Last updated Monday April 29th, 2024
Horrible customer service
Unfortunately, I signed a 2 year contract with exede because we had incredibly slow dsl service at the time. After speaking to the customer service rep he assured me that it sounded like 10gb would be plenty each month. We went over within 10 days!! So, we upped it to 15gb per month at over 90 dollars per month and still went over constantly. We usually had to spend an extra 20 a month to gain a couple more gb. I discontinued the service the day we hit our 2 year contract date. The customer service rep volunteered no information on how to get the equipment back and avoid the huge fee until I asked and then I was told it would take at least 10 days to get a box to return it and it had to be returned within 3 weeks or we were charged. I requested they simply send me a prepaid postal slip to return it and was refused. Do NOT be tempted to go with this service. You will regret it. I don't even think it deserves one star.
This was the BIGGEST and most EXPENSIVE nightmare I have ever been through. They failed to tell me there was a cap after my request was for unlimited wirelss service. My kids reached the limtit withing 7 days so I called to see why and thats when I learned there was a cap. I had to pay $15 per day to get out of the contract even after I asked them to listen to the initial request when I called, they refused. So I paid 375 to get out and another $135 for them to pick up the equipment. THIS IS A SCAM COMPANY AND I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND ANYONE GOING THROUGH WHAT I JUST WENT THROUGH. THE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS HORRIBLE ALSO.
If your only option
Like the other users we had lots of trouble getting started. I have spent lots of time and money managing data overages. I would give Exede poor marks for this. It is obviously a problem many (almost all) of their users experience. They should be much more proactive in explaining to new users how to manage monthly bandwidth.
First thing I recommend is shut down all automated downloads AND uploads. Once your service is established probably every device in your household is going to want to update and sync and use lots of bandwidth doing it. Cell phones and tablets are especially tricky data hogs as many people take lots of pictures on them. Turn off automatic uploading of pictures to the cloud. Also turn off automatic updating of apps. Get in the habit of turning on these services when you are attached to a network with unlimited data.
New devices will also want to update once they are started up. We went through about 4 gigs one month on a new laptop and it's replacement. When possible I would recommend taking new devices someplace with unlimited bandwidth and allowing it to complete all initial updating there.
Set playback settings in Netflix to the lowest bandwidth settings you can tolerate. Netflix can stream at different rates and adjusts up or down automatically. Hard setting the quality setting to the lowest mbps setting saves bandwidth. Also you might want to turn off auto play of the next episode. There's no use wasting bandwidth if you have fallen asleep.
I use a Roku and have it powered using the USB on the TV. The downside is I have to wait for the Roku to start up when I turn the TV on. The upside is that when I turn the TV off the Roku stops streaming. I don't have to remember to stop the program first.
Manage your downloads. Windows machines are typically set-up to automatically download updates and then apply them. If you have multiple machines you are downloading the updates separately on each machine. You may think you have the updates set to download during the Freezone time but this is usually just when the update program installs the updates it downloaded previously in the background. The download engine can be set-up to run during the nightly Freezone but this requires setting up tasks in the Windows Scheduler to start and stop the service. If you are not familiar with Windows Scheduler find a friend who is and get them to help you. I found reasonably straight-forward instructions for this online. I read online there are programs that could do this for me but I did not find any that were not very out of date.
Turn off guest network access. You won't have enough bandwidth to support it.
Clouds have a big impacts on throughput. Do not expect to be able to stream on rainy day. Cloudy days are sometimes iffy.
Start slow and check your bandwidth often. As others have said in their reviews the bandwidth tool is often incorrect so check it often. I have it bookmarked. You should also be able to track bandwidth on your router. Learn how to do this.
If you are a cord cutter you may want to look a services for recording online content for playback later.
If you bought a router keep the box and receipt. I had lots of problems with my router dropping the connection to the modem and needing power cycled to reestablish. I finally got this down from frequent to seldom by changing routers and updating to the most recent firmware. I suspect the actual problem is in Exede's modem but they said not so what can you do?
So this is a lot and I'm sure there's some I forgot. Why do all this? Like anyone seriously considering Exede I live in the country. Not only is there no other option for broadband service, or DSL, or ISDN, we barely get TV due to distance and elevation. If another option becomes available we'll drop Exede. If you're in the same situation know that you can manage Exede into a reasonable service. Just don't expect much help from them.
Very slow. One bar and we are about 20 feet away from the dish and router. I need to call tomorrow and see what company can do for me.
frustrating
There are mot words to describe our frustration with this internet. To begin, it slower than a slug most of the time, rarely ever ends up working, and like fifty percent of the time doesn't even work at all! We mainly use it on our I-pads, and sometimes on a laptop, and we can never access our internet apps, download anything, use youtube (on safari, not the actual app), or use it to play our games (such as Roblox) on the laptop.
Not to mention, we're trapped in a two year contract, which isn't even the worst part. The worst part is, due to our switching TV providers (Dish to Directv), we also had to change our internet and E-mail. Thanks to that whole thing, now we're basically paying what we were paying before, but for nothing at all!
Basically, don't bother getting this internet, because all it will bring is frustration and sadness.
This is the worst internet service I have ever had. You can use up your amount of usage in a few days if you are not careful.if the speed of the internet was as fast as there bill getting to you it would be great. The 2 year contract sucks. You have to pay 15.00 dollar for each month left on the contract if you cancel. If you have a good product you shouldn\'t have to force people to have a contract. I suggest you look around before choosing this outfit.
Garbage...
Garbage service. Speeds can be high on second and super low the next. Always oversubscribed at night... rarely get faster than 2mbps after 5pm. Very expensive for what it is. I would only recommend this to someone who had NO other option and NEEDED internet... Get random where the service cuts out and I am redirected to a DISH page (they say they don't know why it happens). The idiots in the service center actually disconnected my account "on accident" then wanted me to sign a new 24-month contract to reconnect. Unreal...
Sorry Company
This is the absolutely worst company I have ever dealt with. Their service and customer service has to be the worst in the world. As soon as I am able to get service from another provider I will be dropping my service with Excede. Excede is a rip off, you only get 10 gig a month that last normally about 2 weeks. We watch no videos, down load nothing and run out every month. I would say that about 90% of what we do is face book (we don't even watch videos) we do not watch the little videos because we have been told it uses so much data. This today 5/15 I have tried to get additional gigs and am told their system is down and they can't help me. I would not recommend this company to my worst enemy!
Used my data allowance watching Netflix
I got Exede a few months ago. It's very fast and it's great to be able to use Facebook. I tried using Netflix but it used up all my data for the month. Found NightShift which helped resolve this for me. (https://www.aterlo.com/exede-netflix/)
Exede is expensive, but where I live there aren't many options so it's good enough for me.
One star
Initially informed that we would have 'faster' internet service via new satellite and only pay $40 per month. First time in home, worker didn't set up service and left. Had to call several times to get connection. Then was too slow (12 sec. to send one outgoing email). Called and increased service amount for a total of 3 times in less than 2 months! They kept saying we had 'used' all of our data plan. Told to cancel service because still was too slow to even download school assignments for kids (2). They refused to cancel our agreement. We informed them they never kept to their end of agreement and it was fraudulent to say you were getting a service you were not receiving and then increasing charges. I would not recommend them and I am hoping others file claims with FCC/BBB.