I looked into satellite a few years ago when there were no other options, but it wasn't an option for me because I needed VPN access. Satellite internet access doesn't work with VPNs because of the lag time. VPNs basically set up a persistent connection and that's not possible with satellite access.

I think there can also be problems when there's heavy cloud cover, but I may be wrong on that.

Google "wildblue complaints" (sans quotes). I don't have time to review all the entries myself as that entry popped up among others in the Google search options box.

I too am always interested in getting away from this antique DUN at a reasonable price.

DA

Thanks for that, I have a user that is very limited in what she can get as far as ISP provides, right now she is on Net 0 an unhappy.

zep I have heard a lot of complaints too, I would tell them to go over to BBR forum there is an actual forum there for wild blue. It would be best to see some of the complaints prior to getting involved.
WildBlue Satellite

Wild Blue was one of the worst nightmares I've ever had.

There is up front expense for the equipment and installation.

There was a one year minimum contract with service (?) costing about $60 a month I believe.

Equipment was under warranty for a year, but if there were problems after the first 90 days there was a $75 trip charge to get it looked at and fixed. It might have been $75 plus so much for the time spent

Mine was in and out the first several days. Once there was a storm and it went out and was still out after the storm. Tech Support told me I would need to wait until the sky cleared...as in a blue sky before it could be determined that there really was a problem. Heck, in the winter there are often several days in a row where there are no 'blue' skies. After 10 days it went totally out. I spent an hour (or more) on hold only to be told someone would call withing 24 hours to set up an appointment. No one called, so I called tech support back and again waited on hold for an hour or more. They then talked to a repair person and told me it would 10 days before they could come and fix it.

I told them to cancel it, and took the equipment down and boxed it back up and sent it to them with delivery confirmation. I canceled my credit card so they wouldn't bill me for the remainder of the contract. Once there was proof that they had rec the unit back, my Credit Card removed the equipment charge from my bill.

They hounded me for a while and finally quit. I've pulled one credit report since then and there was nothing on it from WB.

I felt they did not hold up their end of the agreement as they claimed to have tech support 24/7. Always having to wait over an hour to reach someone, to me was not 24/7. At best it might have been 23/7. As I said...it was a nightmare.

Sue...all riled up at the thought of that fiasco

Zep, I was a Wild Blue customer for about two years. For my needs, it was mostly satisfactory. The speed tends to slow down during evening hours when more people are online. It was much better than dialup (most of the time). The most important thing is having a good installation, and that is hard to know until after the fact. For $10 more per month, I have switched to Verizon wireless broadband (3G) which is faster by far without the latency problem of satellite. We still rely on satellite for our television service since we have no other option. Weather does affect satellite, and I've had no such problem with 3G. There is a good WildBlue users' forum where one can get a pretty good idea of the good and bad of this company. WB was a new startup company, and I have to say that they have improved their service. Still, satellite is what it is, and as long as someone uses it mainly for surfing the Internet and for e-mail, it can be satisfactory.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wild Blue users' forum

Thank you all so much for the replies much appreciated....

zep516...