Installing Wild Blue too
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I'm not a installer for eather one. but i can say. the problem with Internet via sat is the advertise speeds are much higher than whats realistic. so you get a lot of complaints. i don't think you get paid enough for the extra work it takes to set one up. i would really like to learn more about wb though. i hear about so many problems. but its there second year now to get the bugs out.
hobojoe said:
I had WildBlue installed 2 months ago and it works as advertised for me! The install is very important and it MUST be done to WB specs. I got mine through our area NRTC and service and installation are great here. The aiming tolerances are much smaller than a dish for tv and grounding properly is so important that you will have problems if it's not done correctly. google wildblue forums and you will find 2 forums that will let you do the research so you know what is or isn't a proper install. WB has a new satellite going up soon and that will get rid of the space crunch they are starting to run into presently. Also if you have a choice go through the NRTC for install etc as they have there own customer service and you don't have to deal with WB itself which has crappy customer service on a par with E*. WB isn't as fast as DSL but for those of us in rural areas it's great. My install took about 1.5 hrs and was not complicated at all other than knowing how to do it properly which my WB certified installer did.
I bought Wild Blue for my parents last year and their install went well. They had it done by a NRTC also. Yes, WB isn't as fast as DSL, but she can still download large files at about 75 KB/sec- WAY faster than her old dial-up! I do remote assistance with her, the delay isn't that bad like everyone complains about.
If you can't get DSL/cable, and you don't mind paying $50, I would recommend WB. At first my parents thought $50 was too much, but I ask her now after almost a year and she says it well worth it. Same old story, once you get that taste of home broadband, you can't go without it!
If you can't get DSL/cable, and you don't mind paying $50, I would recommend WB. At first my parents thought $50 was too much, but I ask her now after almost a year and she says it well worth it. Same old story, once you get that taste of home broadband, you can't go without it!
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I install Wildblue as well as Dish and Direct. I don't mind the installs too bad. Occasional problems... for instance, last week I was trying to "provision" (activate) a system, and the satellite provisioning system was down. It wasn't back up for about 9 hours.
And yes, the other problem is that it is hyped up by the sales people way too much. It's not DSL, it has latency, nothing you can do about it.
On the install side of it... Wildblue is very picky, and rightfully so. You can only use "approved" wire, connectors, poles, ect... and if you do anything wrong, they will let you know. In this are they have been checking installs like crazy.
And yes, the other problem is that it is hyped up by the sales people way too much. It's not DSL, it has latency, nothing you can do about it.
On the install side of it... Wildblue is very picky, and rightfully so. You can only use "approved" wire, connectors, poles, ect... and if you do anything wrong, they will let you know. In this are they have been checking installs like crazy.
Satellite -- the last resort for broadband and TV in the boonies.
We had WildBlue and Dish installed at our Country Cabin about a month ago. The install was done on the same day by the same installer. The two satellite dishes are side by side.
WildBlue has worked as advertised except for a few relatively brief outages. The performance of the "Select Pak" @ $69.99/mo + TTL is roughly equivalent to our $49.99 + TTL DSL line at our City House but with _significant_ latency. And of course, we're be back using dial-up at the first sign of bad weather. Overall we're happy with WildBlue but would switch to DSL or Cable in a heart beat if it were available.
OTOH the DishBronze HD has been a huge disappointment. The problems with 129 (failed gyros, weak transponders, and difficulty aiming a single Dish 1000) and the lack of local channels in HD make the HD Bronze package a joke (and paying more for additional channels on 129 complete idiocy). If we could get OTA local channels with less than a 250' mast we'd cancel Dish today.
Satellite -- the last resort for broadband and TV in the boonies.
Talon Dancer
We had WildBlue and Dish installed at our Country Cabin about a month ago. The install was done on the same day by the same installer. The two satellite dishes are side by side.
WildBlue has worked as advertised except for a few relatively brief outages. The performance of the "Select Pak" @ $69.99/mo + TTL is roughly equivalent to our $49.99 + TTL DSL line at our City House but with _significant_ latency. And of course, we're be back using dial-up at the first sign of bad weather. Overall we're happy with WildBlue but would switch to DSL or Cable in a heart beat if it were available.
OTOH the DishBronze HD has been a huge disappointment. The problems with 129 (failed gyros, weak transponders, and difficulty aiming a single Dish 1000) and the lack of local channels in HD make the HD Bronze package a joke (and paying more for additional channels on 129 complete idiocy). If we could get OTA local channels with less than a 250' mast we'd cancel Dish today.
Satellite -- the last resort for broadband and TV in the boonies.
Talon Dancer
I started a thread about WB CS. To date, no installer has shown to repair my problem. My next scheduled repair date is 7/29. So far, I've had 3 days of service (since 5/15) and 2 1/2 months waiting from somebody to come out and replace the TREA (sp). There have been 4 missed appointments, several hours of holding. Several missed "I'll call you back"s. Guess the desert southwest is not a place that folks want to sign up to become installers in the summer. The claim is, they have nobody in the Las Vegas area to do any work. They're flying somebody in from Denver to get the work done. Had a lead guy in the corporate office say he'd pull some strings and get this done sooner. That was Tuesday. Said he'd call me back. Guess he lost my phone number 
so i was thinking of getting a used wb and doing a self install. sounds like i could get the original installer in trouble if everythings not just right. i will work on another way. i would go new but i just want it for a few months to play with. the 30 days isn't long enough to get a really good feel of the system and I'm not planing on keeping it active all the time. it would be really bad of me to go 30 days then say no thanks. just not right.
Its going to be a headache for installers because Dish will expect its techs to install a WB setup in 1/3 the time its ment to be installed in and most of the inhouse guys have a hard enough time explaining to the customer how to use the systems as it is now, just wait till they have to figure this out.
hobojoe said:
as others have said... if you have any other options stay away from satellite... but if you have no other choices....
go ahead and try the 30 day trial, thats what they have it for. As an installer, they still get paid...
And the dealer gets charged back!
So please keep the local dealer in mind if you are thinking of discontinuing service within 1 year
So please keep the local dealer in mind if you are thinking of discontinuing service within 1 year
i could be wrong on this... but i dont believe that the dealer gets "charged-back", they just lose the residules.... at least thats what my boss told medirkleearm said:And the dealer gets charged back!
So please keep the local dealer in mind if you are thinking of discontinuing service within 1 year
they do and that's my point i know i want to keep the dish and turn service on intermittently. and i am very concerned not to harm any one in the proses. i just want month to month my own equipment no contract. i would even expect to pay more for this.
hobojoe said:
as far as i know they aren't just selling the equipment outright... and really can you blame them. I could be a little off on this... but the reason they are so strict on their installers is that those dishes are putting out 3 watts of power and that there are all kinds off FCC regs saying that everything has to be pointed at exactly the right point, because of the fact that it is transmitting a signal into the air
so they dont sell the equipment outright as a do-it-yourself type deal... they are very strict on their installs
and to be honest with ya, i agree... they should let you do a month by month contract... its not like they are subsidizing the equipment and giving it to you for free... well with the current promo they are... but originally you paid for the equipment, and the installation. So they dont have a whole lot invested in you, so why should they require a contract.....
