Exede Reviews?

[CopyChief]

Hello. My in-laws live in the middle of nowhere, with no available cable or DSL service within several miles. They've asked me to help them investigate other internet options. They've been a dial-up cell connection through Verizon that is terribly slow. Again, middle of nowhere - even the cell coverage isn't that great.

I've seen some reports on here about decent speeds from the new Exede service. More than speed, I'm concerned about reliability. Is the service decent and reliable? Data caps are not an issue for them, as they'll mostly be doing email and web surfing, although once they figure it out, they might jump into some video streaming. Again, I don't imagine even then that the lowest-tier data package would ever get in the way.

Thanks for your advice...

 

[grohgreg]

Well I've in the boonies too, and have been slaved to satellite for about 12 years now. I can tell you that there are fewer outage minutes per month than my wife experiences on her TV cable. But satellite isn't cheap, nor do you get much throughput for your money. Depending upon where your in-laws live, they may get either Exede5 or Exede12 (different satellites, different speed). First off, there's no guarantee you'll even ever see the 5Mb/s or 12Mb/s speeds they advertise. But even if you actually did, all that speed is useless if you don't get a reasonable data allowance. And I consider $50/month for only 7.5GB unreasonable. On top of that there's equipment lease fees, and taxes where applicable.

Unfortunately, there are only three players in this game; Exede, Hughes, and Starband. You can check out Starband offerings now, and then I recommend you wait until October. Hughes new service should be on the market by then. All three are gonna give you similar service for similar dollars, it's just a matter of selecting the one that you think best suits your needs.

//greg//

 

[Roofener]

The exceed service is fairly reliable and the speeds are decent. It has it's drawbacks (voice chat, vonage, online gaming) however it will allow them to stream videos (YouTube, Netflix, etc) and it won't take all day to download pictures. Most people I install love it. If you do lots of downloading then it probably isn't an option for you but for normal Internet usage it is a good choice. Hughes is a lot more expensive however I am curious to see what happens once they get the new system online. It is the same as exceed so it will be interesting to see what they charge.

 

[grohgreg]

Hughes is a lot more expensive however I am curious to see what happens once they get the new system online. It is the same as exceed so it will be interesting to see what they charge.

The Hughes Gen4 info is in fact already online, and doesn't support your contention that "Hughes is a lot more expensive". Or do you know something the rest of us don't?

//greg//

 

[KE4EST]

NO Hughes is not a lot more expensive, and it won't be in October. I've heard the same thing from people too, when I ask what they mean they are like, uh.uh well that is what I heard. Hughes used to be more expensive, and the up front cost, cost more, but not true anymore.

 

[Roofener]

I am just going on customers that have switched due to the price of Hughes.

 

[Roofener]

Also I just checked their site and the prices they post for their current service is about the same as the current exceed prices except for the top package which is more expensive and slower than molasses.

 

[grohgreg]

except for the top package which is more expensive and slower than molasses.

You're making some rather unsupported statements here. Would you mind citing a little proof for such claims?

//greg//

 

[Roofener]

2 mbps for $109 per month. In my book that is slow and expensive. It was taken right from Hughes web site. Wildblue has a
More expensive package $129 but that is for 25 gigs and speeds up to 12 Mbps. You are taking my comments so personal, you would think you were a part owner of Hughesnet or something

 

[grohgreg]

The only thing in which I have a vested interest is accuracy. I don't have a clue where you're getting that info, because the top HughesNet Gen4 plan is $99/mo, and offers an advertised 15 Mbps down/2 Mbps up with a 40GB/month data allowance. If you're citing legacy plans, you're in the wrong thread. This was started about Exede, which is a new 12Mb offering from ViaSat. You're the one that brought Hughes into the discussion. The Hughes product that competes with Exede is Gen4. Anything else is apples and oranges.

//greg//

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I think in terms of speed, both Excede and Hughes Gen4 work very well.

While I can't say very much I have been able to play with both. And at last I can say rural dwelers finally have true high speed internet available to them.

 

[stardust3]

2 mbps for $109 per month. In my book that is slow and expensive. It was taken right from Hughes web site. Wildblue has a
More expensive package $129 but that is for 25 gigs and speeds up to 12 Mbps. You are taking my comments so personal, you would think you were a part owner of Hughesnet or something

Use this site for your comparison..........http://gen4.hughesnet.com/explore-plans

Either way they both under serve their customers in data.

 

[KE4EST]

I think in terms of speed, both Excede and Hughes Gen4 work very well.

While I can't say very much I have been able to play with both. And at last I can say rural dwellers finally have true high speed internet available to them.

Same here and yes it is more expensive than other high speed services, but when you live in the woods it is nice. They speed on the new systems is great. I do wish though they would give a little more data.

 

[Duffell]

My exede system use to work great until hig wids moved my dish..I am in Western or Franklin, North Caolina area and need a Modem Key to re-aim my dish. Can anyone help?? Exede wants me to pay an installer to re-visit my house - a 2 hour drive each way from Asheville.

Bill at TheDuffells. com (with symbol & without the spaces)

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Unfortunately since its a DISH that transmits it needs to be pointed by a pro. As if you are off just a little bit you could be causing iterference to the satellite.

 

[grohgreg]

I question the need to pay. Given my own experience, I suspect a sub-par installation. I have a 98cm dish - a lot more sail area than your Exede - and it's withstood Category 1 hurricane winds in the past without moving a centimeter. Mounted right below it on the same pole (2" Sch40 steel) is a DirecTV dish that's probably closer in size to your Exede. It's been rock solid for years as well.

//greg//

 

[Roofener]

It's not that you have to be a professional you just need to center it on the signal. If you can find the modem key (if they used your computer to provision it. It may be saved on the modem screen 192.168.100.1/install) if they used your computer double click on the boxes and the modem key will pop up. If you do happen to get the modem key just do a push pull test to make sure the dish is centered. Once it is locked on and giving you a constant high pitch tone just push the top of the dish then pull it towards you, you should move it the same each direction to lose the constant tone. If not use the fine tune adjustment to center the dish then do the same thing for left and right. It really is not that hard. If I had the modem key for your area I would give it to you but I can't find it and I live on the other side of the country.

 

[nwisneski]

It seems the allowances have been a sore spot with satellite internet. Any one hearing anything about these guys increasing their data caps?

 

[grohgreg]

I doubt seriously you'll see any meaningful increase in plan caps. But Hughes is currently playing catchup regarding the off peak allowance. Their old plans had an unlimited period between 0200-0700 Eastern, but the new plans now cap the off-peak allowance. Since Wildblue had no off-peak allowance, Hughes bet that Exede wouldn't either. But they got caught flat-footed. Not long after launch, Exede announced their own unlimited 0200-0800 (local) unlimited period. It's now Hughes move.

//greg//