Which Satellite Internet Company?

[Oleozz]

My wife and I live in the "boonies" and can't get any high speed I-Net connection except satellite. I have spent part of the afternoon reading reviews about the major internet satellite companies and most of what is being said is not good. Poor customer service and support, speeds not nearly as fast as the companies claim are two of the biggest complaints.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has satellite internet and what company you would recommend. Thanks for any help.

 

[jeffinsgf]

I have been very pleased with WildBlue.

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon Oleozz,
I have Dish Network for my tv in Vt, and I believe they will hook you up with internet service, but they are always coming up with additional fees that were not previously advertised. I would be afraid to find out how much additional $$$ is needed for internet

 

[Bird]

Scotty, if you'd like to get an idea of what Dish Network costs, you might look over this website. Looks like they're partners with WildBlue mentioned by jeffinsgf. Of course we're in town now, so we have DSL Internet service, but we do have Dish Network TV.

 

[DieselPower]

Wow, prices on satellite internet connections has sure come down. Last time I checked was a couple of years ago and it was in the hundreds per month. Up until recently I have been using a Sprint PCS cellular connection card for my connection, almost 3 years. Two month's ago DSL became available to me, woohoo, life is good and only $19.95 per month.

 

[txdon]

I have had Wildblue for a almost year. In October I noticed it was going slower and slower. This month dial-up would have been faster. I found out that they are not accepting any more customers in my region. They have too many customers. I would assume the satisfaction level is way down. They have another satellite that should be operating maybe in March. For now I have upgraded the package but still in the evenings it is incredibly slow - In this area - central Texas. My neighbor has Hughes and has the least expensive package ($10 less than mine now) and he is satisfied with the speed. If Wildblue's speed does not increase soon I will switch.

 

[hudr]

I have been on HughesNet for nearly 3 years now and I am satisfied. I looked into WildBlue the last time my contract came up for renewal. But then I found out they were near capacity on their bird (sounds like they have reached it according to some of the other posts). I am on the least expensive package w/ Hughes ($59.99/ month I think?) and the speed/reliability is pretty good. The speeds have increased over the past year or so as well. Upload speed is what is a killer on the satellite systems. I started at 56K up and am now at 128k. A good rain will mess it up just like Dish or Direct TV. A common misconception when a company like Dish partners up w/ Hughes or Wildblue is that the Internet service will come through the existing dish. The Internet dish is a transceiver, not passive like the Dish or DirectTV. Also, an FCC licensed tech has to aim/setup the dish so you won't be doing it yourself, more than likely.

 

[Bird]

I forgot to mention that my brothers have Hughes and they say it's faster than the dial-up they were both using before, but they've had lots of problems with it. Now of course, I can't say for sure whether those problems are Hughes' fault or my brothers' fault, because I think they're both as much computer dummies as I am.

 

[HomeBrew2]

This is my 4th week on WildBlue. So far so good.

 

[jk96]

A good rain will mess it up just like Dish or Direct TV.

What, you mean your Direc-tv loses reception in a heavy rain too, which is not nearly as bad as the hurricane in the tv comercial that shows no interuption in service.