Well after 15 months of the most HORRIBLE Internet service i'm outta here $133 a month for internet that was equivalent to dial up connection at times. They had more excuses about poor performance it was comical at times. Sorry sir it's overcast, sorry it's raining out, sorry sir it's sunny out what ********. and I don't know how they get away with offering unlimited data and then set data limits where they throttle you back to unusable connection speeds. Oh yea and the we have free un-throttled access between 2AM and 6AM daily. Really?? So now I wait for the return equipment box to show up and I'll be done with you viasat. Oh yea I asked what about the dish on my roof their reply was I can keep it but I have to return the LNB. or pay a service call of $95 to have someone come out to remove it for me. I opted out of the removal. I think I'm just going to stencil "SUCKS" under the viasat logo so every passer by can get a look at it, sort of free negative advertising for viasat. Buyer Beware steer clear of viasat. Hopefully Elon Musk will put them out of business with hie upcoming low orbit satellite internet access. I cant wait.
Posted 10 months ago
Diana, Viasat Employee
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Well, I am in my 6th week of ViaSat and at the lowest level. Being an IT tech since 1958, I kind of knew in advance what to expect. I am monitoring the service with Net UpTime Monitor so I can track exactly what is going on. The 1st full month of service, we went over the 35gB hilltop by 9gB... we never did get throttled back. I watch videos at 240p on my laptop, my daughter watches NetFlix on her Kindle and usually 2 or 3 movies per night.... we are both Night Owls though, and enjoy having speeds of 35 to 45Mbps during the night time hours... We tried to watch one movie on the Smart TV, a NetFlix and with a 44" screen, it is too pixelated to really enjoy it.... so we don't do that anymore. What we do want, and enjoy, is access to the internet for browsing.... I participate in forums, am a moderator of a motorcycle forum, member of https://forums.linuxmint.com/ and Facebook also.... several other motorcycle forums... all of them load an run at 'full speed' for a browser experience..... So far, we are okay with the ViaSat.... I track the speeds thru the day, and they are as what I would expect for Network Congestion. slower between 5 pm to 10 pm, and then it is like the light switch was turned off for the "other guys", and I am left with a Full Speed internet experience..... IF, you expect to watch TV all day long, you will hit the Data Cap in a hurry.... it is a satellite folks, not a Fiber Optic cable..... I used to have Cox Cable and that was really nice.... but we are Rural now, and that is not in our future. all in all, ViaSat is great... John
Which forum do you moderate? I frequent the LT forum and more recently the KLR forum and occasionally the K1600 forum.
Steve Saunders Goldwing Forum at www.GoldwingFacts.com
I knew it was one of the Wing forums given your handle, but I know of at least three so I wasn’t sure which one. I participated for a while in that one when I was looking at the new Wing, but haven’t been active since deciding that the Wing, in its current form, wasn’t the right choice for my wife and I. I keep watching it though to see where Honda may take it. Now if spring would just get here. :-)
The 2018 Goldwing sure is attracting a lot of Negative Comments....
and at the same time, it is getting a lot of Rave Reviews...
You just can't Please Everyone, All of the time.
The lack of baggage space is probably the #1 complaint.
The new DCT automatic transmission would for me, IF, money was no object, would be of interest.
I just purchased recently a little Piaggio MP3 250cc scooter with Automatic transmission.
I have to say, that I am really enjoying that little scooter for around town locally.
It is NOT, though a good touring bike at all, at speeds over 40 mph, there is just too much wind noise in my ears and pushing against my helmet.
But, for longer trips of over 10 miles, I will stick with my big bike, the GL1800 which has Cruise Control,
and "Air Conditioning" tee hee...... I do love to "lie" to folks who see my bike and ask if the air vents are for Air Conditioner cold air..... I just say "yup" it works a charm. and go on. :)
and at the same time, it is getting a lot of Rave Reviews...
You just can't Please Everyone, All of the time.
The lack of baggage space is probably the #1 complaint.
The new DCT automatic transmission would for me, IF, money was no object, would be of interest.
I just purchased recently a little Piaggio MP3 250cc scooter with Automatic transmission.
I have to say, that I am really enjoying that little scooter for around town locally.
It is NOT, though a good touring bike at all, at speeds over 40 mph, there is just too much wind noise in my ears and pushing against my helmet.
But, for longer trips of over 10 miles, I will stick with my big bike, the GL1800 which has Cruise Control,
and "Air Conditioning" tee hee...... I do love to "lie" to folks who see my bike and ask if the air vents are for Air Conditioner cold air..... I just say "yup" it works a charm. and go on. :)
(Edited)
True enough. I am not saying the Wing is a bad machine and it will work for lots of folks, especially the solo riders like cruiseman, but it doesn’t work for my wife and I. I will not tow a trailer and we travel multiple weeks at a time and need at least 130 liters of storage. My LT barely has enough storage and fuel capacity and the new Wing is much less than my LT, so I am having my seat remade by Russell in preparation for my Alaska ride this year. And the LT will soldier on a few more years. At 12 years ad 74,000 miles, it has some road ahead.
I like to impress folks with the one button center stand deployment. Their eyes get really big, particularly Wing and Harley riders. LOL.
I like to impress folks with the one button center stand deployment. Their eyes get really big, particularly Wing and Harley riders. LOL.
(Edited)
Come next March, my daughter (44) and I (75) are going to tour down thru Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and from there, we don't know where we will go. We have a 26' Weekend Warrior Toy Hauler, and the little Piaggio MP3 fits in the garage perfect. Last June, we hauled the GL1800 in the RV up to Colorado Springs, CO.... found out the 1800 is way to heavy for that rig, it over-balanced and wig wagged bad.... the first stop-over, I told her we have got to move things forward and get this rig under control. So, the spare tire, all baggage was moved into the shower/bathroom ( 3' behind the hitch ball ).... that helped, but not enough. The next stop-over in Hays, KS my little pea brain woke up and said (hey bud, fill up the Black water, and Grey water tanks). and that did the trick.... that added 120 gallons of water at 8#/gallon and it offset the bike's weight, and the RV rig towed good from then on....
I have learned a lot since that trip last June, heh heh. bought the scooter, leave the 1800 home. Mounted the Spare Tire on the hitch behind the propane tanks, a neighbor gave me a set of dumb bell weights, total of 100# and I hung them off the RV's frame about 1' behind the hitch ball.... now it will tow at 60 mph and nary a wiggle.
My son lives in Dawsonville, GA and we will stop over there for a few days, friends in Valdosta, GA said to "come on down" so we get another over night stop there, and then the motorcycle Meet 'n Greet being held in Homosassa, Florida will entertain us for a week... From there, we will just toss a coin and see where we want to go.... This will be her last chance to make a tour like this, she has a job that needs her back in April....
I am lucky to have her with me, her mom passed two years ago, and it would be very lonesome here without my daughter here with me.
I have learned a lot since that trip last June, heh heh. bought the scooter, leave the 1800 home. Mounted the Spare Tire on the hitch behind the propane tanks, a neighbor gave me a set of dumb bell weights, total of 100# and I hung them off the RV's frame about 1' behind the hitch ball.... now it will tow at 60 mph and nary a wiggle.
My son lives in Dawsonville, GA and we will stop over there for a few days, friends in Valdosta, GA said to "come on down" so we get another over night stop there, and then the motorcycle Meet 'n Greet being held in Homosassa, Florida will entertain us for a week... From there, we will just toss a coin and see where we want to go.... This will be her last chance to make a tour like this, she has a job that needs her back in April....
I am lucky to have her with me, her mom passed two years ago, and it would be very lonesome here without my daughter here with me.
You must be on viasat-2 satellite. I was on Viasat-1 with no hopes of switching over. They said don’t worry we’re switching accounts over to Sat-2 That should free up some bandwidth on Sat-1. Well that never happened it just got progressively worse.
xode0000, Champion
Except that I'm on Viasat 1 and I have zero issues.
Steve Frederick-VS1/Beam314, Champion
I too am on Viasat 1 and have no issues, I stream Hulu and Netflix every day, evenings too. No buffering. I all depends on what beam you are on, and how busy the network is.
Stephen Rice, Champion
AZgl1800 is a Viasat shill.
I'm on Viasat 1 as well and have very few problems except for the occasional slowdown due to congestion. After 10+ years on satellite I know what to expect from the service and have learned how to manage data. Sounds to me like Jack had some hardware or technical issues if his service was consistently bad.
I'm happy, but maybe that's because I make no heavy demands on the system. I get my movies via snail mail disc from Netflix. Although it has been years, I clearly remember dial-up - and that memory still has me giving thanks for satellite.
I remember back when all I had was a 9600 dial-up modem. I am a heavy used, 3-4 GB/day, but I am fairly happy with Viasat so far. I would say it is about equal to good DSL. I had bad DSL so Viasat is a little better than my bad DSL. It is much better while under the data cap. Once I exceeded the cap, it became about the same as DSL during the day. However, it is much worse than DSL during prime time. Given that I will spend 30-50% of the month over the data cap, I am still trying to decide if it is better than DSL in aggregate, particularly given that it costs twice as much as DSL. However, I signed a 24 month contract so it will be what it will be for 23 more months and I am hoping for something better by then. Once my electric cooperative gets their fiber deployed, that will be where I’m at as nothing compares to fiber.
GabeU, Champion
Ugh, the dialup days. When Windows updates reached 10MB and above dialup became inadequate, at least for me.
Unbelievably, my folks still had dialup until August 2016, but it got to the point that my stepfather could barely even get on Facebook, so they took the satellite internet plunge. They had no idea what they were missing. The coffee break coinciding with waiting for a web page to fully load ended.
Unbelievably, my folks still had dialup until August 2016, but it got to the point that my stepfather could barely even get on Facebook, so they took the satellite internet plunge. They had no idea what they were missing. The coffee break coinciding with waiting for a web page to fully load ended.
(Edited)
xode0000, Champion
I recently had the misfortune of encountering someone wanting to complain about Viasat. Even though that person admitted their DirectTV was the cause of them always going over their data limit, and even having gone over their data limit, they admitted their speeds were still 60 Kbytes/sec or better, they still wanted to complain about Viasat, instead of fixing what was clearly their problem. Viasat's data plans are more than ample for anyone who prudently manages their resources.
Bev, Champion
I'm sorry you had such a bad experience, Jack.
I know that isn't usually the case. Yes, I've had just about every possible problem happen to me in the last 15 years as a Viasat customer but, many I was able to resolve without a service call, with the help of the Customer Care team. Three occasions (4 if you count having to have the dish replaced after my step son felled a tree on the dish.) have required a service call. Two of those were for a modem upgrade but, I also requested an inspection and, peak and tune at the same time. Only one was strictly due to degraded service.
In my experience, Viasat deliver what I pay for, no not top speed 24/7 but, well withing what is spelled out in my contract and, other information provided on the Viasat websites.
I know that isn't usually the case. Yes, I've had just about every possible problem happen to me in the last 15 years as a Viasat customer but, many I was able to resolve without a service call, with the help of the Customer Care team. Three occasions (4 if you count having to have the dish replaced after my step son felled a tree on the dish.) have required a service call. Two of those were for a modem upgrade but, I also requested an inspection and, peak and tune at the same time. Only one was strictly due to degraded service.
In my experience, Viasat deliver what I pay for, no not top speed 24/7 but, well withing what is spelled out in my contract and, other information provided on the Viasat websites.
Diana is so polite!
It all comes down to what options you have. I live in a very rural area and my driveway is 1700’ long. I previously had DSL service that was abysmal. I am just shy of the 18,000’ maximum DSL line distance from the phone hut. Even though I had 6 Mbps DSL service, I almost never got above 3 on a speed test and often ran in the 1-2 Mbps range. However, the most maddening part was the 10-50 disconnects per day. If we watched a Netflix show in the 5-10 PM time window, we would get 3-5 disconnects during every 45 minute show!
I tried to get Spectrum cable service, but they said that my property was unserviceable without construction that I would have to bear the cost of. The cost was considerable at $8,600. I planned to just suffer along with DSL, but then a week after Spectrum told me they had cancelled my service order, my DSL quit working. When I called Frontier, they told me it was ported out to Spectrum at their request. I am still not sure I know what all transpired, but apparently Spectrum forgot to cancel the “port out” request when they cancelled my work order. After 7 days without DSL or landline phone service, and half a dozen or more phone calls, Frontier told me it would take another 10 days to get service restored. At that point, I took it as a sign to try satellite. I had always heard that satellite was terrible so I had never wanted to risk it given the 24 month contracts. I spent a good part of the 7 days with no DSL comparing Hughesnet and Viasat. I can get very slow internet via my Verizon data plan, but I live on the fringe of cell coverage so the internet is maddeningly slow using the cell phone. Based on the plan details and reviews I read and customer feedback I saw, Viasat narrowly edged out Hughesnet. I liked that they had a local retailer where Hughesnet seems to work only through their 800 number. I have no idea how they select a local installer, but I found no listing as is provided by Viasat.
So far (I have yet to hit my first data cap, but that is only a day or two away), I have been very impressed. The local retailer who did my installation was fantastic to work with. I have a Leviton structured wiring panel and a fairly sophisticated in-home phone, TV and internet system (I have fiber to every room in my house, though not yet terminated and in use). Frontier seemed to always blame issues on my in-home network and I always had to unplug the modem from my network and plug a laptop directly into it when a tech came. No such issues with the Viasat installer. He actually complimented me on my system. I had a spare RG-11 cable from my workshop (which has my TV antenna mount) to my home and I really wanted to use that as I did not want the dish on my log house. The installer said that Viasat requires copper core cable, but my RG-11 was purchased from a CATV company and was thus CCS core. However, the tech said the only real issue was that the installation tests had to be passed and he was more than willing to give my cable a try. He was skeptical since the cable length was also long at about 130’. However, we mounted the dish to a platform made from som scrap lumber I had and I terminated the spare RG-11 and he plugged in the dish and modem. It worked just fine with the modem reporting only 1.5 - 2 ohms resistance in the line. I don’t know what the maximum allowable DC resistance is, but it passed all of the installation tests with flying colors. So, the tech mounted the dish to my workshop and in less than two hours my system was up and running. Other than an IP address conflict with my wifi router, everything came up and worked instantly.
I have only had the dish for 8 days, but so far I am pleased. Speed tests show 10-18 Mbps, often above the 12 Mbps advertised speed. I have had only one loss of signal during a recent heavy thunderstorm, which is rare in northern PA in December, and had no issue with the snowstorm we had which left an inch of snow and ice on the dish. I may change my tune in a couple more days when we exceed 25 Gig cap and go into liberty pass mode, but so far I am a pretty happy customer. Even the latency hasn’t been as big as issue as I had expected. Since I really have no other good options, I will stay with satellite for now. The good news is that my electric cooperative has started a fiber broadband installation and sometime within the next few years I will have FTTH. I will then almost certainly switch to fiber even though it will mean digging up my yard and having a mess for a few months.
I tried to get Spectrum cable service, but they said that my property was unserviceable without construction that I would have to bear the cost of. The cost was considerable at $8,600. I planned to just suffer along with DSL, but then a week after Spectrum told me they had cancelled my service order, my DSL quit working. When I called Frontier, they told me it was ported out to Spectrum at their request. I am still not sure I know what all transpired, but apparently Spectrum forgot to cancel the “port out” request when they cancelled my work order. After 7 days without DSL or landline phone service, and half a dozen or more phone calls, Frontier told me it would take another 10 days to get service restored. At that point, I took it as a sign to try satellite. I had always heard that satellite was terrible so I had never wanted to risk it given the 24 month contracts. I spent a good part of the 7 days with no DSL comparing Hughesnet and Viasat. I can get very slow internet via my Verizon data plan, but I live on the fringe of cell coverage so the internet is maddeningly slow using the cell phone. Based on the plan details and reviews I read and customer feedback I saw, Viasat narrowly edged out Hughesnet. I liked that they had a local retailer where Hughesnet seems to work only through their 800 number. I have no idea how they select a local installer, but I found no listing as is provided by Viasat.
So far (I have yet to hit my first data cap, but that is only a day or two away), I have been very impressed. The local retailer who did my installation was fantastic to work with. I have a Leviton structured wiring panel and a fairly sophisticated in-home phone, TV and internet system (I have fiber to every room in my house, though not yet terminated and in use). Frontier seemed to always blame issues on my in-home network and I always had to unplug the modem from my network and plug a laptop directly into it when a tech came. No such issues with the Viasat installer. He actually complimented me on my system. I had a spare RG-11 cable from my workshop (which has my TV antenna mount) to my home and I really wanted to use that as I did not want the dish on my log house. The installer said that Viasat requires copper core cable, but my RG-11 was purchased from a CATV company and was thus CCS core. However, the tech said the only real issue was that the installation tests had to be passed and he was more than willing to give my cable a try. He was skeptical since the cable length was also long at about 130’. However, we mounted the dish to a platform made from som scrap lumber I had and I terminated the spare RG-11 and he plugged in the dish and modem. It worked just fine with the modem reporting only 1.5 - 2 ohms resistance in the line. I don’t know what the maximum allowable DC resistance is, but it passed all of the installation tests with flying colors. So, the tech mounted the dish to my workshop and in less than two hours my system was up and running. Other than an IP address conflict with my wifi router, everything came up and worked instantly.
I have only had the dish for 8 days, but so far I am pleased. Speed tests show 10-18 Mbps, often above the 12 Mbps advertised speed. I have had only one loss of signal during a recent heavy thunderstorm, which is rare in northern PA in December, and had no issue with the snowstorm we had which left an inch of snow and ice on the dish. I may change my tune in a couple more days when we exceed 25 Gig cap and go into liberty pass mode, but so far I am a pretty happy customer. Even the latency hasn’t been as big as issue as I had expected. Since I really have no other good options, I will stay with satellite for now. The good news is that my electric cooperative has started a fiber broadband installation and sometime within the next few years I will have FTTH. I will then almost certainly switch to fiber even though it will mean digging up my yard and having a mess for a few months.
Here is my last speedtest before the cap is exceeded. I am at 24.4 GB now so I will hit the cap before the day is over.
Stephen Rice, Champion
The weekend is almost here and my popcorn is ready.
Well, the other shoe dropped and it is pretty ugly. I hit the cap an hour ago and the performance change was instantaneous. And the performance I am seeing is nothing close to the 1 - 5 Mbps Viasat advertised. It is only 1/10 of that at best. Looks like I will have to upgrade to the 50 Gig plan, but even that won’t last a month as I use about 3 Gig/day so I will get good performance for 2/3 of each month and then dismal performance for the last 10 days. Oh well, I had hoped for better, but when you live in the boonies your options are very limited. Thankfully, rural living has other benefits.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
You will get better. just not during primetime of a holiday week.
We shall see. At this time of night, we would see 1-1.5 Mbps on DSL. I was hoping that we would at least be close to DSL given that Viasat advertises 1 - 5 Mbps on the liberty pass. However, it looks like it is, as someone said earlier, closer to dial-up (0.56 Mbps) than to even DSL. That is unfortunate as a little less throttling would allow them to compete well with DSL in rural areas. Seems an odd marketing choice to not at least match the low-end of poor DSL.
Stephen Rice, Champion
The 1 to 5 mbps advertised is for early morning and daytime. Not during primetime.
(Edited)
Clearly.
I too, was on DSL and closer than you to the 'CO' at 5,000 feet... but the disconnects thru the day drove me crazy, the day I ordered up ViaSat we had 27 disconnects in a 14 hour period, as evidenced by NetUptimeMonitor program. I learned yesterday that ViaSat-1 can only handle 12Mbps at best?
No wonder that a lot of complaints were heard.
I am on ViaSat-2 which can provide over 100Mbps if you want to shell out $200/month for it.
I decided to go with the basic package and learn to not watch videos... ugh!
but at least I now have solid internet 24/7 without the disconnects.
No wonder that a lot of complaints were heard.
I am on ViaSat-2 which can provide over 100Mbps if you want to shell out $200/month for it.
I decided to go with the basic package and learn to not watch videos... ugh!
but at least I now have solid internet 24/7 without the disconnects.
Bev, Champion
I'm sure things will improve for us with each new bird Viasat gets launched. VS2 is a bit of a disappointment with it's issues but, still it did make a difference in some areas.
I'm just glad I am grandfathered on an older VS1 plan - the new plans in my area are rotten by comparison. I feel for newer customers that can't get plans like mine.
I'm just glad I am grandfathered on an older VS1 plan - the new plans in my area are rotten by comparison. I feel for newer customers that can't get plans like mine.
xode0000, Champion
"closer to dial-up (0.56 Mbps)"Dialup is 0.056 Mbps at best and 0.04 Mbps is typical dialup speeds. 0.56 Mbps is 10X dialup.
xode0000, Champion
"closer to dial-up (0.56 Mbps)"Dialup is 0.056 Mbps at best and 0.04 Mbps is typical dialup speeds. 0.56 Mbps is 10X dialup.
Yes, meant 56 Kbaud. Dropped a zero there. And, yes, I realize that baud and bps are not always the same, but close enough for government work.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Not even close.
You've been on Viasat a whole 8 days. Wait till you get into your contract about 9 or 10 months, That's when they really put the screws to you!
Well, so far it has performed per what Viasat said. I typically run 8-18 Meg when I am under the cap which actually often exceeds the 12 Meg they advertise. And when the data ran out, I was still getting in the 1-5 Meg range during the morning and afternoon as they said and it really sucked during the 5 - 11 PM time pretty much as they said.
So, thus far, it has performed pretty much as they promised. Maybe it will get worse after a few months. Time will tell.
So, thus far, it has performed pretty much as they promised. Maybe it will get worse after a few months. Time will tell.
xode0000, Champion
So, thus far, it has performed pretty much as they promised. Maybe it will get worse after a few months. Time will tell.I'm now just past the end of my 2 year contract and the service has never wavered nor gotten worse. It's been steady throughout.
Its not so much the service, the system, or Viasat as much as it is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
Many subscribers are quite pleased with their service and have no complaints, while a handful ... like me, happen to be stuck on HIGHLY congested beams. Yes, there are times I see over my "up to" speed of 12 Mbps, but they get fewer and fewer, while my restricted speeds are now below 1 Mbps. Restricted, during peak usage, I pretty much HAVE NO INTERNET!
I have been told, and been shown a map indicating there is no "beam" on VS1 directed at my region. I am on the outer edge of a very crowded beam. Now I am to understand after all the hype and promises that VS2 would "fix everything," IT also has no beam dedicated to my region.
My argument is not with any contract, I havent been under contract in years, or any sales pitch, or shattered expectations of "satellite internet." My "PROBLEM" is that despite all the issues associated with Viasat and satellite, I have to deal with the over crowding and "part time" internet access in my area, while being charged the same as those who are enjoying "trouble free" service!
Many subscribers are quite pleased with their service and have no complaints, while a handful ... like me, happen to be stuck on HIGHLY congested beams. Yes, there are times I see over my "up to" speed of 12 Mbps, but they get fewer and fewer, while my restricted speeds are now below 1 Mbps. Restricted, during peak usage, I pretty much HAVE NO INTERNET!
I have been told, and been shown a map indicating there is no "beam" on VS1 directed at my region. I am on the outer edge of a very crowded beam. Now I am to understand after all the hype and promises that VS2 would "fix everything," IT also has no beam dedicated to my region.
My argument is not with any contract, I havent been under contract in years, or any sales pitch, or shattered expectations of "satellite internet." My "PROBLEM" is that despite all the issues associated with Viasat and satellite, I have to deal with the over crowding and "part time" internet access in my area, while being charged the same as those who are enjoying "trouble free" service!
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Ohio doesnt have a magic beam.
Unfortunately, the failure of the Viasat-2 antennas to fully deploy resulted in no relief for some of the most congested areas Viasat has.
Unfortunately, the failure of the Viasat-2 antennas to fully deploy resulted in no relief for some of the most congested areas Viasat has.
LOL Vet, I honestly dont remember it may have been you that shared the coverage map of VS1 a long time ago for me?
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Eastern Ohio is on one of if not the most congested beam on Viasat-1.
Like tonight where I am struggling to get 300kbps.
It is what it is.
Like tonight where I am struggling to get 300kbps.
It is what it is.
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RE: been shown a map
Looking at Tx/Rx values is most relevant...ideally, being in the "boresight" is nice, but if on the fringe, having a shorter cable run might assist. Needless to say, evaluate with a computer hooked direct to Viasat's modem, and if using a router, turn off Quality of Service (QoS). Also, did installer user correct cable.
Living on fringe would be in NE corner of Ohio.
Looking at Tx/Rx values is most relevant...ideally, being in the "boresight" is nice, but if on the fringe, having a shorter cable run might assist. Needless to say, evaluate with a computer hooked direct to Viasat's modem, and if using a router, turn off Quality of Service (QoS). Also, did installer user correct cable.
Living on fringe would be in NE corner of Ohio.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
People on beam edges have lower RxSnr's. I speak with knowledge and experience on this.
My Win7 desktop is connected with Cat-5 to the modem, it is almost twice as fast as my laptop which only supports 2.4g WiFi.... the Speedtest.net Desktop app lies like a SOB and claims that I can get 72Mbps almost any time of the day.... that thing is tweaked to lie to you.
Real world tests like Speedtest.net's browser link gives a real birds eye view of how things are.
as does, Googles "speed test" link.... it nearly always reports 15-17Mbps on my laptop's 2.4g WiFi at the best of times.
I have just received a 5g USB stick but the drivers didn't work right out of the box, need to tweak them a bit...
my Plan+overload tonight is horrible, 0.24 dn and 0.21 up.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7971646879.png
We have with care, been able to do a 10 day vacation with our Verizon MiFi JetPack and 8gB allowance...
using local WiFi when available at the KOAs... which is generally very poor from 5pm to 10pm
I have uBlock Origin on Firefox, and never look at videos when using the JetPack...
if you stick to just forums, I can get by with using only 500-750 Kb for month.
Facebook is another story though, it slobbers all over small data plans and spits them out like useless garbage.
Real world tests like Speedtest.net's browser link gives a real birds eye view of how things are.
as does, Googles "speed test" link.... it nearly always reports 15-17Mbps on my laptop's 2.4g WiFi at the best of times.
I have just received a 5g USB stick but the drivers didn't work right out of the box, need to tweak them a bit...
my Plan+overload tonight is horrible, 0.24 dn and 0.21 up.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7971646879.png
We have with care, been able to do a 10 day vacation with our Verizon MiFi JetPack and 8gB allowance...
using local WiFi when available at the KOAs... which is generally very poor from 5pm to 10pm
I have uBlock Origin on Firefox, and never look at videos when using the JetPack...
if you stick to just forums, I can get by with using only 500-750 Kb for month.
Facebook is another story though, it slobbers all over small data plans and spits them out like useless garbage.
@VeteranSatUser, Champion
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tonight I am suffering with 0.24 down, the modem looks like this with 11.77 s/nr
- 3912 Posts
- 2318 Reply Likes
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tonight I am suffering with 0.24 down, the modem looks like this with 11.77 s/nr
Jab, They say this is SE Ohio, with I 70 being the cut off, but I am not far from I 70 so south central eastern Ohio I guess LOL The land that time (and technology) forgot.
The gas station in town still has analog pumps with the little wheel rolling the numbers around. Its a far cry from the rat race in Connecticut I escaped. Its truly a love/hate relationship. The "bad" is gone, but I still miss so much of the "good"
The gas station in town still has analog pumps with the little wheel rolling the numbers around. Its a far cry from the rat race in Connecticut I escaped. Its truly a love/hate relationship. The "bad" is gone, but I still miss so much of the "good"
VeteranSatUser, Champion
A high RxSNR doesn't mean you still won't see slow speeds (due to beam congestion).
However, a low RxSNR will lead to more frequent disconnects and packet loss (creating more retries) because the signal is lower to start with.
Their are two main beams in Ohio Ron. We are on the same beam that basically covers eastern Ohio, over to WV and western PA. The other beam starts approximately west of Zanesville and runs north and south from there. This is approximately of course. I did see a more detailed beam map one time. The beams split my county in two.
What Jab is speaking of is in extreme NE Ohio, extreme NW PA, and extreme western New York, there is no Viasat-1 beam at all. I believe Viasat-2 was going to resolve this, but with the antenna issue, I am not sure if it does or doesn't. We are all aware that after almost a year, no publically released beam map of Viasat-2 has been shared.
However, a low RxSNR will lead to more frequent disconnects and packet loss (creating more retries) because the signal is lower to start with.
Their are two main beams in Ohio Ron. We are on the same beam that basically covers eastern Ohio, over to WV and western PA. The other beam starts approximately west of Zanesville and runs north and south from there. This is approximately of course. I did see a more detailed beam map one time. The beams split my county in two.
What Jab is speaking of is in extreme NE Ohio, extreme NW PA, and extreme western New York, there is no Viasat-1 beam at all. I believe Viasat-2 was going to resolve this, but with the antenna issue, I am not sure if it does or doesn't. We are all aware that after almost a year, no publically released beam map of Viasat-2 has been shared.
RE: this is SE Ohio
I believe your packets are sent to Winnipeg...from there, I have no idea where they are sent...back to US, or sent out from there. I'd look for a speedtest site located in that city, and see if a difference is seen.
As noted, if using a router, turn off QOS
I believe your packets are sent to Winnipeg...from there, I have no idea where they are sent...back to US, or sent out from there. I'd look for a speedtest site located in that city, and see if a difference is seen.
As noted, if using a router, turn off QOS
RE: Speedtest.net Desktop app lies like a SOB
There are good/bad speedtests, but using a site far away from your POP will never give relevant results.
The POP I use is out of Denver. So, at testmy.net I use their Colorado Springs server.
This is after midnight....Sunday AM hour
There are good/bad speedtests, but using a site far away from your POP will never give relevant results.
The POP I use is out of Denver. So, at testmy.net I use their Colorado Springs server.
This is after midnight....Sunday AM hour
Yes Vet I am due south of Zanesville. Closer to Athens, Marietta, but regardless its middle of nowhere. If I remember the map correctly I believe 3 or 4 beams (on VS1) intersect in this area, but none actually "cover" it.
It is a VERY rural area and most have satellite internet locally. Some villages and towns are lucky enough to have land based internet, yet out here it is rare. As I said DSL from the nearest "village" stops about 4 - 4 1/2 miles from me. Ironically the same "village" my mail comes out of a.k.a "my address" but my deed says "an unincorporated portion of the township."
The FCC dictates to DirecTV my "local" channels are Columbus, 75 miles away, while Parkersburg is only 15 - 20 miles, but their "parent stations" are out of Charleston/Huntington, 78 miles away. The WV stations give more "news" from my area but worst of all is the weather! I watched CBS out of Columbus track a tornado headed straight for me with live coverage, yet as soon as it was out of the "greater Columbus area" they went back to regularly scheduled programming!
Oh well I guess sacrifices must be made. Coming from "the city" in the outskirts of NYC I love the fact I know all my neighbors, in fact EVERYONE on my road! And I havent locked my door in years. I think it was 5 years ago I changed the latch/lock on my front door and still dont have the key on my ring. ALL my neighbors are armed, the one next door has 2 cannons, and strangers GET NOTICED! Hell, back when I still had landline phone Centurylink repair came out and 30 seconds after I got a call from the repairman I got a call informing me there was a "van" in front of my house, and my neighbor out back was "cruising" on his 4 wheeler "keeping an eye on the guy" LOL
It is a VERY rural area and most have satellite internet locally. Some villages and towns are lucky enough to have land based internet, yet out here it is rare. As I said DSL from the nearest "village" stops about 4 - 4 1/2 miles from me. Ironically the same "village" my mail comes out of a.k.a "my address" but my deed says "an unincorporated portion of the township."
The FCC dictates to DirecTV my "local" channels are Columbus, 75 miles away, while Parkersburg is only 15 - 20 miles, but their "parent stations" are out of Charleston/Huntington, 78 miles away. The WV stations give more "news" from my area but worst of all is the weather! I watched CBS out of Columbus track a tornado headed straight for me with live coverage, yet as soon as it was out of the "greater Columbus area" they went back to regularly scheduled programming!
Oh well I guess sacrifices must be made. Coming from "the city" in the outskirts of NYC I love the fact I know all my neighbors, in fact EVERYONE on my road! And I havent locked my door in years. I think it was 5 years ago I changed the latch/lock on my front door and still dont have the key on my ring. ALL my neighbors are armed, the one next door has 2 cannons, and strangers GET NOTICED! Hell, back when I still had landline phone Centurylink repair came out and 30 seconds after I got a call from the repairman I got a call informing me there was a "van" in front of my house, and my neighbor out back was "cruising" on his 4 wheeler "keeping an eye on the guy" LOL
(Edited)
GabeU, Champion
What Jab is speaking of is in extreme NE Ohio, extreme NW PA, and extreme western New York, there is no Viasat-1 beam at all.This would explain why I couldn't get Exede where I live (Western NY). Nothing was available until VS2 went live.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Up next. The feats of strength! I nominate Stephen vs. the guy posting the other day that is going to bring Viasat to its knees with the state of Florida!
I doubt I will live long enough to see Elon Musk or anyone else for that matter get an LEO system operational. That will require a ton of money and a lot of satellite launch vehicles that don’t exist today. Even if someone can convince themselves that the business model is sound, the logistics alone make this a 10-20 year out proposition, if it happens at all.
RE: "...Elon Musk...LEO system operational..business model...10-20 year out proposition, if it happens at all."
FCC mandates time interval required, or forfeit spectrum. Business model is for broadband and connected vehicles (if a cheaper rooftop antenna comes). Musk and others are proceeding forward, and launch means are available today, or in near future.
Connected vehicles, and autonomous vehicles, with a cheaper antenna, would compete with wireless carriers. It could bring about a paradigm shift, just like the 8088 chip did for the original IBM PC.
FCC mandates time interval required, or forfeit spectrum. Business model is for broadband and connected vehicles (if a cheaper rooftop antenna comes). Musk and others are proceeding forward, and launch means are available today, or in near future.
Connected vehicles, and autonomous vehicles, with a cheaper antenna, would compete with wireless carriers. It could bring about a paradigm shift, just like the 8088 chip did for the original IBM PC.
I hold out hope and wish them the best, but I’ve heard this story at least once before. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teled...
RE: "...I’ve heard this story at least once before"
These are ambitious projects, and as years have rolled on since earlier thinking, better how to do insights have come along. Musk may pull out, on the road ahead. Cheaper vehicle antennas, and OEM integration into vehicles, would be a big factor for a fully operational system.
Two articles below:
- 12/18/2018 SpaceX raising $500 million to help build satellite broadband network -
...
...
The funding round would pay for initial costs but not the entire project, which the Journal report said could cost as much as $10 billion.
...
...
...
The slow progress led Musk to fire some of the project's senior managers. Still, the schedule hasn't changed much since November 2016, when SpaceX's FCC license application mentioned 2019 as a possible time for launching satellites into orbit. A Reuters report in October this year said SpaceX is planning to launch satellites in mid-2019 and offer broadband service in 2020.
=======================
Bugs on Wheels: The New Generation of Autonomous Vehicles
The new generation of connected cars — especially autonomous vehicles — will be a boom market for satellite, says the satellite industry. Not so fast, says the mobile industry. 5G is the future. Signals from space will have nothing to do with it. But, who is right? One? Both? Neither?
These are ambitious projects, and as years have rolled on since earlier thinking, better how to do insights have come along. Musk may pull out, on the road ahead. Cheaper vehicle antennas, and OEM integration into vehicles, would be a big factor for a fully operational system.
Two articles below:
- 12/18/2018 SpaceX raising $500 million to help build satellite broadband network -
...
...
The funding round would pay for initial costs but not the entire project, which the Journal report said could cost as much as $10 billion.
...
...
...
The slow progress led Musk to fire some of the project's senior managers. Still, the schedule hasn't changed much since November 2016, when SpaceX's FCC license application mentioned 2019 as a possible time for launching satellites into orbit. A Reuters report in October this year said SpaceX is planning to launch satellites in mid-2019 and offer broadband service in 2020.
=======================
Bugs on Wheels: The New Generation of Autonomous Vehicles
The new generation of connected cars — especially autonomous vehicles — will be a boom market for satellite, says the satellite industry. Not so fast, says the mobile industry. 5G is the future. Signals from space will have nothing to do with it. But, who is right? One? Both? Neither?
I think all will play a role, but hard to see satellites being cost competitive with 5G for wireless and performance competitive with fiber for business and high use residential. However, Musk and Googles money may help lower the cost of the other alternatives as they try to minimize their losses on the satellites.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
I miss the ignore feature of the old forum!!!!
RE: "...hard to see satellites being cost competitive with 5G..."
Paradigm shifts, from one method/tech to another, do happen. Flashback, from horses to vehicles:
1897: Sold an average of 900 horses weekly.
...horse company Fiss, Doerr, and Carroll.
The outfit, which proclaimed itself the “largest dealers of horses in the world,” occupied an entire block of Manhattan and in 1897 sold an average of 900 horses weekly.....“They were a huge company,” says Mode, “and this was the peak of their power. Ten years later, they were selling vehicles, and 20 years later, they were out of business.”
=================
5G has limitations...yes, in metro areas it will come about...but US coverage, not in our lifetimes. Satellite can cover US within a decade or less, if investors perceive a demand, and if cheaper antennas exist.
Autonomous vehicles will require massive amounts of transmitted data. So, cheaper antennas are required to drive this transformation, along with government blessings. European OEMs are focused upon this 'brave new world,' and US OEMs are paying attention and evaluating their systems. Maybe much ado about nothing, but if economics favor a paradigm shift, these OEMs will jump on this bandwagon.
If oil prices climbed in next five years, I would expect petro drivelines to be transformed into electric means. The winds of change can happen overnight, or take years.
Paradigm shifts, from one method/tech to another, do happen. Flashback, from horses to vehicles:
1897: Sold an average of 900 horses weekly.
...horse company Fiss, Doerr, and Carroll.
The outfit, which proclaimed itself the “largest dealers of horses in the world,” occupied an entire block of Manhattan and in 1897 sold an average of 900 horses weekly.....“They were a huge company,” says Mode, “and this was the peak of their power. Ten years later, they were selling vehicles, and 20 years later, they were out of business.”
=================
5G has limitations...yes, in metro areas it will come about...but US coverage, not in our lifetimes. Satellite can cover US within a decade or less, if investors perceive a demand, and if cheaper antennas exist.
Autonomous vehicles will require massive amounts of transmitted data. So, cheaper antennas are required to drive this transformation, along with government blessings. European OEMs are focused upon this 'brave new world,' and US OEMs are paying attention and evaluating their systems. Maybe much ado about nothing, but if economics favor a paradigm shift, these OEMs will jump on this bandwagon.
If oil prices climbed in next five years, I would expect petro drivelines to be transformed into electric means. The winds of change can happen overnight, or take years.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
I miss the ignore feature of the old forum!!!!
Stephen Rice, Champion
These forums really crack me up. I am envious of all you people who enjoy fast trouble free service, and get on the band wagon declaring a free for all on those of us who dont. So many comments about congested beams and totally horrible areas yet little to no understanding or compassion for those actually suffering with it.
Comments, especially from "Champions" with the attitude "I dont have a problem, so nobody else should," and as the OP states ... NO help from customer service what so ever, it must be weather, something must be blocking your dish, there must be a problem with your equipment, IT OBVIOUSLY HAS TO BE ON YOUR END!
Tech, after tech, after tech came out, 5 or 6 "dish alignments," I cut more trees down, I cut ALL my trees down, new dish, new modem, all new wiring before a tech finally sat down and explained the congestion issue in detail, and how Viasat1 is simply way too overcrowded in my area. That was 3 years ago. My service has continued to get worse since, sometimes by the month, and the long anticipated Viasat2 has done NOTHING to help my beam.
So yes, I applaud all you subscribers who enjoy 25+ Mbps and watching your video content and have no issues when your speed gets "throttled." I REMEMBER WHAT THAT IS LIKE! I did have that years ago! So brag on about how YOUR service has improved and throw your stones at me because mine continues to deteriorate.
Am I a disgruntled customer? I pay the same you do, and was made the same promises you were, yet you are getting "high speed internet" and I dont ... WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Comments, especially from "Champions" with the attitude "I dont have a problem, so nobody else should," and as the OP states ... NO help from customer service what so ever, it must be weather, something must be blocking your dish, there must be a problem with your equipment, IT OBVIOUSLY HAS TO BE ON YOUR END!
Tech, after tech, after tech came out, 5 or 6 "dish alignments," I cut more trees down, I cut ALL my trees down, new dish, new modem, all new wiring before a tech finally sat down and explained the congestion issue in detail, and how Viasat1 is simply way too overcrowded in my area. That was 3 years ago. My service has continued to get worse since, sometimes by the month, and the long anticipated Viasat2 has done NOTHING to help my beam.
So yes, I applaud all you subscribers who enjoy 25+ Mbps and watching your video content and have no issues when your speed gets "throttled." I REMEMBER WHAT THAT IS LIKE! I did have that years ago! So brag on about how YOUR service has improved and throw your stones at me because mine continues to deteriorate.
Am I a disgruntled customer? I pay the same you do, and was made the same promises you were, yet you are getting "high speed internet" and I dont ... WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Bev, Champion
If that's truly the case, then I hope your beam is closed to new service now and, Yes those areas need to be fixed. I won't argue there.
I also know VS2 has issues and, the fix probably will need to wait for either VS3 or, land based providers to make more options available in those areas.
I said form the first time I saw the TV commercial that I didn't like it pushing Viasat as an alternative to DSL - if DSL is available, or any other land based service, take that. In my opinion, Viasat should deny installs if a land based option is available at the address.
I get that in many areas Viasat is indeed faster than DSL but, that doesn't account for latency and, there are a lot of people that don't realize for some applications speed means little and latency means everything.
Gaming for example, 3 Mbps up and down is fine, I'd rather have that with latency under 100 ms, but I don't have that option. I don't have enough cell signal with any of the four providers that offer service here to get online via cellular data at all at home and, there is no DSL, Cable, Fiber, wireless or even dial up here.
I have to make the best of satellite internet and, that means, when there is a problem, going after a solution and never letting it go until it's fixed. If you look though my posts here, most are positive, in favor of Viasat but, there have been a few times, I've gone off on them over problems, here on the forums.
I call it as I see it and, I do want people to know that even though some beams are pretty lousy right now, it can be better and, maybe future satellites, that are coming as fast as possible will make a difference. A good dose of determined troubleshooting can help in many cases as well and, there are those that simply should have done more research before signing that contract.
I also know VS2 has issues and, the fix probably will need to wait for either VS3 or, land based providers to make more options available in those areas.
I said form the first time I saw the TV commercial that I didn't like it pushing Viasat as an alternative to DSL - if DSL is available, or any other land based service, take that. In my opinion, Viasat should deny installs if a land based option is available at the address.
I get that in many areas Viasat is indeed faster than DSL but, that doesn't account for latency and, there are a lot of people that don't realize for some applications speed means little and latency means everything.
Gaming for example, 3 Mbps up and down is fine, I'd rather have that with latency under 100 ms, but I don't have that option. I don't have enough cell signal with any of the four providers that offer service here to get online via cellular data at all at home and, there is no DSL, Cable, Fiber, wireless or even dial up here.
I have to make the best of satellite internet and, that means, when there is a problem, going after a solution and never letting it go until it's fixed. If you look though my posts here, most are positive, in favor of Viasat but, there have been a few times, I've gone off on them over problems, here on the forums.
I call it as I see it and, I do want people to know that even though some beams are pretty lousy right now, it can be better and, maybe future satellites, that are coming as fast as possible will make a difference. A good dose of determined troubleshooting can help in many cases as well and, there are those that simply should have done more research before signing that contract.
@Ron - I think if your service is that bad you need to switch to another service provider. If you are still under contract, contact your state’s AG and see if they can help.
@Bev - I don’t think Viasat should take it upon themselves to deny service to anyone if they are able to provide the service. The choice of what service to use is mine, not the service providers. There only obligation is to be honest as to what they can provide. I had DSL for 20 years. It was terrible that entire time. I tried many times to get cable, but they won’t run up my driveway unless I pay the full installation cost. So far, satellite is working better than DSL by a long shot. As I wrote earlier, I may change my tune once the cap kicks in. We shall see.
@Bev - I don’t think Viasat should take it upon themselves to deny service to anyone if they are able to provide the service. The choice of what service to use is mine, not the service providers. There only obligation is to be honest as to what they can provide. I had DSL for 20 years. It was terrible that entire time. I tried many times to get cable, but they won’t run up my driveway unless I pay the full installation cost. So far, satellite is working better than DSL by a long shot. As I wrote earlier, I may change my tune once the cap kicks in. We shall see.
(Edited)
Stephen Rice, Champion
Amen. Viasat works way better for me than the AT&T dsl I one had. It’s cheaper too.
My Frontier DSL was half the cost of Viasat, but so far Viasat is 5 times better so I will stick with it. It all depends on how painful it is when the cap kicks in which likely will happen today or tomorrow. Then I may be wishing I had DSL again.
How’s this for service my power supply to the modem failed I called Viasat for service. Their reply was a service appointment is not available yet we’ve been kinda busy we’ll get back to you within 48 hours. Finally after 3 weeks a service rep showed up to replace the power supply.
Ron, are your speeds bad all the time? I'm on a pretty congested Viasat 1 beam and my service works great for the most part.
(Edited)
@Jack - That sounds worse than Frontier. They generally gave me estimates 6-10 days out. I used a local retailer to install my Viasat rather than calling their 800 number. That way I have someone local to call if there is trouble. One of my biggest complaints with Frontier is that when I called with an issue, I got a call center in, I think, Florida and they had no idea what was going on in my area most of the time. If I have a satellite issue, I plan to call my local retailer and not the Viasat 800 number, at least once I get to the point in troubleshooting that I am pretty sure it is a hardware issue.
Sorry Matt, but you sound like a guy who would complain if their beer was too cold. Most of the time when I called Viast tech service I got someone in a 3rd world country reading off a script. One time I heard a baby crying in the background. A call center in Florida rocks compared to someone living in a grass hut in the middle of a rice paddy. That is what I got.
fmj77 my speeds arent that bad 100% of the time, but I dont do much online so "speed" has never been more than a number for me. I do email, social media and surf the internet making inquiries and online purchases etc. and when I wait, and wait for pages, graphics and photos to load, or my request gets timed out that is MY definition of slow. IF I go over data FORGET IT! I may as well not have internet at all. I understand these new customers anger that signed up for "unlimited" then cant do ANYTHING once they exceed their data cap and get throttled.
I have a free zone from midnight to 5AM so I wait and watch facebook video posts and various Youtube videos at night, now even that is becoming more and more difficult, or should I say frustrating. Wait for the page to load, wait for the video to load, then endure varying amounts of buffering.
Bev, I just checked about 4 days ago and yes, once again the Viasat site says "We are not accepting new subscribers in your area at this time" and the only plans offered to me for upgrade are still limited to 12 Mbps.
I have a free zone from midnight to 5AM so I wait and watch facebook video posts and various Youtube videos at night, now even that is becoming more and more difficult, or should I say frustrating. Wait for the page to load, wait for the video to load, then endure varying amounts of buffering.
Bev, I just checked about 4 days ago and yes, once again the Viasat site says "We are not accepting new subscribers in your area at this time" and the only plans offered to me for upgrade are still limited to 12 Mbps.
With only six weeks experience so far, we went over the Data Cap by 9.8gB
we do not watch TV via the internet, we only use it for browsing, forums, and Facebook..... it has been consistent for us nearly all the time.
I have had the occasional page not want to load, I drop the Tab and then request it again, and it comes right up usually.
My daughter watches NetFlix on her Kindle every night, 2 or 3 movies, at 360p....
I watch the Facebook videos at 240p
Neither of us have noticed any slow down, ( throttling ) at all.
we are on ViaSat-2 for what that is worth. have no experience with any other Satellite except for my aunt who had Hughesnet and hated it the day it was installed.
She abandoned it and went to Verizon with a MiFi JetPack and never looked back.
:
We are night owls, most of our OnlineTime is between 10 PM and 6 a.m. except for myself, I just browse the motorcycle forums and my Linux forum thru the daylight hours. that does not impose any hard download issues.... I am happy, I get what I want, reliable browsing all the time.
:
I had AT&T DSL and lived only 5,000 feet from the Central Office.... six weeks ago, we had 27 outages in 14 hours. that was the day that I called the ViaSat rep here in our town.
we do not watch TV via the internet, we only use it for browsing, forums, and Facebook..... it has been consistent for us nearly all the time.
I have had the occasional page not want to load, I drop the Tab and then request it again, and it comes right up usually.
My daughter watches NetFlix on her Kindle every night, 2 or 3 movies, at 360p....
I watch the Facebook videos at 240p
Neither of us have noticed any slow down, ( throttling ) at all.
we are on ViaSat-2 for what that is worth. have no experience with any other Satellite except for my aunt who had Hughesnet and hated it the day it was installed.
She abandoned it and went to Verizon with a MiFi JetPack and never looked back.
:
We are night owls, most of our OnlineTime is between 10 PM and 6 a.m. except for myself, I just browse the motorcycle forums and my Linux forum thru the daylight hours. that does not impose any hard download issues.... I am happy, I get what I want, reliable browsing all the time.
:
I had AT&T DSL and lived only 5,000 feet from the Central Office.... six weeks ago, we had 27 outages in 14 hours. that was the day that I called the ViaSat rep here in our town.
I hit my data cap in 8 days. I am using about 3 gig/day on average with 4 users in my household. I need to onvince my wife that we should watch Netflix between 3 and 6 AM rather than in the evening. LOL.
I do watch a lot of YouTube videos as it is a great way to learn new skills. I just installed a boiler in my workshop and almost all of my learning was from YouTube. I am planning to start a home built airplane project this year so I am educating myself in that direction and that generally means an hour or so a day of video watching. It all adds up data wise.
I do watch a lot of YouTube videos as it is a great way to learn new skills. I just installed a boiler in my workshop and almost all of my learning was from YouTube. I am planning to start a home built airplane project this year so I am educating myself in that direction and that generally means an hour or so a day of video watching. It all adds up data wise.
xode0000, Champion
"How’s this for service my power supply to the modem failed I called Viasat for service. Their reply was a service appointment is not available yet we’ve been kinda busy we’ll get back to you within 48 hours. Finally after 3 weeks a service rep showed up to replace the power supply."For everyone's information since Jack Tors has cancelled his Viasat service: Viasat installers are 3rd party companies separate from Viasat and they don't work for Viasat. The problem Jack Tors is describing is due to the 3rd party installer he had. A Viasat customer who has such a problem with their installer can request that Viasat do a sales channel change to an installer for their area who will give them proper service.
xode0000, Champion
"How’s this for service my power supply to the modem failed I called Viasat for service. Their reply was a service appointment is not available yet we’ve been kinda busy we’ll get back to you within 48 hours. Finally after 3 weeks a service rep showed up to replace the power supply."For everyone's information since Jack Tors has cancelled his Viasat service: Viasat installers are 3rd party companies separate from Viasat and they don't work for Viasat. The problem Jack Tors is describing is due to the 3rd party installer he had. A Viasat customer who has such a problem with their installer can request that Viasat do a sales channel change to an installer for their area who will give them proper service.
@Bev. “Viasat should deny installs if a land based option is available at the address.”
Ehhhh. Perhaps if they have more than one option of land based option that is wired. Cause the only land based choice I have is AT&T dsl and it sucks 24/7
Viasat is good for me. Only seems to be really bad on school breaks so far. So I’d rather deal with bad internet for only a temporary time, rather than 24/7
Ehhhh. Perhaps if they have more than one option of land based option that is wired. Cause the only land based choice I have is AT&T dsl and it sucks 24/7
Viasat is good for me. Only seems to be really bad on school breaks so far. So I’d rather deal with bad internet for only a temporary time, rather than 24/7
REF to:
AZgl1800 is a Viasat shill.
you sir, are a piece of crap. I live in Oologah, OK and have been with ViaSat-2 since Nov 24..... I am anything but a shill, I have been an IT Comm Tech since 1958. I knew in advance what to expect when I went to ViaSat.... you can't beat the Speed of Light..... and I also was aware that in the evenings network congestion is going to be bad.... but the sat has always been there for me, with a single exception every 24 hours it drops off for a few minutes. I use NetUptimeMonitor to record the outages. here is the most recent log.
12/25/2018 6:22:07 PM 0:02:17
12/27/2018 8:57:32 AM 0:04:15
12/27/2018 8:51:45 PM 0:01:00
I am friends with Matt Phillips who is the ViaSat agent here in our town, he sells under the name of Okie-Fi
I have only been on this blog/forum once, and just now came back to see how this thread is doing.
I have SpeedTests ranging from 4-5Mbps at the worst times, to 63Mbps at the best of times in the middle of the night. on Average, Google Speed Test reports 17-27 Mbps.... their Latency reports are NOT to the satellite and back down, that is for sure. I always see 12mS to houston, tx.... that is NOT from my PC to them.... no way,
Stephen Rice, Champion
- 2351 Posts
- 1184 Reply Likes
AZgl1800 is a Viasat shill.
you sir, are a piece of crap. I live in Oologah, OK and have been with ViaSat-2 since Nov 24..... I am anything but a shill, I have been an IT Comm Tech since 1958. I knew in advance what to expect when I went to ViaSat.... you can't beat the Speed of Light..... and I also was aware that in the evenings network congestion is going to be bad.... but the sat has always been there for me, with a single exception every 24 hours it drops off for a few minutes. I use NetUptimeMonitor to record the outages. here is the most recent log.
12/25/2018 6:22:07 PM 0:02:17
12/27/2018 8:57:32 AM 0:04:15
12/27/2018 8:51:45 PM 0:01:00
I am friends with Matt Phillips who is the ViaSat agent here in our town, he sells under the name of Okie-Fi
I have only been on this blog/forum once, and just now came back to see how this thread is doing.
I have SpeedTests ranging from 4-5Mbps at the worst times, to 63Mbps at the best of times in the middle of the night. on Average, Google Speed Test reports 17-27 Mbps.... their Latency reports are NOT to the satellite and back down, that is for sure. I always see 12mS to houston, tx.... that is NOT from my PC to them.... no way,
GabeU, Champion
AZgl1800,
You misunderstood. Stephen Rice was joking when he said that, and he did so because practically anyone who says anything decent or accepting about ViaSat, or satellite internet in general, is considered and called shill by a select group of people.
If anyone could be considered a ViaSat shill it would be Stephen Rice, even though he's not. He often gets that because his ViaSat service, and his plan, work very well for him, and he often says so. So he was just kidding, calling you that before a specific person in this thread had a chance to. You're not familiar with him, so it's understandable that you didn't get that.
Heck, I've been called a ViaSat shill and I don't even have ViaSat. Explaining congestion as a cause of slow speeds first earned me that moniker because I chose to explain the actual cause rather than just jumping on the "hate ViaSat" bandwagon.
You misunderstood. Stephen Rice was joking when he said that, and he did so because practically anyone who says anything decent or accepting about ViaSat, or satellite internet in general, is considered and called shill by a select group of people.
If anyone could be considered a ViaSat shill it would be Stephen Rice, even though he's not. He often gets that because his ViaSat service, and his plan, work very well for him, and he often says so. So he was just kidding, calling you that before a specific person in this thread had a chance to. You're not familiar with him, so it's understandable that you didn't get that.
Heck, I've been called a ViaSat shill and I don't even have ViaSat. Explaining congestion as a cause of slow speeds first earned me that moniker because I chose to explain the actual cause rather than just jumping on the "hate ViaSat" bandwagon.
(Edited)
Stephen Rice, Champion
I agree with Gabe for the most part with one exception. I am indeed a piece of crap. A stinky one too. V
Bev, Champion
AZgl1800,
I guess we should explain a bit here. Among us Campions, we hear the "You're a Schill" thing so often that we take it as a compliment - we usually give the same answers a Viasat employee would, more or less and, because we have read, learned and, dealt with nearly every possible reason for poor, degraded or non working service ourselves, or seen it here many times over the years, we tend to have good service.
We don't complain about problems, we go digging and, find the reason ad, the solution, we manage our priority data carefully and so forth so, we often have top speeds for our beam, even when others don't due to some issue that could be addressed with a little patience.
Because of that, some posters here think we are paid or compensated in some way and, they call us "schills" We make light of it because we are NOT paid or compensated at all.
@Stephen Rice - ya fergot to clean that dang outhouse seat an' got the darned thing stuck to yer backside again - that's what's makin' you stink like crap. xD
I guess we should explain a bit here. Among us Campions, we hear the "You're a Schill" thing so often that we take it as a compliment - we usually give the same answers a Viasat employee would, more or less and, because we have read, learned and, dealt with nearly every possible reason for poor, degraded or non working service ourselves, or seen it here many times over the years, we tend to have good service.
We don't complain about problems, we go digging and, find the reason ad, the solution, we manage our priority data carefully and so forth so, we often have top speeds for our beam, even when others don't due to some issue that could be addressed with a little patience.
Because of that, some posters here think we are paid or compensated in some way and, they call us "schills" We make light of it because we are NOT paid or compensated at all.
@Stephen Rice - ya fergot to clean that dang outhouse seat an' got the darned thing stuck to yer backside again - that's what's makin' you stink like crap. xD
VeteranSatUser, Champion
IDC what he says, Stephen Rice is an unpaid shill with his own magic beam!
Steve Frederick-VS1/Beam314, Champion
All that garlic he eats keeps his beam non-congested.
ugh! I just looked at my last post, and ALL of paragraphing formatting has been stripped out, just one long sentence....
That is very irritating..... copied from LibreOffice and pasted to the forum.....
Trying this from Xed instead....
EDIT: well, Xed worked, but I don't see anyway to back up 1 post and fix that formatting?
That is very irritating..... copied from LibreOffice and pasted to the forum.....
Trying this from Xed instead....
EDIT: well, Xed worked, but I don't see anyway to back up 1 post and fix that formatting?
(Edited)
GabeU, Champion
Once a post has been replied to or liked it gets locked so that it can no longer be edited, unfortunately.
(Edited)
VeteranSatUser, Champion
I miss a number of features from the old forum. Editing and blocking being two of them!
Stephen Rice, Champion
A Viasat shill who knows how to use proper punctuation. I’m impressed.
Well he is well paid, educated and I was unaware Viasat was a Fortune 500 company ;)
Just wanted to say, that I appreciate the way that this forum can send an email that links direct to a comment.
I just received an email ref: a post made weeks ago, way up at the top of this thread...
I would never have seen it had it not been for the link to that exact comment.
I guess I am going to test the Throttling back to Zero Internet this month.
We are burning thru the data:
16.8 GB 24 days remaining in the current billing period
at this rate, we are predicted to hit 80+gB for the month, that is just "slightly" over our 35gB Priority Data limit. :)
AT&T DSL was so poor for us, that we never could watch videos. Now I can.... but, I better wean myself off of that stuff.... and stick to forums like I used to.
The Bronze Plan so far, this being our 6th week of use, has been good to us on VS2 beaming into the N.E. part of Oklahoma.
I just received an email ref: a post made weeks ago, way up at the top of this thread...
I would never have seen it had it not been for the link to that exact comment.
I guess I am going to test the Throttling back to Zero Internet this month.
We are burning thru the data:
16.8 GB 24 days remaining in the current billing period
at this rate, we are predicted to hit 80+gB for the month, that is just "slightly" over our 35gB Priority Data limit. :)
AT&T DSL was so poor for us, that we never could watch videos. Now I can.... but, I better wean myself off of that stuff.... and stick to forums like I used to.
The Bronze Plan so far, this being our 6th week of use, has been good to us on VS2 beaming into the N.E. part of Oklahoma.
How do you know which Satellite you are on? The installer never told me and I have not yet come across that. I am sure I just don’t yet know where to look.
Steve Frederick-VS1/Beam314, Champion
Here is how you can tell which satellite you are on.
If you have the triangular modem, you are on VS2. Otherwise you are on VS1.
If you have the triangular modem, you are on VS2. Otherwise you are on VS1.
I have the flat modem so looks like VS1. Works well thus far. That triangular modem is ugly and it won’t fit in my Leviton panel. What a dumb design.
I read the explanation for that design. It houses 4 WiFi radios for both 2.4g and 5g, and antennas for each modem. It is spec'd to allow all 4 radios to run at full speed ( subject to congestion ) simultaneously.
The ability to do that, generates a lot of heat, so they had to make it tall enough to encompass the antennas and the Triangular design allows the heat to flow up and out of the modem. I have it on a shelf above my PC.
You can also mount it vertically attached to a wall with the Blue circles at the lowest point. lets the cables exit up and out of the way....
The ability to do that, generates a lot of heat, so they had to make it tall enough to encompass the antennas and the Triangular design allows the heat to flow up and out of the modem. I have it on a shelf above my PC.
You can also mount it vertically attached to a wall with the Blue circles at the lowest point. lets the cables exit up and out of the way....
I have a structured wiring system in my house using Leviton equipment. The panel is only about 4” deep and it did not look like that monstrosity would fit. The tech had one in his van, but said that service was not available in my area, but was in other parts of his territory. I told him just as well as I would not want it. I have my own home network with ethernet switches and wifi routers as well as optical fiber to each room of my house. I end up disability the wifi in all of my WAN modems as wifi doesn’t work very well in a metal box. LOL.
I wish these suppliers would offer an option for a modem only. I much prefer separate wifi routers that I can locate where I want them and not have them tied to the location where the DSL or satellite cable enters my house.
I wish these suppliers would offer an option for a modem only. I much prefer separate wifi routers that I can locate where I want them and not have them tied to the location where the DSL or satellite cable enters my house.
The modem for ViaSat-2 has two CAT-5 LAN ports, run one of those to your WiFi system.
you can dial into the VS2 modem turn the Broadcast ID off so it won't interfere with your router.
or, just force the channel to one a long ways from where your channel(s) is.
you can dial into the VS2 modem turn the Broadcast ID off so it won't interfere with your router.
or, just force the channel to one a long ways from where your channel(s) is.
(Edited)
My posts against VIACRAP are getting erased.That is obvious.Viasat is a joke. Remember all to try your local cell service for internet as they offer a 14 day trial period where VIASAT makes you sign a 2 year contract with no trial period so you are screwed if their service does not work for you. Viasat sucks donkey balls.
Sounds like you had a bad installation by an incompetent installer. I've been with Viasat for over 10 years and my service works great. I download movies, music and stream video every day without a problem.
I signed on with VS2 six weeks ago, the first month we went over the cap by 9.8gB and did not notice any slowdown. but, we are night owls, and do most of our video 240p, watching between 0000 and 0600 hours.
This month is going to be a real test of the cap limit, as I am on Day 6 and already hit:
12/31/2018 15:28 16.8 GB 24 days remaining
if I extrapolate that out to 30 days, that is 80gB plus....
I think I will quit watching videos for a while. I get along very well with just newspaper online, my forums, and Facebook.
This month is going to be a real test of the cap limit, as I am on Day 6 and already hit:
12/31/2018 15:28 16.8 GB 24 days remaining
if I extrapolate that out to 30 days, that is 80gB plus....
I think I will quit watching videos for a while. I get along very well with just newspaper online, my forums, and Facebook.
Stephen Rice, Champion
Viasat isn’t a joke to me. It’s much faster than what I had before and a few dollars cheaper.
Stephen Rice, Champion
I’ve used up my priority data for the month and am still getting over 5 mbps during primetime.
Considering you only need 1 mbps for SD video and 5 mbps for HD, I am a very happy camper.
For those of you that are considering canceling your Viasat service, please do. It will only help increase my speeds. Thanks in advance.
Considering you only need 1 mbps for SD video and 5 mbps for HD, I am a very happy camper.
For those of you that are considering canceling your Viasat service, please do. It will only help increase my speeds. Thanks in advance.
Bringing in the new year with style 
Let’s throw some reality in there too guys.
Viasat isn’t a joke to me. It’s much faster than what I had before and a few dollars cheaper.
I have to back that up also, with 'ditto'.... VS2 is doing 5 times faster at all times, and during the quiet hours, it hits up in the 60Mbps range.... whereas DSL was from 0.2Mbps down in the evening, and maybe 10Mbps during the midnight hours.
Just ran a Google Speed Test on 2.4g WiFi, time was 2020 hrs CST New Years Eve....
I have to back that up also, with 'ditto'.... VS2 is doing 5 times faster at all times, and during the quiet hours, it hits up in the 60Mbps range.... whereas DSL was from 0.2Mbps down in the evening, and maybe 10Mbps during the midnight hours.
Just ran a Google Speed Test on 2.4g WiFi, time was 2020 hrs CST New Years Eve....
(Edited)
Bev, Champion
Nice, though since the latency is far too low to be accurate, that test may not be any more accurate than the latency. Testmy.net is good, and, any that show honest latency of 500-600 ms or greater is probably more accurate than that test.
That is pretty good performance after the data was used up. Mine was much less after my 25 GB was used up. I bit the bullet and upgraded to the Liberty 50 plan, but that will only get me to day 20 and then I will have to suffer for the last third of the month.
You want to talk reality? This was at a small pub in Cambridge, England a couple months ago. And it was free...
I agree with Bev. Those latency numbers are obviously bogus and that draws into question the other numbers. I use OOKLA as that is used by many ISPs and other professionals. And it seems to show latencies that make sense for satellite and the other systems I test.
Lol. 1 Gbps is fairly common close by. Haven’t experienced it, but wouldn’t mind giving it a try.
Google speed test always displays an erroneous latency for satellite connections. I believe the up and down speeds are usually accurate. Not sure why everyone always gets in a tizzy.
Google speed test always displays an erroneous latency for satellite connections. I believe the up and down speeds are usually accurate. Not sure why everyone always gets in a tizzy.
(Edited)
Bev, Champion
Gb connections rock. I've had the pleasure of using a few of them while visiting friends that have such connections.
Now seeing that via satellite, well, that's a rural geek's dream - not in my lifetime but, maybe someday.
Now seeing that via satellite, well, that's a rural geek's dream - not in my lifetime but, maybe someday.
Might be surprised. I bet you’ll live to see and enjoy those speeds. Most likely less than ten years away.
I think town 30 miles away has a 30 Meg option, nothing like the "fantasy" results above. The village has 15 Meg, over $100. I'm still not doing too bad out here, cheaper and faster than in the village anyway, didn't keep track how much I've used this month (Smarthub stopped keeping track after renewal, and I didn't get around to setting up router statistics yet), but well over 100GB for sure. https://www.speedtest.net/android/456...
(Edited)
The Latency on Google Speed Test is NOT from our/my PC, it is from their servers to the Sat terminal.
I have found that it tracks the actual download speeds of files much closer than other speed tests.
This is from my cellphone on 5g, and I can't get a download tonight anywhere near that speed.
I have found that it tracks the actual download speeds of files much closer than other speed tests.
This is from my cellphone on 5g, and I can't get a download tonight anywhere near that speed.
This is SpeedCheck from my cellphone on 5g at 2318 hrs 12/31/2018
and I don't believe this either on ViaSat-2 for Tulsa, Oklahoma area.
and I don't believe this either on ViaSat-2 for Tulsa, Oklahoma area.
(Edited)
GabeU, Champion
My posts against VIACRAP are getting erased.Of the threads you have replied to that I am following, not a single one of your replies since Dec 16th has been deleted. That's as far back as my email delete folder has ViaSat community notifications.
If your posts are deleted they are being deleted for good reason, and you know those reasons. Don't violate the rules and your posts won't get deleted. It's quite simple. ViaSat does not delete posts that speak against them UNLESS they violate one or more of those rules.
GabeU, Champion
Nice, though since the latency is far too low to be accurate, that test may not be any more accurate than the latency.
I agree with Bev. Those latency numbers are obviously bogus and that draws into question the other numbers.Though I'm not sure of this, I think Google's speed test may measure the latency between your gateway and their server rather than your modem and their server, like most other speed tests. That's the only way I can imagine it consistently giving these erroneous results. It does the same for me on HughesNet. I wish it showed the tester's "home" location, as I have a feeling it would show the location of the gateway your beam is assigned to.
Edit: I missed AZgl1800's post already alluding to this.
(Edited)
Yes, it appears that Google is measuring the latency of only one link in the chain. Useless in my opinion. OOKLA measures the speed of the communications path. This doesn’t not necessarily correlate to the speed of downloading a large file. A file download depends on not only the speed of the comm link, but also the speed of the server of the file and the speed of your receiver of the file. If you have a slow PC, laptop in particular, with a slow storage device, then that may gate the speed of a download. Alternatively, if you are loading from a slow server, that may well limit the overall throughput. That is why OOKLA checks several servers to find a lightly loaded one so that it doesn’t unduly influence the comm speed check.
Watch file manager sometime when downloading a large file like a GPS map update. Often you will see that the disk is running at 100% utilization, while the network card is loaging along. Many of my computers have the hard drive as the weak link for large file transfers.
Watch file manager sometime when downloading a large file like a GPS map update. Often you will see that the disk is running at 100% utilization, while the network card is loaging along. Many of my computers have the hard drive as the weak link for large file transfers.
" replies since Dec 16th "
Moderator has the ability to trim posts, so a casual looker does not see all posts. But, to expand and see all posts, you have to click on one of the box's below, which is located below OP's original post. Moderator is sorting the "chaff from the wheat" here, so a causal looker sees "relevant" postings.
Moderator has the ability to trim posts, so a casual looker does not see all posts. But, to expand and see all posts, you have to click on one of the box's below, which is located below OP's original post. Moderator is sorting the "chaff from the wheat" here, so a causal looker sees "relevant" postings.
Steve Frederick-VS1/Beam314, Champion
@Al Santayos, we all know by now from your degrading and sometimes vulgar posts that you are not a fan of Viasat, and that you have left the service. Have a Happy New Year and enjoy your cell based internet.
Al, you should understand that many of us satellite internet users have but two choices for out internet, and for me, Viasat is the better provider. Many of us have terrible or no cell service at out homes, so cell internet is not an option.
Al, you should understand that many of us satellite internet users have but two choices for out internet, and for me, Viasat is the better provider. Many of us have terrible or no cell service at out homes, so cell internet is not an option.
Bev, Champion
Steve, that is the case for many of us, or in some cases, Satellite is the ONLY option for internet. My home for example, no land based providers PERIOD, not even land line phone service is available here. Cell service amounts to zero to one bar of non data service - no extended, no LTE, no 3G NO DATA, sms and, MAYBE voice, if I get lucky only.
Of my tow options, I much prefer Viasat. When Wildblue was offered here, the competition was unheard of around here. Now, one house in my area has Hughes but, the data allowance and speed they get is inferior to what I get with Viasat so, that makes Viasat my best option.
A lot of customers are in the same situation, or have only dial up as an alternative to satellite internet. Were it ONLY such customers, we'd all see blazing fast speeds and, plans that offered more priority data so, I'm happy to see those with viable alternatives go to other providers.
Of my tow options, I much prefer Viasat. When Wildblue was offered here, the competition was unheard of around here. Now, one house in my area has Hughes but, the data allowance and speed they get is inferior to what I get with Viasat so, that makes Viasat my best option.
A lot of customers are in the same situation, or have only dial up as an alternative to satellite internet. Were it ONLY such customers, we'd all see blazing fast speeds and, plans that offered more priority data so, I'm happy to see those with viable alternatives go to other providers.
Stephen Rice, Champion
And people come here to get angry at Viasat for not providing the same speeds/prices as customers get in the big city from cable/fiber companies.
It isn't Viasat's fault we choose to live in areas with limited infrastructure.
It isn't Viasat's fault we choose to live in areas with limited infrastructure.
RE: " Satellite is the ONLY option for internet."
Currently, I have four total options (2 Wireless Cell and 2 Satellite), but still using Viasat. I installed a "broadband" cellphone signal booster, with a Yagi antenna, and luckily, two cell-towers are located in same direction.
One wireless carrier offers 160gig bucket, 6 Mbps DL, at $80/month, and throttling at 1Mbps. I know their tower can deliver 11Mbps via fast.com, but they do "cap" speeds, for various plans. Prepaid gets 3Mbps promised, but actually get 4Mbps.
Viasat works fine, and I don't have the need/want now for more cowbell (video), so, I'll save about $30.00/month. I may change my mind...really don't like waiting for LNFZ to watch video
Currently, I have four total options (2 Wireless Cell and 2 Satellite), but still using Viasat. I installed a "broadband" cellphone signal booster, with a Yagi antenna, and luckily, two cell-towers are located in same direction.
One wireless carrier offers 160gig bucket, 6 Mbps DL, at $80/month, and throttling at 1Mbps. I know their tower can deliver 11Mbps via fast.com, but they do "cap" speeds, for various plans. Prepaid gets 3Mbps promised, but actually get 4Mbps.
Viasat works fine, and I don't have the need/want now for more cowbell (video), so, I'll save about $30.00/month. I may change my mind...really don't like waiting for LNFZ to watch video
Bev, I am in pretty much the same boat. Cell phone is weak, 1 bar most of the time, occasionally 2 and once in a while 0. Text goes through pretty reliably, but phone calls often have at least one disconnect.
I do have landline available from Frontier, but the phone was feeble and noisy in voice quality and they DSL was dismal. 3 MB was the best on a good day, and 1-1.5 was fairly typical with frequent disconnects as in 2-3 per hour in prime time.
Yes, the Viasat data cap is a major PITA, but other than that I am pretty happy thus far with the service. The cost is high, but DSL was $45 a month for very poor service.
Anyone with any decent landline connection would be crazy to use satellite. I see satellite as the service of last resort for those of us who have no other viable options.
I do have landline available from Frontier, but the phone was feeble and noisy in voice quality and they DSL was dismal. 3 MB was the best on a good day, and 1-1.5 was fairly typical with frequent disconnects as in 2-3 per hour in prime time.
Yes, the Viasat data cap is a major PITA, but other than that I am pretty happy thus far with the service. The cost is high, but DSL was $45 a month for very poor service.
Anyone with any decent landline connection would be crazy to use satellite. I see satellite as the service of last resort for those of us who have no other viable options.
Stephen Rice, Champion
I'm not sure if I would ditch Viasat should something "better" become available. Liberty 12 works great for me, even after using my data and my price is locked at $60.99 a month, including the equipment lease.
Another thing I like about satellite internet is I don't have to rely on local infrastructure when a natural disaster happens. When hurricane Katrina hit, most phones in my area didn't work for a month. With Viasat, at least I know my service should continue to work after a disaster providing the dish doesn't get blown off the roof.
Another thing I like about satellite internet is I don't have to rely on local infrastructure when a natural disaster happens. When hurricane Katrina hit, most phones in my area didn't work for a month. With Viasat, at least I know my service should continue to work after a disaster providing the dish doesn't get blown off the roof.
Bev, Steve, Stephen, et all. whew!!!
the week before I signed on with ViaSat-2 in mid-November, I called up and talked to a supervisor at Verizon Wireless... I have owned the MiFi JetPacks for almost 10 years... my new one is 5g:
they are a Life Saver for me as I go to my motorcycle rallies and vacation points.
I spent most of an hour trying to figure out a way to just switch over to VZW wireless totally as my only source of the Internet...... the result of that discussion came down to:
I can't afford it. To get near unlimited on VZW costs $700/month, and at that, they were going to have to "create a special plan" just for me..... no one had ever asked for that kind of JetPack Internet Service ( so they said )
Obviously that wasn't going to happen. I asked them why can't I have more Data on the MiFi, the limit is 15gB/month at the most affordable costs... still too high for me. Their answer? your cellphone plans are all Unlimited Data/month, just use those..... uh huh..... when I use that "unlimited data" on my cellphone, it docks my Family Share Plan of 4gB/month immediately, so they lie between their teeth. it is not unlimited at all. Talk and SMS yes, but not for the Internet.
My AT&T DSL was just driving our household crazy, drop outs all the time, bandwidth kept changing from 11Mbps at the best of times, to 0.200Mbps during normal hours of use ( 5pm to 10pm )
I investigated going to Atlas Broadband. They ballyhoo totally unlimited 50Mbps service..... I called to get it installed, and they never called me back.... after 3 days, I called again and the bench technician answers the phone, he creates an order for a "Stop by" to see what it will entail to hook up their RF Radios "line of sight" service.... the salesman calls me 2 days later.... 2 days after that they come by, tell me it will cost $500 to install because the nearest "line of sight" is 200 feet west of my house.... I own 6 acres...... that killed that thought.... plus more reading the mail on Facebook I noted that Atlas Broadband is infamous for being out of service for days at a time, and when you call in, they won't call you back.
ergo, ViaSat stepped into my picture window..... I talked to the local rep, got friendly with him, told him I will not sign up unless I have a Test setup at my disposal for 7 days..... barf! gulp! but he does it.... mounts it on a wood pallet...
7 days of ViaSat-2 proved to me that it is going to my "best choice" for good service. Not the cheapest by far, but the best for my rural area....
Most of the time, we have better than 5Mbps, during working hours, we have 25-30Mbps, after 11pm to 6am, we get speeds up to 45Mbps... as my daughter and I are night owls, it works out great.... as of today, we are at 20gB used and 23 days to go.... so the catch-22 might give us a slowdown.... last month we ran over by 9.8gB and did not notice a slowdown..... but we have our video set at 240p....
That's my 2 cents, FWIW...
the week before I signed on with ViaSat-2 in mid-November, I called up and talked to a supervisor at Verizon Wireless... I have owned the MiFi JetPacks for almost 10 years... my new one is 5g:
they are a Life Saver for me as I go to my motorcycle rallies and vacation points.
I spent most of an hour trying to figure out a way to just switch over to VZW wireless totally as my only source of the Internet...... the result of that discussion came down to:
I can't afford it. To get near unlimited on VZW costs $700/month, and at that, they were going to have to "create a special plan" just for me..... no one had ever asked for that kind of JetPack Internet Service ( so they said )
Obviously that wasn't going to happen. I asked them why can't I have more Data on the MiFi, the limit is 15gB/month at the most affordable costs... still too high for me. Their answer? your cellphone plans are all Unlimited Data/month, just use those..... uh huh..... when I use that "unlimited data" on my cellphone, it docks my Family Share Plan of 4gB/month immediately, so they lie between their teeth. it is not unlimited at all. Talk and SMS yes, but not for the Internet.
My AT&T DSL was just driving our household crazy, drop outs all the time, bandwidth kept changing from 11Mbps at the best of times, to 0.200Mbps during normal hours of use ( 5pm to 10pm )
I investigated going to Atlas Broadband. They ballyhoo totally unlimited 50Mbps service..... I called to get it installed, and they never called me back.... after 3 days, I called again and the bench technician answers the phone, he creates an order for a "Stop by" to see what it will entail to hook up their RF Radios "line of sight" service.... the salesman calls me 2 days later.... 2 days after that they come by, tell me it will cost $500 to install because the nearest "line of sight" is 200 feet west of my house.... I own 6 acres...... that killed that thought.... plus more reading the mail on Facebook I noted that Atlas Broadband is infamous for being out of service for days at a time, and when you call in, they won't call you back.
ergo, ViaSat stepped into my picture window..... I talked to the local rep, got friendly with him, told him I will not sign up unless I have a Test setup at my disposal for 7 days..... barf! gulp! but he does it.... mounts it on a wood pallet...
7 days of ViaSat-2 proved to me that it is going to my "best choice" for good service. Not the cheapest by far, but the best for my rural area....
Most of the time, we have better than 5Mbps, during working hours, we have 25-30Mbps, after 11pm to 6am, we get speeds up to 45Mbps... as my daughter and I are night owls, it works out great.... as of today, we are at 20gB used and 23 days to go.... so the catch-22 might give us a slowdown.... last month we ran over by 9.8gB and did not notice a slowdown..... but we have our video set at 240p....
That's my 2 cents, FWIW...
@AZgl1800 concerning Verizon, Google something like Verizon unlimited prepaid jetpack plan. It's new, started November, several articles and discussion about it. I've had it since then, speed test for my area is in another post (or it was, 15 to 20 down). That's around the speed I always get, no congestion here. It is always deprioritized, so some areas will be poor. Fully unlimited, except HD streaming (I get 1080p, YouTube detects 1440p), no caps or thresholds, not like the other postpaid plans. $65 only line with autopay, $45 as second line. Verizon reps don't seem to mention or know about it if asked.
Like I've said before, not everyone can get it with no signal, and some areas will have slower service. Makes a good backup if nothing else.
Like I've said before, not everyone can get it with no signal, and some areas will have slower service. Makes a good backup if nothing else.
(Edited)
VeteranSatUser, Champion
I didnt think the 5G mifi device is out yet from Verizon?
I've had the 5g Verizon MiFi since before June of 2018...
They sent me an Email saying that my 4g MiFi was going to be compromised as 3g is going to be dropped when 5g is in place.... that pissed me off, I have had that thing for 10+ years.... I told them to send me the new 5g "free" as a replacement for what I have, or I will go to Consumer Cellular..... I got it.
I took it with me to Colorado Springs, CO to a Family Reunion.... without it, we would have been up a creek w/o that paddle....
@barg_
it must have been late October when I called and queried VZW Wireless Supervisors about getting more Data for my MiFi.... I was on the phone for an hour, and went thru 3 people, before someone actually knew what I was talking about. Will revisit that option again, as a backup for when we are on our tours away from home.
I asked my rep if I could take his "Test ViaSat" with me on my vacation... he spluttered quite a bit, but I'm not thru ragging him about it. We will be gone 4 to 5 weeks, and uh, feeling a definite withdrawal of good internet :) :)
They sent me an Email saying that my 4g MiFi was going to be compromised as 3g is going to be dropped when 5g is in place.... that pissed me off, I have had that thing for 10+ years.... I told them to send me the new 5g "free" as a replacement for what I have, or I will go to Consumer Cellular..... I got it.
I took it with me to Colorado Springs, CO to a Family Reunion.... without it, we would have been up a creek w/o that paddle....
@barg_
it must have been late October when I called and queried VZW Wireless Supervisors about getting more Data for my MiFi.... I was on the phone for an hour, and went thru 3 people, before someone actually knew what I was talking about. Will revisit that option again, as a backup for when we are on our tours away from home.
I asked my rep if I could take his "Test ViaSat" with me on my vacation... he spluttered quite a bit, but I'm not thru ragging him about it. We will be gone 4 to 5 weeks, and uh, feeling a definite withdrawal of good internet :) :)
Do you know the model number of your mifi? Prepaid SIM works in postpaid jetpacks (FYI if you didn't know), it just needs activated first. Also, this plan works in other devices after activation, I have it in a Verizon Smarthub (because it was cheap, new, on eBay, not a great device, but it works), it is an always on home wifi router with Ethernet out.
Nov. I used just under 100gb. This past month I didn't kept track, rough estimation around at least ...200gb. Consistent speed. The smarthub stopped keeping track of data use after the first monthly renewal. And Verizon doesn't have a meter for these unlimited plans. I got a fancy router connected now too, but haven't set up data tracking yet.
About your Atlas comment, the regional cell carrier here has new line of sight service too. $50 for 10 Meg down, no caps, but possible deprioritization after 15GB per day. No line of sight here either. Best location bypassing several trees was maybe 150' from the house (shed there) then roughly 1/4 mile from that on my property take out probably 20 trees, and a few more farther out. ... I was considering it. Their install is cheap, I'd have done everything else. But this VZ plan came out as I was talking to them, cheaper as a second line, almost twice as fast, none of the hassle.
Nov. I used just under 100gb. This past month I didn't kept track, rough estimation around at least ...200gb. Consistent speed. The smarthub stopped keeping track of data use after the first monthly renewal. And Verizon doesn't have a meter for these unlimited plans. I got a fancy router connected now too, but haven't set up data tracking yet.
About your Atlas comment, the regional cell carrier here has new line of sight service too. $50 for 10 Meg down, no caps, but possible deprioritization after 15GB per day. No line of sight here either. Best location bypassing several trees was maybe 150' from the house (shed there) then roughly 1/4 mile from that on my property take out probably 20 trees, and a few more farther out. ... I was considering it. Their install is cheap, I'd have done everything else. But this VZ plan came out as I was talking to them, cheaper as a second line, almost twice as fast, none of the hassle.
it is the "ellipsis" JetPack 3C9A
info at https://my.jetpack
but I can't get that site to come up right now.
will definitely look into the prepaid sims....
it is registered to me right now on my Shared Data Plan.
download speeds depend on how close to a tower I am....
have seen speeds north of 40Mbps but rare, here at home, about 18 miles to a tower,
seems to be 10-12 Mbps
EDIT:
got back before someone saw this:
found this https://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1865680-Prepaid-Jetpack-Ellipsis-MHS800LPP-on-postpaid
The Ellipsis is not the best device: only Band 4 and 13 LTE support and no 3G EVDO fallback (and no GSM HSPA+ capabilities).
===============================
so, it might not work, they go on to mention some problems if I try that.
I am disappointed that it does not have GSM, it is CDMA only, just like my phones.
and, it won't support 3g, which the supervisor told me in advance.
info at https://my.jetpack
but I can't get that site to come up right now.
will definitely look into the prepaid sims....
it is registered to me right now on my Shared Data Plan.
download speeds depend on how close to a tower I am....
have seen speeds north of 40Mbps but rare, here at home, about 18 miles to a tower,
seems to be 10-12 Mbps
EDIT:
got back before someone saw this:
found this https://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1865680-Prepaid-Jetpack-Ellipsis-MHS800LPP-on-postpaid
The Ellipsis is not the best device: only Band 4 and 13 LTE support and no 3G EVDO fallback (and no GSM HSPA+ capabilities).
===============================
so, it might not work, they go on to mention some problems if I try that.
I am disappointed that it does not have GSM, it is CDMA only, just like my phones.
and, it won't support 3g, which the supervisor told me in advance.
(Edited)
Thanks, just curious. That my.jetpack is just an "easy" address to get to your jetpack settings, it only works when connected to it, local, not over the internet.
I got the cheapest Ellipsis jetpack to activate this plan, wanted it for a backup anyway. Band 13 is what's here. It works fine here. Some areas benefit from other bands.
Some devices have connectors for roof antennas. I have a cell booster so I didn't need that.
Many report good results, but as with satellite, some areas are slow, especially primetime. I'm lucky to live where few people do. If you know anyone with prepaid service on VZ, even TracFone or straight talk, speed tests with those might give you a ballpark idea (was pretty close here).
I got the cheapest Ellipsis jetpack to activate this plan, wanted it for a backup anyway. Band 13 is what's here. It works fine here. Some areas benefit from other bands.
Some devices have connectors for roof antennas. I have a cell booster so I didn't need that.
Many report good results, but as with satellite, some areas are slow, especially primetime. I'm lucky to live where few people do. If you know anyone with prepaid service on VZ, even TracFone or straight talk, speed tests with those might give you a ballpark idea (was pretty close here).
Thanks for that hint, locked into the JetPack's WiFi and up it came, and was pleased to see how much info is there, and being able to change the password if wanted...
ViaSat is teaching me "new things" ha ha
Tnx
ViaSat is teaching me "new things" ha ha
Tnx
VeteranSatUser, Champion
3G us going to be turned off at the end of this year. Nothing to get pissed about. The telegraph has been phased out too.
Still question if your device is 5G compatible. I want to get a new mifi device but read the latest 5G capable model wint be out until March.
But I am sure Jab will come on here, quote me, and provide a technical dissertation to explain everything.
I miss some features of the old forum!
Still question if your device is 5G compatible. I want to get a new mifi device but read the latest 5G capable model wint be out until March.
But I am sure Jab will come on here, quote me, and provide a technical dissertation to explain everything.
I miss some features of the old forum!
December 5, 2018
AT&T and Verizon's New 5G Hotspots are Chunky Monkeys
We go hands on (sort of) with the new 5G hotspots from AT&T and Verizon. They're fast, but man, they're big.
...
...
Initially, the hotspot will be exclusive to Verizon in the US, although it will roam on LTE networks abroad. Inseego is building another, similar model to support foreign 5G networks on the sub-6GHz bands.
AT&T and Verizon's New 5G Hotspots are Chunky Monkeys
We go hands on (sort of) with the new 5G hotspots from AT&T and Verizon. They're fast, but man, they're big.
...
...
Initially, the hotspot will be exclusive to Verizon in the US, although it will roam on LTE networks abroad. Inseego is building another, similar model to support foreign 5G networks on the sub-6GHz bands.
GabeU, Champion
Jab,
His total replies, not to any particular thread. His claim is that they were deleting them. None have been deleted since the 16th, or at least the ones in threads that I am subscribed to. I can't speak for threads replied to and/or created himself that I am not subscribed to.
But, yes, they do alter replies/posts if they need to, deleting or replacing foul language and sensitive personal information.
His total replies, not to any particular thread. His claim is that they were deleting them. None have been deleted since the 16th, or at least the ones in threads that I am subscribed to. I can't speak for threads replied to and/or created himself that I am not subscribed to.
But, yes, they do alter replies/posts if they need to, deleting or replacing foul language and sensitive personal information.
GabeU, Champion
I've had the 5g Verizon MiFi since before June of 2018...How did that happen?
GabeU, Champion
I've had the 5g Verizon MiFi since before June of 2018...How did that happen?
Yup, Im one of the "lucky" ones who chooses to live in a rural area with a horrendous infrastructure. Poor or no cell service. HD antenna on my TV gets me 7 channels of PBS. Landline phone is terrible. Few years ago the county mowed and from what I heard took out 13 junction boxes! 2 foot tall GREEN boxes, hidden in 3 ft tall green grass ... YUP MAKES SENSE TO ME! 10 DAYS my phone was out, my Exede voice was installed the day after it finally got fixed, and I have never looked back.
Ive been with Wildblue/Exede/Viasat for 6+ years, They didnt "sucker" me into a 2 year contract. They didnt lie to me. I understood the inherent problems with satellite. I KNOW they have the technology to back up their advertising claims. I HAD IT! I have literally watched this congestion issue manifest the past few years as they have signed up more, and more, and more subscribers as my service gets worse and worse..
I was told Viasat2 would solve everything. I was told Viasat2 would have a beam pointed at my heavily congested region. WRONG ON BOTH COUNTS!
Viasat is not responsible for where I choose to live. Viasat is not responsible for the latency issues associated with satellite. Viasat is not responsible for weather related outages. BUT THE CONGESTION/OVERCROWDING ISSUE IS 100% A PROBLEM OF THEIR OWN MAKING AND THEY NEED TO DO SOMETHING!!!
Ive been with Wildblue/Exede/Viasat for 6+ years, They didnt "sucker" me into a 2 year contract. They didnt lie to me. I understood the inherent problems with satellite. I KNOW they have the technology to back up their advertising claims. I HAD IT! I have literally watched this congestion issue manifest the past few years as they have signed up more, and more, and more subscribers as my service gets worse and worse..
I was told Viasat2 would solve everything. I was told Viasat2 would have a beam pointed at my heavily congested region. WRONG ON BOTH COUNTS!
Viasat is not responsible for where I choose to live. Viasat is not responsible for the latency issues associated with satellite. Viasat is not responsible for weather related outages. BUT THE CONGESTION/OVERCROWDING ISSUE IS 100% A PROBLEM OF THEIR OWN MAKING AND THEY NEED TO DO SOMETHING!!!
VeteranSatUser, Champion
The antenna issues significantly impacted Viasat's plans to resolve the congestion issue in many parts of the country (they didn't get an 180 million+ insurance payment just because).
The other shoe that dropped was when they went to the "unlimited" plans offering 150GB of priority data. That was way, way too much priority data to offer in certain areas of the country.
So by offering too much data, and then not getting the anticipated relief from Viasat-2, we are where we are.
The other shoe that dropped was when they went to the "unlimited" plans offering 150GB of priority data. That was way, way too much priority data to offer in certain areas of the country.
So by offering too much data, and then not getting the anticipated relief from Viasat-2, we are where we are.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
And yes. Jab confirmed the poster above does not have a 5G hotspot. I didn't think it was out yet. One reason why I haven't upgraded mine. I have one of the last models to do both 3G and 4G (for the poster above your old model would have worked fine at least another year), so am waiting for the 5G model before I upgrade.
I just verified that Jab is correct. It seems that the VZW Supervisor was clueless when I talked with them last June.... Here is what the JetPack shows
Network Name
Did not ever look into the internals of this Ellipsis JetPack until today....
I got it for 'Free' so no skin off my nose....
What it does do though, it is much more sensitive to receiving weak LTE signals than my old one which is 12-15 years old?
Network Name
Verizon Wireless USA
Technology 4G LTEDid not ever look into the internals of this Ellipsis JetPack until today....
I got it for 'Free' so no skin off my nose....
What it does do though, it is much more sensitive to receiving weak LTE signals than my old one which is 12-15 years old?
it is 7:30 PM Jan 1st.... probably nobody using the internet today, right? ha ha
getting 27+ right now,
getting 27+ right now,
Well, guess my Wedding Reception with ViaSat is done and over with. for the last two nights, we have been restricted to less than 1gB down..... just last night 0.38gB at 9:30pm ...... and just a few minutes ago
01/17/2019 08:36 SpeedTEST 18.2Mbps download 3.37 and in the early hours of the day, I was getting 25-35Mbps almost all the time.
My daughter downloaded a few Starz movies to her cellphone last night, and the night before....
Immediately, I noticed that my browsing speeds hit the toilet.
Facebook just refused to load period...... so much for "unlimited internet"
I am calling up OliveIP today and having a little discussion with them, and see what cellphone carriers they work with in my area..... their website only shows AT&T and T-Mobile ( not worth a damn in rural areas )
www.OliveIP.com here I come.
01/17/2019 08:36 SpeedTEST 18.2Mbps download 3.37 and in the early hours of the day, I was getting 25-35Mbps almost all the time.
My daughter downloaded a few Starz movies to her cellphone last night, and the night before....
Immediately, I noticed that my browsing speeds hit the toilet.
Facebook just refused to load period...... so much for "unlimited internet"
I am calling up OliveIP today and having a little discussion with them, and see what cellphone carriers they work with in my area..... their website only shows AT&T and T-Mobile ( not worth a damn in rural areas )
www.OliveIP.com here I come.
GabeU, Champion
Well, guess my Wedding Reception with ViaSat is done and over with. for the last two nights, we have been restricted to less than 1gB down..... just last night 0.38gB at 9:30pm ...... and just a few minutes ago
01/17/2019 08:36 SpeedTEST 18.2Mbps download 3.37 and in the early hours of the day, I was getting 25-35Mbps almost all the time.Perhaps I'm misinterpreting your post, but isn't 38Mbps and 18.2Mbps fairly decent download speeds?
Or, with the first sentence, are you meaning "restricted to less than 1Mbps down" and "just last night 0.38Mbps at 9:30PM"?
I won't ask what plan you're on since else where you've indicated Unlimited Bronze 12 (although maybe you've bumped it up now but still "unlimited").
So I'll ask only 1/2 of Stephen Rice's question - how much of your data usage threshold have you used?
So I'll ask only 1/2 of Stephen Rice's question - how much of your data usage threshold have you used?
(Edited)
I'm on Bronze ( 35 Gb/month )... we are at 47gB data today and 9 days to reset .... last night it was 0.38Mbps, but SpeedOf.Me reported it as 380Kbps. later about 6 a.m. it got better, but the speedtest was only 17Mbps, still less than half of our previous speedtest results at that time of the day....
as I mentioned, I am calling Nathan at OliveIP in a bit.... just got home from the dentist...
as I mentioned, I am calling Nathan at OliveIP in a bit.... just got home from the dentist...
OK, that's about the behavior I'd expect depending on level of congestion - you're de-prioritized (not really throttled I don't think). Your requests are being serviced behind those who haven't gone over and it's apparently a preemptive queuing strategy (worse the congestion gets the further you get pushed to the back of the line as those who aren't deprioritized get to cut in line ahead of you).
(Edited)
Old labs, just wait a damn second. De-prioritized. Where do these guys pull out conjestion. That is the definition of throttling. Nice cover up though, hahaha.
GabeU, Champion
As people have explained numerous times, and which would be a waste of time for me to even bother doing so for someone who hates ViaSat, regardless, congestion and throttling are two different things. Prioritization is a third.
Regarding throttling vs Prioritization, in the context of ViaSat....
Throttling is the intentional slowing of a sub's speed when they have exceeded their set plan data, and slowing to a set "up to" level.
Prioritization means that a sub's service speed may be reduced, depending on the level of activity on the system, which also means it may not be reduced at all.
Throttling is the deliberate slowing of the speed regardless of the level of system activity. Prioritization is dynamic, happening when there are a lot of people on, and the amount of that slowing is, I'm sure, dynamic, as well. The more people on, the slower it goes. Conversely, for those who are subject to Prioritization, there may be no slowing at all. It all depends on the level of system activity.
Lastly, congestion can affect everyone as it increases, regardless of throttling or Prioritization, and no matter how much data someone might have left for the month.
Hardly a cover up.
Technically, any deliberate slowing is throttling, whether it be hard throttling or soft/dynamic throttling, like with Prioritization. But, in the context of ViaSat and their plans, throttling and Prioritization mean two different things. One is definite, while the other is dependent on the level of activity on the system.
Then again, I'm sure none of this matters to you. You'll still be convinced that ViaSat is awful, regardless.
Regarding throttling vs Prioritization, in the context of ViaSat....
Throttling is the intentional slowing of a sub's speed when they have exceeded their set plan data, and slowing to a set "up to" level.
Prioritization means that a sub's service speed may be reduced, depending on the level of activity on the system, which also means it may not be reduced at all.
Throttling is the deliberate slowing of the speed regardless of the level of system activity. Prioritization is dynamic, happening when there are a lot of people on, and the amount of that slowing is, I'm sure, dynamic, as well. The more people on, the slower it goes. Conversely, for those who are subject to Prioritization, there may be no slowing at all. It all depends on the level of system activity.
Lastly, congestion can affect everyone as it increases, regardless of throttling or Prioritization, and no matter how much data someone might have left for the month.
Hardly a cover up.
Technically, any deliberate slowing is throttling, whether it be hard throttling or soft/dynamic throttling, like with Prioritization. But, in the context of ViaSat and their plans, throttling and Prioritization mean two different things. One is definite, while the other is dependent on the level of activity on the system.
Then again, I'm sure none of this matters to you. You'll still be convinced that ViaSat is awful, regardless.
last month, we went over the Data Cap by 9.8gB and we were not throttled back.... we are night owls and most of our activities are from 9pm to 5am.... and the only difference this month, was my daughter downloaded 3 or 4 videos to view later w/o having to Stream them during Prime Time.... and I suppose, that constant data download of the videos is what killed us? the month before, I had downloaded several Linux ISO files, and those are usually 1.8gB each, the exact same amount as a typical video per Netflix.
Whatever, called OliveIP and my RF modem will be shipped Monday next, 1/21.... I have 7 days to try it out from day received..... if I like it, it stays, and ViaSat goes away..... I filed a complaint with ViaSat last night, and will do so at least 3 times more to establish a trend.... I am keeping meticulous records and Images of my speedtest results to prove my point.... if I continue to be throttled down into the basement, I will not stay with ViaSat.
.
Whatever, called OliveIP and my RF modem will be shipped Monday next, 1/21.... I have 7 days to try it out from day received..... if I like it, it stays, and ViaSat goes away..... I filed a complaint with ViaSat last night, and will do so at least 3 times more to establish a trend.... I am keeping meticulous records and Images of my speedtest results to prove my point.... if I continue to be throttled down into the basement, I will not stay with ViaSat.
.
@Viacrap, your chosen name doesn't really lend you much credibility and
says it all; but you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. I keep meaning to
ask are you Bill Ross formerly known as yourguytim or did you think
that moniker up all by yourself? We've already had one case of mistaken identity and I don't want to see Tim Spake wrongly accused again of being someone he's not simply because he's been known to use the term Viacrap also. As Lloyd Benson once said, you're no Tim Spake. Tim's actually got a legitimate complaint - too bad it's too late now to review the call.
However, if not willing to accept Gabe's explanation, see:
https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/whats-the-difference-between-throttling-and-deprioritiz...
You'll find other independent sources of information on the subject here:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=network+throttling+vs+priortization
You'll get better search results on conjestion by changing the 'j' to a 'g', but Google and others will offer to clean up the results on your behalf. Qualify it with network to eliminate the Mucinex results.
Reading is fundamental, reading comprehension more so... you'll find entire volumes on Network Management on Amazon (they still sell books apparently and if not there are things called Libraries). I've got a dozen or so volumes on my bookshelf dealing with it, network performance and fine tuning web enabled applications. Admittedly, my grasp of the topics may be flawed since my primary responsibilities were programming but required some understanding of networking to ensure peak application performance since I was often charged with squeezing blood out of the stone.
The distinction is important because you can't get around throttling but can get around (de)prioritization by avoiding congestion. Some plans are throttled, while some plans are not.Some plans are simply prioritized, while some plans are both throttled and prioritized. On unlimited plans some traffic, detected video streams are always throttled. Knowing how to minimize the effects of either starts with knowing what type of plan you have.
AZgl1800's plan is Unlimited Bronze 12 - detected video streams are always throttled while everything including detected video streams is subject to (de)prioritization on going over the plan's data usage threshold. FWIW, you can get around video strram throttling, but the cure will probably be even worse during congested times. He's found an option and I wish him luck - at least he has a trial period since it's a self-install.
So in closing I'll leave you with the following:
However, if not willing to accept Gabe's explanation, see:
https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/whats-the-difference-between-throttling-and-deprioritiz...
You'll find other independent sources of information on the subject here:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=network+throttling+vs+priortization
You'll get better search results on conjestion by changing the 'j' to a 'g', but Google and others will offer to clean up the results on your behalf. Qualify it with network to eliminate the Mucinex results.
Reading is fundamental, reading comprehension more so... you'll find entire volumes on Network Management on Amazon (they still sell books apparently and if not there are things called Libraries). I've got a dozen or so volumes on my bookshelf dealing with it, network performance and fine tuning web enabled applications. Admittedly, my grasp of the topics may be flawed since my primary responsibilities were programming but required some understanding of networking to ensure peak application performance since I was often charged with squeezing blood out of the stone.
The distinction is important because you can't get around throttling but can get around (de)prioritization by avoiding congestion. Some plans are throttled, while some plans are not.Some plans are simply prioritized, while some plans are both throttled and prioritized. On unlimited plans some traffic, detected video streams are always throttled. Knowing how to minimize the effects of either starts with knowing what type of plan you have.
AZgl1800's plan is Unlimited Bronze 12 - detected video streams are always throttled while everything including detected video streams is subject to (de)prioritization on going over the plan's data usage threshold. FWIW, you can get around video strram throttling, but the cure will probably be even worse during congested times. He's found an option and I wish him luck - at least he has a trial period since it's a self-install.
So in closing I'll leave you with the following:
What's your plan and how much data have you used? - Stephen Rice
(Edited)
My January throttling on our Bronze Plan is very severe tonight with the Data Cap exceeded by 10gB+.....
Speeds of 0.20, 0.33, 0.36, 0.10, at various times from 6:30pm to now at 10pm. I have written a letter to my local rep, and he has forwarded it to the ViaSat CEOs.... the letter included meticulous details on our experiences, and lack of care from ViaSat's Customer Care center..... they are just Script Kiddies, reading canned responses.... " you were told, that you must be careful to plan your use of the data..... " uh huh, the only way we can make it thru a month of 35gB is to forbid any use of Video at all... and if that is the rule, why bother with the Internet period?
Might as well go back to the Kindle eReader and forget life..... uh, no, I will find better access to the internet.
I told them the contract is null and void, because of total lack of service......
we burned thru 4 gB on my Verizon JetPack tonight.... zeroed out our Shared Data Plan in one fell swoop.... my daughter was playing a game ( won't run with ViaSat's Latency ) ... finished that up, and forgot to turn off the VZW MiFi JetPack, and then started surfing the 'net... oops...
the OliveIP modem will be here Thursday and the 7 day trial will let me analyze its' performance..... billing date is 24th of month..... probably won't be able to stop that, will have to get a refund, as I plan to turn off the ViaSat modem on the 23rd if the OliveIP will perform adequately. IMO, it should do just fine, the VZW JetPack screams all night long.... happily burns up our data plan :(
Speeds of 0.20, 0.33, 0.36, 0.10, at various times from 6:30pm to now at 10pm. I have written a letter to my local rep, and he has forwarded it to the ViaSat CEOs.... the letter included meticulous details on our experiences, and lack of care from ViaSat's Customer Care center..... they are just Script Kiddies, reading canned responses.... " you were told, that you must be careful to plan your use of the data..... " uh huh, the only way we can make it thru a month of 35gB is to forbid any use of Video at all... and if that is the rule, why bother with the Internet period?
Might as well go back to the Kindle eReader and forget life..... uh, no, I will find better access to the internet.
I told them the contract is null and void, because of total lack of service......
we burned thru 4 gB on my Verizon JetPack tonight.... zeroed out our Shared Data Plan in one fell swoop.... my daughter was playing a game ( won't run with ViaSat's Latency ) ... finished that up, and forgot to turn off the VZW MiFi JetPack, and then started surfing the 'net... oops...
the OliveIP modem will be here Thursday and the 7 day trial will let me analyze its' performance..... billing date is 24th of month..... probably won't be able to stop that, will have to get a refund, as I plan to turn off the ViaSat modem on the 23rd if the OliveIP will perform adequately. IMO, it should do just fine, the VZW JetPack screams all night long.... happily burns up our data plan :(
It's still not throttling (except for video stream detection) but rather prioritization.
However and once again congrats and good luck especially with the cancel fees. Was that unavailable when you signed up for Viasat?
Some of those are a better fit for many - unfortunately I'm in somewhat of a dead zone, would probably need to invest in weBoost at $500+, the nearest cell towers to me are heavily utilized and I'd probably get nailed by their prioritization fine print.
I'll probably give a Verizon prepaid one a try in the spring (when the forest canopy is full) to evaluate over the course of 24 hour periods and determine whether the weBoost investment is required or workable down here in Hog Hollar.
With return policies I'd only be out a month of prepaid service cost ($65) and restock fees (if any).
However and once again congrats and good luck especially with the cancel fees. Was that unavailable when you signed up for Viasat?
Some of those are a better fit for many - unfortunately I'm in somewhat of a dead zone, would probably need to invest in weBoost at $500+, the nearest cell towers to me are heavily utilized and I'd probably get nailed by their prioritization fine print.
I'll probably give a Verizon prepaid one a try in the spring (when the forest canopy is full) to evaluate over the course of 24 hour periods and determine whether the weBoost investment is required or workable down here in Hog Hollar.
With return policies I'd only be out a month of prepaid service cost ($65) and restock fees (if any).
(Edited)
Good luck getting the contract cancelled. If you succeed, let us know, but I think it is unlikely. Poor service is part of the game with satellite. That is why I hung in with DSL until it was completely intolerable. Any plan with a data cap is a problem, whether satellite or terrestrial.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
I still dont have enough confidence in 4G to be my primary source of internet. Now if/when 5G comes, maybe.
RE: weBoost
I bought a wideband unit, SureCall Fusion4Home, with Yagi. If more than one cell carrier around, I'd suggest buying a wideband unit.
Sidenote - SureCall founder Hongtao Zhan (Cellphone Signal Boosters)
Hong arrived in the US with $400 in his pocket and the hope that this
new home would foster his dreams. When asked what the biggest
challenge was coming to America, he said, "Compared to China,
everything was a piece of cake. When you start from the bottom of the
bottom, you can only go up."
I bought a wideband unit, SureCall Fusion4Home, with Yagi. If more than one cell carrier around, I'd suggest buying a wideband unit.
Sidenote - SureCall founder Hongtao Zhan (Cellphone Signal Boosters)
Hong arrived in the US with $400 in his pocket and the hope that this
new home would foster his dreams. When asked what the biggest
challenge was coming to America, he said, "Compared to China,
everything was a piece of cake. When you start from the bottom of the
bottom, you can only go up."
VeteranSatUser, Champion
I miss the old forum...
@AZgl1800
Hopefully that works out. I see they use ATT/Tmobile, I have no service at all from them, none possible by any means, Verizon only, so I don't often pay much attention to what is offered through them. I see a lot of people buy the ATT tablet plan for cheap and move the sim, I guess that works, even if it's not supposed to.
I think the Verizon prepaid jetpack plan I mentioned before is number "28366" (if i didn't mention the number before, I didn't reread what I posted). I see a lot of people stating that if they ask Verizon reps about an "unlimited" plan, they don't know about it, don't mention it, point to the wrong postpaid plans, etc., so that number should help them look it up, if it's correct, if Oliveip doesn't work out. I didn't verify the number personally, but it's posted in a few places as being correct. That plan should work in your existing Vz. jetpack.
Not primetime, but again, bit more than 100GB used this month.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7970835171.png
Other areas near bigger towns report much faster speed, but some have more congestion (some still fast during congestion, some slow). I see very minimal variance all day, despite the tower not being as fast to begin with.
Less latency helps a lot when using the internet. My old 2.5 meg down home cell connection worked well, going to the neighbors' sat systems was annoying with basic web browsing, I preferred my "slower" connection.
Hopefully that works out. I see they use ATT/Tmobile, I have no service at all from them, none possible by any means, Verizon only, so I don't often pay much attention to what is offered through them. I see a lot of people buy the ATT tablet plan for cheap and move the sim, I guess that works, even if it's not supposed to.
I think the Verizon prepaid jetpack plan I mentioned before is number "28366" (if i didn't mention the number before, I didn't reread what I posted). I see a lot of people stating that if they ask Verizon reps about an "unlimited" plan, they don't know about it, don't mention it, point to the wrong postpaid plans, etc., so that number should help them look it up, if it's correct, if Oliveip doesn't work out. I didn't verify the number personally, but it's posted in a few places as being correct. That plan should work in your existing Vz. jetpack.
Not primetime, but again, bit more than 100GB used this month.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7970835171.png
Other areas near bigger towns report much faster speed, but some have more congestion (some still fast during congestion, some slow). I see very minimal variance all day, despite the tower not being as fast to begin with.
Less latency helps a lot when using the internet. My old 2.5 meg down home cell connection worked well, going to the neighbors' sat systems was annoying with basic web browsing, I preferred my "slower" connection.
(Edited)
Re: SureCall Fusion4Home
Thanks
Thanks
Gabe U, they are intentionally slowing us down. That’s fine whatever. Prioritization is throttling. That’s ok. But everyone says it’s conjestion to make it look like Viasat can’t do anything about it. My only beef right now with viasat is they act like there’s nothing they can do about it.
And old labs i don’t really know who the hell who you’re talking about. Those two guys haven’t posted in months. I didn’t really see how I act like the yourguytim. And I didn’t see anything that Bill Ross did bad.
I just don’t like Viasat. And if your service is better than fair enough. There could be multiple reasons why your service is better and mine isn’t. I’d expect you see that but all you shills do is call us ignorant and say we’re someone else. Jesus. Destroy anyone who says anything negative at all. You parade around the forums all day and act like you know everything.
Viasat is not good internet- expensive, low data caps, most half way decent plans are unavailable, bugger community, poor customer service, same technology for like 10 years, never upgrade anything even after being funded by government.
And old labs i don’t really know who the hell who you’re talking about. Those two guys haven’t posted in months. I didn’t really see how I act like the yourguytim. And I didn’t see anything that Bill Ross did bad.
I just don’t like Viasat. And if your service is better than fair enough. There could be multiple reasons why your service is better and mine isn’t. I’d expect you see that but all you shills do is call us ignorant and say we’re someone else. Jesus. Destroy anyone who says anything negative at all. You parade around the forums all day and act like you know everything.
Viasat is not good internet- expensive, low data caps, most half way decent plans are unavailable, bugger community, poor customer service, same technology for like 10 years, never upgrade anything even after being funded by government.
Gabe U, they are intentionally slowing us down. That’s fine whatever. Prioritization is throttling. That’s ok. But everyone says it’s conjestion to make it look like Viasat can’t do anything about it. My only beef right now with viasat is they act like there’s nothing they can do about it.
And old labs i don’t really know who the hell who you’re talking about. Those two guys haven’t posted in months. I didn’t really see how I act like the yourguytim. And I didn’t see anything that Bill Ross did bad.
I just don’t like Viasat. And if your service is better than fair enough. There could be multiple reasons why your service is better and mine isn’t. I’d expect you see that but all you shills do is call us ignorant and say we’re someone else. Jesus. Destroy anyone who says anything negative at all. You parade around the forums all day and act like you know everything.
Viasat is not good internet- expensive, low data caps, most half way decent plans are unavailable, bugger community, poor customer service, same technology for like 10 years, never upgrade anything even after being funded by government.
And old labs i don’t really know who the hell who you’re talking about. Those two guys haven’t posted in months. I didn’t really see how I act like the yourguytim. And I didn’t see anything that Bill Ross did bad.
I just don’t like Viasat. And if your service is better than fair enough. There could be multiple reasons why your service is better and mine isn’t. I’d expect you see that but all you shills do is call us ignorant and say we’re someone else. Jesus. Destroy anyone who says anything negative at all. You parade around the forums all day and act like you know everything.
Viasat is not good internet- expensive, low data caps, most half way decent plans are unavailable, bugger community, poor customer service, same technology for like 10 years, never upgrade anything even after being funded by government.
Viacrap, you keep saying how bad your service is. Can you explain what kind of troubleshooting has been done? No one can help you if all you do is come here and complain. Obviously something is wrong with your setup if it is bad all the time. Plenty of Viasat customers are quite satisfied with their service. Me included.
@barg_
Thanks for your comments on Surecall, and the VZW MiFi plan number "28366"
When I called VZW Customer Tech service, I specially asked them about an Unlimited plan for the JetPack...
after reading your comments, I think that I need to call them back and refer to that model JetPack.... maybe the one I have is suitable? dunno, but I get speeds on it similar to what you linked to.. it of course depends on how close the cell tower is.... I just brought up my "Open Signal" Android app and there is only 1 cell tower close to me on VZW..... and it won't show up on the map.... I don't know if that is because VZW is restricting the locations to be known, or if it just isn't in the database for my area?
I just reviewed all of the SureCall antennas, and the one that I am going to get is the
SureCall CM230-800 Bi-Directional 806-960 MHz External Yagi Antenna 14 element, 14 dBi gain model.
I have a couple of Painters push up poles that I use for all kinds of stuff, like pushing up the 120VAC entrance jumper cable to my RV across from my shop at home.... Don't like laying it on the ground, as we have a lot of rolling stock that will ruin the SO cord with abuse. ( Golf cart, lawn tractor, GL1800 m/c )
I will get with VZW before the OliveIP modem arrives, so I have known info to consider before I jump into their plans. Initially will only sign up for the Month-to-Month no contract plan until I get some data on how good it is for me.
Wish I had had that 14 element Yagi with me last summer when we parked for 9 days up in a canyon south of Colorado Springs.... the VZW signal was only about 1 bar inside the plastic sided Toy Hauler we have... and mostly gone as we walked around the Campgrounds... a push up pole and 14 dBi gain might have been very beneficial at the time.
We will be spending 9 days in Homosassa Springs , Fl at a RV park next March.... looked at the T-Mobile data there and it seems to be Solid Red, with a lot of Customer Verified signal reports as being "excellent"...
I am also looking at buying one of the SureCall Signal Boosters to help out our cellphones in weak areas... not sure on that yet, as WiFi calling could negate the need for that with the OliveIP modem WiFi package...
I already own a VZW Mini-cell device that only needs to see the Internet, and my cellphones lock onto it like a bandit.... when we first moved to Oologah, OK there wasn't any VZW towers near us... so I had to buy the Mini-cell to get VZW service... Roaming did not work worth a damn inside our home. I can't recall if it supports 4g or not?
Lots to think on, and need to research it all before laying out the big bucks. Thanks to all who have helped me think this through.
AZgl1800
Thanks for your comments on Surecall, and the VZW MiFi plan number "28366"
When I called VZW Customer Tech service, I specially asked them about an Unlimited plan for the JetPack...
after reading your comments, I think that I need to call them back and refer to that model JetPack.... maybe the one I have is suitable? dunno, but I get speeds on it similar to what you linked to.. it of course depends on how close the cell tower is.... I just brought up my "Open Signal" Android app and there is only 1 cell tower close to me on VZW..... and it won't show up on the map.... I don't know if that is because VZW is restricting the locations to be known, or if it just isn't in the database for my area?
I just reviewed all of the SureCall antennas, and the one that I am going to get is the
SureCall CM230-800 Bi-Directional 806-960 MHz External Yagi Antenna 14 element, 14 dBi gain model.
I have a couple of Painters push up poles that I use for all kinds of stuff, like pushing up the 120VAC entrance jumper cable to my RV across from my shop at home.... Don't like laying it on the ground, as we have a lot of rolling stock that will ruin the SO cord with abuse. ( Golf cart, lawn tractor, GL1800 m/c )
I will get with VZW before the OliveIP modem arrives, so I have known info to consider before I jump into their plans. Initially will only sign up for the Month-to-Month no contract plan until I get some data on how good it is for me.
Wish I had had that 14 element Yagi with me last summer when we parked for 9 days up in a canyon south of Colorado Springs.... the VZW signal was only about 1 bar inside the plastic sided Toy Hauler we have... and mostly gone as we walked around the Campgrounds... a push up pole and 14 dBi gain might have been very beneficial at the time.
We will be spending 9 days in Homosassa Springs , Fl at a RV park next March.... looked at the T-Mobile data there and it seems to be Solid Red, with a lot of Customer Verified signal reports as being "excellent"...
I am also looking at buying one of the SureCall Signal Boosters to help out our cellphones in weak areas... not sure on that yet, as WiFi calling could negate the need for that with the OliveIP modem WiFi package...
I already own a VZW Mini-cell device that only needs to see the Internet, and my cellphones lock onto it like a bandit.... when we first moved to Oologah, OK there wasn't any VZW towers near us... so I had to buy the Mini-cell to get VZW service... Roaming did not work worth a damn inside our home. I can't recall if it supports 4g or not?
Lots to think on, and need to research it all before laying out the big bucks. Thanks to all who have helped me think this through.
AZgl1800
Saturday night on Liberty pass 
RE: SureCall CM230-800
Discontinued by manufacture...SureCall SC-230W Wide-band Directional is its replacement.
VZW uses different bands, as other wireless carriers do. If using a wireless carrier locally, there might be a cheap signal boosters for most carriers. If traveling, getting a wideband signal booster is prudent.
Here's some basic info on bands used, and a person needs to know what bands are being used when a cheaper signal booster is used.
I have a Sprint-like-carrier and VZW, so it was a no brainer to get a wideband. At around seven to nine miles to these towers, and with excellent line of sight to them, reception/transmission are excellent. These are rural towers with low traffic...when cell traffic increases, a tower ranges decreases.
I've been with Wildblue/Viasat since beginning year, 2005, but now, I have two broadband cellular options available. Both cell providers can deliver the speed, but at this time, I'll stay with Viasat.
Discontinued by manufacture...SureCall SC-230W Wide-band Directional is its replacement.
VZW uses different bands, as other wireless carriers do. If using a wireless carrier locally, there might be a cheap signal boosters for most carriers. If traveling, getting a wideband signal booster is prudent.
Here's some basic info on bands used, and a person needs to know what bands are being used when a cheaper signal booster is used.
I have a Sprint-like-carrier and VZW, so it was a no brainer to get a wideband. At around seven to nine miles to these towers, and with excellent line of sight to them, reception/transmission are excellent. These are rural towers with low traffic...when cell traffic increases, a tower ranges decreases.
I've been with Wildblue/Viasat since beginning year, 2005, but now, I have two broadband cellular options available. Both cell providers can deliver the speed, but at this time, I'll stay with Viasat.
GabeU, Champion
My only beef right now with viasat is they act like there’s nothing they can do about it.Sure, there's something they can do about it. Dump a bunch of subs. Seeing that this is not legal, nor financially viable, nor smart in any way, that's not happening.
You continue to disregard the realities of a system with a finite capacity. You continue to disregard the info given to you by those who know more about it than you. You continue to be convinced that it's just ViaSat throttling you, and nothing and no one is going to convince you otherwise. The sad thing is that you aren't misinformed, as you've been given the actual reasons numerous times. It's just that you refuse to believe or accept what's factual, instead relying on your mistaken belief.
Are slow speeds fun? No. Is it disheartening to deal with them on a continual basis. Of course. Is it frustrating to not have the up to speeds advertised, or even anything near them? Absolutely. That still doesn't make an imagined cause any more real.
Be thankful I'm not parading naked...
(Edited)
With all these people leaving for other companies for there isp is making my Liberty plan the best plan to have atm, even in Liberty pass I don't see much slowdown during prime time anymore. If it does slow down it is only for a very brief moment then speeds are back to 16 o 18mbps, during prime the last week I have been seeing speed of 6 to 10mps during prime time while on Liberty pass since my 12gb data is gone. Is this because of Viasat 2 taking off the load or because lots of people have jumped ship? I say it is cause of people leaving tbh cause Viasat 2 is not available in my area but I could be wrong. Anyway something has changed in the last few months cause never have I seen Viasat as good as it is atm.
Who are you and what have you done to Stephen Rice? But glad to see my Viasat sucks narrative under another identity, ViaSatan, is kicking in and having an impact ;)
Seriously though I'm seeing much the same on Liberty 12 for whatever reason.
Seriously though I'm seeing much the same on Liberty 12 for whatever reason.
(Edited)
RE: "... something has changed in the last few months..."
If aircrafts were using your beam, and if VS-2 shines in your location, then they may have re-shifted these "aircraft" frequencies for consumer usage.
If aircrafts were using your beam, and if VS-2 shines in your location, then they may have re-shifted these "aircraft" frequencies for consumer usage.
Yes I know - unlike others I'm content knowing it's better without a discussison of the possibilities. I'll simply attribute it to aliens. This too shall pass, as the beam was recently reopened to new customers after being closed for about a year.
(Edited)
Stephen Rice, Champion
Brian went home.
Im following all this talk about these cell phone internet "thingies" LOL My dad is running one and is happy with it. I guess now the state of Ohio has teamed up with a couple companies to bring "low cost high speed internet" to rural Ohioans ... via cell phone towers.
I couldnt do a search fast enough on the OliveIP being discussed, sadly as another stated its on AT&T or T-mobile. We ONLY have Verizon out here. Upstairs in the south facing window we can make a call now (conditions permitting), but 8 years ago when we moved in there was NO SERVICE AT ALL!
When I say satellite is my ONLY option I MEAN IT! I was very happy with my Wildblue/Exede/Viasat when I got it, BEFORE THE "CONGESTION" ISSUE. Then I waited for VS2, and was really let down, that has pretty much destroyed any faith I had for VS3. I was hoping for Elon Musk to get his idea for satellite internet up and running, but I could be dead and gone before that comes to fruition.
It appears my greatest hope for internet at this juncture is for somebody to construct a cell tower nearer to me so I get a viable signal. In the past 8 years they have constructed at least 3 I know of "in the area" that have brought me the limited signal I have now, but I am only on the fringe of their coverage.
I was told 5 - 7 years ago Verizon bought an abandoned microwave tower I can almost see from my house for conversion to a cell tower, but every time I inquire about it all I hear is its still tied up with the FCC over permits, licensing, etc.
Life goes on. Until something better comes along I am stuck paying what I consider a ridiculous price for my "up to" high speed internet, depending "up to" how many others are on, and do "up to" what my data allows.... and one must not forget. "up to" rain, snow, and cloud cover.
I couldnt do a search fast enough on the OliveIP being discussed, sadly as another stated its on AT&T or T-mobile. We ONLY have Verizon out here. Upstairs in the south facing window we can make a call now (conditions permitting), but 8 years ago when we moved in there was NO SERVICE AT ALL!
When I say satellite is my ONLY option I MEAN IT! I was very happy with my Wildblue/Exede/Viasat when I got it, BEFORE THE "CONGESTION" ISSUE. Then I waited for VS2, and was really let down, that has pretty much destroyed any faith I had for VS3. I was hoping for Elon Musk to get his idea for satellite internet up and running, but I could be dead and gone before that comes to fruition.
It appears my greatest hope for internet at this juncture is for somebody to construct a cell tower nearer to me so I get a viable signal. In the past 8 years they have constructed at least 3 I know of "in the area" that have brought me the limited signal I have now, but I am only on the fringe of their coverage.
I was told 5 - 7 years ago Verizon bought an abandoned microwave tower I can almost see from my house for conversion to a cell tower, but every time I inquire about it all I hear is its still tied up with the FCC over permits, licensing, etc.
Life goes on. Until something better comes along I am stuck paying what I consider a ridiculous price for my "up to" high speed internet, depending "up to" how many others are on, and do "up to" what my data allows.... and one must not forget. "up to" rain, snow, and cloud cover.
@Ron Frank
Have you considered using a SureCall 14 element Yagi and one of their Signal Boosters for your home?
Put up a tall piece of pipe on the house, guy it so it won't fall over, put the Yagi at the top, and swivel it to the Tower's direction ( follow the signal for a peak )
this is the antenna https://www.amazon.com/SureCall-CM230-800-Bi-Directional-806-960-External/dp/B00KQSFWFO/ref=sr_1_46?...
This link shows quite a few of them https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=surecall+signal+bo...
This is what I am going to do.
Have you considered using a SureCall 14 element Yagi and one of their Signal Boosters for your home?
Put up a tall piece of pipe on the house, guy it so it won't fall over, put the Yagi at the top, and swivel it to the Tower's direction ( follow the signal for a peak )
this is the antenna https://www.amazon.com/SureCall-CM230-800-Bi-Directional-806-960-External/dp/B00KQSFWFO/ref=sr_1_46?...
This link shows quite a few of them https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=surecall+signal+bo...
This is what I am going to do.
WOW Yagi, now theres a name I havent heard since the old CB days!
Yes an antenna has been a thought for years, both cell phone and TV, but although I live on a "ridge" I am in a hole. My house is 119 years old, and the builder owned everything here back then, and he chose this spot for the house. I can only imagine for a wind break? My roof is road level. The property across the road is now owned by someone else, the "milk house" across the road sits higher than my house, and beyond that is a good hill with a huge level spot on top where the cattle barn stood before it burned YEARS ago, but his "house" he put down in a hole.
Since I need to get above my roof AND out of this hole I have been eyeing up a few old antenna (CB) towers people are selling. My problem there is being on top of this ridge, lightning becomes an issue. Ive only been here 8 years now, and seen the lightning rods atop the old milk house get struck a couple times already.
Yes an antenna has been a thought for years, both cell phone and TV, but although I live on a "ridge" I am in a hole. My house is 119 years old, and the builder owned everything here back then, and he chose this spot for the house. I can only imagine for a wind break? My roof is road level. The property across the road is now owned by someone else, the "milk house" across the road sits higher than my house, and beyond that is a good hill with a huge level spot on top where the cattle barn stood before it burned YEARS ago, but his "house" he put down in a hole.
Since I need to get above my roof AND out of this hole I have been eyeing up a few old antenna (CB) towers people are selling. My problem there is being on top of this ridge, lightning becomes an issue. Ive only been here 8 years now, and seen the lightning rods atop the old milk house get struck a couple times already.
GabeU, Champion
Im following all this talk about these cell phone internet "thingies"Me too, but until they upgrade my nearest cell tower I don't really have a prayer. And it will be years, I'm sure, before 5G becomes available here. :(
It's still interesting to read about peoples' experiences with them, though.
I wish I could have a reliable backup to my satellite connection. I can barely pick up 3G due to distance from the tower and being in a mountainous area. Even when I can pick up a data signal it's terribly slow.
(Edited)
GabeU, Champion
Same here. On a very good day I'll see maybe 2Mbps. Normally it's lower than that.
The other day I had to update a couple of apps on my phone and I was too tired to go through the process of enabling the WiFi in my modem (I normally keep it off), which I had also just unplugged. That was a mistake. It took nearly a half hour to update two apps. SMH. Granted, I was doing other things while it was updating, but sheesh.
The other day I had to update a couple of apps on my phone and I was too tired to go through the process of enabling the WiFi in my modem (I normally keep it off), which I had also just unplugged. That was a mistake. It took nearly a half hour to update two apps. SMH. Granted, I was doing other things while it was updating, but sheesh.
I can occasionally get 1Mbps using my signal booster, but it's rare. Basic browsing is about all it will let me do.
Jim16
Stephen Rice, Champion
Mick Dietze
Voyager
Shawn Barker Davenport
Voyager
I joined the board of my electric cooperative partly with the objective of seeing if the co-op could bring broadband to our rural area. It took a couple years to convince the board and CEO that we should look at this again (they had looked at it a decade or so earlier and decided they could not do it), but we are now launching a new division to install fiber broadband. The only problem is it will take 5-6 years for full deployment and I am in one of the most rural parts of our rural territory so I am probably at the end of the 6 year project.
As they say, you can choose to curse the darkness or you can light a candle.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Voyager
Jim16
If you are running a "real" business, then you need to change your plan to a Viasat Business plan.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Voyager
http://www.tri-countyrec.com/content/...
AZgl1800
our area has lousy internet sources, but there are 2 Radio RF Line of Sight in the area, so they think that is enough I suppose.... but, get out of town about 3 miles and kiss Line of Sight goodbye. We have 6,000 square miles in our county alone.... 99% of it does not have any internet. So, it is look at the sky, or a cellular solution.
I recently learned of www.OliveIP.com and honestly, I wish I had known of it before I went to ViaSat, as it is just as fast, and even faster in the evening hours... I compare ViaSat at 6:30 PM to my Verizon MiFi JetPack and Verizon is 5 to 10 times faster than ViaSat... it is a shame, that Verizon will NOT let me have Unlimited internet on the JetPack, when OliveIP provides the same exact device and will provide me Unlimited internet for $90/month at speeds up to, 50Mbps ( if the cell tower is close enough )....
Right now, I can get 25Mbps on my JetPack as I type this.... just can't afford the Shared Data Plan that we currently are signed up for and they will NOT let me have more than 15gB/month... period...
I'm thinking of cutting Shared Data back to 2gB and and getting the OliveIP service and maybe drop ViaSat...
right now, wishful thinking, my duaghter abhors changes... she gripped and gripped when we had to reprogram our WiFi devices, 2 printers, 3 cellphones, TVs, etc....
Voyager
TheCatWillStrike
xode0000, Champion