Satellite Inet Users Be Aware

[Jared Twomey]

that may be, but i honestly doubt it that much. Also, we havent had ANY disconnect early

[Cold Irons]

So my dilemna is: do I wait a month without broadband to see if cable is possible with the risk that it won't be and I'll have to sign up with satellite anyway, or do I go for satellite straightaway with the option that if cable does turn out to be available I can, if I want to, always cancel the satellite.

If I go for satellite now (or later), which service should I go with? HughesNet, SkyWay, WildBlue or SkyFX? Is there anyone else?

So many questions!

I know with Hughesnet (having just started with their service), you have to sign a 24-month contract (ala Cell Phones). Don't know about WB for sure, but thought they also had a specific time period contract. Given this, I'd wait until I was sure that cable was not an option.

[Cold Irons]

So my dilemna is: do I wait a month without broadband to see if cable is possible with the risk that it won't be and I'll have to sign up with satellite anyway, or do I go for satellite straightaway with the option that if cable does turn out to be available I can, if I want to, always cancel the satellite.

If I go for satellite now (or later), which service should I go with? HughesNet, SkyWay, WildBlue or SkyFX? Is there anyone else?

So many questions!

I know with Hughesnet (having just started with their service), you have to sign a 24-month contract (ala Cell Phones). Don't know about WB for sure, but thought they also had a specific time period contract. Given this, I'd wait until I was sure that cable was not an option.

[Stargazer]

We have switched businesses off of the broadband satellite to our wireless internet service and they never looked back. We got others wanting to switch but some are in a contract. Some are going to switch anyhow. Most people that have the satellite broadband have no alternative so they have no choice but to stay with it because its better than dialup unless you are into gaming.

[DeardorffV8]

The fact that 'you' have not had people with WildBlue trouble means little. Have you been hit by a drunk driver or hit by lightening? Others have and just like the two I personally know being cut off by WildBlue... it happens.

Where I live DSL, Cable and whatnot are not available. We are in rural North Dakota. The speed is 24kbps at the fastest and under 1kbps to 2.7 is the norm for downloads and uploads. It takes a long time to get a 5MB photo uploaded this way and a long time to download a program update.

So, we look at HughesNet to see if it is a viable alternative.

If someone else has a workable suggestion I am open to it.

[dirkleearm]

You might call your local dish or dtv retailer and ask if they know of anyone closer that 200 miles. I know I would have to sur charge just because of distance.

[Tevion]

I have Time Warner & I haven't noticed any limitations. I will have to check it out.

[redoak]

I just came to this site/forum. I do not have any broadband service available to me here in the "boonies," except satellite.

I have been reading thru this Thread and caught the comment by the "Dway" installer. Hence my question- what is "Dway?"

I am trying to make an intelligent choice of a satellite provider; therefore, I am checking out all vendors I can ID.

Recommendations would, of course, be appreciated.

{redoak}

[HCI]

Hughesnet is Dway.

[themorg]

I just came to this site/forum. I do not have any broadband service available to me here in the "boonies," except satellite.

I have been reading thru this Thread and caught the comment by the "Dway" installer. Hence my question- what is "Dway?"

I am trying to make an intelligent choice of a satellite provider; therefore, I am checking out all vendors I can ID.

Recommendations would, of course, be appreciated.

{redoak}

I have been with what is now called HughesNet for over 5 years. When first it was DirecWay, we actually reached download speeds in excess of 3MB at times. FAP was there, but with over 400MB every 4 hours, it wasn't an issue. That's over 2GB per day!
Now we have Hughes (we are rural and have no choice but satellite), and even with the Pro Plus plan (supposedly 1.5MB) we are lucky to average 300-400k during the day, though at times we see 1.2MB.
The FAP for us is now 425MB per day! I hit the old FAP limit of 200MB once due to having to download a large program multiple times in one day. I was NEVER notified that the FAP had changed! When I called customer service, they couldn't care less.
I don't know how well WB treats their customers, but once you sign up with Hughes, they couldn't care less about you. The customer support center is in Asia, and they are VERY limited in what they will do for you. I have never been satisifed with their customer service, and not surprisingly, I have never been given a survey to fill out either.
Since it would cost more money than we're willing to spend to change providers, and it sounds like there are similar issues with most of them, we are stuck for the time being, until AT&T gets DSL out here, or a cable company brings out a cable modem.

Good Luck!