Today (9-27-2017) I talked with my local Exede installer, Big Island Satellite and he said they are now offering three different unlimited data plans at various speeds here in Hawaii. The highest speed is 35 Mbps but I did not ask for a price. The lowest speed at 12 Mbps is only $60 per month.
I'm especially pleased that there are finally unlimited data plans; and that the upper two speed tiers meet the definition of "broadband" as defined by the FCC a couple of years ago. Exede has finally moved into the 21st Century and have set the bar for excellence.
Is the plan only being offered in Hawaii or is it available in other parts of the United States too?
I'm especially pleased that there are finally unlimited data plans; and that the upper two speed tiers meet the definition of "broadband" as defined by the FCC a couple of years ago. Exede has finally moved into the 21st Century and have set the bar for excellence.
Is the plan only being offered in Hawaii or is it available in other parts of the United States too?
Posted 2 years ago
Spinninghorse, Champion
The "Unlimited" is going to come with an *
Andy
Andy
Spinninghorse, Champion
I tried to see if Hawaii has the plans listed, but they don't. I wanted to see what the * info is because that is what the plan really is.
Big Island Satellite still has not updated their web page with the new information but their contact info is
16-180 Mikahala Pl Keaau, HI 96749 (on the Big Island)
Call: 808-965-8836
Hours: Everday 8am-6pm Hawaii Time
They installed my home system two years ago, the Freedom 150 plan, and are very reputable from my perspective. The are a local firm and not owned by Exede.
16-180 Mikahala Pl Keaau, HI 96749 (on the Big Island)
Call: 808-965-8836
Hours: Everday 8am-6pm Hawaii Time
They installed my home system two years ago, the Freedom 150 plan, and are very reputable from my perspective. The are a local firm and not owned by Exede.
(Edited)
there was great net access on my visits to the Islands.
Also found really good plans in the Philippines on visits there,
sadly America has not caught up nor offered as good service for Internet and for cell phone as is available in other countries.
Something is preventing competition in our country.
Also found really good plans in the Philippines on visits there,
sadly America has not caught up nor offered as good service for Internet and for cell phone as is available in other countries.
Something is preventing competition in our country.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Good for Hawaii because Viasat-2 will not cover them. Glad Viasat can do something for their customers there!
Hawaii had great cell phone coverage and satellite internet was available there. I think i saw signs "Big Island satellite"?
I just enjoyed it and forget as it worked. :)
near to us is Red Spectrum satellite dish Internet service And it works great and is cheap, But only on the reservation and line of sight as the cell service also has similar limitations.
If I moved just 15 miles - I could use them, But I like where I live.
So I wait until viasat catches up and brings us unlimited Internet that works more often :)
They can do it. :)
[sending happy thoughts]
I just enjoyed it and forget as it worked. :)
near to us is Red Spectrum satellite dish Internet service And it works great and is cheap, But only on the reservation and line of sight as the cell service also has similar limitations.
If I moved just 15 miles - I could use them, But I like where I live.
So I wait until viasat catches up and brings us unlimited Internet that works more often :)
They can do it. :)
[sending happy thoughts]
I read through the above posts but did not see an answer.... so will Exede be offering an unlimited data plan????
Steve Frederick-VS1/Beam314, Champion
They have not released any details of the new plans yet. Just keep watching your My Exede dashboard for any new plans that become available in your area.
Is that the same as myexede.net?
Steve Frederick-VS1/Beam314, Champion
yes, my.exede.net
Steve, thanks for the answers.
Matt B, Viasat Employee
An Exede rep that I was on the phone with for 15 minutes last night, told me that the unlimited plan would be available today sometime...I really hope she wasn't just trying to get me off of the phone as I got pretty excited lol. After buying my dream house in January I quickly realized that I should have included good internet in that dream! Lol after years of XFINITY internet, I've been feeling a bit neglected on satellite internet!
(Edited)
The rep you spoke to was wrong. As Matt stated, the new roll out has been postponed a bit.
Andy
Andy
Matt B, Viasat Employee
Brandon,
I'm sure the agent wasn't just trying to get rid of you. They may have had incomplete or old information. My team is at the corporate headquarters, we tend to get more information, sooner, than frontline agents.
I'm sure the agent wasn't just trying to get rid of you. They may have had incomplete or old information. My team is at the corporate headquarters, we tend to get more information, sooner, than frontline agents.
frontline agents I have called are most often from another country on a third party [just taking excede calls] these folks are reading from a scropt and unable to give anything more than the simple instructions they are given concerning unplugging your modem and resetting your connection.
when their instructions fail to meet your need - they will not transfer you to another person unless you insist many many times.
then often they will disconnect the call after placing you on hold.
So it is much better to contact excede thru email when your problem requires more than a reset of your system.
As for "unlimited" data?
wow that would be great, But I doubt it happens on excede offerings.
our "other" internet providers do have unlimited plans, but those are not reaching my area as they are different types of carriers that use cell towers to "share" their internet among the local users.
it those worked here? I would use them.
If Cable reached here I would use it.
But only excede and Hnet are my options, I prefer Excede over hughs. and even at this time Hnet has lower limits on its gen5 than Excede [in my area] this will vary by location. We are in the woods and our current beam serves a place in California.
when viasat2 is available to us? I will research it and check the reviews of others as they are using it before I consider hoping on it.
vaisat2 might just be the very best thing in our area.
and that will certainly be grand.
the thought/hope for unlimited data might not be a reality, but it sure would be great!
I for one am not holding my breath until viasat2 is operational.
when their instructions fail to meet your need - they will not transfer you to another person unless you insist many many times.
then often they will disconnect the call after placing you on hold.
So it is much better to contact excede thru email when your problem requires more than a reset of your system.
As for "unlimited" data?
wow that would be great, But I doubt it happens on excede offerings.
our "other" internet providers do have unlimited plans, but those are not reaching my area as they are different types of carriers that use cell towers to "share" their internet among the local users.
it those worked here? I would use them.
If Cable reached here I would use it.
But only excede and Hnet are my options, I prefer Excede over hughs. and even at this time Hnet has lower limits on its gen5 than Excede [in my area] this will vary by location. We are in the woods and our current beam serves a place in California.
when viasat2 is available to us? I will research it and check the reviews of others as they are using it before I consider hoping on it.
vaisat2 might just be the very best thing in our area.
and that will certainly be grand.
the thought/hope for unlimited data might not be a reality, but it sure would be great!
I for one am not holding my breath until viasat2 is operational.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Hopefully in less than 6 months Viasat2 will be operational. And hopefully "virtually unlimited" does not mean 150GB's of data!
I just called to check and was told that my current plan (I forget what it's called "Freedom" maybe...150gb @ 25mb and then 1-5mb after (which are really more like all dial up speeds) is the only plan showing available in my area. He said that was the first time he has ever seen that. Which explains why when I look up plans on Exede via my cell phone, why it's blank. Went from being stoked about the new plan....feeling quite disappointed now. Especially if Exede only currently offers one plan in my area...no telling when if ever, that I will see true unlimited.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Bev, Champion
Only new customers get the unlimited data plan in my area. That seems very unfair.....what about loyal customers????
Hang in there, the new plans are spreading, it takes a bit of time. I think there is a modem update that has to happen first. If your service mysteriously goes down for about 10 minutes, check available plans again.
its magic.
yes, they had a slight loss of customers, you can see the chart on their viasat site.
Maybe they are "testing" the new VIAsat2 satellite with their commercial airline clients. Someone has to test this thing, who knows.... seems plausible though.
This new modem is a little bit faster too, and my signal strengths are better. I hit 3mb/sec download a few times, where I barely got above 2.4 before. Why is this? Dunno.... my speed of service that I chose was the same as I had before.
yes, they had a slight loss of customers, you can see the chart on their viasat site.
Maybe they are "testing" the new VIAsat2 satellite with their commercial airline clients. Someone has to test this thing, who knows.... seems plausible though.
This new modem is a little bit faster too, and my signal strengths are better. I hit 3mb/sec download a few times, where I barely got above 2.4 before. Why is this? Dunno.... my speed of service that I chose was the same as I had before.
(Edited)
Several theories on the magic...
- Subscriber counts are down to 625,000 from their peak at 696000 according to the latest quarterly earnings call and statements - so verifiable.
- The new "optimized" video streaming should make more efficient use of any existing bandwidth - speculation.
- Some capacity was always being held in reserve for future residential and commercial growth - speculation and no longer required with ViaSat-2 on the horizon.
This all makes sense, the demand is down (at least in terms of number of subscribers) and the video optimization. I called Exede to inquire. The sales rep said it is because a new satellite was launched on June 1. When I politely questioned whether it was operational, she said it was. When I asked about pointing a new install at the Viasat-2 orbital slot, she had to ask a supervisor because she did not have that information. She came back and meekly said it was not operational, that there are now fewer subscribers in my area. Bottom line, when I was getting 1 down, I was getting "up to 25" so while my experience on Viasat-1 may be improved now, I have no reason to think it would be satisfactory. Plus, I am not going to install now when Viasat-2 will require a completely new dish install in a few months. Finally, this is the second time I have spoken to an Exede sales rep and BOTH times I was given false information.
Alex, Viasat Corporate Communications
You're on the right track, OL. The other thing we put in place is a new traffic shaper, which allows us to manage the data more efficiently. We couldn't have done the video optimization, for example, with the old shaper.
Yeah, I know and figured something like that too - I'm just speculating on some of the info in the earnings call and the quest for a balance in new subscribers and inreased revenues per subscriber - not that there's anything wrong with that ;)
Naturally you can't give away all the details - the competition is watching and best to keep them guessing too. But thanks for the partial confirmation...
Naturally you can't give away all the details - the competition is watching and best to keep them guessing too. But thanks for the partial confirmation...
(Edited)
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Robkunz1. You shouldn't need a complete new install for Viasat-2 if the old dish and cabling are still in place. New modem. Yes. New tria. Yes. Dish repoint. Yes. Beyond that, everything else in place should be okay to reuse.
(Edited)
I switched to their so called unlimited plan yesterday. Installed the new modem last night and I'm getting 2.8 mbps when I'm supposed to be getting 25. I spent two nights on the phone with support with absolutely no solution. I was on the 150 plan before this so I had plenty of data, I just switched for the faster speeds (25 compared to my old 12). If this is the speeds I can expect, I want my old modem back. I could at least get 4 or 5 mbps out of it.
Bev, Champion
Hollye, there have been a lot of reports of slow wifi speed on the SB2+ modems. Have you tried with an Ethernet cable or, by connecting a stand alone router? That may improve your speeds.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
All depends on where you live and the time of day for what speed you get.
They are laying the foundation for Viasat-2. I was a bit surprised they rolled this out so soon before 2 comes online, but it will generate more revenue even as the number of subs have been dropping. With what I know, Viasat-2 is going to be amazing. I just hope they don't alienate more customers by over promising and under delivering with these new plans before they have the infrastructure in place to pull it off.
They are laying the foundation for Viasat-2. I was a bit surprised they rolled this out so soon before 2 comes online, but it will generate more revenue even as the number of subs have been dropping. With what I know, Viasat-2 is going to be amazing. I just hope they don't alienate more customers by over promising and under delivering with these new plans before they have the infrastructure in place to pull it off.
Bev, Champion
I agree, really should be only to existing customers now, in my opinion. For the most part, we get it and, can deal with the slow downs until VS2 is live.
Prime time is getting worse by the day here, was 12-17 Mbps always at peak times, rare drop to 10 Mbps. Tonight, 5Mbps. Still perfectly usable but, if this trend continues, unlimited will be pointless when it's too busy to allow for any streaming or, half decent download speeds.
Even 3 Mbps I can live with temporarily, that's old DSL speed, below that and - Houston (er...uh Denver) we have a problem. :) Big problem if I start seeing my ancient dial up speed again.
I'm hoping VS2 is online before that happens but, at the rate prime time speed is dropping, it might not make it, unless Viasat pulls the unlimited after this week and just uses the ones on it as a test run for VS2.
Yes 150 priority GB is great, I love it but, I won't if it gets down to dial up speed in the evenings. Sure I use the internet off and on all day, but, like most, evening is my time to relax and spend a bit more time online for entertainment - be that games, streaming, music, reading, whatever.
Prime time is getting worse by the day here, was 12-17 Mbps always at peak times, rare drop to 10 Mbps. Tonight, 5Mbps. Still perfectly usable but, if this trend continues, unlimited will be pointless when it's too busy to allow for any streaming or, half decent download speeds.
Even 3 Mbps I can live with temporarily, that's old DSL speed, below that and - Houston (er...uh Denver) we have a problem. :) Big problem if I start seeing my ancient dial up speed again.
I'm hoping VS2 is online before that happens but, at the rate prime time speed is dropping, it might not make it, unless Viasat pulls the unlimited after this week and just uses the ones on it as a test run for VS2.
Yes 150 priority GB is great, I love it but, I won't if it gets down to dial up speed in the evenings. Sure I use the internet off and on all day, but, like most, evening is my time to relax and spend a bit more time online for entertainment - be that games, streaming, music, reading, whatever.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
That is my concern. As more people jump on during primetime and the ughhhh holidays coming up, who knows what we are in store for. I know you been around the block a few times Bev, you have seen how bad it can get the last 2 weeks of December. All those new toys doing their updates, everybody streaming movies, kids home all the time, etc. We could be in for a rough, rough December and that is the worst time for people to have problems. I am sure the employees at Viasat would like to be focused on the holidays just like us and not worry about the network grinding to very low speeds.
The sooner Viasat-2 gets in place and passes all its tests, the better. We are like 10 yards from the finish line...but got a sprained ankle and just need to get those last few feet finished!
Im a 10 year IT tech and i am good friends with the owner and head tech of exede now viasat's local install contractor. I am sorry but excede has been caught in several lies and most of their customer service is not in office but home workers with bull**** info. The new modems for the unlimmited are triangular not rectangle, we are not even on the new viasat system yet, unlimmited are still on the single beam old sat sytem with the data pack users. This was confirmed by a call from corperate. The viasat uplink switch will not flip till early january after that you will recieve the new modem. Untill then expect crap service and crap speeds all backed up by customer service saying it is your data useage being slowed durring congestion, it is not, it is the running of unlimmited on a satcom that cant handle it. Once we get viacom you will see 100mbps speeds but plans will only go up to 50mbps. If this all works exede viacom will surpass huesnet, but not sure why they are not telling us the truth or why they sell plans their network can not support durring peak times. Now you know the truth. By the way my family also owns BaysET wireless internet service in pacific missouri, so yes i know all the engineering and tech stats.
Matt B, Viasat Employee
Don't see how posting in a 4 month old thread is helping. I'm locking this thread now. Eric, please stop spamming, before you get banned.
Billy Hodges