Many people are now well aware of the merger that took place between Wild Blue and ViaSat. This merger was important for several reasons, however the two primary reasons are to receive a greater amount of government funding and to allow Wild Blue to better utilize ViaSat’s next generation Satellite Technology. It is no secret that President Obama plans to make available over $7 billion in funding to make broadband internet a readily accessible resource to all Americans. Much of this funding is going to be made available as competitive grants to current internet technology companies to expand their networks. The merging of Wild Blue and ViaSat sets the company up as a much more likely competitor for this funding. The company has already received approximately $30 million dollars of this funding and has applied it to customer subscription subsidies. The next major endeavor is the launch of Wild Blue’s 3rd Satellite, officially known as ViaSat-1. Via-Sat-1 is a major advancement in satellite technology. In previous times that a new satellite has launched, a rush in subscriptions quickly followed. Within a very short amount of time the capacity was sold out in certain geographical areas. Even at this, current satellite technologies are not designed to handle many of the common demands of internet users such as VoIP and On-line gaming. The current Wild Blue system tops out at 1.5 mbps. ViaSat-1 will contain more capacity than all current North American satellites combined making the service available to more than a million additional customers. This new satellite will have 10 times the throughput of any other Ka-band satellite with only a fraction of the in-orbit costs of the current newest satellites. Best of all this satellite will increase download speeds from 512 kbps-1.5mbps to 2mbps-10mbps without increasing costs. These speeds are faster than what many DSL providers offer. ViaSat-1 is currently in production and should be launched sometime in 2011.
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Tags: WildBlue Internet Speed
I really hope this removes the bandwidth limits as well
I just talked to Wildblue sales, they said they think the bandwidth limit will be raised or possible unlimited except during peek times of the day. I have the 17Gig. plan and thats not much over a 30 day period.
Pray that it is true. If they could just launch the darn satellite.
I agree with Zach; I hope this removes the bandwidth limits as well. It doesn’t make sense to have greater speeds but be limited in what you can download. Thanks.
sign me up, i need phone service badly. Sat. is only way we have communications.
Hi Jerry, just give us a call and I’m sure we can help you out. There are some amazing deals going right now on satellite internet.
I do hope that the data caps are raised dramatically or eliminated altogether. With the increased trend toward cloud apps and streaming of audio and video it doesn’t take long to reach the limit even with the pro pack. I’m not sure about whether on-line gaming will be a possibility with the inherent latency that goes with satellite internet.
I too have spoke to folks inside Wild Blue. I have been a customer since 2004 and, because of major technical problems, I developed some good relationships with high level tech folks. What I have discerned is that they will have a variety of plans to suit various needs. They are going to use a cell phone pricing model. Everyone enjoys the same cell speed (voice) and you are charged for data usage. As for unlimited data plans, I highly doubt you’ll ever see that. The same principle applies as the current system. Cant have bandwith hogs. From what I have been told the plans will be based of monthly data needs. For example (these numbers mean nothing), the bottom tier would be 20Mb/mo, the middle 40 and the top, 60. Once again, these numbers were never mentioned but the philosophy was. I have read elsewhere that the data caps are much lower with the top plan allowing 25Mb for $129.99/mo. I hope that is false. Another concept I heard from someone inside was to offer a hybrid package. Not everyone needs 10 or 12Mbps speed. Heck, right now, most people are happy with 5 or 6Mb. So a lower speed, like 5Mb plan with a modest data usage, say 20Mb, may be offered as a mid-tier plan, cost wise.
All I know is I am frustrated with the slowness of getting this to market. I was told that after testing was done in late December, a nationwide rollout would begin. Now I am reading here that we are looking at May??? The dates I heared were AFTER the launch delay. Regardless, I am so stocked. Having no other option but $80/Mo and you can’t even use Netflix or the digital apps that come with DirecTV. I just wish we could get a lock on the timeline so I can start networking all my internet capable gear. Blueray players, Xbox 360, 3 DirecTV HD boxes. Gonna need a stout router and a few switches as I want the majority of it wired. Come on Wild Blue!!!! Give us some news. The lack of news is leading to people like us, scouring the web for info and seeing stuff that is all over the place.