I'm a new WB customer, and have had the service for one month. Prior to this, I had dial-up and I think I was one of the last holdouts. Does anyone use dial-up anymore? It took about two weeks to finally get my internet running up to speed, after the installer was out here four separate times. He sold me a Belkin router and has yet to come back and give me my money back because it doesn't work. I had to buy a Linksys router which works great. But he owes me $75. I thought he worked for and represented Wild Blue, but he works for himself. The dish is pointed well and we are receiving a perfect signal most of the time.
I called the company this past Monday, after the internet connection had been particularly slow for a couple of days, only to discover that I had been put on something they called Time Out. This is a 30-day punishment for those who go over their allotted threshold of downloads and uploads. I have the Valu Pak and wasn't aware of a threshold, even though I read page after page of their contract. It was in a separate tab at the bottom of their main page that was so small, I didn't even know it was there. It's under the Fair Trade Policy.
The highest amount of information I can download is 7,500 mbps. The most I can upload is 2,300 mbps.
The company states that they'll send customers an e-mail when they are getting close to their limit. I received nothing, and when I told one of the customer service reps this, they told me that everyone says that and they assured me they had sent it. I assured them that I had yet to receive it.
Regardless, I think the consequences for going over a limit are a bit harsh, especially when I'm a new customer who isn't very happy with them to begin with, and I hadn't been warned about the impending overage. But they have no incentive to keep their customers happy.
The Time Out gives you a connection, but it's just so slow that, during peak hours (which is when I am home), it's only good for checking mail and sometimes, we're not even able to do that. The bad thing is that this lasts for 30 days. And if you go over the threshold again within that 30 day period, it begins again. On that day.
I am still being billed for the full amount, even though my service is almost non-existent. If I want out of the contract, I have to buy out, like it's a cell phone contract. Ridiculous. I've heard two costs of buying out: one is $30 per month and the other is $50. This information came from two different people with whom I've spoken. Every time I've called, the technicians were working on some part of their computer system, or their phones were cutting off losing calls. It was something different every day.
Also, the people who work in customer service do not have a good command of the English language. They speak English, and are American, from what I can discern, but they speak very poorly. If I can't understand someone, I hang up and dial again. Otherwise, you will constantly have to ask them to repeat themselves. If you call, get the number of the person you're talking to before you do anything else. And rest assured, you'll be calling them back. This happened every single time I've called them.
Wild Blue and HughesNet are about the only game in town around here. Don't tell me to get a phone access card through Sprint or Verizon. My Verizon cell usually works in the house, but I lose a lot of calls, too. So I'm pretty sure the internet connection would be the same way.
My contract states that they will not come and remove the equipment if I cancel. I am so disatisfied with the company and it only really worked for about a week, when it was working. And now, I'm being penalized without any knowledge of having gone over a threshold, or any warning.
I asked them to let me out of the contract several times because I was a new customer and it wasn't working well, wasn't working as advertised. I shouldl have been able to upload and download a lot more than what I had been getting. One time my upload speed went to 4 (four) mbps. Ridiculous.
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