These are some alternatives courtesy of other people. I haven't used them so I can't endorse them (yet).
I'll be adding alternatives as I find them. Feel free to list some of those you know about.
Wild Blue. Another satellite ISP provider using monthly traffic limits instead of daily traffic limits (as HughesNet uses). Also has their own proprietary hardware and a 12-month contract, BUT based in the United States in Colorado.
Some areas of the US got fed up with the big-name telco players and built their own local high-speed ISPs (they provide faster and cheaper service):
-- Grant County WA
-- Tacoma WA
And did you ever wonder why the US is such a mess compared to other countries (the US ranks 15th in the world of developed nations...and is FALLING)? Wonder no more. Cringely weighs in.
This is also an interesting read: 'Shooting the Messenger' Myth vs. Reality: U.S. Broadband Policy and International Broadband Rankings.
More to come later!
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Three months ago I cancelled my account with Wildblue because it quit working.
I called their customer service line to report it and it took 37 minutes to get a person on the phone. I know it was 37 minutes because my phone has a timer and after the first 15 minutes I started watching.
The tech told me that they were having a system wide problem and they would have it fixed soon.
I waited a week and called again. It took me roughly the same amount of time to get a tech on the phone. She told me that since I did not file an official outage report with them they would not credit me for the week of lost service. She also told me they would charge me $85 to come out and check my service.
I cancelled at this point. Fortunately I cancelled my credit card that I was using on the account.
They continued to harass me with bills saying I owe them for two months service.
I kept calling their collections department at 800-869-7098 and not one time did I get a human on the phone. When telling this story to people I challenge them to call this line and try to get a real person on the line. It’s not an exaggeration; you cannot ever reach a real person.
If I had not cancelled my VISA they would have just taken the money.
Keep in mind this is after months and months of very bad service.
It is fortunate for me the company I work for had a dial up internet account for its employees use. At least I had some way to get on the internet every time Wildblue was down.
I am 42 years old, the father of 6 children and the owner of my own company. Wildblue is the absolute worse internet provider I have ever used since the early 1990’s when I first started using the internet.
Thanks. Good to know.
I had considered them, but after I read this, I reconsidered. I wrote about it here.
I'll have to do some scouting around on both HughesNet and WildBlue customer feedback and do some more posts. Recently, I've been looking at the overall problem in the US. And it ain't a pretty site.
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