They aren't really Ladybugs but since that is what everyone calls them, that is how I titled this post. Ladybugs are helpful and useful insects that you don't want to kill. I am not sure if Asian Lady Beetles are helpful or useful, they probably are but they are also total pests when they come by the millions trying to gain entry into your home.
Yesterday on October 28th they swarmed our neighborhood in numbers greater than we had ever experienced before. They crawl into every nook and cranny of your home, get in your hair and hitch a ride on your clothes. It was a plague of Biblical proportions. Plus they stink when you smash or excite them and they bite. I got a few bites yesterday.
So here is my plan of action: I am going to buy and use this spray which has excellent reviews and is a best seller at Amazon.com
Suspend Sc Insecticide
Flea, Tick, Roach, Ant, Spider, Wasp, Gnat, Fly
Professional Pest Control Product Price: $38.50 Free Shipping
The Same Products Pest Control Companies Use
Active Ingredient: Deltamethrin -75%
One pint Suspend SC makes up to 64 gallons of solution
Indoors and outdoors, including food handling areas
"Let me state emphatically that if you have any other internet options take them! Do not get Satellite!!"
Conclusion: If you are an elderly couple living on a farm in rural America that has been forsaken by your Country and companies that are only interested in highly populated areas, then Exede Satellite is figuratively and literally Heaven sent! - See more at: http://spinnersfarm.blogspot.com/2013/05/exede-internet-satellite-review.html#sthash.cHfN3UTv.dpuf
Conclusion: If you are an elderly couple living on a farm in rural America that has been forsaken by your Country and companies that are only interested in highly populated areas, then Exede Satellite is figuratively and literally Heaven sent! - See more at http://spinnersfarm.blogspot.com/2013/05/exede-internet-satellite-review.html#sthash.cHfN3UTv.dpufV
Conclusion: If you are an elderly couple living on a farm in rural America that has been forsaken by your Country and companies that are only interested in highly populated areas, then Exede Satellite is figuratively and literally Heaven sent!
*Update 9/6/16: Even if you are an elderly couple living on a farm in rural America that has been forsaken by your Country and companies that are only interested in highly populated areas, do not get Exede Satellite! Life is too short to deal with this much aggravation and turmoil! It just does not work and the longer we have it the worse it is getting. It takes about 15 minutes to download a 214 MB file. The internet has totally outgrown a 10 - 20 GB data cap. I try so hard to stay under 10 GB but it cannot be done with Windows 10 updates, app refreshes, and two people using it. Our whole life is dictated by being careful not to use any data. I have to keep my iPad in airplane mode all of the time, so what is the point of even having it. The Late Night Free Zone is a sick joke. You never know if it is working and can end up using all of your data sending pictures to your cloud storage in one night.
*Update 4/5/18: Loving my new Viasat (Formally Exede) Silver 25 Unlimited Internet Plan, but don't bother looking for it because it is no longer available. It is still painfully slow but at least we have 150 GB of data. (I guess I will never understand what unlimited means. No, they don't shut you off at 150 GB but your thin stream becomes a dribble, but most of the time it is just a drip.)
*Update 9/19: My last update! Around the first of August, we started losing our connection for hours at a time. It would reconnect for 10 minutes or so then nothing for a couple of hours. This was horrible for us because we had no phones without an internet connection. I reached out to Viasat 3 or 4 times but could get nothing done because I couldn't CALL THEM! I tried emailing them and was told to call, I tried Chatting with them and was told to call. This all happened during a very busy and stressful time for us and I just couldn't devote the time or energy to getting anything done. We had paid our $110 for August and used very little data because the connection was always down. When the time came to renew for September, we paid again hoping that I would get the time to get it fixed at some point. I didn't want to lose my plan because it was no longer offered. In the meantime, I got another letter from AT&T saying that Fixed Wireless was now available in our area for $50 per month. So, I signed up because they offered a 15-day free trial. Our neighbor had gotten it and loved it but it took a long time for them to show up to install it. So I was expecting a long wait and wasn't sure it would even work at our house because we can't see a tower and don't have a strong cell signal anyway. Surprisingly, they showed up right away to install it and said that it would work for us! After a 4 hour installation, I had fast internet! After my 15 day trial, I got my first bill and it was for the $99 installation fee and the flat $50. My second bill was just $50 too! No hidden fees?? I am still holding my breath though, it seems too good to be true. Amazingly, so many things that never worked right before, started working. My Echo Dots work with my smart plugs now. My security camera works seamlessly and our VOIP phones are perfect with no lag! The Grandkids can even play their online games together with 14 devices online! Pinch me! Did I mention that we went from 150 GB of data per month to 215 GB, that it is $60 cheaper and that we never lose service? Also, if you go over your data limit, they warn you and you can purchase 50 more GB for just $10. It was a very happy day when I called Viasat to cancel my service. It was the first Customer Service call that I had ever had with them that went smoothly and quickly, I could even understand the man I talked to. We joyously removed the TRIA from the Satellite dish. We packed it up along with the Modem and cords and merrily sent them back to Viasat. It was an amazing feeling to haul that $10 per month rented junk to the UPS Store, I still get goosebumps when I think about it!
I just read an article about record Alligators being killed in Mississippi. The comments following the article made me want to scream. So many people are either just plain stupid or they are complete hypocrites. They whine and cry about big, bad hunters who enjoy killing for the sport of killing. "Why do these animals have to be killed?" "Why don't we just leave these animals alone?" "Why don't we kill fat people and eat them instead?"
I have a hard time understanding why humans hate humans so much. There seems to be an element of people who hate their own species but love all other species. I hope these people aren't prejudice and love only certain species more than their own. I mean, if you love Alligators then you also have to love snakes, lizards, scorpions, mice, rats, wasps and flies, right?
Maybe it's just hunting that they hate or hunters. These alligator hunters don't just kill gators for sport, it's how they feed their families, it's how they earn a living. I am a hunter myself although I have never killed with a gun. I am a trapper type of hunter. I set traps in just the right locations to have the best chance of catching my prey. I do not skin or eat my catch, so I guess you could call me more of a sport hunter. I do not, however, waist my prey. I donate my catches to feed the hungry. Both of my cats enjoy my hunting hobby. It is worth all my efforts of scouting, baiting and checking my traps, when I see how much my cats love to eat those mice.
I am also a vicious hunter and killer when it comes to flies, mosquitoes, fleas, ants, roaches, wasps, wood bees, bumble bees, hornets and spiders. I use many different methods to eliminate these prey, I smash, squash, swat, poison and burn alive.
It is not that I would be opposed to killing with a gun if I had to, the sad truth is that I tried several times to shoot a fox who was quickly ridding me of all of my chickens but never could hit him. If times and resources required it, I could hunt for my food without any guilt. I could shoot an animal that was causing me continued problems, like the fox did. I could also shoot a pet, livestock or wildlife animal if I thought it was suffering and there was no one else to do it.
The truth is that the same people who whine about hunting are the same people who would be whining about all the deer in their gardens and in the roads. They would want some kind of protection for their kids from the over-population of alligators in their neighborhoods. They wouldn't like it if 15 bears were in their backyard going through their trash cans.
Let's just talk about life and the circle of life. I could use scripture here and talk about God, creation, stewardship, husbandry and dominion. But that would offend the non-believers, so we will talk about nature, conservation and common sense.
The DNR monitors and sets up rules and regulations about hunting. They know that without hunting seasons, animal populations will explode and natural resources will be depleted and everything will suffer. They keep an eye on all areas and animal numbers and adjust hunting seasons and limits accordingly.
Why, you might ask, do humans think that they know more than nature about how to handle these things? Why don't we just let nature balance its own self. The answer is so simple that I am surprised that you didn't think of it yourself. We humans are a part of nature!!! Amazingly, we are part of the food chain, we have canine teeth and are omnivores. It is up to us to play a role in the circle of life.
Actually, if you think about loving the environment and being all natural, that would include eating meat with your canine teeth. Whether you like it or not, man is the dominate species. Nature (or God), whichever you prefer, designed us this way. We have the abilities that we need to manage the earth's resources and that includes managing animal populations.
One more thing that always disturbs me is when some supposed expert out there says, "Humans are the only animal that kills for sport or for the fun of it.". That is not true. Neighborhood dogs are the best sport killers of all time. They will kill a whole herd of goats or flock of chickens and not take one with them when they go. My cat tortures and kills for the fun of it too, not for food, out of fear or because he is teaching his young. Horses will even kill small animals like cats, kittens, rabbits and even chickens, not by accident, not for fear, not for food and not to teach their young. Just because they are feeling frisky and want to stomp something.
One commenter said that he hated humans and wished they would all become extinct. That's a pretty intelligent way of thinking. I was surprised at the number of people who called for the killing of the hunters who killed the alligators. That in itself seems a little hypocritical since they despise killing living creatures. They must hate this earth and nature in general since they would like to see the balance of all things upset. Humans are a natural being, we are what we are.
As to the comments about hunting making these rednecks feel like real "men", one of the alligator hunters who broke a record and got a trophy gator that same day was a woman. Someone also mentioned that he hoped that the people complaining about the kills didn't eat hamburger, to which someone actually replied that it was different eating beef because those animals are raised for food. I wonder how all those beef calves feel about this distinction? Probably about the same way all of those young deer, fish, racoons, birds, turtles, cats and dogs feel when they get eaten by an alligator
Progressives = Socialists = Communists, whatever they call themselves they have the same goal to take over America from the inside by setting one group against the other to cause chaos, so the Government can step in and solve all our problems.
Don't be a pawn in their games! Stand your ground for what you believe but don't be a "Useful Idiot" who will be eliminated after you have furthered their agenda and become a threat to that agenda.
The reason I am posting this is because I have an elderly German neighbor who preaches this to me and tells me that a lot of people saw what was coming in Germany but they were afraid to speak up and educate others. I don't want to be afraid to share what I can see so clearly.
The following was taken from a post I saw on Facebook. From the research I did it appears to be legitimate and a true story.
Kitty Werthmann's Story:
December 22, 2012 - “What I am about to tell you is something you’ve
probably never heard or read in history books,” she likes to tell
audiences. “I am a witness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler
took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history”.
If you remember the plot of the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp family escaped over the Alps rather than submit to
the Nazis. Kitty Werthmann wasn’t so lucky. Her family chose to stay in
her native Austria. She was 10 years old, but bright and aware. And she
was watching.
“We elected him by a landslide – 98 percent of the vote,” she recalls.
She wasn’t old enough to vote in 1938 – approaching her 11th birthday. But she remembers.
“Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.” Not so.
Hitler Was Welcomed To Austria
“In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our
workforce was unemployed. We had 25 percent inflation and 25 percent
bank loan interest rates. Farmers and business people were declaring
bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging
for food. Not that they didn’t want to work; there simply weren’t any
jobs."
“My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping
people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked
bread to feed those poor, hungry people - about 30 daily."
“We
looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in
power since 1933.” she recalls. “We had been told that they didn’t have
unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living."
Prosperity and Change
“Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group Jewish or
otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone in Germany was happy. We
wanted the same way of life in Austria. We were promised that a vote
for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family.
Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would
get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to
annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler."
“We
were overjoyed,” remembers Kitty, “and for three days we danced in the
streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big
field kitchens and everyone was fed”.
Austrians Saluting
“After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a
miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later,
everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was
created through the Public Work Service. Hitler decided we should have
equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married
Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband
would be looked down on if he couldn’t support his family. Many women in
the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs
they previously had been required to give up for marriage.”
“Then we lost religious education for kids.”
Education & Political Indoctrination for “Hitler Youth”
“Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school..
The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our
schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my
schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging
next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told
the class we wouldn’t pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang
‘Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles,’ and had physical education."
"Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents
were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told
that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of
warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the
equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail.
And then things got worse. The first two hours consisted of political
indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along,
we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free.
We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time
we had."
“My mother was very unhappy,” remembers Kitty. “When
the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a
convent. I told her she couldn’t do that and she told me that someday
when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum,
but hardly any fun, no sports, and no political indoctrination.”
“I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a
while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and
ask what was going on and what they were doing."
“Their loose
lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that
time, unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It
seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went
along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn’t
exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy."
The Government's Children
“When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government
immediately established child care centers. You could take your children
ages four weeks old to school age and leave them there
around-the-clock, seven days a week, under the total care of the
government. The state raised a whole generation of children. There were
no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly
trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal
rights. We knew we had been had."
Healthcare
“Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors
trained at the University of Vienna. After Hitler, health care was
socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government.
The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors
for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 am, 40
people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were
full."
“If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year
or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured
into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally
stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other
countries.”
“As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80
percent of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from
the government to establish a household. We had big programs for
families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken
over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was
entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing."
Small Business
“We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law
owned a restaurant that had square tables. “Government officials told
him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump
themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional
bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack
bar. He couldn’t meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business.
The government owned the large businesses and not many small ones could
exist, they were controlled."
“We had consumer protection, too.
We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was
essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for
farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, and
then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it."
Purging Begins
“In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps. The
villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were
closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people
intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I
was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all
useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well.
He was a janitor of the school.”
“One day I looked out the
window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my
superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the
State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write.
The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that
they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere
with the program and might cause homesickness.”
“As time
passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a
natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected
what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and
all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia."
Next came Gun Registration, then Confiscation
“People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to
catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on
guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police
station to register their firearms. Not long afterwards, the police
said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The
authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply
voluntarily.”
No More Freedom of Speech
“Anyone
who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many
people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers
who spoke up.”
Creeping Gradualism
“Totalitarianism didn’t come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until
1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria. Had it happened
overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead,
we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles.
The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by
little eroded our freedom.”
“This is my eye-witness account.
It’s true. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a
country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.”
“America is truly is the greatest country in the world. Don’t let freedom slip away or taken from us!!”
Like so many other people who are making their own cleaning supplies, I thought I would try it out myself. So, I found the preferred recipe for Laundry Detergent and went to work. The one thing that I ran across repeatedly was that no one liked grating the soap. So here is an alternative idea.
Recipe:
1 Box Borax (4lb 12oz)
1 Box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (3lb 7oz)
1 Container OxiClean (3lbs)
2 Boxes Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (2lbs each)
3 Bars Fels Naptha Soap
Mix all ingredients together except the Fels-Naptha. You can either add the bars to the mixture by grating or microwave the bars using the directions below. If you are sensitive to strong smells, you had better just use the grating method.
Place Fels-Naptha Bar in microwave safe bowl like Corningware. Microwave on high for around 3 minutes (microwaves vary, so this is an estimated time). It will swell into a monstrous glob. When finished, carefully remove from microwave and set aside for a couple of hours to cool. After it is thoroughly cooled it easily crumbles and flakes apart in your hands. If it didn't cook quite long enough there will still be some hard chunks in the middle, you can just pop them back into the microwave for a few seconds until they plump up, then cool again and crumble.
You may end up with some unusual shapes like my Alien friend below:
* I cannot stress the cooling part enough because I did burn my fingers by being impatient. It cools very quickly on the outside but will maintain hot pockets of goo inside for a long time.
*
The scent will not be unpleasant but will be very strong and quite
overwhelming, your microwave may retain the smell for quite awhile.
This is definitely the best and easiest method for me but please do not try it if you or a family member cannot tolerate strong odors. Your whole house will smell like Fels-Naptha!!
Our new doeling, "Tillie" is naturally polled. She comes from a horned Registered Saanen Buck and a naturally polled mixed breed Doe (Boer, Nubian, Saanen). Her twin brother was horned and has been disbudded.
The dominant trait is for goats to be polled which is indicated here by the capital P for polled. Horns are the result of two recessive genes which are indicated here by the lower case p for horned. You would not be able to tell the difference in a polled animal that carries two dominant genes from one that carries one recessive gene for horned. This explains how it is possible to breed two polled animals and have some offspring have horns. This would indicate that both parents carry a recessive gene for horns.
PP: This animal is polled, and does not carry the gene for horns. Pp: This animal would be polled, and carry a recessive gene for horns. pp: This animal has horns. An animal must carry two genes for horns to have horns.
Here are the various breeding scenarios with the resulting offspring:
Horned (pp) X Horned (pp) = 100% horned (pp) offspring. Polled (Pp) X Horned (pp) = 50% polled (Pp), 50% horned (pp) offspring. Polled (Pp) X Polled (Pp) = 25% polled (PP), 50% polled (Pp), 25% horned (pp) offspring Homozygous polled (PP) X Horned (pp) = All polled (Pp) offspring. Homozygous polled (PP) X Homozygous Polled (PP) = All homozygous polled (PP) offspring.
Born on Friday, June 14, 2013 at 6:30 and 6:40. The first born is a Doeling and she is naturally polled (no horns) like her Mother. The second born is a Buckling and we aren't sure yet about whether he will have horns or not. I really hope he doesn't because I hate disbudding, but we will have to wait and see.
Here are some pictures that I took of Hazel kidding, so if you are squeamish about this sort of thing turn back now or just close your eyes.
Hazel needed a little help with the clean up process and Angel needed to make sure everything was alright and that anything that might draw in predators was cleaned up. She also needed some bonding time with her new charges.
This spring brought a huge swarm of Carpenter / Wood Bees, Wasps, and Bumble Bees into our barn. I started spending a great deal of time with a tennis racket swatting at and missing the invaders. I thought there had to be a better way, so, to Google I went.
I found swatting, wood puttying and chemicals to be the remedies of choice. On one forum, somewhere, I read that Wood Bees don't like noise. Since I didn't want to stand out in the barn and yell all day every day, I plugged a radio in, turned on Rush Limbaugh and cranked his volume up.
The results were immediate, not only do Wood Bees dislike Rush Limbaugh but Wasps and Bumblebees don't like him either. They also don't like Sean Hannity, music, sports or advertising. They don't even like Liberals but since I have to listen to this also, I haven't tested the Liberal theory very extensively.
I haven't seen many flies either but have seen a few, so the jury is still out on fly prevention.
The downside of this for me is having to have the radio on all day. I prefer peace and quiet but certainly, don't like the damage that Wood Bees do.
"French parents, Druckerman observes, love their children just as much as American parents. They give them piano lessons, take them to sports practice, and encourage them to make the most of their talents. But French parents have a different philosophy of discipline. Consistently enforced limits, in the French view, make children feel safe and secure. Clear limits, they believe, actually make a child feel happier and safer—something that is congruent with my own experience as both a therapist and a parent. Finally, French parents believe that hearing the word "no" rescues children from the "tyranny of their own desires." And spanking, when used judiciously, is not considered child abuse in France.
As a therapist who works with children, it makes perfect sense to me that French children don't need medications to control their behavior because they learn self-control early in their lives. The children grow up in families in which the rules are well-understood, and a clear family hierarchy is firmly in place. In French families, as Druckerman describes them, parents are firmly in charge of their kids—instead of the American family style, in which the situation is all too often vice versa."
If you follow my Blog you know that we live in a rural area with no high-speed internet options. You have heard me whine about it from time to time. Before I go on let me state emphatically that if you have any other internet options take them! Do not get Satellite!! Since nothing else is available to us, we finally held our noses and had a Wildblue / Exede 12 Satellite Dish installed. The installer was great and I have no complaints with him. The speed is great and the service is mostly reliable. The problem lies in the way they meter your usage.
They can't seem to get their meter to work properly, sometimes it just eats up all of your data, even when you have your computer shut down and are not using a wifi router. This happened to us during our first month and I had to call Customer Service. They did restore a few gigabytes to our account but that was not sufficient and we ended up being slowed down to where we were back to dial-up speeds.
Then the next month when our account was to reset with a new 10 GB, it renewed fine but somehow it didn't reset us back to normal speed, here we were stuck on dial-up speeds at Satellite prices. So, again I called Customer Service!! They got us back to normal speed and said they would credit us 5 GB. Well, of course, that never happened.
This past month everything was just rosy. Our account re-set on the 24th of April and after a few weeks I posted on their Facebook page and Tweeted about how happy I was with their service. Big mistake! We average using less than 200 MB per day, so on Saturday the 18th we had a little over 7 GB left to last us the rest of our cycle, which meant that we could relax a little and watch a few news stories and youtube videos for the remaining days before we reset to 10 GB on May 24th.
However, on the 18th I stayed up late to use their LNFZ (Late Night Free Zone). That is where you can use all the data you want for free from midnight to 5:00 a.m. I downloaded updates and watched a few things during this free time from 1:00 am to 4:00 am. The next morning we got an email from Exede warning us that we were getting dangerously close to using all our data for the cycle. I went to check our usage meter and it had counted the 4 GB that I had used during the Free Zone.
I explained what had happened on the Wildblue / Exede Discussion Forum and was not surprised to find that others had experienced the same problem. We were told by one of the Customer Service Reps. to send them our names and phone numbers and they would call us. It is now May 22nd and we have still not received a call or any other attempt to reimburse the data that was stolen from us.
I am sure that they think all will be forgiven when our account is reset and we begin a new cycle but my trust in this company is gone. They are not trustworthy and they have terrible customer service. Their representatives are never on the same page, they make promises that they don't keep and their meters are horribly unreliable.
Once you sign that contract you are stuck and they know it. I would not recommend this company and feel bad for the people who we have already referred. My only recourse and satisfaction is to warn others before they make the same mistake that we have made. If, in the future, they should win back my trust. I will revise this post.
** 9/4/2013 UPDATE: I must say that the past 3 months have been smooth sailing and I am loving EXEDE! It is super fast and has been totally trouble free. The only time we have lost connection has been during really bad storms. I can't comment on whether Customer Service has improved because I have not needed them.
With that said, they currently have been making more changes and as of today, I can no longer access my Usage Page. While using the Late Night Free Zone last night, I lost my connection and my modem lights started flashing in strange sequences. They were probably updating the modem software. I don't like change because it is normally painful. If I experience any problems during these updates and changes I will post here.
*** 9/13/2013 Update: All is well! I found that they changed the link I was using to get into my account. Exede is working fine for us at this time.
10 Gigs per month, however, is very restricting if you want to do anything but surf, Facebook and do email. Don't even think about trying to use Exede for more than a couple of people. Not family friendly at all!
No music, no video, no gaming, no software downloads, no computer updates or online backups, unless you are a night owl and want to use the Late Night Free Zone from approx. 12:00 am to 5:00 am. Even then, the Exede usage meter gives you no indicator about when this free zone actually starts and ends. It is supposed to be according to your local time but it is unreliable.
"Let me state emphatically that if you have any other internet options take them! Do not get Satellite!!"
Conclusion: If you are an elderly couple living on a farm in rural America that has been forsaken by your Country and companies that are only interested in highly populated areas, then Exede Satellite is figuratively and literally Heaven sent! - See more at: http://spinnersfarm.blogspot.com/2013/05/exede-internet-satellite-review.html#sthash.cHfN3UTv.dpuf
Conclusion: If you are an elderly couple living on a farm in rural America that has been forsaken by your Country and companies that are only interested in highly populated areas, then Exede Satellite is figuratively and literally Heaven sent! - See more at: http://spinnersfarm.blogspot.com/2013/05/exede-internet-satellite-review.html#sthash.cHfN3UTv.dpufV
Conclusion:If you are an elderly couple living on a farm in rural America that has been forsaken by your Country and companies that are only interested in highly populated areas, then Exede Satellite is figuratively and literally Heaven sent!
*Update 9/6/16: Even if you are an elderly couple living on a farm in rural America that has been forsaken by your Country and companies that are only interested in highly populated areas, do not get Exede Satellite! Life is too short to deal with this much aggravation and turmoil! It just does not work and the longer we have it the worse it is getting. It takes about 15 minutes to download a 214 MB file. The internet has totally outgrown a 10 - 20 GB data cap. I try so hard to stay under 10 GB but it cannot be done with Windows 10 updates, app refreshes, and two people using it. Our whole life is dictated by being careful not to use any data. I have to keep my iPad on airplane mode all of the time, so what is the point of even having it. The Late Night Free Zone is a sick joke. You never know if it is working and can end up using all of your data sending pictures to your cloud storage in one night.
*Update 4/5/18: Loving my new Viasat (Formally Exede) Silver 25 Unlimited Internet Plan, but don't bother looking for it because it is no longer available.
