Exede Voice Review

I signed up for Exede Voice after hearing how much money it will save me and how well it works in all of their ads. Now the test begins. I can't say much for the sign up process. It took too long, they had to call me back because they didn't get all of the information that they needed in the first two calls. I hate calling these places because they never get your info correct. I would much rather fill out online forms.

If you are going to port an existing number, make sure that you have your account number for that carrier. The number that I wanted to port was with AT&T, so I had to give Exede my AT&T account number and the last four digits of my SS number.

The name on my new account conformation email was not right. In order to correct any errors you must call Customer Service again to get it changed. Did I already say that I hate calling Customer Service?

When I called this time, I got someone who wasn't awake yet or at least hadn't had her coffee. She talked so softly that I had to ask her to repeat herself and she seemed to resent that. After telling her why I was calling and explaining my problem, I was told that their system wasn't running yet and that I would have to call back in 45 minutes.

*Update: Just called Customer Service for the 4th time! A man with a very thick foreign accent told me (I think?) that their system is down for upgrades and to call back later. I wonder when later might be?

*Update: After waiting a couple of days I summoned my courage and called Customer Service back. I was told that the misspelled name didn't matter! Even though the email and the paper letter that I received said to call them if any of my personal information for Caller ID and 911 services was not correct.

While on the phone with them, I was told that my number had already ported, so I could activate my service. I told her that my land line phone was still ringing in at that number and she said that it might do that until I did the activation.

So, I hooked up my equipment, got online to activate my service and wouldn't you know, it only worked until I got to the MAC address entry then it said, "Invalid Device".

I just cannot bear to call those people again. I am so very, very tired...

Dear Exede Internet,
You are suppose to be an Internet company, why can't we take care of our Internet services on the Internet?

*Update 3/26/14: Since I could not bear the thought of calling CS again, I posted my problem on the Wildblue/Exede World Forum. A helpful moderator offered her assistance. I explained my entire problem in a PM. I told her that I wanted to make sure the number was already ported because I didn't believe that it was. I also explained that the caller ID and 911 name was misspelled.

Instead of changing the name and coming back to tell me that the number was not yet ported, she activated my account. When I asked about the name she told me that she would change that information when the number ported. I am seriously dizzy from dealing with these people. I could have waited patiently for the number to port, if I had not been told that the port had already been completed.

As I wait for my land-line to stop working, indicating that the number has transferred so I can finish this process. I eagerly await my next anxiety filled communication with Exede's finest. I think the thing that grates on me the most is the fact that they all tell you how sorry they are that you are having difficulty. Then offer to help you in any way they can, while they are no help at all. Followed by asking you if there is anything else they can help you with.

Oh, did I mention that your billing for Exede Voice begins when you call to order it and not when you receive the equipment and/or get them motivated to straighten out your account? And did I mention that it is supposed to be $19.99 per month for the first 6 months and then $29.99 after that? I bet you can't guess what they charged me for the first month? That's right, $29.99! Now, can you guess what I have to do to get this straightened out? My Husband is rather strongly suggesting that I cancel it all and go with HughesNet!

*Update 3/27/14: It has been 8 days since I ordered. I am waiting for the number to port, I guess. Can't use the service until the number ports but I am already paying. I am too scared to contact anyone about being charged $29.99 for the first month instead of the $19.99 that they promised, I fear that they will charge me instead of refund me.

*Update 3/29/14: From the Exede Voice Website: "Government regulations allow your previous carrier to take up to 3 business days to release your number to us. However, most porting requests are completed within 1 business day." Well, it has been 10 days and I am still waiting. I posted on the forum about this yesterday (I refuse to call CS again!), the moderator checked on my account and said that the number transfer would be completed on April 4th. So much for Government Regulations and so much for the info provided on the Exede website.

I hope to think that the number port was requested on the 19th and not by the moderator yesterday. So I am paying for over 2 weeks of service that I can't use. The moderator also told me that she had resolved my billing problem. We will have to wait and see if that is true, I am not holding my breath! She also told me that she had requested a sooner release of my number, that she would see this through to the end and that she would keep me posted. I really don't care for pretty words and promises, I just want some action!

As a side note, it makes me a little nervous that I have talked to 6 different people in the last 10 days and they have all had access to my personal information.

*Update 4/4/14: My number finally ported on April 2nd, at that time I was assured by the forum moderator that everything had been taken care of. My bill had been adjusted and the 911 info had been corrected. When I got into my account today (two days later), I found that everything is the same with no changes whatsoever.

*Update 9/6/16: I am now an Exede Voice Expert after using it for over two years. But I am stuck with it because AT&T is no longer providing landline service in our area and we don't have a cell signal here. My opinion of Exede Voice is that it is totally useless. When we first started out with it, it was not too bad but I don't even answer my phone much anymore because the latency issue is unbearable. My Exede internet speed, in general, is nearly as slow as dial-up now, so this makes the phone service unusable. If you call someone they normally hang up before they can hear you say hello. It also drops calls constantly, I never have an uninterrupted call unless it is less than 5 minutes long. We don't even try to make important calls and the first thing we tell people is that we have Satellite and that our call will be dropped, just to prepare them. I hate everything about Exede at this point!

*Update 4/5/2018: This is my final update because I no longer have Exede Voice. I was offered a great new plan with Viasat (formally Exede) and in order to be able to afford it, I had to drop my Exede Voice service which is very overpriced with all of their add-ons and fees. I now have an Obihai box and VoIP with Google Voice. It works just as well as Exede Voice ever did and it is FREE! Loving my new Viasat Silver 25 Unlimited Internet Plan as well, but don't bother looking for it because it is no longer available.

Click here to see a review of Exede Satellite Internet.

Exede Internet Satellite Review

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.

Exede Voice Review

Tracfone Reborn

I think that I posted about my Tracfone no longer ringing awhile ago and about talking to someone in India who didn't have a clue. I was finally told that I would just have to order a new phone, which I didn't want to do because this phone had hardly been used and I had just put more time and minutes on it. It made me just a little suspicious that the ringtones would no longer work when the beeping of the keypad continued.

I never did order a new phone because I felt like they were just messing with me. Low and behold, yesterday our phone started ringing again out of the clear blue sky. Hmmm? I am not accusing them of anything but this all seems a little strange to me.

Other exciting news for today is that I talked to someone this morning who gave me a hard time about not blogging every day. He told me that he enjoys reading my blog and is disappointed when I haven't blogged. He almost made me feel good about myself until he continued with the point that it is good to know that someone else has a more boring life than he does.