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Wildblue has a new owner


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So if you have really slow speeds(especially in  'primetime') and can't get anywhere with WildBlue, send a note to the new owners.  :evil6:

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20091001/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_viasat_wild_blue

Satellite equipment maker ViaSat buying Wild Blue

   * By DEBORAH YAO, AP Business Writer - Thu Oct 1, 2009 8:18AM EDT

ViaSat Inc. is acquiring Wild Blue Communications Inc., a provider of high-speed Internet access via satellite, for $568 million in cash and stock, the companies said Thursday.

Privately held Wild Blue, in which Liberty Media Corp. holds a 37 percent stake, will become an operating subsidiary of ViaSat, which makes satellite communications equipment for defense and consumer markets.

Carlsbad, Calif.-based ViaSat plans to buy Wild Blue for $443 million in cash and $125 million in new common stock. Liberty Media, controlled by media mogul John Malone, will appoint a representative to ViaSat's board. Mark Carleton, senior vice president at Liberty, is Wild Blue's chairman.

ViaSat is planning to launch a satellite in the first quarter of 2011 that will enable Wild Blue to offer speeds of 2 Megabits per second to 8 Megabits per second

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What a WB mod/employee said about it:

WB Steph's

Hi everyone, thought I would check to see if there are questions from today's announcement. Everything will remain status quo. Our customer care will remain in the U.S. and pricing will be the same. The $39.95 mentioned is for areas in the west that have a lot of open capacity and that price is only for 12 months. Then it goes back to $49.95 per month. The good news about the acquisition is that ViaSat will be launching the first next generation satellite in about 18 months which means A LOT more capacity, product enhancements and increased throughput speeds. Could be 5MB down.

http://wildblueworld.com/forum/showthread.php?p=18290

Sounds like this could really turn out good.

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The ViaSat1 is going to be an interesting satellite in capacity.

But if WildBlue ends up with two seperate FAP policies to go with the ViaSat1's possible special offers of being able to stream video's to your hearts content, then people on the older satellites are going to look to upgrade, or feel like they are on dialup, again.

http://www.viasat.com/broadband-satellite-networks/viasat-1

Transforming Satellite Broadband

The demand for broadband by satellite is indisputable, as is the growing demand for more bandwidth. Both times a new broadband satellite has launched, a spike in subscriber uptake followed. Then within months, capacity was sold out in key geographic areas, capping subscriber growth.

ViaSat-1 is aimed at meeting this obvious demand:

   * Economically deliver Internet multimedia

   * More capacity than all current North American satellites combined

   * Two million subscribers

   * 10 times the throughput of any other Ka-band satellite

   * In-orbit costs only a fraction of even the newest satellites in orbit

   * More

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Normal scenario for a new company. The old wild blue had to show bigger profits for the sale. But Soon Viasat will also increase and lower bandwidth trying to pull more profits once more. Its a viscious.  And if you believe all lies by companies ........... I am sure if you look in any sat section here this will be nothing new. Just like when hughes took over from Dway. There are still tons of complaints from that changeover.  :2funny: :2funny: The grapes will still be sour, but it does feel good to wish.  :roll:

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You can't make everyone happy. 

No need to be that cynical about everything. 

If experienced is the same as cynical, then guilty as charged. Actually I hope the best. I just hate it when they pull the wool ever others eyes just to boost the sales. Which is probably  what this is. Get new customer base if possible. And try to not scare off the old customers.  :smiley:
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I actually would like to see WB succeed.....when there is competition good things will happen, otherwise Hughes seems dormant.

Isn't that the truth. Its why as bad as they are doing I still enjoy AMD in my puter. Its all that keeps intel from going back the way they were before AMD came along.  :smiley:
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Via-Sat1 sounds promising............ SpaceWay3 sounded promising . . . . .

But its all in the way the NOC manages traffic flow.  I still believe Hughes would be good if they didn't purposefully throttle.

Still hanging onto EVDO Wireless Broadband for now.  Its been good for 4 months going now . . .

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"* Enable service on a par with DSL and cable"

This is the kind of statements that angers me. This is NEVER going to happen with a high orbit satellite. Not unless someone figures out how to transmit radio waves faster than the speed of light. Satellite can not and will not ever compete with DSL or cable.(Unless it is some kind of MUCH lower orbiting satellite)

Also if Viasat wants those satisfaction ratings to go up, then they need to find a traffic shaping technology that doesn't make the already atrocious satellite latency 2-4x what it should be.

Now this is what a real internet connection looks like.  :smitten:

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

Download Connection is:: 17717 Kbps about 17.7 Mbps (tested with 25598 kB)

Download Speed is:: 2163 kB/s

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

Test Time:: 2009/10/03 - 6:46pm

Bottom Line:: 309X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 0.47 sec

Tested from a 25598 kB file and took 11.836 seconds to complete

Download Diagnosis:: Awesome! 20% + : 193.18 % faster than the average for host (embarqservices.net)

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-UG19Y8NFI

User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3) Gecko/20090824 Firefox/3.5.3 GTB5 [!]

Pinging google.com [74.125.45.100] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 74.125.45.100: bytes=32 time=22ms TTL=53

Reply from 74.125.45.100: bytes=32 time=22ms TTL=53

Reply from 74.125.45.100: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=53

Reply from 74.125.45.100: bytes=32 time=22ms TTL=53

Ping statistics for 74.125.45.100:

    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

    Minimum = 21ms, Maximum = 22ms, Average = 21ms

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:idiot2: :idiot2:  Does anyone really think that this sale will make any kind of positive change for the existing Wildblue/Dish.  It would be nice if the new upper crust would look at all the complaints that have been filed against Wildblue about their service and current abilities in certain parts of the country.  I would like to see them help the existing customer base with their issues and then expand, BUT......So,  if there is anyone out there with the new Via-Sat1/Wildblue can you tell us honestly what will happen...... I know it will never be real DSL but it needs to be better, at least what your paying for close to 24/7.

:cry: :cry:      :angry: :angry:        SO WILL VIA  SAT1 HELP??????  LETS HERE FROM YA    :undecided:

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:idiot2: :idiot2:  Does anyone really think that this sale will make any kind of positive change for the existing Wildblue/Dish.  It would be nice if the new upper crust would look at all the complaints that have been filed against Wildblue about their service and current abilities in certain parts of the country.  I would like to see them help the existing customer base with their issues and then expand, BUT......So,  if there is anyone out there with the new Via-Sat1/Wildblue can you tell us honestly what will happen...... I know it will never be real DSL but it needs to be better, at least what your paying for close to 24/7.

:cry: :cry:      :angry: :angry:        SO WILL VIA  SAT1 HELP??????  LETS HERE FROM YA    :undecided:

Honestly I wouldn't hold my breath.

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  :tickedoff::angry: :angry: Your 100% correct.  I will not hold my breath waiting for  Via Sat1  to help the existing customer base that are having speed problems.  But if these customers were helped,  they are actually the bread and butter of the company's  word of mouth by an existing customer's saying yes, Via Sat 1 is a great company.  That WILL NOT HAPPEN unless they cure the problems what exist within the current customer base.  I have suffered with poor speeds TOO long.  VIA SAT 1,  step up

SO AGAIN,  IF THERE IS ANYONE OUT THERE FROM VIA SAT1 THAT WANTS TO SPEAKUP AND TELL US WHAT YOUR GOING TO DO, THAN??????      :knuppel2::tickedoff:

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I recall reading all the great news about Spaceway3 reducing pings, higher speeds etc. a few years back.....I'm just not impressed. The ViaSat-1 sounds great though, guess we will see. I noticed WB has quit installing again after checking my zip code.

Ok so if they did allow you to sign up (obviously they are over capacity for your gateway) and then you suffer from the SLOW and SLUGGISH speeds.  Would you be happy then?

They can't just throw a new satellite into orbit whenever they hit their capacity. 

Hopefully ViaSat-1 will solve some for this (for at least a few years).

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Spaceway was sent up in 07, they had plenty of time to send up the next. Thats no excuse really. If their getting the cash it should be that simple .... yes.

And generallee76, why not start a new thread if this is not working for you. It will help by the way till they over sale it once more. Its how they do it.

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Heres a PDF on the ViaSat1, but it is probably two years old. Especially since ViaSat in it, says they don't want to be a ISP.

http://www.viasat.com/files/assets/web/ViaSat-1_FAQ_3_09_V3.pdf

It's a bit of fluff, with no solid specifications.

So heres the website of Europe's KA band(2010 launch of a ViaSat1) satellite Internet provider.

http://www.tooway.com/tooway-news.html

Various news stories, in PDF format with a small teaser of the PDF story.

And if anyone wants to curse at the speeds being offered via KU and then the few newer KA spot beams in service already, go right ahead.

And users can get rewarded for using the service overnight. If WildBlue gave an incentive to have a Free of FAP time during the overnight, then maybe they could relieve some congestion in the evening.

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  • 4 weeks later...
WildBlue has been severely hampered by satellite capacity, which has hurt its ability to grow, said SNL Kagan analyst Mari Rondeli
quote from article:

http://www.multichannel.com/article/356630-ViaSat_Beams_Up_WildBlue.php

I'm just amazed the scientist never even hint about bandwidth problems  :shock: guess until 2011 WildBlue, surf the web late night or early AM and don't forget to keep paying the bill  :icon_scratch:

option 1: suggest to customers to avoid using the system during peak hours, test system only during off peak hours....make like everything is smooth sail.

option 2: heavy bandwidth use during peak hours (7-10pm est) really drag the system down, file complaints, post slow speeds, really make some noise, demand refunds, class action lawsuits,....... maybe something will get done about it?

option 3: watch fikester surf with Spaceway3

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And SpaceWay3 of Hughesnet spent many months on in-orbit testing before it was released to the masses.

So with the ViaSat1 if there are any delays in launch and then checking the satellite for technical limits in orbit.

Xplornet in Canada(reseller) has already signed a deal with Hughesnet, for it's next reseller capacity satellite for 2012.

PDF  http://www.xplornet.com/media/59053/barrett%20xplore%20jupiter_oct%202009.pdf

Wouldn't you love a 10Mbps residential service via satellite? Jupiter is the name so far.  

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