Long-Term Exede Internet Review (May 2012-June 2013)
NOTE: There is a huge amount of information in the comments below this review, feel free to ask your own Exede questions there or share your own satellite internet experiences! Thank you, -JD
Disclaimer: I do not work for Exede, nor do I make any money from them if you signup for their service. My only affiliation with them is that I ordered their service in May 2012 (when it first came out), shortly after that I wrote this review and have been using Exede ever since. In September 2012 I emailed their tech support for help with an issue related to the late night free zone, they resolved that issue. In January 2013 they read this review and asked if they could interview me and I said yes.
[START IMPORTANT NOTE]
These items have been address in the comments, but I would like to make these things abundantly clear:
#1 Please be aware that there is no 30-day trial period
#2 There is a monthly 30-day traffic limit (cap on usage) of 10GB, 15GB or 25GB depending on your plan. Beyond that cap speeds are slowed until the 30-day period is up (or you can buy more at $10 per GB)
#3 Furthermore, Exede speeds are fast enough that if you are not careful it is possible to use an entire month’s worth of traffic very quickly
#4 My personal recommendation is to not bundle Exede with another service like DirecTV etc. as it can make billing and support more difficult
With all that being said it may sound like I do not like Exede. Actually it is quite the contrary. I like Exede very much and my experience with the service has been excellent. I am aware of the contractual obligations and the nature of the service and I make sure to tailor my usage within those confines. I live in an area where DSL and cable are not an option and Exede gives me broadband speeds that I thought would never be possible.
[END IMPORTANT NOTE, BEGIN ORIGINAL REVIEW]
Satellite internet in general: it used to suck
If you have ever used satellite internet in the past then you know the drill: slow speeds, high costs, prohibitive transfer limits, excessive ping times... In other words, you only go with satellite internet if you have no other alternatives.
For the majority of the year my family lives off the grid with no phone lines, no power lines, no cable. It is all solar energy and wireless internet. Cell phone reception is non-existant so since 2001 we have used satellite internet. First Starband (2001-2006), then the original WildBlue (2006-2012), then Hugesnet (early 2012-now).
Exede Satellite
However, in May 2012 we purchased Exede satellite internet for our home and office. The results have been rather extraordinary. Specifically, the new ViaSat-1 satellite that Exede utilizes allows for some uses that were never really feasible before with satellite internet: remote desktop, large FTP uploads, VPN, torrents, etc. Likewise, comparatively extreme performance at a somewhat reasonable price are now a reality.
There are still some downsides, but for those without other options, at the time of this review Exede is definitely the fastest residential satellite internet solution available.
The upsides:
+Low ping compared to other satellite internet 600mbs vs 800ms-1200ms
+Videos (Youtube etc.) load quickly and buffer extremely fast
+Fairly rain/cloud resistant
+Reasonable costs
+All plans have the same high speeds (only the monthly transfer limits vary)
+Remote Desktop Connections (RDP) and TeamViewer perform very well with minimal lag!
+FTP and file uploads are actually usable
The downsides:
-Low monthly transfer limits (7.5GB 10GB, 15GB, 25GB) [the lowest plan has been upgraded to 10GB!]
UPDATE: Exede has addressed much of this last issue with their new ‘late night free zone’ (LNFZ), with the LNFZ you can download as much as you want from midnight to 5AM. With freely available download schedulers this allows you to get much more than 10GB/15GB/25.GB usage per month. You can find out more about this in the comments at the end of this article…
-Ping times are still high compared to cable/DSL etc. (600ms vs. 30ms-100ms)
-extreme rain/clouds can affect speeds
-not available in all parts of the US (specifically, much of the middle part of the country does not have coverage)
-speeds may decrease over time as more users are put on the same satellite (however, ViaSat-1 is supposed to have more bandwidth than ALL other satellites in the region combined)
-
- iTunes update downloaded in less than a minute, averaging around 1.3mbs DL
-
- Exede speedtest results 12.89mb/s DL 3.13mb/s UL
-
- Screenshot showing X-Com Enemy Unknown downloading from Steam using Exede
-
- It is easily possible to download 28GB+ of data during the 5-hour late night free zone. Max speed this evening was 16.62mbs
More photos and additional information will be added later. But until such time feel free to comment if you have specific questions.
NEW! Additional screenshots showing Exede speeds (2012.October)
Screenshot showing X-Com Enemy Unknown downloading from Steam using Exede
NEW! Screenshot showing router level monitoring of a 24 hour time period (including the late night free zone) (2013.Feb.8th)
Screenshot showing highlighted download during the 5-hour late night free zone. :-) Max speed was 16.62mbs, 2078 KB/s =16.62mbs. http://web.forret.com/tools/bandwidth.asp?speed=2078&unit=KB%2Fs Traffic tracked via router based traffic monitor.
2012.10.26 UPDATE:
- My experience: Exede is still working well for me. I use it as my primary internet connection for working in a totally off-the-grid setup (no high-voltage power lines, no telecommunications lines, no cellular reception).
+If you are in a similar situation or just live in a rural area then Exede may be a very viable option for you, however,
-if you live in an urban area or have good cable/DSL available, then Exede is likely not the right choice. - Other Exede users share their experiences: Also, more reviews are being added in the comments, they seem to be divided between about 1/2 saying ‘works great’ and 1/2 saying ‘it sucks’. I suppose most people that are going to take the time to write a review probably either love Exede or hate Exede (if you’re just satisfied then there’s not much incentive to write a review!)
Any updates on this? My girlfriend and I also live part of the time in a remote area and would welcome reliable satellite Internet service.
Hi Steve,
Thank you for your comment. That is awesome that you and your girlfriend are part time out in a remote area, those times make for very memorable experiences IMHO
As for your question, yes we have been using Exede every day for the past two months and it has revolutionized our internet experience. Speeds are phenomenal, lag is minimal, and everything is better than I ever though off-the-grid internet could be.
I realize those superlatives are a little vague, so let me be specific:
+we can now make phone calls via Skype Out
+we have a Skype issued phone number we can be reached at (that costs $18 for 3 months or a year for $60)
++the quality and latency are good enough that nobody really realizes we are conversing via satellite!
+Google voice calling also works, though not quite as well as Skype
+remote desktop, FTP, SSH and other useful work tools/protocols are all usable which is a huge boon for my work
+downloads generally occur at 1mbs-1.2mbs actual throughput, so a 100mb file downloads in about a minute and a half, while a gigabyte can be about 14-15 minutes
+YouTube works great, even in HD
+I have not tried NetFlex or Amazon Prime streaming but I assume they would also work well
-the only drawback is the monthly bandwidth cap, we are on the 25GB a month plan and it is actually a bit hard to stay under that as the speeds are so fast and you can burn through 25GB quickly
Finally, if you are considering Exede and live in the middle to western portion of the United States I would highly recommend investigating the WildBlue recovery act plans:
http://www.wildblue.com/options/recovery-act
If recovery act ViaSat-1 satellite plans (like Exede, but still called WildBlue) are available in your area the pricing and bandwidth caps are more reasonable IMHO.
Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Best regards,
-JD
We just changed from old Wildblue to the Exede service. Generally very pleased with the increased speed.
In our case, though, the newer service seems more vulnerable to rain fade, rather than less.
I’m wondering if there was something about our particular installation that was less than optimal. I guess time will tell.
Hi Dan,
Thank you for your comment.
I have not noticed a significant difference in rain fade between the old WildBlue and Exede. I believe you can check your Exede signal and various other modem/network status info by opening:
http://192.168.100.1
in your web browser.
With that info, you should be able to compare your signal strength etc. vs other users (if you do a bit of Googling).
I hope this helps a bit and good luck to you!
Best regards,
-JD
Hi Mr. Hodges I live in a rural area and I’m tired of using my phone for internet service. Signed up to have exede installed a couple of days from now. In the meantime I’ve read some reviews and I have to say a majority weren’t good. I’ll mainly be browsing the web, emailing and using it for iTunes. I don’t know if you’re a big gamer, but I am, mostly sports. The reviews I’ve read say exede is no good for online gaming. I just want to be able log on to ps3 network and download content and update rosters for madden football etc. I will be playing my games offline though. Do you know if exede will allow me to do these things? Thanks for your help.
Hi DJ,
Thank you for your question. I expect that Exede will work well for your needs: web browsing, emailing, itunes, and even the PS3 (Playstation) Network if you are merely downloading content and updating rosters etc.
The main problem with Exede and gaming comes into play when you’re doing games that need low latency (like first person shooters etc.), in those cases the physical distance that the information has to travel (up into space and back) prevent the low ping times that fast games need. Thankfully, however, it sounds like you will be doing your sports gaming offline and merely using the internet to keep your games up to date. I think Exede will be ideal for that because the fast download and uploads speeds will be great (especially if you have been using dial-up or low speed DSL) and the somewhat high latency will not be a factor for your purposes.
I hope this helps, and good luck with your install!!!
Best regards,
-JD
PS please keep me posted with how you it all works out for you
Hello, Nice review, and generally interesting website/information. I’m impressed with the off the grid.
So this exede works with VPN? I live in the boonies, but while cable and dsl are many miles away, we have had wisp coming off a mountain peak a few miles away. we pay 50 per mo. for 1.5 down, and that’s mostly burst. Also the data seems to travel (?) in pulses, so there are many issues. The next level up is only 2 and the prices skyrocket at that.
I’ve been recently following exede information, and i think i might give it a go
thanks!
dave
Hi Dave,
That’s a tough call. If you’re wanting fast DL/UL speeds then Exede is a great option for off the grid users. However, the potentially higher latency (600-800ms) and the monthly bandwidth caps (7.5GB-25GB or so depending on plans) can be a real limit.
NOTE: My family recently received an automated call from Exede stating that they are implementing a nightly “unlimited download” time where users can download as much as they want without affecting their monthly bandwidth quota. I’m not sure if this is for all users or if they are sampling it to certain users as a test… This is a pretty big deal, as it is possible to download 24GB+ of data in ONE night (about 6 hours of the free download time) so that is super nice for heavy downloaders or business users that can schedule downloads at night. I will try to find some more info and post it.
Where Exede is not ideal
If you are a gamer then ping times are super important and Exede is not an ideal choice, likewise if you are a heavy downloader during the day (like Netflix streaming) then Exede is not good because you’ll burn through your bandwidth. Anything that needs low ping times or has high daytime bandwidth usage is not a good match for Exede.
Where Exede excels
On the other hand, if you just want to surf the web at high speeds and watch youtube videos then Exede is pretty darn awesome. The latency doesn’t really come into play and speeds are excellent. Likewise, if you can postpone your downloads until late at night (and you Exede is offering the nighttime download zone) then that is a great option too.
Conclusion
Sorry to not have an ideal answer for you but it really depends on your usage and how Exede compares to the ping times / speed of your current WISP setup.
Oh, and…
skype works better than google voice? so i imagine that google video [or hangout as it seems to be melded into] is even worse? We have been able to google video, but the rest of the house basically has to stop all internet.
thanks
dave
PS Skype VOIP does seem to work better for me than Google Voice, and I would imagine Skype video would work better than Google Video/Hangout (but I have not tried it). With Skype VOIP we are still able to surf the web etc. without seriously impacting call quality, though if we were watching youtube or other heavy usages I imagine it would cause hiccups. Hope this helps!
You mention using remote desktop, do you use a VPN for that?
thanks again!
dave
How about Netflix or some other service like that? Have you tried any of those yet?
Hi Quinn,
I will test with NetFlix and Amazon Prime video tonight to see how Exede performs with streaming video. I anticipate the results will be good as Youtube (even in HD) plays great.
I will keep you posted!
Best regards,
-JD
Hi Quinn, I can’t speak for Mr. Hodges – but I use Netflix a lot. I use a ROKU and through that device I use Netflix, Amazon, etc. I watched Thor last night – great movie!!! Get yourself a router and go to it – Excede is great.
~~Lee Tipton
Thanks for the tip Lee!
Hi Mr. Hodges and everyone:
I just read your reply to one of the people on here about the usage of the 10 gigs on Excede. I can say – without question – that surfing the net is not a usr of gigs. HOWEVER!!! Using my ROKU to watch videos will kill my gigs. So I limit myself to maybe 1 per week. But I did such a good job last month that I watched videos every night for the 3 nights leading up to my roll over. My roll over happens on the 24th and because I check my usage each and every day – I knew I had plenty of gigs to get in several movies – which I did. I cannot emphasize enough how important a router that gives you a monitoring capability and has an ON/OFF switch on it can be.
Good luck all – with a little self discipline and a decent router – Excede is much better than Comcast could ever be!!!
~~Lee
Hi Lee,
Thanks for your nice comment!
That is really cool that you doing such a good job of monitoring your usage. My roll over date is the 27th, so I too often find myself with excess bandwidth and a couple days left so we go ‘hog wild’ watching movies etc. during that time, it is quite fun
Thanks again and please stay in touch!
-JD
Hi I’m hoping you can help. I had a salesman come to our rural home with an exede brochure and info. It all sounds fantastic since we only have dial-up now. However I’m concerned about the cap. Our budget only allows for the 10GB monthly plan, we have 3 teenagers(one’s away at college) since I don’t really understand the concept of how much a GB is I wonder if this will be enough for 2 kids to do their homework using online textbooks and getting info for research projects – also kids use itunes, you tube, and generally just like to surf.
Hi Margaret,
Thank you for your comment, you asked a very good question.
I will go into greater detail below, but my thoughts are that YES the 10GB plan would be sufficient for your purposes.
First, a bit of info on how much 10GB really is:
+There are 1024MB (megabytes) in 1GB (gigabytes), and most files can be measured in either MB or GB.
+I have a particular page on my site that details how much bandwidth NetFlix uses, and Youtube should be roughly similar http://www.jdhodges.com/2012/01/how-much-bandwidth-does-netflix-streaming-use-data/
+Surfing the web usually uses minimal amounts of data, perhaps 100MB-200MB in a day even if there are lots of images, so your kids could probably surf pretty heavily every day and only end up using 3GB-6GB a month on surfing
+Most music files are roughly 2MB-5MB so you could download hundreds of songs and still only use a GB
The Exede service allows you to monitor your usage, so anytime during the month you can visit an Exede web page and it will tell you how many GB you have used and how many GB you have left
For reference, it would be very hard for you to ever come close to downloading 10GB in a month using dial-up. Therefore if your family has been making due with dial-up they will probably love Exede
Finally, when you excede your Exede (hehe) monthly limit the service does not shut off. Instead you just get reduced speeds which will probably STILL be faster than dial up!
So, overall I am very optimistic that you would greatly enjoy Exede just as my family does
HOWEVER, please be aware of the following:
-Every internet installation is different, whether it be Satellite/Cable/DSL/dial-up, there are always factors that affect performance and quality of service. I have been very happy with our installation, but some people have horror stories of all the troubles they face with their internet (not just from satellite, but all the other services as well…) so while I hope that Exede will be a wonderful walk in the park for you there is always a chance that you might encounter difficulties.
-If your kids watched a BUNCH of videos or tried to watch movies over the internet it can quickly use up your monthly data, so keep an eye on the usage meter and perhaps have them monitor their usage as well
Best of luck to you and your family!
Okay, here are the results:
Amazon (Prime) Instant Video
Watched a TV show in HD to test performance…
-15 seconds buffering before it started playing
-Connection listed as low speed
+No hiccups, but picture was fairly low resolution
Google Play Video
Watched part of Transformers 3 to test performance…
-11 seconds buffering
+480p nice and sharp
Hulu video
Watched part of a TV show to test performance…
+Almost instant playing (minimal buffering)
+Nice quality
I hope this info helps a bit!
Best regards,
-JD
PS I forgot that I don’t have Netflix subscribed anymore so I was not able to test Netflix.
thank you for your very detailed answer- it was very helpful. (it was also the answer I was hoping to hear!)
Excellent Margaret! Good luck and I hope everything works our great for you
Best regards,
-JD
Can anyone tell me if exede will work with logmein.com? I am now using Hughes net, which does not work !
Thanks
Hello Deborah,
Thank you for your question. I signed up for the logmein trial and tested its performance on Exede. Specifically I installed the logmein software on a computer using Exede, and accessed that computer remotely from another machine using Chrome as the web browser. However, it should work similarly (if not better) if you configured it in the opposite manner.
Using the file transfer feature I was able to do:
+1MB/s uploads from a computer to the computer using Exede over logmein.com connection
+about 500KB/s (1/2MB) downloads from the computer using Exede to the other computer over logmein.com connection
Overall I found the web interface to work well when transferring and managing files.
Likewise, the desktop sharing feature worked adequately as I was able to connect with no problems and interact with the other desktop successfully. There may be a bit more lag than a wired (DSL/Cable) connection but I did not find it to be obtrusive.
Finally, I have extensively used two programs similar to logmein: Teamviewer (free for non-commercial use) and RDP (remote desktop protocol, included with Windows) and they both work with Exede as well.
I hope this info helps!
Best regards,
-JD
NOTE: each satellite installation is different, I have had good success with out Exede install but as with any internet connection there can be issues for some users in some installations (like my friend John that had terrible cable connectivity, or my friend Kenthat had issues with his DSL connection)
We live 15 miles from Indianapolis, and one would think we’d have some form of high-speed Internet connection other than dial-up. Currently, I’m relying on two MiFi cards with a combined data cap of 15GB costing us $130 per month. Because we have no cable or even DSL available on our particular block, I’m considering Excede12. I’m fearful that it will not be any better than our current set-up with the two MiFi cards. The Excede rep, of course, touted their product; however, I’m a skeptic and need an impartial party giving me advice. Thanks in advance!
Hi Barbara,
Thank you for your question. In order to be helpful in answering your question I really need to know:
#1 what you primarily use the internet for (web surfing, videos, web pages, email, remote desktop, VOIP, work, or play, etc.)
#2 what your priorities are performance wise (fast downloads, fast uploads, low latency, or whatever you like)
#3 as well as what current speeds you are getting with your two MiFi cards (you could post speedtest.net results or similar)
Likewise, are you using one MiFi until the data cap is met and then switching to the second? Or are you simultaneously using them with separately?
With that information I could fully and accurately answer your question
Please feel free to comment again with a bit more info!
Without that info, I can say that Exede performs very well and I would generally choose Exede over cellular 3G solutions that I have encountered. If it is 4G vs Exede then the call is much closer.
Best regards,
-JD
JD,
We’re using a Verizon MiFi (3G) with a data cap of 10GB per month on the main level of the house. We have a Sprint MiFi (3G) with a data cap of 5GB per month on the top floor of the house. We use them simultaneously.
Just did a speed test on both MiFi’s. Results are:
Verizon MiFi (3G)
download speed 1.54 Mbps
upload speed 0.30 Mbps
________________________________________________
Sprint MiFi (3G)
download speed 0.81 Mbps
upload speed 0.56 Mbps
_________________________________________________
I have learned recently that AT&T now has 4G service available in our area. House guests and other visitors with AT&T 4G devices have been in my house and they all see 2 to 3 bars of service from AT&T 4G. I’ve become quite aggressive with visitors and always ask to see their iPhones and see what provider they use and how many bars they’re receiving in my home. Sprint is not a good choice for our area. Verizon does well with 3G, but has no 4G available for us yet. AT&T now has 4G in our area.
Perhaps I’d be better off buying a new AT&T 4G MiFi or even two of them. I hate the idea of the big ugly black satellite dish from Excede. We already have one satellite dish from DirectTV, and one dish is easily overlooked; however, the second and larger black dish is not so easily ignored.
About our usage. We do not use gaming, at all. We would like to use NetFlix, if possible. Primarily our Internet use consists of emails, Facebook, shopping, surfing, YouTube.
Thanks for any advice and thanks for slogging through my ramblings and my middle-aged angst.
B
Hi again Barbara,
Thank you for the detailed info!
#1 For comparison purposes, here are Exede speedtest results from a moment ago:
NOTE: during the ‘LNFZ’ (late night free zone) I have gotten 18-22Mbs DL speeds
#2 The Exede dish (at least the one I have) is not appreciably larger than a directv dish, however, you are right that they are an eyesore! (UPDATE: Exede lists it as a 30″ dish, and you can see some various dishes for various satellite services here)
#3 Most of your usage (emails, Facebook, shopping, surfing, YouTube) sounds great for Exede, but NetFlix would probably not be a good idea as you could quickly use up your monthly data allowance (which maxes out at 25GB with Exede12 speeds)
#4 You are very wise to test signal strength with various visitors’ cellphones. I would also suggest asking them to run the speedtest app on their phone so you can get some speed results from your actual location.
Finally, after reading all your comments and email it sounds like you are leaning toward cellular 4G (with a mifi/wifi hotspot type setup). That seems very wise to me. If you are willing to deal with the monthly bandwidth limits and the cost, then 4G sounds like a great solution for you: good speeds, unobtrusive (no dish etc.), simple to purchase and install (you don’t have to have an installer come out to your house), and easy to setup and use.
In conclusion, if you can verify some good 4G speeds to your house I’d say go for it! Also, you may want to look into some external antennas etc. that are available to get an even better signal.
Good luck and I hope this info was useful!
Best regards,
-JD
JD -
As an addendum, I did a 2nd speedtest on the Verizon MiFi and found that 20 minutes later from the 1st test, I’m now getting a download speed of only 1.08 Mbps and an upload of 0.31 Mbps. I’m also looking at the clock and thinking folks are now on their lunch breaks and busy using their Verizon cell phones. It gets slower and worse around 6 PM when everyone gets home from work.
JD -
Thanks for all the info. And, a visitor who had her brand new iPad Wi-Fi Cellular w/AT&T using 4G just ran a speedtest for me. The download was 3.34 Mbps and the upload was 1.93 Mbps. I think I have my answer. I’m going to buy a new AT&T 4G/LTE MiFi. Also, I might investigate adding the external antennas you mentioned. Any recommendations on the external antennas?
You’ve given me a wealth of information in only a few messages.
Hi again Barbara,
That is great news! I am very happy that you have a 4G signal accessible.
As for more info on external antennas, it will come down to what MiFi type devices AT&T offers and which (if any) have external antenna connectors. Once you know the particular devices you are considering, a little Googling on the particular model numbers should yield detailed specifications including connector types where applicable. After that it is simply a matter of getting an appropriate antenna (for the 4G radio spectrum) with the right connector.
That sounds hard when typed out, but a quick search for 4g external antennas at&t will get you started with some decent options and info
Good luck and enjoy your 4G!
-JD
Have you tested this VPN software?? I currently have a wireless ISP. I only get .5MB download and half of that for uploads but I can use Cisco’s VPN client to log into my works network which I have to do when I’m on call.
Hi Kimberly,
Thank you for your question. It sounds like your connection’s UL/DL speeds are significantly less that Exede’s speeds. However, the VPN connection sounds like it is also an important requirement for your work.
While, I have not tested Cisco’s VPN client, I have tested similar clients. My experience has been that VPN connections using PPTP worked well, while those that used L2TP/IPSec did not work.
Thankfully, Cisco’s VPN client appears to supports all of the above… PPTP, L2TP & IPSec:
http://www.bol.ucla.edu/services/vpn/pptp/
However, I would check with your work’s technical department to make sure that they allow PPTP connections.
Finally, depending on what you are doing over the VPN that can also play a factor. Remote desktop or other latency sensitive uses might require your WISP connection as opposed to satellite.
I hope this info is helpful!
Best regards,
-JD
I mainly browse the web and that is it and Hughesnet data limit is fine for me and their 2am-7am free download zone is great(get about 1.5GB a night) but the issue is their speed is BAD if it was 1Mb all day i would be happy but its not speeds during peak time is 130-170K and this is just unreasonable and web pages mess up a lot, not to mention i get a lot of DNS lookup errors. I was wondering how your web browsing experience is with excede? Also my hughesnet goes out a lot and its never when it rains its for no reason at all i just got their service 2 months ago i knew it wasn’t going to be DSL or cable speeds but i at least expected decent web browsing!
So to some it up how often does your internet go out for no reason and how is your web browsing experience?
Hi jdwii,
Thank you for your questions. I am sorry to hear about your problems with Hughesnet!
First I will answer your Exede questions, but then I would also like to help you offer some additional info and troubleshoot your Hughesnet issues.
#1 Web browsing is VERY good with Exede. Likewise watching Youtube videos is excellent (a big change from all previous satellite systems I have used). Overall the Exede web browsing experience is better than I ever though satellite internet could be. It truly is a new generation of satellite technology and it makes a profound difference in the user experience.
#2 Reliability is good, normally I do not get many errors/page timeouts/DNS errors*. Uptime is very good and rain fade is not bad.
*oddly, over the past couple days I have had a few issues that seemed to be DNS related but they were resolved with a simple page refresh and this is an unusual occurence.
#2 I realize your experience with Hughesnet so far has not met your expectations, but I did want to mention that they also have a ‘new generation’ (or gen4 as they call it) satellite that they just launched:
http://gen4.hughesnet.com/
it should offer performance similar to Exede though I have not personally tested the gen4 system yet. Perhaps you could get a good deal on a system upgrade?
#3 Finally, until you move on to something better (which I would recommend either Exede or Gen4 if satellite is your only option) you may may to check and see if your dish is ideally installed. The reason I suggest this is that I also have a legacy Hughesnet system installed as a backup. My install uses the HN9000 modem and has a commercial grade dish (.98 meter) and 2 watt modem. With that equipment the connection is very solid and speeds* can be good. I have tried a variety of their plans (all the way from the $349ish plan down to the $49 which I currently have as the backup) and they all had solid connections and met their rated speeds. However, I too have experienced a few odd issues with particular sites/tasks (Quicken data downloads, iTunes uploads/downloads, facebook uploads) and it seems to be related to the networking setup/scheme that Hughesnet utilizies. But not the random outages that you are encountering.
So, sorry for the length of all that but here is a quick summary:
+if satellite is your only option, then Exede and Gen4 Hughesnet should be leaps and bounds better than any legacy satellite systems (original Wildblue, older Hughesnet, Starband, etc.)
+if you may want to stick with your current Hughesnet setup, make sure that your dish and modem are operating optimally… some of the things you described (problems when there is no cloud-cover/rain, DNS issues) could be related to a misaligned dish or a modem problem etc.
Here are some resources for the HN9000 modem (though you may have the HN7000…)
http://192.168.0.1/ (you can normally access modem info here…)
http://www.copperhead.cc/HN9000.htm
http://www.viasatelital.com/manuales/Instalacion-HN9000.pdf
And of course you can always give Hughesnet support a call.
Thank you for visiting my site and I hope some of this info helps. I will cross my fingers that soon you have a fast reliable internet connection!!!
Best regards,
-JD
I too use Exede in the country. We’re on the power grid but still keep a standby generator busy in the storms. I use OS X mountain lion and find ViaSat’s acceleNet dns server stops apple web based help pages from loading. I need to figure out the technically correct way to describe this problem to ViaSat. I’d guess it’s a closed port or restricted address.
The web based help is called Help Viewer and in late OS X lets Apple do quick help updates in one location when something changes.
I find the service and reliability far exceeds (wink) any previous satellite or wireless ISP.
I’ve been here 20 years and this is the first ISP I’d be glad to recommend for our area. I’m also certain that it has measurably increased the real estate value of my home.
I use a Verizon web based cellular extender on my network and it just amazes every one that they get cell service here now.
Come by some time and I’ll take you fishing.
Bob
Hi Bob,
Thank you for your nice comment.
I am sorry to hear about your issues with ViaSat and Apple pages. I am sorry that I don’t have any information on the issue, but I did have excellent results using the offical WildBlue/Exede forums http://wildblueworld.com/forum/ to seek help with a different problem. Specifically, my LNFZ (midnight-5AM) usage was counting against my monthly limit but after contacting them they reset my usage and fixed the issue!
I agree with you 100%, Exede really does a great job for people out in the country and I am constantly amazed at the speeds and capabilities that it offers. I never thought satellite internet could be this good
Could you confirm something for me? Are you using an extender similar to this one:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/device/network-extender
If that is what you are using and it is working well, then that is AWESOME! I had considered trying one of the extenders but didn’t know it it would work. So my wife and I are using Skype to send/receive calls and that is working well, but being able to use regular cell phones would be even nicer.
Thanks again for visiting my site Bob and I’d love to go fishing sometime. Until then, enjoy your nice internet and your GREAT location
Best regards,
-JD
Wondering is you are using Apple Extreme for wi-fi. Has it gotten easier?
We are looking into the Exede and live out of town with no cable/dsl internet availability. I have a ATT mifi with a 5gb cap and have only used for bill paying, email and some internet searching. We are concerned about how heavy tulee fog would affect internet reception. We are in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California. For us, the 10gb for $49.99 would be sufficient. A neighbor had Wild Blue and Hughes Net and stated both were terrible. We are Dish customers and would bundle together. Any thoughts? Thanks
Hi Ann,
Thank you for your comment. I appreciate you including the relevant information about your situation, it makes answering your questions much easier!
#1 What are your current AT&T speeds like? Here are my past Exede speeds for comparison:
http://www.jdhodges.com/2012/05/exede-satellite-internet-speedtest-results/
and here is a result from today:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/2184923583.png (it is very cloudy and foggy this morning)
Speedtest.net generally seems to report 8-11MB/s when I test Exede speeds, and the range is around 4MB/s (low) – 8MB/s (mid) – 12MB/s (high). I anticipate this is likely faster than a mifi connection.
#2 Here in Missouri we have heavy fog in the morning (we live in a valley) and it does not affect our Exede service. Heavy rains can cause service to cut out, light rains generally do not. Unwiredbb appears to use wifi-like signals and if you have this available in your area it would likely be more rain resistant that Exede (or any satellite service that has to penetrate up and through clouds/rain)
#3 I have had the original WildBlue and still have HughesNet (as a backup). They each have various plans with various speeds (unlike Exede where ALL the plans have the SAME speeds), so I can’t fully comment on whether original WB / HughesNet ‘suck’ but they can be slow when compared to a good ‘normal’ internet connection (DSL/Cable/4G-cellular). On the other hand, a high end HughesNet plan with a commercial dish and 2 watt modem can seem pretty good (5Mpbs+ DL speeds, 500-600Kb/s actual throughput).
Please do not let those older satellite technologies bias you against Exede. Exede uses a totally different satellite (i.e. they launched a new high speed telecommunications satellite that at its launch had more bandwidth capability than all previous commercial communications satellites covering North America combined) More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ViaSat-1 & http://www.viasat.com/viasat-1-launch
When talking about rain fade resistance, I would rate them as: HughesNet .98 meter commercial dish w/2 watt modem (BEST), Exede dish and modem (2nd BEST), original Wildblue dish and modem (WORST)
#4 As for the Dish combo, that could be a good cost savings for you. Please be aware of potential issues* like this:
http://wildblueworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6155
when you buy from a 3rd party rather than directly through Exede.
*note: they are talking about Exede’s LNFZ which is midnight-5AM every night where you can download as much as you want without it counting against your monthly limit. Dish customers have not yet gotten access the LNFZ, but forum reports seem to indicate that Dish is also not speed limiting their users when they pass their monthly limit. Since you are currently making due w/5GB, you probably have no need to worry about whether the LNFZ is available to dish customers or not…
Conclusion: I expect that Exede would work very well for you and would provide an appreciable speed increase as compared to the AT&T mifi if you have a 3G connection. If you have 4G signal available in your area, I would recommend using that first. (see previous comments on the topic)
Good luck and I hope you have excellent internet no matter what you choose!
Best regards,
-JD
Also, neighbor stated when it rained the reception was nil to none. They are now using unwiredbb and like it. Can you give me a comparison? Thanks
Hi there,
Looking for your opinion. Reading through all the comments this seems like a good choice to try. Right now I currently use Verizon with Pantech UML290 and Cradlepont MBR95 router. I have not tried an antenna to boost signal because of the cost and not knowing where the tower is I am not sure if it will even help. There is no access to 4g in this area. I have 10gb cap with I think $10 per GB overage and throttled speed for overage. I think I pay around $80, but last months bill was about $130. I live 5 houses out of town where I can see people with cable and DSL, but I’m out of luck here. I have tried Virgin Mobile MiFi, but it was like the service I am currently getting from Verizon. I have reached my limit and am throttled, these are the speeds I’m getting DL .53Mb/s UL .31Mb/s Ping 89ms
The last two months I have exceeded my limit much faster than usual. I don’t know enough about how this stuff works to know whats wrong. It may be because the connection is constantly intermittent and takes forever to download pages and I have to reload videos. I watch a bunch of youtube videos and heavy image browsing along with normal e-mail and the like. I used to download some streaming movies/series/pandora, but lately just medium youtube usage has maxed my cap. 5-10min videos take anywhere from 2-15mins to download if I’m lucky enough to keep a connection that long, if not it looks like its loaded but stops in the middle and I have to try again.
Sorry for the length I tried to include anything that seemed helpful.
Thanks for the help,
Noel
Hi Noel,
Thank you for your question and for the thoroughness of the helpful information you provided
It is great that you have thoroughly evaluated your options and determined what is available in your area. Since Verizon/Virgin Mobile are not really cutting it for your purposes (i.e. you are getting throttling and overage fees ) and you are outside of cable/DSL range that does leave Exede as a great candidate.
Wifi Bridge?
However, you do mention that you have line of site to houses which have some form of wired broadband (cable/DSL). Have you heard anything good/bad about the local cable/telephone companies? If you are fortunate enough to live near an area that has stellar wired broadband service, then it might be worth investigating a point to point wifi link from a friend/neighbor/coworkers house to yours. I would be happy to discuss this option more with you, but for now I just wanted to throw that out there as an option….
Exede performance: very good for Youtube videos and web surfin
Now, back to Exede. With our Exede 12Mbps service and the 25GB plan ($129.99 monthly) we have been happy. Youtube videos basically start immediately and there is virtually no waiting for buffering etc. Likewise, webpages load quickly and it is just generally a very pleasing internet experience. Fairly heavy sites like Engadget and theverge.com all load very quickly. However, my favorite thing is that big downloads, like an ISO from Microsoft or large videos, quite often actually come down at 2Mb/s! This is equivalent to around 20Mbps rated speeds, so even faster than the ’12Mbps’ plan I am paying for. That makes me very happy
3G vs Exede
NOTE: If your current 3G DL speed is .53Mb/s then under ideal circumstances 2Mb/s Exede, would be almost four times faster DLs!
So as long as you aren’t planning on gaming or other services that require low-latency (90ms w/your current setup vs 600-700ms w/Exede), then it sounds like Exede would be an ideal fit for your usage.
The LNFZ is a killer perk
I would also recommend you checkout the LNFZ (late night free zone) on Exede. This is something that Exede recently added, a midnight to 5AM time period when you can download as much as you want and it doesn’t count against your monthly. There are a lot of helpful scheduling programs out there, including some that can queue and download youtube videos locally. This might be helpful to you if you wanted to try the lower priced Exede plans (i.e. do your heaviest video downloading at night, then watch them at your leisure).
I have scheduled late night backups from the datacenter where my servers are located, to my home (where we have Exede). During these scheduled transfers I have actually transferred 28GB IN ONE NIGHT! This is simply amazing as you could get over 800GB of transfer in a single month. Likewise, it is even better than many cable/DSL companies which implement caps at 125GB/250GB etc. The LNFZ is just icing on the cake and it has made me a very happy Exede customer.
NOTE: I am not advocating using excessive amounts of bandwidth/transfer, rather I just want to highlight it is phenomenal what transfer feats Exede is capable of!
Thanks and good luck Noel
Thanks again for your question Noel and I hope my answers are helpful. Please keep me posted and I hope one way or another you get some awesome internet in the near future!
Best regards,
-JD
PS that is cool that you are using a Cradlepoint router, they make nice stuff and I used one for an extended work trip once. It did a really nice job
The Samsung SCS-26UC4 is precisely the extender we use. First, it is quickly becoming obsoleted as Verizon expands their LTE network. That can be very good as Verizon and their dealers will run fire sales. The only real drawback would be that it’s data channel only supports 3g rates. You must be a Verizon Wireless user to register the unit and it must be located in an area where they are licensed. It has a built in antenna they call GPS, but the speculation on the Wild Blue forum is that it must receive the Data channel from a Verizon cell site. I assume that if you can text or browse the internet on your Verizon phone the extender will work at that location. The unit comes with a length of coax for that “gps” antenna for instances where you must go to a window to text. In our case we could always text on the top level of the house, but not make or receive phone calls there. After putting the extender there, we can make and receive calls all over the house and text on the lower level as well. Finally, phones left off the charger have much better battery life as they are not continually searching for a system.
Still working on the web based Help issue with OS X. I’ll drop you a note if I ever get that answer.
Best regards,
Bob
Dear Bob,
Thank you VERY much for all the information! It is so nice to hear about your real world experience rather than me just reading the technical specs online.
Currently I use Sprint and they offer the “Airave” extender which is comparable to what Verizon is using (same ‘GPS’ setup, must be registered user, etc.) Unfortunately, I believe Sprint normally charges a $4.99 monthly fee for this service (which stinks since you are effectively using your own internet connection). Thankfully, from I have read if you call Sprint and let them know you have poor service/dropped-calls etc in your home then they will send you a unit for free and permanently waive the fee.
I called them recently to request a unit but eventually gave up after being on hold for quite some time. I will try again and hopefully have better luck next time
Thank you again for getting back to me with confirmation that you truly are using an extender with Exede, I am really excited to give this a try!
Best regards,
-JD
I am on the verge of saying that dial up internet might be the better option. I got trapped into Exede becacuse of my location, similar to most people. Problem one: It was a Directv guy who came. I say that’s a problem because they are always late by at least an hour. Problem two: The guy wants to drive lag bolts through my shingles in my roof to install. Really? What this means is when you get rid of this horrible/expensive rip-off of a so called internet; you must now repair your roof because you have four 1/2 inch holes in it. Problem three: So you don’t want future holes in your roof? If you have a brick house they won’t install it on the side of your house. You must now take the option of a extra $75 to pay for a 8 foot aluminum pole to be pounded in the ground next to your house. Basically charging you for a pole that cost $19 at a hardware store so the installer can save time by doing the easier installation. What a rip! Problem Four: On a good day I get about 8mbs download and 1mbs upload. Now that’s on a good day. You can pretty much count on much slower speeds than that. By the way for those who think latency isn’t an issue, well it is. It’s a huge issue. Extremely slow and affects speeds, but then again I expected that to some degree. You know what else affects speeds? Clouds, UFO’s, gnats, air. etc. No matter what, the lame customer service will find a reason explaining why your service is degenerated. Problem Five: Expensive. I pay over $90 for the 12mb plan/modem rental/warranty/taxes. Don’t worry about hitting your cap though, you’ll be so frustrated trying to stream videos and downloading this that your give up on trying to use your allotted megabytes. Also the after midnight “free zone” is a bust. I honestly believe dial-up would be faster during 12am-5am. It’s like they throttle it to annoy people so they won’t download anything during those hours. I can’t wait to get rid of this. Enjoy your service!
[preface: this is a really long comment, most of it meant for other readers]
Hi Sean,
Thank you for your comment. I am truly sorry to hear about your terrible experience with Exede
I appreciate you listing your five issues, because they are things than any prospective user should be aware of:
Satellite dish installation definitely brings with it its own set of drawbacks (mounting, line of site, cabling, etc.) and its own set of things to watch for. Plus, there are few things more frustrating than waiting around for an installer, only to find after he has left that your connection is nothing like you expected
I don’t have much to add to Problem one and Problem two that you listed. I am sorry to
hear that you had a DirecTV installer do you install and that they were late. You are 100% correct that installing on a roof is going to require lag bolts etc. and any holes in a roof are a bad thing IMHO.
Unfortunately, there is probably nothing I can do or say to ever make your Exede experience satisfactory like it should have been. However, if you want me to I will forward your comment on to an Exede support person that was super-helfpful to me (I talk about him in the LNFZ section below)
[if I don't hear back from you I will assume that you are done with Exede forever and don't need me to contact the support person]
Beyond that, the rest of this is really addressed to other readers as they will probably be wondering why your experience was so bad and why mine was so good. The gist of it is that perhaps the installer did a poor job when installing your system, or perhaps there is some other technical reason, regardless everyone should be aware that problems like you described are unfortunately rather common in all types of internet:
So, with all those horror stories out of the way, the rest of this is mainy to help potential Exede customers evaluate their options and be as prepared as they can.
Mounting options: roof, side, pole
On my installs I have always had side mounts (DirecTV, Starband, WildBlue, HughesNet, Exede) at my house, and at my parents we installed our own pole prior to the scheduled install date.
Apparently, the installer (or Exede policy?) would not allow side mounting on Sean’s brick exterior. This is definitely something to watch out for and potential customers may want to investigate their mounting options prior to the install.
[I was originally going to put this next section more in the part for Sean, but it is probably better suited for people thinking about getting Exede]
Performance: where is the issue?
I can’t help but think that
Problem Four: wow, from your description, you sure are experiencing poor performance. I am sorry that ViaSat/Exede has apparently been unable to help your speeds and the random performance inhibitors (Clouds, UFO’s, gnats, air. etc)
something is wrong with the install or modem, as the only thing that degrades/stops our service is rain.
NOTE: for other readers, if you are wondering what ‘best case’ performance is for inclement weather, IMHO a good Exede install should be roughly comparable to a good satellite-TV* install… in light drizzle or cloudy weather you should still have a good connection, in a heavy downpour service will likely cutout, and in between the two rain extremes you may have a few dropped packets but generally the connection will stay locked.
The nature of satellite internet (two way communications) and signal factors
*Of course satellite-TV is a one way downstream connection, whereas satellite-internet is two way. Your modem actually has a trasmitter (generally rated in watts of transmit power) that sends signals into space
The bigger the dish and the higher powered the transmitted, the more resistance to rain fade your setup should be.
Cable length between the modem (inside your house) and the dish (outside your house) can also affect signal strength, I generally try to keep the cable length as short as possible in my systems.
A couple other final factors in rain resistance are dish exposure (i.e. my dish is mounted on the side of the house under a slight roof overhang, providing some protection from rain), and dish alignment/aiming (if the installer misaligns your dish, it can have a much weaker signal to work with
)
With all the variables in a satellite installation it only takes one small issue (be it installer neglect, modem problems, network operations center misconfiguration) to make Exede perform very poorly. I have to think something is seriously wrong and is causing your Exede performance to be unsatisfactory, otherwise I do not know how to reconcile my system results with yours.
The modem’s status page: your best friend when problems arise
I imagine you have already visited your Modem/IFL Cable Status page available on your modem, but for other readers here’s a summary:
The page is accessible on your local network via your web browser,
http://192.168.100.1/
(if you have Exede and cannot load that page, you’ll probably want to checkout your router settings)
That page will tellsyou all the relevant Rx/Tx performance values:
I find this info very helpful in making sure that the install is done correctly and
that everything is operating optimally, by making note of the values you can also have a benchmark to compare against should issues develop over time.
It sounds like you have already had your dish removed (or are about to) but for other users seeking help I highly recommend the offical WildBlue (Exede) forums http://wildblueworld.com/forum/ I signed up there when I was having an issue with my LNFZ (usage was still accumulating during midnight-5AM usage).
I was quite worried as I used up 18GB of my monthly usage in one night! Needless to say I was concerned, after reading the forum a bit I found some people having the same issue so I PMed (private messaged) one of the support members on the forum they were able to credit my account for the usage (for free) and to fix the LNFZ issue so it now works perfectly.
I have not contacted Exede by phone, but I can imagine it is frustrating (since every company I ever call on the phone generally seems to not have their act together). So for me the forum/email was an ideal way to troubleshoot an issue. Of course if your internet doesn’t work at all and you don’t have an alternative then that would preclude the forum/email route!
Ability to hit the monthly cap
I realize with the poor performance you encountered, you were not having any issues hitting your
data allowance cap, but with an optimal install it is possible to use 25GB in approximately 4 hours (I tested this right after my initial install, before they actually ‘turned on’ the monthly cap). Likewise, during the LNFZ the most I’ve been able to transfer is 28-30GB
Night and day, two opposite Exede experiences
Thank you for wishing me well wishes with my service Sean, and again, I am truly sorry you had such a poor experience with Exede
Best regards,
-JD
Addendum: info just meant for other people considering Exede
To other people reading these comments, Sean raised some great points, and I would highly recommend the following to insure as good an outcome as possible:
All of this may seem like a lot of hassle, but an afternoon’s worth of being invovled
can help insure that you have good quality service for years to come and that your receive the speeds that you are paying for.
Other Exede users, how is your expreience?
If other people have Exede experiences they would like to share, I would really like to hear them! So far I’ve only personally communicated heard four other Exede users: two were very satisfied, one (Sean) was dissatisfied, and one could not even get a successful install at his location (so he fits in the dissatisfied category too)
I’m hoping that my great performance is the norm rather than the exception.
Hi.
I have recently purchased Exede & have been following this thread. So far so good here. Mainly I do web surfing, some finance, and plenty of videos. It is much faster at all those things than anything else available in my area and is actually better than many of my friends’ internet when I visit them.
.
Brenda
Hi Brenda,
Thank you for your comment. I am glad to hear you are enjoying your Exede internet! Please keep us posted.
Best regards,
-JD
http://testmy.net/AjV29XD.png
Thank you for sharing your Exede speed test results!
Best regards,
-JD