For some reason my Wildblue.com satellite service went on intermittent three weeks ago, then completely down the last two weeks. At work during the day I am OK. But at home, well, this no access situation will be a month this weekend. Driving me nuts.

They cannot tell me what the problem is and only say my issue has been escalated to the corporate level. Corporate level has no numbers listed ..... lets just say I have as yet found no way to get this solved.

Wildblue as far as I know is the only company that can serve my location in rural Montana, 6 miles south of a town of 3,500. No broadband. I also have trees in the way of a local service provider.

Does anyone know of ANY other options for rural Internet service, (which I presume would be satellite) ??

And where they have good customer service?


plexi



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-08-13 20:13 by timbernardis.

[www.satcomms.co.uk]
[www.avcbroadband.com]

I would've thought that something like VSAT would work for you, although I must confess I have no idea what the cost would be to you as a "home" user. The VSAT systems that I come across in my work in remote locations (both onshore or offshore) work a treat. But I would stress, that these systems are usually paid for by a company, and they buy sufficient bandwidth to cope with the kind of volume of traffic that multiple users sending large data files (as well as enjoying private comms/use) require. There MUST be any number of providers catering to domestic use from/in remote locations.

LEt's chip in and send Plexi to a 12 step program to get over his IORR addiction.

Here´s a foolproof solution...



Vilhelm
Nordic Stones Vikings

I use satellite in rural Texas. Fortunately I had a couple of companies and went with the most affordable @ $30 / month. I get some interruption during bad weather but not for too long.

Are you saying you have NO service AT ALL at this point?

If that is the case then a technician should come to you and trouble-shoot the hardware and your system settings. I had some wierd problems before (i.e. no e-mail) and we finally narrowed it down to a setting that somehow got changed. So it could be hardware (the dish) or the software / settings. My heart goes out to you as I know what a pain in the ass this can be.

Wow, what a bitch.... Verizon just put in their fiber optics lines around here in the last month... you don't have cable like ATT or something?? How about DirectTV satellite? What I would do is get a condo in South Beach, Miami, Florida (prices dropping like flies) for something like $150,000.00 for a one bedroom and your problem will be solved - just move down there.....12 months of Sunshine and Grande Latina ass jiggling in tiny G strings with a double Pina Colada in hand, can't go wrong with that set up amigo.....

Thanks everyone.

I forgot something important: I have been told that it is a "billing issue", not technical, but they have been no more specific than that.

The ONLY thing I can think of is that whilst in Europe, I told Amex that I would be there, thus there would be most or all charges emanating from there, and when the Wildblue automatic bill came in for payment to Amex, it was rejected as I was supposed to be in Europe. But, that did not happen last summer during Stones European tour summer 07 when I was in Europe.

I will check VSAT Pauly.

And Duane, yes, right now I have no service at all at home. And I pay 50 a month for their lowest "high speed" option - i think its 756K download and 128 upload. If I want faster it would be 70, faster still, 80, a month.

But I called a local dealer (for Wildblue, Alltel, Verizon - all of them) today and he told me of "Cellular Internet Access" where I put in a card and it works from anywhere where there is a signal. And I could pakage it with cell/mobile phone service.

But it is a two year contract even though install is free and there is a 100 rebate. (He says that any more, everyone, Internet and cell phone companies, are going with two year contracts. Bullshit -- not only do I not want to get locked into that but when I went to the Alltel store today, they tried to get me to renew my cell phone contract, with either a two or a one year option).

The monthly rates would be the same. And I could use it in the car, in the various airports and hotels and not have to pay all the individual Internet access charges. but europe -- noooooooooooo, not gsm

Trouble is, our cell phone access at home 6 mi south of Hardin is poor -- via Alltel which now shares towers as I understand with Verizon. And cell phone service is not good where i work in Crow Agency either with these companies.

Now, there is another company, and it may be more regional, called Chinook, recently taken over by and now called Cellular One, maybe not so regional any more. Apparently they have a good signal in Crow Agency and I think also near where I live.

So maybe this is the solution, IF Cellular One offers this, but still, Alltel's version is $60 per month, even worse than what I now pay, but apparently the speed is better, download is 900something.

Duane, can u give me the name of those satellite companies in Texas that you spoke of, either here or tim_bernardis@hotmail.com.

One final thing, Wildblue's inaccessibility is about to be smashed as I have a trump card in my pocket -- my brother Peter (big Stones and Charlie fan) lives within a few miles of the corporate headquarters in the Denver area, and I sent him an e mail which he will personally bring into their offices to deliver and hopefully, confront them and get the issue corrected.

For now, hopefully I come up with a better company with better speed, price, and maybe most important, customer service.

One last note, I heard on national public radio today that montanas internet service, i think speed in particular, is one of the worst in the US. great.

But u know what, i wouldnt trade my 40 acres half a mile from the Big Horn River and move to town or a city for the greatest Internet access in the world. But something better and consistent would be nice.


The Plexiglass

Well Plexi I don't want to say you live in the middle of nowhwere....But rumour has it your renting out the unabombers old place.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

The Internet services I turned down were the better known national names that you've heard of. I went with Texas Wireless Internet which is pretty much only local.

You do have to watch that wireless phone service as well. When I moved here I had Verizon and my signal was absolute crap so I had to change to AT&T which I knew worked well here because that was what my wife had at the time. So, if you go with a cellular internet or even change your cell phone service I HIGHLY recommend a test first to see how good the service is in your micro-area.

well sweet, yes that would be consistent, considering that he once lived or at least bombed people in my hometown of Sacramento, then later moved to Montana.

And don't forget we also had the Freemen. And then there were (are?) Nazis in western Montana (not near me) close to Idaho.

Duane, yes, I do plan on doing a test.

BTW, I made a mistake, my download speed with Wildblue is 512, not 756.


plexi

Quote
paulywaul
[www.satcomms.co.uk]
[www.avcbroadband.com]

I would've thought that something like VSAT would work for you, although I must confess I have no idea what the cost would be to you as a "home" user. The VSAT systems that I come across in my work in remote locations (both onshore or offshore) work a treat. But I would stress, that these systems are usually paid for by a company, and they buy sufficient bandwidth to cope with the kind of volume of traffic that multiple users sending large data files (as well as enjoying private comms/use) require. There MUST be any number of providers catering to domestic use from/in remote locations.

Here another link you might find useful:

[www.satsig.net]