Downrange
join:2008-04-28
Catawba, VA
| reply to Downrange
Re: What's going on with Spaceway 3?
MichaelRS, excellent post, thanks. Couple of things you raised - yes, Wildblue is Ka band and is also getting overcrowded. I run both, though and WB is NOT suffering nearly as much during primetime. It has other problems - some things HN does better, but in general WB is at least as good (Laredo beam here). You nailed HN situation - they have sold more service than they can provide; Spaceway is their shining hope to keep their business model going, so they're being very jealous about giving it out. I've talked with many people at many levels at HN, and a few have confided that they are not at liberty to discuss Spaceway and the 9000 AT ALL! It's clear to me they are using it as a carrot to attract interest, then switching many to the old KU systems (and full birds!). After eight years with them, I frankly would expect more loyalty than that, but it's not there. I threatened to leave, they said, "Fine."
HN is a terrible company. I'm keeping WildBlue, even though they have flaws too. I just found out today that Verizon EVDO is finally available way out here, so I will try it and see if it can replace HN. After this latest email fiasco, and the nightly "dial-up" speeds, I've about had it with Hughes. |
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MichaelRS
join:2006-06-10
Half Moon Bay, CA
| I have had WB before and we killed it after 6 months going back to HN. I was on GroundControl before with a 4020.
Funny notes: Neither GroundControl nor MotoSat will now want to do HN/DirecWay. They hate HN.
I do not doubt you CAN get better stuff at WB, however, in populous areas such as Silicon Valley, where a lot of people do NOT have DSL or Cable, but are very tech demanding, they filled their 21 spot in no time and that cratered their business in CA. they have one spot covering the Bay Area/Nor Cal and SoCal... Somebody ought to have overlaid population density, acces to broadband and demand with their spot pattern.
Same business problem at WB: Loaded with debt, leased lines, too many customers on too few bandwidth: Crater.
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HN7000S - Satmex 6 - 1210 - 0.98m / 2W dish - HughesNet ProPlus |
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Downrange
join:2008-04-28
Catawba, VA
| MichaelRS: Agree, and I'm not praising WB, just saying the evening slowdown is less. The sad thing is that if HN were willing to handle things a bit more rationally (at least to me) I'd be happy to step up and order a whole new plan, with new commitments, and step up service level, to get the Ka bird. You'd think they'd want to keep a customer that's been there as long as I have, but they just seem to want to shed users. I may short their stock, actually, now that I think about it.
Heading to the Verizon Wireless store to pick up EVDO and give it a try. I had no idea it was available way out here in the sticks, but the map says it is. Will report back if it works out. |
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dbirdman
Premium,MVM
join:2003-07-07
Eureka, CA
| reply to MichaelRS
said by MichaelRS  :Funny notes: Neither GroundControl nor MotoSat will now want to do HN/DirecWay. I haven't dealt with GC since my 4020 days, so I can't answer for them, but I can refute the latter. Activating HN accounts with Motosat is routine. So routine you can do it online using their account wizard.
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W2K Server|Toshiba Satellite XP Pro|iDirect 3100 on Datastorm 1.2 meter XF3 with 4-watt BUC|HughesNet IA8/1390/7000s Pro on 2-watt Datastorm G74|Sprint Broadband U595+MBR1000 router+Wilson Antenna/Amp|1990 Blue Bird Wanderlodge Bus "Blue Thunder" |
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Downrange
join:2008-04-28
Catawba, VA
| Just picked up Verizon Wireless and ran side by side downloads
Verizon: 765 kb
Hughesnet: 145 kb
And that's actually a decent 8PM score for HN these days...
Guess I'll be giving them a call tomorrow to cancel...
Thanks to whoever posted in another thread here that folks should check to see if EVDO was available - very surprised to find it way out here. Three bars!!
What a difference having low latency makes, too! |
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dbirdman
Premium,MVM
join:2003-07-07
Eureka, CA | Did you check for Sprint? Remember, FAP on Verizon works out to just 166MB per day, and there is no FAP-Free time. Going over and seeing $100/GB can be a real pain! |
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Downrange
join:2008-04-28
Catawba, VA
edit:
April 30th, @08:30PM
| Thanks for the thought, but no Sprint out here yet. I rarely exceed 150 mb/day, at least according to Hughes accounting.
I still have my Wild Blue account, and it's good for another large chunk...
I do need to look into monitoring usage - there's web platform Verizon has you can join easily enough, I understand.
Wow, all these years - I had no idea what a robber latency is. Let alone the robber at Hughes...
Edit: Heh, just got 1015 down and 840 up - 8:30 PM, heh heh. |
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