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About a week ago I entered my zip code (54442) to see what plans were available in my area. I was thrilled to see that the Freedom (150GB) plan was offered in my area - Freedom would be perfect for me. I am a heavy user of and often go over the 20GB that I currently have on my plan with Cellcom - I know I would use a lot more data with a faster connection and if I didn't have to worry about going over my data allowance. However, I decided to shop around a little bit and see what my other options were before settling on Exede - I spent about a week looking into other internet options. Of course, I decided on Exede and returned to the Exede website yesterday and put in my ZIP code to look at the rest of the details for the Freedom plan - and the Freedom plan didn't come up.
So a week ago, the Freedom plan was offered in my area. Now it isn't. If I would've called a week ago, I could be on the Freedom plan right now. Now it seems like I won't be able to get it? I'm frustrated because the Freedom plan was the only real option for me - no other provider in my area offered anything even close to the amount of data the Freedom plan offered.
So here are my questions: Was the Freedom plan recently discontinued? Did they decide to give up on offering it to a rural area in Northern WI? Will I be able to get the Freedom plan (if it was offered to me a week ago, can't I still get it?)?
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- confused and frustrated
Posted 3 years ago
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Brad, Viasat Employee
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Unfortunately Freedom plan has become a bit of a white whale in the last year or so. Only a very small and select amount of areas can get it. Unfortunately once it disappears it's hard to say when and if it should return. We do anticipate releasing plans similar to Freedom shortly after ViaSat 2 launches at the end of the year since that doubles our bandwidth. You can try calling in on our sales number to see if you might luck out but chances are it may not be available there anymore
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Christine Conrad, Champion
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Matt F, Viasat Official Rep
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You should be able to stream video, but the quality can vary based on time, location, whether you've used up your Priority Data, etc.
In any case, you will probably have a better experience during the day or early in the morning than in the evening when everyone is online. And we do caution our customers that video and games can use a lot of data, so keep a close eye on it until you know how much data your personal habits are going to use.
Here are some more tips about data usage on Exede.
Hope this is helpful, and thanks for your interest!
Exede Matt
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I wonder how much they were charging for that Freedom plan when it was around.
I'd love if it became available here someday.
I wonder if more plans like that will be available since the UN is trying to enforce that internet is now an essential utility.
Steve Frederick-VS1/Beam314, Champion
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Ah, the benefits of cities with options-- but the problem is there are people. LOL.
Steve Frederick-VS1/Beam314, Champion
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As for the city living, I choose to live in the country and enjoy the benefits of the low population density, wild animals and beautiful scenery. Thanks to Exede, I finally have a decent internet connection. Started with Wildblue in 2008, and switched to Exede in early 2012.
Alex, Viasat Corporate Communications
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I originally had dialup but my connection was only 9.2kbps because of crappy lines and then it dropped to 2.6kbps and then it couldn't even connect to the ISP's servers at all so I had to get satellite-- got Direcway in 2002 and then a few years later it got bought out by Hughesnet and then the nightmare really began. I had a very long rant about it on dslreports so I'll spare the details. It wasn't until 2012 that I found out about Exede.
I still have some frustration with bandwidth miscalculation, webpage bloat, etc, but it isn't nearly as bad as Hughesnet. My capped speeds are generally faster than Hughesnet's uncapped speeds were.
I do wish Exede would update the modem features the way Hughesnet had done. Not being able to check usage when the internet isn't working is frustrating.
I do like being in a rural area away from other people. Having to drive my trash out to be picked up is a bit of a nuisance and losing water when the power goes out is a pain, but I don't have to worry about being overcharged for city water and sewage. No mail delivery for the most part. Oh, and no Poke-stops or Poke-encounters or whatever they are called so nobody comes out here looking for them. LOL.
On a side note, is there any way I could get notified IF the freedom plan ever became available in my area?
Thanks, Alex. I think a lot of people in my area don't even know about Exede so that is a bonus.
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I also suspect that the new modems featuring "Boost 25" will be used for ViaSat-2 subscribers. I was offered the new modem when I switched to the Freedom, but I decided to wait. Now the Boost 25 modems are no longer being offered to me, likely for similar reasons.
Brad, Viasat Employee
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A topic was created on DSLReports.com when the 25 Mbps service and Freedom plan was briefly offered to some of us. Many posters were perplexed about why Exede was releasing a faster service while we were all wanting more data. Soon after the last post was made there in April, I figured out why I was being offered the Freedom plan and along with a chance to try out the new modems. (Notes on an actual TODO list include replying here and on DSLReports again with my now confirmed suspicions.)
Hughes seems to be doing something similar as at least one person is reporting 30 Mbps download speeds. I'm trying to get more information, but I don't think that an HT1100 is capable of that.
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Latest delay all explained over at the end of this thread:
https://community.exede.com/exede/topics/wasnt-able-to-upgrade
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Deku (The #1 Hero Data Saver), Champion
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Brad, Viasat Employee
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We're getting really close to the launch of ViaSat 2 (looking at March/April). Once launched and communication is built with the satellite we'll be effectively doubling our entire bandwidth. As a result we'll offer plans like Freedom with more robust data allowances to cater to online activities like streaming. In some areas we've released the Freedom plan to sort of build up to the launch. You can routinely check on my.exede.net to see if and when it becomes available.
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What area will this new ViaSat 2 cover? Wondering if it will be in my area zip 34433 here in Florida. I am on the Freedom Plan with 25 Boost. But here lately the service has been slacking to say the least. Speeds down to less that 5 Mbs.
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/snip
ViaSat-2 will cover all of North America, Central America and the Caribbean, with coverage including the U.S. East Coast seaboard commercial air routes and the main air and maritime routes between North America and Europe. The coverage area is seven times the size of ViaSat-1’s coverage. - See more at: http://spacenews.com/35369viasat-2s-first-of-its-kind-design-will-enable-broad-geographic-reach/#sth...
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James E Besser