This is getting RIDICULOUS! Ive been with Exede quite a while, I have watched the congestion issue grow worse and worse the past couple years. Over a year ago I switched to Exede 10. The lowest data plan I could get and keep my free zone from midnight to 5 AM. I told them I REFUSE to pay for more data at "restricted" speeds during peak usage hours. For a long time it worked out well. I would go into data restriction the final 3 or so days on my billing cycle ... AND COULDNT EVEN TELL! The last 4 or 5 months this is NOT the case! Now when I go into restriction my speed doesnt matter, NOTHING WANTS TO LOAD! NOTHING! And now, more often than not it doesnt even allow the page to load, it redirects me to a page reminding me I have exceeded my data usage and prompts me to buy more. That is not "speed," that is a direct interruption/interception of my data!
After waiting 3 YEARS for unlimited, it has FINALLY (Sept I believe) become available on my beam, for an ADDITIONAL $100 a month! $100 MORE a month, DOUBLE WHAT I AM PAYING NOW WITH MY EXEDE VOICE! is a pretty hard hit for someone on a fixed income, not to mention that I will STILL be on the same overcrowded beam I have suffered with for 3 years now???? OK, so pay $100 MORE a month, lose my 5 hour daily free zone, AND still deal with ridiculously slow speeds during peak hours? But they promise me "up to" 25 Mbps! Yea right, Ive seen the trouble they have providing me the "up to" 12 Mbps I am "supposed" to be getting now! During peak hours we are frequently below 1 Mbps. So I am left to ask ... WHATS IN IT FOR ME?
OK so now I have established a theory of manipulation of our speeds and data, the only thing that comes to mind is .... "BUT WAIT, THERES MORE!" For approximately a year we averaged 3 days under restriction, our highest being 5 days, except for ONE MONTH we fell asleep streaming videos and went 7 days in restriction. September when unlimited became available ... 2 WEEKS RESTRICTED! October I spent a week in the hospital and the wife stayed with me. Everything was turned off and still ... A WEEK RESTRICTED! Now here it is November, my data reset 2 days ago on 11/12, and it is now 11/14 and we have used over 60% of our data already??? NO STINKING WAY!! At this rate we will exceed 70% tomorrow and be in restriction by the end of the week?? We have no new devices, programs or apps. We monitor EVERYTHING we do online. We have everything set to update manually or during our free zone. We have no neighbors close enough to jump our wifi AND it is password protected. I am LITERALLY sitting here watching our usage go up! I have turned off EVERYTHING except the PC I am writing this on and every program other than my browser, yet our usage has gone up about 6% in the past 2 hours.
Im sorry but I can not help but feel this is a deliberate "push" to force us into unlimited, and bilk another $100 a month out of us! I have been waiting to see how Exede was going to handle the loyal customers when "2" and unlimited came in. I guess my experience so far says it all!
After waiting 3 YEARS for unlimited, it has FINALLY (Sept I believe) become available on my beam, for an ADDITIONAL $100 a month! $100 MORE a month, DOUBLE WHAT I AM PAYING NOW WITH MY EXEDE VOICE! is a pretty hard hit for someone on a fixed income, not to mention that I will STILL be on the same overcrowded beam I have suffered with for 3 years now???? OK, so pay $100 MORE a month, lose my 5 hour daily free zone, AND still deal with ridiculously slow speeds during peak hours? But they promise me "up to" 25 Mbps! Yea right, Ive seen the trouble they have providing me the "up to" 12 Mbps I am "supposed" to be getting now! During peak hours we are frequently below 1 Mbps. So I am left to ask ... WHATS IN IT FOR ME?
OK so now I have established a theory of manipulation of our speeds and data, the only thing that comes to mind is .... "BUT WAIT, THERES MORE!" For approximately a year we averaged 3 days under restriction, our highest being 5 days, except for ONE MONTH we fell asleep streaming videos and went 7 days in restriction. September when unlimited became available ... 2 WEEKS RESTRICTED! October I spent a week in the hospital and the wife stayed with me. Everything was turned off and still ... A WEEK RESTRICTED! Now here it is November, my data reset 2 days ago on 11/12, and it is now 11/14 and we have used over 60% of our data already??? NO STINKING WAY!! At this rate we will exceed 70% tomorrow and be in restriction by the end of the week?? We have no new devices, programs or apps. We monitor EVERYTHING we do online. We have everything set to update manually or during our free zone. We have no neighbors close enough to jump our wifi AND it is password protected. I am LITERALLY sitting here watching our usage go up! I have turned off EVERYTHING except the PC I am writing this on and every program other than my browser, yet our usage has gone up about 6% in the past 2 hours.
Im sorry but I can not help but feel this is a deliberate "push" to force us into unlimited, and bilk another $100 a month out of us! I have been waiting to see how Exede was going to handle the loyal customers when "2" and unlimited came in. I guess my experience so far says it all!
Posted 11 months ago
Brad, Viasat Employee
Bev, Champion
In addition to what Brad said, you do not go into data restriction at 70% only at 100% and above and, with an Unlimited plan that is not the hard throttle of other plans, only a lower priority at the busiest times on your beam so, you may well see normal speeds well beyond 150 GB used on Unlimited plans.
Windows 10 Creators update is 5 GB alone, not including and driver or other updates taking it may require. While it does enable setting Ethernet connections to metered, it also bypasses that for critical updates and, those will be downloaded whenever Windows 10 feels like downloading them even over a metered connection.
Windows 10 Creators update is 5 GB alone, not including and driver or other updates taking it may require. While it does enable setting Ethernet connections to metered, it also bypasses that for critical updates and, those will be downloaded whenever Windows 10 feels like downloading them even over a metered connection.
You've made some good points. Financially it seems most prudent to continue what you have and see what difference VS2 makes. You are correct that we are not being told enough about what to expect when VS2 becomes operational. We should be told NOW how the migration will impact us as customers. Most smarter people plan their budgets and need sound information to do so. Some of my questions are:
Will there be a new install charge when new equipment arrives to migrate over to VS2?
Will that require a new 2 year contract?
What benefits are to be expected if we migrate to VS2? Not just "less congestion," we get that. What's the benefit? Plans not available on VS1 is a good place to start.
Will new equipment be required to take advantage of higher speed plans that may be forthcoming on VS1 when enough customers have left it for VS2?
Will changing any equipment required to achieve higher speeds on VS1 require a service call and if so, will we be charged a service call?
Will changing plans on VS1 to a 'new equipment required' service require a new 2 year contract?
Will those with 'EZ Care' be charged for installation of any new equipment required to upgrade their service to/on either satellite?
They can keep specifics of new plans under wrap until VS2 activation day but there is a lot we should be told about now. There are frustrated people out there that are ready to quit because no true hope has been offered in appreciable detail.
I say remain on your current plan because these questions have not been addressed by ViaSat. The have had plenty of time to supply answers to these questions by now. It's not going to be a "what do we do now" scenario when VS2 becomes operational. They already know what time it is and we deserved to know too. People like you could end up literally wasting money by making a plan decision now when VS2 is so close to operational. People subscribing in March don't have any need for information right now but we are being led around with speculation of what to expect and it's all good news but the ever-present question we really do need to know is: what's it going to cost? and our own decision will be, are the VS2 advantages it worth it?
This is NO time to change plans when you may not be able to go back to the plan you have now if the new plan doesn't work out as expected.
Do send the email to them. I too had the 0.11Mbps speed issue and now I never go below 4 Mbps even on a bad day. Be sure to add a 'copy & paste' of this thread URL (address) for a reference so they know who they're dealing with as they read your message. Expect a change for the better.
VeteranSatUser, Champion
I can answer a few of your questions with certainty. BTW, I am on Ron's beam, one of if not the worst beam to be on because of congestion. I would recommend standing pat or moving to the Liberty 12 plan. But that is just my opinion.
As far as some Viasat-2 questions I can answer.
Yes you will need a new modem and a new tria. Yes you will need a service call for the change because the dish will need repointed to the new satellite. As far as pricing and plans on the new satellite, nothing has been announced. However, you can pretty much tell where things are headed based on the latest plans announced. They didn't rollout new plans in the last 30 days only to scrap them 3 - 4 months from now. Expect more of the same and perhaps additional plan availability. Keep in mind the Gold plan today is only available in certain parts of the country, and prices for the Gold and Silver plan vary widely depending on location.
As far as some Viasat-2 questions I can answer.
Yes you will need a new modem and a new tria. Yes you will need a service call for the change because the dish will need repointed to the new satellite. As far as pricing and plans on the new satellite, nothing has been announced. However, you can pretty much tell where things are headed based on the latest plans announced. They didn't rollout new plans in the last 30 days only to scrap them 3 - 4 months from now. Expect more of the same and perhaps additional plan availability. Keep in mind the Gold plan today is only available in certain parts of the country, and prices for the Gold and Silver plan vary widely depending on location.
LOL VetSatUser I believe it was you that told me unlimited is available here! I am still on the old Exede12 plan The wife and I are night owls so we wanted to keep our 12 AM to 5 AM free zone, not the Liberty 3 - 6 AM. We dropped to the lowest (10 GB) data plan long ago due to the slow speeds. They told us then if we left Exede12, it was no longer available and we could not go back, however they did allow us to drop to the 10 GB plan.
When we made that change it was strictly out of protest, and to cut the cost. We almost NEVER went over our 15 GB plan, most months we were right around 10. Our norm was 3 days restricted at the end of the billing cycle, AND YOU COULDNT TELL! Now however it is a COMPLETELY different story! NOTHING has changed here! No new devices, no new apps or programs, we havent even started playing any new social media games, in fact we have dropped a few! The sad thing is since the Viasat2 launch in June, FINALLY! We have seen a progressive, significant, and noticeable change in our data, speed, and usage. I must say again ... SIGNIFICANT AND NOTICEABLE! We have gone from not noticing the restriction to not being able to do ANYTHING under restriction, not even check Facebook or email. The "redirects" to the data usage page just started 3 or 4 months ago and have steadily become more and more frequent, they were rare, now it happens multiple times a day.
The worst however is the data usage, we have gone from 3 days a month restricted to 2 WEEKS! With the majority mysteriously being used within 1 - 3 days of the new billing cycle. Day 3 we were at 60% used already! Now it is day 5 and we are only at 64%. 20% per day vs 2% per day??? When I wrote this original post, day 3 we had shut down EVERYTHING except my PC. I turned off EVERY program including my anti virus. The only thing open was this thread, and the Exede dashboard. In approximately 3 hours I watched our usage go from 55% to 61%! NOTHING ELSE WAS RUNNING OR CONNECTED, YET I SAT HERE AND WATCHED THE DATA BEING USED! Everything is set to manual update or update at 3 AM during our free zone. We monitor EVERYTHING we do online. We have not changed our habits, or added any new devices, programs or apps, yet this has been the "trend" the last 3 months now. I would have to look but I believe I posted a complaint back on Sept 12/13 about this very same thing. Our internet was out all night, I assumed for updates, but when I got on later I learned nearly 50% of our data was gone already!
SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY NOT RIGHT!
When we made that change it was strictly out of protest, and to cut the cost. We almost NEVER went over our 15 GB plan, most months we were right around 10. Our norm was 3 days restricted at the end of the billing cycle, AND YOU COULDNT TELL! Now however it is a COMPLETELY different story! NOTHING has changed here! No new devices, no new apps or programs, we havent even started playing any new social media games, in fact we have dropped a few! The sad thing is since the Viasat2 launch in June, FINALLY! We have seen a progressive, significant, and noticeable change in our data, speed, and usage. I must say again ... SIGNIFICANT AND NOTICEABLE! We have gone from not noticing the restriction to not being able to do ANYTHING under restriction, not even check Facebook or email. The "redirects" to the data usage page just started 3 or 4 months ago and have steadily become more and more frequent, they were rare, now it happens multiple times a day.
The worst however is the data usage, we have gone from 3 days a month restricted to 2 WEEKS! With the majority mysteriously being used within 1 - 3 days of the new billing cycle. Day 3 we were at 60% used already! Now it is day 5 and we are only at 64%. 20% per day vs 2% per day??? When I wrote this original post, day 3 we had shut down EVERYTHING except my PC. I turned off EVERY program including my anti virus. The only thing open was this thread, and the Exede dashboard. In approximately 3 hours I watched our usage go from 55% to 61%! NOTHING ELSE WAS RUNNING OR CONNECTED, YET I SAT HERE AND WATCHED THE DATA BEING USED! Everything is set to manual update or update at 3 AM during our free zone. We monitor EVERYTHING we do online. We have not changed our habits, or added any new devices, programs or apps, yet this has been the "trend" the last 3 months now. I would have to look but I believe I posted a complaint back on Sept 12/13 about this very same thing. Our internet was out all night, I assumed for updates, but when I got on later I learned nearly 50% of our data was gone already!
SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY NOT RIGHT!
Sump'tin fishy going on there for sure. Are you using Windows 10? If so, have you turned off the "update the world" (as I call it) feature yet??
I run with Windows 7 Pro and have strict control of updates, so strict that I disable the "service" so Microsoft can't decide an update is so important that it ignores settings and updates anyway.
I have an ASUS router that tabulates everything that goes through it right down to individual detected applications and it agrees with Exede within a percent or two simply because the router is absolutely real time and Exede has a delay in reporting. Mine is the RT-AC68U which is plenty fast for the internet speeds I get and I upgraded it to the ASUS-Merlin firmware. The price on this router has come down significantly in the last year.
Having a router like this is the simplest way to verify the Exede meter.
I have my desktop which is also 7 Pro. The wife has a laptop on 7 but unsure if its pro or home, but it remains shut down unless she needs to use it for her business. She has a smart phone (android) set to manually activate wifi when she wants/needs it. When I worked I carried 3 phones, now I despise them and refuse to get another one! Our wifi printer gets shut down after each use, it is never left on "standby" since it too accesses the internet. I purchased a 60" dumb TV with NO WIFI because of our internet. Our DirecTV is NOT connected. My blu ray and PS3 are also set to manually connect to wifi and manually update. Our neighbors are well out of range of our wifi AND it is password protected. Weve been with Exede over 4 years and had Hughesnet before that. We are extremely familiar with data usage and caps.
Stephen Rice, Champion
It boggles my mind how people on congested beams think things are going to automatically get better just because they started paying for an unlimited plan. The same thing happened to Verizon's network when they started offering unlimited data, everything slowed down. The more people that buy unlimited service, the slower things will get. Its simple math. Fortunately Viasat 2 is on the horizon and this will fix the congestion woes.
I'm fortunate enough to be on a beam that rarely suffers congestion so I pretty much just come on here to troll everyone. I'm a keyboard warrior.
I'm fortunate enough to be on a beam that rarely suffers congestion so I pretty much just come on here to troll everyone. I'm a keyboard warrior.
I agree 100%! And they throw the terms data and speed around, interchangeably like they are one in the same. I love "scenarios" and a perfect one in this case is a station offering gas at 50 cents a gallon for 4 hours only (the DATA) So you hit the highway where the limit is 55 MPH, (the "up to" speed) Then you encounter the 10,000 other people wanting that gas. You sit in the 5 mile backup barely moving. You miss the 4 hour window. Is it any consolation you "could have" gone 55 MPH? Is it any consolation you "could have" gotten gas for 50 cents a gallon? In the case of the Silver Unlimited is it worth another $100 a month for Exede to say "you could have had unlimited priority data at 25 Mbps ... but too many other people wanted it also"
(Edited)
VeteranSatUser, Champion
Offering unlimited on our beam certainly could bog things down. The other night at midnight I was pulling 5Mbps. That was priority data, not on Liberty Pass. Now 5 isn't bad for our beam, but some people on here would be screaming about 5Mbps.
I am with you Ron. Don't change plans and dont spent more money right now. That 5 hour free is like gold!
I am with you Ron. Don't change plans and dont spent more money right now. That 5 hour free is like gold!
Stephen Rice, Champion
