LauraG's blog

Let’s look at just one of the features that makes WildBlue stand out and exceed the performance of dial-up companies. WildBlue lets you talk on the phone while surfing the web. Without having to choose one activity or the other, you can maximize your time and productivity! With dial-up internet companies this is not possible.

Say you’re ordering something online and want to call the company while viewing your purchase on the screen. WildBlue lets you do this. Say you’re a telecommuter and you need to call work but want to simultaneously surf the web for valuable information to tell them. Again, WildBlue is the internet service that lets you do this.

People used to have to divvy up their time between the phone and computer, an awkward balancing act for sure. Since WildBlue doesn’t tie up your phone at all, you can accomplish more and keep things simple.

Do you live in rural California, rural Texas or some other area off the beaten path in the United States? If so, WildBlue is your ticket to high-speed satellite internet! One of WildBlue’s main goals, in fact, is to extend quality satellite internet service into the most out-of-the-way, rural areas! Now rural areas can rejoice that they have an option for reliable internet service which will save them so much time over dial-up!

Do you live high up on a mountain-top or a few miles down a dirt road and off the main drag? WildBlue can reach almost anywhere in the contiguous United States! It’s what sets them apart and makes them so appealing to so many rural customers. Dial-up service is simply too slow and cable companies often don’t “reach” into these areas, being unable to connect people in distant, non-urban settings.

At the beginning of 2008, WildBlue was recognized with the prestigious Industry Innovator Award for Service Development and Applications by the Society of Satellite Professionals (SSPI), partly for the difference they have made in rural areas of the country. Unlike other companies, they don’t just leave people in the dust. What makes WildBlue so accessible and far-reaching in its scope? Well, satellite internet technology such as WildBlue's does not rely solely on land-based technologies. The main requirement is only a clear view of the southern sky for the satellite dish, and this is possible for most people in most areas.

Thanks to WildBlue, rural areas have something to feel really good about. It’s worth calling Expert WildBlue at 1-866-294-4484 to find out more. Their friendly salespeople will point you in the right direction and get you hooked up with an internet service that will exceed your expectations and meet you wherever you call home.

WildBlue satellite internet doesn’t mean just reliable e-mail! There’s a lot more you can do with satellite internet, including instant messaging, downloading music, photos, videos and games. Streaming video has become a favorite, along with shopping online for products from around the world. You can also follow news, weather, sports and business information on your schedule, all just a click away.

Not only is all this possible with WildBlue, but it can all be done at lightning speeds! WildBlue is 30 times faster than dial-up. You won’t have all the annoying times being “bumped off” or delayed. Time is important, and WildBlue treats it like it is.

Each WildBlue package speed differs, but all are considered “fast” in Internet terms. This makes all the difference, for both personal and business applications. Businesses need to be able to count on high speed so that they can focus on their core mission and marketing strategy. If it’s just you surfing the internet, speed is just as valuable, allowing you to be productive and find information quickly. Web users don’t want to wait for dial-up to finally come through after long delays. They want service that works and a service that lives up to its ads. In all these respects, WildBlue is the answer.

Technically, WildBlue does not support VoIP and the company does not provide customer support for this service. Yet there’s a gray area here, as many people have tried VoIP (Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol) with WildBlue, and their results have been mixed. Some have reported a .5 second delay between people talking due to satellite latency. Packet8 has sometimes had poor results, while Net2Phone, Skype and Vonage have had mixed results. On a more promising note, GoogleTalk, Primus VoIP box and Yahoo beta have sometimes done okay. Latency has and continues to be an issue. The best thing to do if you have WildBlue is to try your VoIP and experiment a bit. Compatibility might be there, or at least there’s some hope that it might work.

Early this year, WildBlue was honored with the 2008 Industry Innovator award for Service Development and Applications by the Society of Satellite Professionals (SSPI). David Leonard, WildBlue’s CEO, received the award during a special ceremony at the Satellite 2008 convention held in Washington, DC.

WildBlue’s recognition came about because of their new cutting-edge two-way broadband Internet service to homes and businesses across the United States via Ka-band satellite. In the process, WildBlue initiated new satellite technology using frequencies over and over in narrow spot beams. This technology led to the much lowered cost of serving each subscriber and a more affordable product. The work WildBlue did also showed its commitment to providing excellent satellite service to all areas of the country, with emphasis on rural areas not covered by other companies.

The SSPI is a nonprofit, member-benefit society that serves satellite professionals. The Industry Innovators Awards, introduced in 1993, was created to award developments within the satellite industry, such as new and different designs, innovative applications, activities and more that positively affect the satellite industry.

WildBlue makes it a priority to ensure that all customers get equal access to its bandwidth. The company noticed early on that some users used a disproportionate amount of bandwidth. This took away from what was available for those who used more reasonable amounts.

WildBlue, committed to fair access, thus began setting usage thresholds on the amount of data customers could upload and download within stated time periods. This became the Fair Access Policy. WildBlue decided that exceeding the set thresholds meant that WildBlue would temporarily limit the speed at which a customer could send and receive data over the WildBlue network. The consequences depended on how many months in a row there was a crossing over of the thresholds. A first-time offense still allows a customer to be able to use the WildBlue Internet service, but at a slower speed.

Because bandwidth is not endless, WildBlue’s policy makes total sense. As a customer you won’t have to worry about getting the short end of the stick because of more greedy users. This is a big deal when you’re trying to get work done at home and/or use the Internet as a business tool.

Getting back to basics, how does WildBlue work? You might have heard the term “broadband satellite” but don’t know exactly what it means. It might help to think of high-bandwidth satellites as offering multiple channels of data over a single communications beam.

But what is the bridge between the satellite and the Internet? Well, WildBlue has 5 gateways located throughout the U.S. and Canada that connect WildBlue’s satellite access network with the Internet. Then information from the Internet travels to and from individual computers via each gateway’s microwave, Internet and other broadband equipment.

On the customer’s end, it’s essential to have a mini-dish which can be mounted on a roof, wall or via pole mount in the ground along with a modem. These ensure communication between the computer and satellite system. Imagine signals bouncing back and forth amongst all these systems and equipment. What makes WildBlue unique are the lightning fast speeds and superior satellite technology, providing the greatest synergy and effective transmission of signals.

What makes WildBlue so incredibly fast? Its speed is maximized because of its 2-way wireless connection via satellite. WildBlue's broadband service allows you to access the Internet at speeds up to 1.5 Megabits per second (or 1,500Kbps). Compared to today’s typical dial-up connections, this is 30 times faster!

Say you’re downloading a 500K photograph on HughesNet and your friend is downloading the same using dial-up service. WildBlue will do this in 4 seconds, whereas dial-up will take 1 minute 13 seconds. Downloading a web page that takes less than 3 seconds with WildBlue takes 21 seconds on a dial-up service! What about downloading a 1.5 MB music file? WildBlue does it in 8 seconds instead of dial-up’s 3 minutes 44 seconds. Consider one more form of media. A 3 MB video file takes 16 seconds when using WildBlue, instead of seven minutes 29 seconds.

Downloading photos and videos is now almost as common as surfing the internet. Time is of the essence and WildBlue is the best way to prevent frustrating delays and download quickly.

No matter how much bandwidth a company has, there has to be monitoring to provide equal access to it. WildBlue has monitoring systems which look at the amount of data that goes through the modem without looking at the content itself. Common causes of high bandwidth usage are many and WildBlue’s Fair Access Policy ensures that all users receive fair access to bandwidth. Basically, it looks out for certain patterns.

When a user sends large file attachments via email, large amounts of bandwidth are used, as is true when a user uses a web cam again and again or downloads movies and large quantities of music files or software. Other bandwidth bandits include playing online games, or other streaming content, including video and audio. In addition, there’s an entire category of Peer-to-Peer file-sharing programs (such as Kazaa, BitTorrent and eDonkey) that allow others to download music, movies, or other media from your computer, even when you’re completely unaware.

What about other red flag situations? If a user joins a network, disables the uploading features of the network or uses an unsecured computer, a bandwidth alert will go off. Examples include using a missing or out-of-date anti-virus or spyware program, an unsecured wireless network that connects to unknown computers or operating a file, mail or web cam server. All of these are not allowed by the Acceptable Use Policy. It might seem like a long list of internet actions under the lens, but in the end bandwidth monitoring means that all users can participate in the WildBlue network and share bandwidth fairly.

Usually when people think about WildBlue, they think of its high speed and reliable satellite technology. But another key feature is that it can be customized and personalized. The WildBlue Portal allows you to stay current with a WildBlue.net home page. You can set it up to provide you with everything from news, weather and sports to entertainment. In fact, you can customize a multitude of features, all wrapped up in a single web page powered by Google.

What could be better than having access to more than 2,000 Google Gadgets that you can add to your customized home page? WildBlue is about web surfing but It’s also about tailoring your web environment to meet your own unique needs. The web is flooded with sites and features. By customizing your WildBlue home page your favorites will be there for you to see all the time.