Sorry double post somehow.
They offer a 15 gig and a 25 gig plan. I’m very tempted to try it.
As someone who’s used both WildBlue and HughesNet, if you (or anyone else) have to end up choosing between them, I would recommend HughesNet in a heartbeat. We had WildBlue for two years, their middle plan. The speeds were ok but it was the bandwidth limit that was the worst. 12gb a month for the middle plan. 3gb for uploads. You went over 100% on EITHER upload or download, you were throttled down to even less than dialup speeds. And this lasted until your usage dropped below 70% on BOTH upload and download. The first time it happened we had to wait nearly a week, it was ridiculous. I hear now that they’re switching to a month by month model where is you say, go over your bandwidth on the 10th of the month, you’re throttled until the 1st of the next month.
Hughesnet has bandwidth limits as well, but they’re so much more forgiving. At the lowest plan we get 250mb a day, download only. Unlimited upload. It doesn’t sound like much but they roll over any previously unused bandwidth from the day before which helps a lot. We’ve only gone over it once because I forgot to turn off Windows Updates and we had our normal speeds back up in under 24 hours. I recently downloaded the crap fest that is Opera to use for my browsing because the ‘Turbo Mode’ is a godsend for my bandwidth. The best thing about Hughesnet though is their Bandwidth Free Period. Every night from 11p-4am PST they don’t monitor your bandwidth usage. It’s the best part of the service I feel.
I’ll use my one bump to see if I can get an answer about this “up to” nonsense to 12Mbps.
Does that mean it’s usually 12, but if it’s 11 you can’t sue us, or does it mean they send hamsters walking on a treadmill to send data, but if Moses/Allah/God align, then you get 12?
jtgain, I’m not on the plan that promises anywhere near that but I know with my plan it says “Up to 1.0Mbps” and as they explained to me it’s like this. You’re SUPPOSED to get that speed and under ideal conditions you will but they’re in no way or form PROMISING that speed. So if you don’t get those speeds, well that’s just how it is. Usually with satellite it depends on the time of day and the weather. I know our speeds slow down during ‘peak’ hours and decrease with foul weather as well. I just did a speed test and at this moment, with my “up to 1.0Mbps” plan, I’m averaging a download speed of 0.40Mbps.
I haven’t had any major issues with Hughesnet either. It’s a bit spendy for what you get, but the cost of the plan I have (grandfathered in, no longer offered) is roughly the same cost as a basic landline+DSL service, so I see it as a wash from what I had at the last place I lived as far as cost is concerned. From reading their support forum, a lot of people have problems, but I don’t see the issues that some folks are having.
I believe the “up to” terminology is used as a type of disclaimer related to throttling.
AND how many clients they are trying to route through the same satellite. So, if they’re only leasing x bandwidth on the satellite that services your geographic area and they get a butt load of customers, you all will be sharing the same x bandwidth. The only time they’d even consider trying to get additional bandwidth is if all the customers started revolting and bailing out on those 2 year contracts.
I’ve tired HugesNet and wouldn’t touch them even if they were for free. Their data allowance means that you’ll be throttled within the first week of the month and spend the rest of the month at slower-than-dial-up speeds. Their customer service absolutely sucks. Even the technician doing the install admitted that the service was terrible and that he is often called out to de-install (something that you also have to pay for) sites. He actually gloated that de-installations were about 30% of his work (and how that usually netted him about $80 worth of ‘free cable’ to rebill to the next customer). Then he complained about how, when he got sent out to knock ice off of a dish, he only got paid $30 while I’d be paying the “customer support” $75 for the service call.
Tip for you: get an old box and install Windows Home Server and WSUS on it. Instructions here. Then point all your home PCs at the WHS box.
Enkel, I don’t know if their service used to be different but that’s totally not how it is now. With WildBlue, what you said is entirely true since they changed from a rolling 30 days bandwidth limit to a calender month. Hughesnet dishes out their bandwidth on a rolling 24 hour cycle, so if you go over your limit (like we did once), you only have to wait 24 hours (max, usually sooner) to get your speeds back. And really, I was afraid that I’d be unable to do anything online since 250MB doesn’t really sound like that much. Yeah, I can’t watch streaming videos or download large files (unless I wait till 11pm), but I don’t really find myself getting anywhere near the limit and I spend a lot of time on the computer during the day.
And the technician who did our HughesNet install told us that he refuses to do WildBlue installs because their service plan and usage policy are so horrible. I’m beginning to feel like a bit of a HughesNet advocate but really, having used both services, HN is so much better.
Thanks, I actually do have an old one laying around. I’ll fiddle around with it and see if I can get it working 
Well, Exede is coming a week from Monday for the install. I’ll keep everyone posted on how it works out.
Please do! Good luck.
I’m posting now using Exede Satellite Internet. So far it seems great. Clear skies and good weather. I went to speedtest.net and it clocked 5.65MBps download and 1.78Mbps upload.
I’ll keep you updated on any difficulties or strengths. The installer said that he uses Exede even though he lives where Cable and DSL are offered because it’s cheaper and works well for him.
You definitely notice the ~1 second latency when you click on a page. Not bad at all, though.
There’s a patch of the southwest part of St. Louis County, Mo., about 25 miles from downtown, where the hills and trees are particularly rugged. About 3,000 people live in that area, and they have no broadband service at all. The phone company doesn’t have DSL; satellite and WiMax services, even with antennas on the houses, are erratic; cellular service is undependable; and the cable company wants the town to fork out $3 million (i.e., $1,000 per person) just to string lines. Wireless providers say the only hope is to put several towers almost 200’ high on top of the surrounding hills.
The town has been working on the problem since the year 2000 and even though the people living in the area range from “pretty comfortable” to “damn rich,” a continuing parade of providers have thrown up their hands and walked away.
I’m not pimping for Exede, but have you put that particular zip code into the site and see if they offer service? It’s, so far, WAAAAY better than dial up. We will see when it rains.
I just tested out a VOIP call with a friend. It would definitely take some getting used to. It’s not horrible, but you can sense the delay. A definite latency there, so I’m not going to give up the land line.
But in an emergency, it would do very well.
They serve the zip code, but there’s that whole thing about the “unobstructed view of the southern sky,” which is difficult to have when you live in an area known for hilly and wooded terrain.
I’m quite familiar with the southwest part of St. Louis County, but, more specifically, where is it? Kirkwood, Fenton, Chesterfield…?
Wildwood, specifically the part west of Rockwoods Reservation, south of Highway 100 and north of I-44.
A very overcast day with no rain yet. Download 3.93Mbps, Upload 1.62Mbps.