3 months of waiting, service still not available

[cheesey1]

My vacation cabin is in area code 99401, the very SE corner of WA. Nearest towns are Clarkston, WA and Lewiston, ID, about 40 miles away.

It has been about three months since I have started trying to get sat internet, but was told by Exede/Wildblue and several dealers that the adding of new customers is "temporarily suspended". The length of expected wait was reported to be anywhere from couple of weeks to "if ever". Still waiting and not getting a call back, I called today, and the response was even more ominous and pessimistic. One dealer told me it could be two years before Viasat puts another satellite in orbit, and only then will new customers be added.

During this time, I have been following all the posts on this forum about slow evening downloads, low DAP limits, problems with usage meter, etc, etc. On the other hand, I have been learning about Hughesnet, which appears to have an even worse history of overcrowding spot beams, slow download speed bad service, etc. So on some level, I have to give some credit to Viasat for not adding any customers while they try to mitigate problems before adding more users. So if I could choose, I would probably choose Viasat/Exede.

With the launch of Hughesnet's Jupiter satellite, and the promise of their new, higher speed Gen 4 service coming on line within the next month or two, I have to consider gong with them. My understanding is Hughenet's satellite is quite similar to Viasat's, that is to say it mostly benefits customers in the eastern part of the country with service up to 12mbits, but this allows them to provide 5mbit service via the older satellites to customers in the west. What is it with these companies that they keep shorting customers in the west anyway? A dealer, who is both Hughesnet and Exede authorized, said they can install Hughesnet equipment ASAP that will provide 1.5mbit service, and it will automatically increase to 5 mbit service in the near future without any changeover of equipment. She also said that she expects Hughesnet to offer 12mbit service, but this will require newer, upgraded equipment (contrary to my understanding of the satellites and technology).

At this point, I need to have internet service up and running by mid September, so I am inclined to go with Hughesnet. If anyone here has an opinion, new or better information about any of the above, please let me know. Thank you for your assistance.

[Phainein]

With the launch of Hughesnet's Jupiter satellite

It most likely won't be live until November, and chances are, you will be too far away from its Pacific Coast beams.

Exede 5 is one option...Exede 12's beam does not come near 99401


PS: Don't believe a CSR....get it in writing

[cheesey1]

thanks for the reply, but you're not telling me anything I didn't already know or say in my message.

[Phainein]

I didn't already know or say in my message.

Oh, one is between a rock and a hard place

If you jump to Hughes, I would make sure they have good bandwidth on the beam in your area...CSRs are paid to milk the product, just like Used Car Sales people.

Last I knew about Spaceway 3 was its OK in daytime, and not so good during primetime...in general.

[IndexGalenaFarm]

I also live in SE Washington. I have been a Wildblue customer since 2007 in 2 different locations. With the exception of Wildblue Steve and Wildblue Steph on these forums wildblue is the worst company I have ever done business with.
I am currently on a legacy system, I resent paying Wildblue more money for less bandwidth but I run a ranch a long way from town. I need the ability to purchase more bandwidth or at least have the company provide me with an accurate meter of usage. Driving 30 miles to town to update operating systems due to the fear o FAP shutoff is getting old. Getting shutoff with no way off knowing when service will be available again and no way to buy your way out is not working for us. I am switching to that other Satellite company. It can't possibly be worse then WB. Wildblue seems to have no interest in retaining long time rural customers, or if they do they have never communicated it to me or my neighbors. What really frustrates me is wildblue received about 22 million dollars of USDA ARRA funds to provide rural broadband services. Last time I logged on to a USDA webiner for rural business I quickly exceeded my bandwidth limit and was shut off.

[calvinlives]

"Wildblue seems to have no interest in retaining long time rural customers, or if they do they have never communicated it to me or my neighbors."

This will probably be deleted, but I'll give it a shot. I second your thoughts. I've been a WB Legacy customer since 2006. I had few problems and CS was always good and timely when I had to deal with them. Since ViaSat took over it has gone to hell in a hand-basket! It is quite obvious that they don't care about old customers and the new customers are only coddled until they sign on the dotted line. Numerous posts on this venue seem to testify to the latter again and again. Read this fast, Index, it will probably be gone before the sun sets!

[wblues]

For the record, I was in the same boat just weeks ago. I was a 7yr customer and it took 2.5 months to get a service person out here.

WildBlue and now ViaSat both in this regard are a basket case institution. No one will care if you call up and tell them its been months. Even if you are an existing/paying customer.

For me it was not an option since quitting would've tanked my email address (which I foolishly assumed would be a lifetime deal since the backend was handed over to Google; what I get for pretending I don't have a Gmail account I guess) So I stuck with it.

I had the same exact problem 7yrs ago when I hopped aboard WB initially. What happens it seems is ViaSat will hand your account/request over to someone in the area. And then if that someone in the area does not want to deal with you, then no one will ever find out. The local people refuse the request. But ViaSat doesn't pay attention to those refusals. So you call back, and the whole process repeats itself!

The only way to break the loop is force a supervisor to force someone to make a special outing to your site. I assume this will be done even if you are not an existing customer, since ViaSat likes to say it has nation wide coverage. Which would be fictitious if some problem locations are not covered.

Good luck. In my case someone in the forum heard my pleas and seemed to make a special forum (moderator) account just to deal with me. But it was a little too late since things resolved themselves in the meantime, and only by pure luck after a series of events (which I won't recount here now; probably for the best)