I haven't heard about the new Wild Blue deal. But for now I'm liking HughesNet. I took advantage of the Recovery Act. I'm paying $39.99 a month for 1 mbs verses $22.95 for AT&T dial-up, which. on a good day connected at 26k. I just did a bandwidth check (using C-Net's bandwidth meter) and I'm downloading a 990 kps... close enough for me. No contract and no "expensive equipment" to buy. Yes, I have to be careful about my FAP, but both my wife and I share the connection and rarely exceed our limit. Even then we are only 'punished' for maybe a day. Of course a little common sense is in order. I can't download many videos or music. Yes, the latency prevents on-line game playing, but I don't have time to do that any way.
Now before I moved to the sticks, I did have cable internet, so I DO know what fast internet is. Believe me, when (if ever) DSL is available out here, I will jump to that. Again, for now, I'm happy with satellite internet.