ISPrankings.com - Wildblue

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Reviews (14):

Wildblue?? Think Twice, You don't get what you pay for
Reviewer: Raoul New York 10-04-2007
I have had several ISP's over the course of 13 years and all were capable and competent.....enter Wildblue. This company must be run by a group of twelve year olds out of an abandoned basement. I have not ever been able to resolve any problems in a timely or competent fashion. Email is a joke (when it works), speeds are not as promised and billing is ALWAYS screwed up (double billed, not billed, charged for wrong service plan.) The only thing that went right was the install and that was done professionally by individuals that I know from my area. I must admit Wildblue did work great....for about 3 days and then it has been a year of HELL. Tech support is the biggest joke,it is nearly non-existant and the solutions are so ridiculous that the only good solution is to pass you off to the next support person. I have spoken to people who burp mid sentance, laugh and giggle at your problem and joke about it because they don't know what to do. I would have to give them an A+ in incompetence, it would appear they have all been well trained for it and are consistent. If there were a rating lower than POOR Wildblue would still fall short of that rating.

Network Administrator

wildblue works great if installed right
Reviewer: Anonymous 08-26-2007
Hi
i am a wild blue installer in northern michigan outside contractor,have installed over125 systems with only 3 service calls bad trias when I leave the customers home,they have my card with home phone# and cell# they call me not wildblue,I also have wildblue and have not had any problems Ihave the val pak and get 525kbps down load and 125 kbps upload thats running through a linksys wireless-G router with 4 computers running,if your installers are not useing the wright cable swept tested to 3.3gherts or improper fittings did not peak dish right this well slow you down not sure what states you are in but they must be in need of some good contractors

Thank God I can Still Go to the Library! WB is BAD!!!
Reviewer: Julie Benac Central Michigan 08-17-2007
I didn't have to read all of the horrible reviews to feel motivated to write my own. WildBlue is a BIG BIG disappointment. I am a digital designer, and I am stranded out here with their FAP. I barely got through two weeks into my first month of service before I was slapped on the hands and had my speed reduced. For fear of having my service terminated (unreal!!), I moved up to the next (MORE EXPENSIVE) level of service. In another week, I had reached the next

Cothing/Fashion Design, Web Design

Beats bad dialup, but it is Satelite
Reviewer: Anonymous Olympia, WA 08-02-2007
Originally installed August 2006, worked pretty good until just outside the 30 day satisfaction window, outages thereafter issues with calling support, etc, this spring, after a few calls logged with support (a few where an outage for the whole beam etc, wasn't the issue), the wildblue quality team came and checked my install, intstaller had used way too much cable and not grounded it (we knew it wasn't grounded, and that wasn't the real issue, the extra 60 feet of cable however was), after installer came back and grounded and removed cable its been pretty solid, though it had obviously been oversold for a while in this beam, from the 1.5-2.5 second pings at peak times (when installed .4-.8 was average) since then I got a Sprint Mobile Broadband card, and then, (7 months later) a sprint signal (as opposed to a roaming one at 144k peak speed) appeared at my house, and the lower latency on that connection is a nice change, but based on performance of local phone and cellular systems the last time the power was out for a week, I'm stuck debating if i want to keep paying for Wildblue for just such an occasion. (the landlines worked 4-10 hours a day during the outage after a day or so of none, the cell towers went out 4-24 hours after the outage started)

Network Engineer

The WORST Company I have ever dealt with!
Reviewer: Anonymous Pagosa Springs, CO 07-21-2007
Horribly slow, frequent service interruptions, unreliable email, NO customer service, EXPENSIVE, UN-fair access policy that they change when people actually use the service they are paying for! We live in a rural area and are ready to drop WildBlue/Fone.net as soon as our contract is up. We would rather drive 15 mi. one way to town and go to the local coffee house instead of giving these Socialist thieves any more of our hard earned money! DO NOT waste your time or money getting this service - dial up works just as good as WildBlue without all the headache and expense!

Brand new to Wildblue and find it horrible already
Reviewer: Anonymous Central Illinois 06-29-2007
Just got my dish 2 days ago. Can't seem to find anyone who can set up my e-mail or get my old dial up e-mail to work with the Wildblue. JUST WANT MY E_MAIL. Do seem to have fast speeds, when it will let me. A lot of the time it says the site is not available. HELP

Disappointed in all aspects
Reviewer: Anonymous Beloit, WI 06-18-2007
Wildblue has an incompetent accounts system, has unreliable service with speeds much lower than expected, and email rarely works. I also have found that I am contracted for a year (will have to pay even if I cancel) no matter how bad the service is and I own the equipment so it will sit as garbage when I cancel. I guess I will have to take down the dish as well.

Technology coordinator

Was great the first year!!!
Reviewer: oldladynerd 03-21-2007
It started out good but turn out bad after a year.

Run away. Do NOT touch this service
Reviewer: jweddington Tuttle,Grady,OK 03-21-2007
I purchased my Wildblue system in June of 2005 with their

If there is absolutely NO other way to get internet ac
Reviewer: masteskellum Keota,Haskell,OK 03-21-2007
The obvious Satellite Internet limitations:
1. High Latency: certain protocols either can't stay connected or are otherwise not useable.
- online gaming: extensive lag prevents useable realtime play
- VoIP: not guaranteed to work, some people use it, no guarantees
- remote pc connections: (RDP, VNC, SSH) @2sec delay=not practical
2. Weather Reated Outges: When it's storming outside your dish will have trouble talking to the satellites

* WB Specific Limitations: *
Unadvertised ISP Packet Priority (according to multiple unnamed support techs)
- service is oversold
- only http/web packets are prioritized, everything is subject to drop as http/web demand reaches saturation.
- instant messanger protocols are dropped (by WB configuration) during peak usage hours.

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Ordering was easy. They quickly and easily to took payment information and drop shipped the hardware. They setup an installation date (3rd party contractor) within a couple weeks of the order.

Initial Installation seemed to work but the speeds were terrible. Additionaly , service was knocked out by the slightest cloud cover. Calls to tech support were met with a strict script consisting of

Stay away!!! Any other isp will serve you better !
Reviewer: Lee325 New Salem,Franklin,MA 03-21-2007
Early last month, I filed a complaint with the Denver Co. BBB. Because of all the trouble I was having with my service. And now because of the changes they made, make their service unusable to me, I want out. When I first ordered Wildblue, they over charged me for the equipment and install ( 3 times 1,500.00 dollars ) causing overdrafts on my account. As part of a verbal agreement with a higher up, that resolved the problem. On the day they installed my equipment, I didn't have to sign a contract and they payed for the install. Well now 10 months later, they changed there tune and said I would have to pay two more months, in order to cancel. Yesterday I received a letter from the Denver BBB, informing me that they sent an email, plus mailed my complaint to wildblue. They had 30 days to respond, and they have not. They BBB wanted to know if I had herd from WB. I have not.( They said they would call me back, but never did) If they didn't even respond to the BBB, they could care less about responding to a customer. I know they will wait until they get that two months payment, before they respond. I'll just wait until the two months pass, an then cancel.

Better than dialup when it works right
Reviewer: GailLA Grass Valley,Nevada,CA 03-21-2007
Like many getting satellite broadband, where I live, it is the only alternative to dial-up. With their Value package, WildBlue makes broadband in rural areas more affordable, though for the bandwidth and considering the FAP caps, it is in no way inexpensive. It is better than what the other satellite guys offer for the money.

WildBlue does not let the customer install the equipment themselves because they want it done right. Sadly getting a good installer is still a matter of chance. I happened to lose at installer roulette. There are many good certified WildBlue installers out there, but I didn't get one. I'm lodging a formal complaint and will reserve final judgment until I see what WildBlue does to rectify the situation.

The actual service has been great so far. Having tested the speed each day I'm averaging 110 Kbps up, and 510 Kbps down which is very respectable for the Value package ($49.45 per month).

The equipment looks nice and so far works well, though that may not last since the dish has not yet been properly grounded. The service is as I expected on satellite. I would not recommend satellite to anyone who can get WiFi, DSL or Cable broadband, but for those of us who can't, and use the internet more than occasionally, it is wonderful. I don't miss my dial-up modem in the least.

UPDATE: The company sent someone out who completely reinstalled my system. In answer to some questions, WildBlue appears to respond to and deal with reports of installers who do not meat their standards. And yes, there are good installers. I've read the WildBlue standards on another forum and they have very high standards. If the installer follows the standards you will have a good install.

UPDATE: 12/5/06 The service has had its ups and downs but the outages were not all that many and understandable. For instance, we had a bad week with intermittent service when a server went down at the WildBlue gateway.

No!!!
Reviewer: Jacknyd 03-19-2007
Speeds are NOwhere near what they advertise

Wild Blue is terrible.
Reviewer: UNHAPPYINSC 03-19-2007
Bad upload/download speeds. Difficult customer service. Tech support agrees there are problems, but has not fixed them. I'm paying for service that is way less than what they promised in the advertising. Will cancel as soon as I can.

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