that Hughesnet tria's are perfect either). But many WildBlue users were on the hook for what should of been a national recall on defective WildBlue TRIA's.

It's about 10,000 users per month on each system, last I looked for new installs.  But beware of WildBlue installers in closed beams looking for work, via extra repairs/parts, when a repair is requested on out of warranty equipment.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-141185638.html

Article: Wildblue Slashes Installation Price, Adds $200 Million To Coffers.

Article from:

   Satellite News

Article date:

   January 23, 2006

In a bid to boost satellite broadband sales and subscriptions, Wildblue Communications has slashed its professional installation costs and significantly increased its distribution of equipment through satellite equipment dealers.

The price cut, by $100 to $79.95, is intended to provide a jumpstart for Wildblue's subscriber numbers. The company expected to close 2005 with about 25,000 subscribers.

"We want to create an incentive for satellite dealers to sell our products, and to attract great dealers to our distribution chain," Wildblue President and COO Ken Carroll told Satellite News. Previously, most Wildblue installations were handled by members ...  

[Earthsignal]

Not bad if you consider they are copying Hughes in every way including poor service. Like you said they are comparable even down to their complaints. 

Again, satelite sucks. That about sums it up.

LOL,  Not sure do you know who went online with KA first?

[Earthsignal]

With the subscribership. It needs to be noted that before the KA satellite services got up and running(Telesat), satellite Internet equipment and data rates were rather expensive. Or there were the one way satellite systems, needing a dialup modem for uploads.    I remember seeing some install prices of about $700, with equipment, before the full takeoff of KA technology methods.

But some people do complain about how 'low cost' the modems parts are. And with TRIA's that allowed water to leak in and cause a TRIA failure as well(not saying that Hughesnet tria's are perfect either). But many WildBlue users were on the hook for what should of been a national recall on defective WildBlue TRIA's.

It's about 10,000 users per month on each system, last I looked for new installs.  But beware of WildBlue installers in closed beams looking for work, via extra repairs/parts, when a repair is requested on out of warranty equipment.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-141185638.html

Yes,cost have come down.  Don't recall how much I paid for my first DW setup.

The water leaking into TRIA's was a real mess and should have been a recall.  I still have my 1-2006 TRIA, guess I was lucky.  The pictures of the insides of those TRIA's was a real mess.

WB closing beams does cause a real problem for installers wanting work.  Hopefully the leased space on the new bird will give them some work.

[micwa1]

Not bad if you consider they are copying Hughes in every way including poor service. Like you said they are comparable even down to their complaints. 

Again, satelite sucks. That about sums it up.

Satellite is only for those with no [good] alternative.  Compare it to DSL, of course it sucks.  It's like comparing Dial Up to Fiber. 

Wildblue Corporate has a forum up and running for a year now, with active WB employees that have solved many problems.  HN or no other has that.

Like I've said, the bottom line is: A GOOD INSTALL.  WB has been saying they are trying to wean the bad ones out for a while now.  But some of the ones that install WB, also install HN.

[compuguybna]

Hughesnet and WILDBLUE are EQUALLY as bad................

Hughesnet might be a small small small TAD better than Wildblue.  Never got more than 200K on Wildblue on the 1.0 plan. the CEO cancelled mine....

Had TWO Hughesnet accounts. Throttling after 30 days spoiled it for me. (Cancelled BOTH of them).

Have had Verizon EVDO since then. No contract. No taxes, No throttling, No equipment repairs. No b/s, American tech support, $59 a month

Your doing the smart thing staying with something that cost nothing to update.  Here is some of the consumers complaints about Hughes to sort of balance things out (26 pages of them)

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/internet/hughes.html

Ron ~ Wildblue Select Pak since 01-2006, Anik F2 Beam 26, service through NRTC, Dell XPS, 2Gig Ram, XP Pro, Router DD-WRT- WRT54GL, Laptop, XP home

[compuguybna]

You can DEFINATELY tell the members on here that are members of the Wildblue Forums.    OOOHHH wildblue never does any wrong.

Hughesnet and WILDBLUE are EQUALLY as bad................

Hughesnet might be a small small small TAD better than Wildblue.   Never got more than 200K on Wildblue on the 1.0 plan. the CEO cancelled mine....

Had TWO Hughesnet accounts. Throttling after 30 days spoiled it for me. (Cancelled BOTH of them).

Have had Verizon EVDO since then. No contract. No taxes, No throttling, No equipment repairs. No b/s, American tech support, $59 a month