Verizon 4G LTE

[Phainein]

If any of you start to see ads, billboards, postcards, doorknob hangers, etc

PS: That Montana site I posted, the site owner says

"Don't pay attention to this page or this post or the speeds or pricing mentioned... we got this information from a Canadian site and I don't even know if it's talking about HughesNet, G4 or what, but we modified it and pasted it onto our new site just for an idea for a template for posting Gen 4 information when it becomes available."

[FMJ]

Imagine that. My post about the HN packages got deleted by a mod. Anything that shows WB in a negative light is forbidden.

[Phainein]

Imagine that. My post about

I'm sure Corporate is examining all price aspects, and when Hughes officially releases its price sheet, then Corp will act accordingly.

But, since Hughes won't go live until November...I have a feeling they will delay too.

[FMJ]

And the mods here will continue to delete any posts by anyone that shows the competition in a positive way. Doesn't matter if this thread is about tech chat or whatever chat. Censorworld.com is what it should be called since most negative posts about WB are usually removed.

[Kentuckienne]

I tried Verizon's 4G LTE service using a MiFi modem while looking for ways to ditch HN. I'm a longtime Verizon customer and have always had good experiences with them. The service worked great for a short while, so I cancelled HN, then it started slowing down, dropping connections, etc. Verizon techs spent a lot of time researching, troubleshooting, etc. Summary:

1. I am midway between three cell towers, and was OK in the beginning because the trees around me weren't fully leafed out. Once that happened, the modem started switching between the different towers depending on where it could pick up the strongest signal at the moment, resulting in dropped connections. Also, sometimes when you drop off a good tower you can't get back on because of the number of people already connected.

2. An omnidirectional antenna (home made) helped some, and a directional antenna would have probably helped more, but it was going to be a while until the service was acceptable. Either another tower goes up nearer to me (unlikely, it's very rural here) or VZ upgrades all the towers to 4G.

3. I had to choose between staying with VZ and waiting for upgrades (or winter to return) or going back to HN. While researching ways to improve the MiFi signal including updating the firmware, I read a post from someone who'd just found Exede, so I looked it up. The customer service reviews were terrible, but the service was so much faster that HN. VZ offered me 30 days to decide if I wanted to keep the wifi access, and allowed me to terminate without penalty.

4. Some one at VZ may have mentioned to me that the coverage maps are not entirely to be trusted. Really the only way to tell if you can get good coverage is to try it. They have a cancellation policy that lets you cancel within 15 days without penalty, though there may be a restocking fee for the equipment.

VZ: you can take the MiFi or other modem with you and have internet access anywhere you go, even in the car as the modem has an internal battery. Very nice. Easy way to share data service with multiple devices. The VZ modem is wireless, so there are no router configuration issues. (HINT HINT VIASAT) Easy to add GB as needed. Customer service and tech support is SUPERB. Polite, knowledgeable, helpful, prompt and effective. I LOVE Verizon's tech and customer support. Never a billing issue that didn't arise from some kind of misunderstanding, and easy to resolve if it arises. Great bill reporting allows me to see exactly what I am charged for.

Exede: works in the trees. Seems very reliable. Costs more per GB, costs more to add GB. Can't take it with you when you travel. Doesn't play well with others: no support or advice for customer network (router, etc.) issues. Tech support and customer support are LOUSY. Almost rude sometimes, not helpful, long wait times to talk to a rep, and ineffective at resolving problems. I'm not sure I trust the data measurement tools, and god help me if I wanted to appeal anything. Fortunately there is is excellent forum which allows me to research and fix my own problems. Thank you, members, it's much appreciated.

If the Verizon service had worked at 4G speed, I would have kept it. Once my Exede service contract runs out, I will be checking back with Verizon to see how the coverage is, and if it is great I'll switch.

[James E Vanderberg]

I tried Verizon's 4G LTE service using a MiFi modem while looking for ways to ditch HN. I'm a longtime Verizon customer and have always had good experiences with them. The service worked great for a short while, so I cancelled HN, then it started slowing down, dropping connections, etc. Verizon techs spent a lot of time researching, troubleshooting, etc. Summary:

1. I am midway between three cell towers, and was OK in the beginning because the trees around me weren't fully leafed out. Once that happened, the modem started switching between the different towers depending on where it could pick up the strongest signal at the moment, resulting in dropped connections. Also, sometimes when you drop off a good tower you can't get back on because of the number of people already connected.

2. An omnidirectional antenna (home made) helped some, and a directional antenna would have probably helped more, but it was going to be a while until the service was acceptable. Either another tower goes up nearer to me (unlikely, it's very rural here) or VZ upgrades all the towers to 4G.

3. I had to choose between staying with VZ and waiting for upgrades (or winter to return) or going back to HN. While researching ways to improve the MiFi signal including updating the firmware, I read a post from someone who'd just found Exede, so I looked it up. The customer service reviews were terrible, but the service was so much faster that HN. VZ offered me 30 days to decide if I wanted to keep the wifi access, and allowed me to terminate without penalty.

4. Some one at VZ may have mentioned to me that the coverage maps are not entirely to be trusted. Really the only way to tell if you can get good coverage is to try it. They have a cancellation policy that lets you cancel within 15 days without penalty, though there may be a restocking fee for the equipment.

VZ: you can take the MiFi or other modem with you and have internet access anywhere you go, even in the car as the modem has an internal battery. Very nice. Easy way to share data service with multiple devices. The VZ modem is wireless, so there are no router configuration issues. (HINT HINT VIASAT) Easy to add GB as needed. Customer service and tech support is SUPERB. Polite, knowledgeable, helpful, prompt and effective. I LOVE Verizon's tech and customer support. Never a billing issue that didn't arise from some kind of misunderstanding, and easy to resolve if it arises. Great bill reporting allows me to see exactly what I am charged for.

Exede: works in the trees. Seems very reliable. Costs more per GB, costs more to add GB. Can't take it with you when you travel. Doesn't play well with others: no support or advice for customer network (router, etc.) issues. Tech support and customer support are LOUSY. Almost rude sometimes, not helpful, long wait times to talk to a rep, and ineffective at resolving problems. I'm not sure I trust the data measurement tools, and god help me if I wanted to appeal anything. Fortunately there is is excellent forum which allows me to research and fix my own problems. Thank you, members, it's much appreciated.

If the Verizon service had worked at 4G speed, I would have kept it. Once my Exede service contract runs out, I will be checking back with Verizon to see how the coverage is, and if it is great I'll switch.

If you can get a 4G LTE signal, you might look into Verizon's HomeFusion. Its speed and bandwidth limits are comparable to Exede, and it's a bit cheaper. It's not mobile like the MiFi, but from what I've seen it's a definite option. I'm still on WB Legacy (have no intention of "upgrading" to Exede... my goal is to get away from satellite completely), and when my current contract is up next month I'll be looking very closely at it.

[Kentuckienne]

I did look at HomeFusion ... Verizon hasn't rolled it out nationwide yet, or at least they hadn't done so at the time. It's $60 for 10 GB with comparable download speeds to Exede, but much faster upload speed. I don't do all that much uploading. For now the Exede service is working great for me! It's an order of magnitude, literally, better than what I had before and I'm a happy camper. Two years from now, who knows what the world of internet access will offer?

[Phainein]

Two years from now, who knows what the world of internet access will offer?

In the beginning, it was by the byte. Then on AT&T dialup, they came out with all-you-can-eat plan, which forced ISPs to abandon their byte counting.

Now, AT&T has started cutting their all you can eat wireless buffets...

Hence, it was to AT&T's interest to have all you can eat dialup service, since the other ISPs had to by more phone lines. But, on AT&T cell towers, all you can eat eats away on their bottom line.