ViaSat Satellite Internet Service.......

[Psssniper]

My grandkids drawing after I told him the dingo ate my baby story.

 

[Axxe55]

Sucks you got burned. But thanks for taking one for the team. The hunt for good internet continues for us rural folks.

I took a chance, based pretty much on that it had a 14 day full refund policy. Yeah, I got burned, but it happens. Hopefully this thread will keep others from getting burned as well.

Axxe55 I can agree with your review 100% !!!

I jumped the gun before your review was posted and ordered one of the homefi devices and we opted for the 450gb data @ $100 per mo. First problem arose when I was immediately charged but never received a receipt of any kind, nor any tracking info. I waited a couple days and then contacted their customer service via the only method available, email. Also of note there was no record of my purchase anywhere on their website!

CS replied quickly and said yes you have an order number and golly we’re sorry it hasn’t shipped yet but we’ll let you know ASAP when it does. I finally did get an email with tracking but it seriously looked like a fishing type email so I never clicked on it. Package finally arrives.

So I hooked it all up and ran some speed tests and the dismal results were averaging approx 10mb down and 4mb up. It stayed on and worked though so we had that going on for us but had to live with buffering and slow response. It showed that it was using ATT network.

Sent CS an email detailing my results with screenshots of speed tests of their device and also included one of my cell phone doing 135mb down. CS replied and thanked me for the photos and said we’ve pushed some updates to your device switching it to Verizon network seeing as your phone is doing well with that. Okay seemed like a reasonable response so back to the tests!

I ran a couple tests and they were averaging approx 50mb down and 10 mb up so that was an improvement. Worked for an hour or so then started buffering, dropping connection, freezing. No bueno! Reset it a bunch of times with the same result. Sent CS an email detailing what’s happening and have not received any reply as of yet.

Communication with their CS was confusing and vague, whether this is intentional or just the product of our current education systems I could only guess. I think this device isn’t going to work for me so I will be cancelling the service within their 14 day period. I wonder how that’s going to go as I have no receipt or any proof of purchase except $110 showing on my CC.

They did me very similar when I ordered outs. But they used the reason "they could not locate my address, and was it correct." Hmmm....I guess that should have been a red flag.

Pushed some updates! Yeah, I heard that one a couple of times!

Hopefully you can somehow generate a receipt from your credit card? I'd jump sooner rather than waiting any longer on trying for a refund. I think they tried to string me along so they could get past the 14 days and then technically they don't have to refund our money. It's just a scam.

 

[Psssniper]

Already told them to cancel immediately and send a return label but that may or may not work. Can always dispute with the CC I guess.

 

[Axxe55]

Already told them to cancel immediately and send a return label but that may or may not work. Can always dispute with the CC I guess.

I hope you get it worked out.

Please keep us updated.

 

[Darkpriest667]

Star link is the solution you folks are waiting on.

 

[Shady]

Star link is the solution you folks are waiting on.

and waiting
and waiting
and waiting
and waiting
and waiting
and waiting
and waiting
and waiting
and waiting
and waiting

 

[mroper]

Have either of you consider a jetpack to use from your cell service. It seems like it is the Same thing you might be able to get unlimited for about $30.00 a month

 

[Psssniper]

Have two jet paks that the wife uses for working remotely but only 15gb ea so they get used sparingly for internet/tv etc. work gets priority. And while they call it unlimited it’s throttled after 15gb

Signed up for the starlink waiting game first day it was available, still waiting….

Axxe55 here’s the last thing they sent to me re the device. I tried it and it’s going strong since 10:20 this am. I went outside when rebooting to hopefully get a better signal lock, who knows.
I’ll report back later.

Faith HomeFi (Support) Jan 6, 2022, 9:18 AM EST Hi Paul!, Thanks for reaching out to us! I am extremely sorry if your hotspot is acting up the same issues and I appreciate your patience to observe your connection and for the resolution process. I've looked into your hotspot connection and upon checking it was successfully connected to the Verizon network. May I request to restart your hotspot and place it in an open area and run some tests? To Configure your connection: -Please make sure to place your hotspot into an open area (example near the window) to have the strongest signal. -Unplug all components of your smart TV for five minutes to reset the system and plug back into power. -Once your TV is back on; press the Home button on your remote control and select Network > Open Network Settings. -Select Wireless and the TV will detect the wireless network (OTRMobile.com_6x7) automatically. -Manually enter your WIFI password and click Done. -Your TV will establish a connection with your internet connection. -Test connection afterwards. If you run into the same issues, please do let me know and I'll be happy to assist you.

 

[Tnhawk]

Already told them to cancel immediately and send a return label but that may or may not work. Can always dispute with the CC I guess.

I'd immediately file a dispute with the credit card. My CC has settled problems several times when I couldn't get results from a business.

 

[Darqhelmet]

Star link is the solution you folks are waiting on.

No it’s not. I was on the waitlist since it opened. One they aren’t delivering shit, it’s a scam to get 100 bucks out of you. Two their constellations are so low on the horizon if you have any trees you’re screwed. It’s vapor ware like most things Elon all hype shit products. We need good cellular coverage of ISP’s to actually roll out fiber.

 

[Younggun]

Not vaporware. The satellites are going up. They are easily seen when launched. If you haven’t seen them just check on any Astronomy forum and you will find plenty of people upset about them.


They are low orbit, which is why tons of them have to be launched for reasonable coverage.

I have no interest in getting on any sort of preorder, but to claim it’s vaporware when there are already over 1800 in orbit is ridiculous.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Younggun]

Still using NextLink and still happy with it. 135/month right now. Not the fasted, but no caps. Usually run about 35Mb/s download and 5-7 upload.


Ripped my line apart this morning with a backhoe. Got it patched up but still no word on my trouble ticket. Said they would call within 4 hours, that was almost exactly 4 hours ago.


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[Darqhelmet]

Not vaporware. The satellites are going up. They are easily seen when launched. If you haven’t seen them just check on any Astronomy forum and you will find plenty of people upset about them.


They are low orbit, which is why tons of them have to be launched for reasonable coverage.

I have no interest in getting on any sort of preorder, but to claim it’s vaporware when there are already over 1800 in orbit is ridiculous.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What smoke he blows out of his ass vs what it will be when done is vaporware. It will never be what he claims. Just like the Tesla solar roofs. It’s the same bullshit telco’s pull. We have one house in this zip code we service therefore we service that zip code. Give us money Fed. Low or if is fine so low on the horizon it’s not usable is not. He’s a blow hard scammer.

 

[Darqhelmet]

Still using NextLink and still happy with it. 135/month right now. Not the fasted, but no caps. Usually run about 35Mb/s download and 5-7 upload.


Ripped my line apart this morning with a backhoe. Got it patched up but still no word on my trouble ticket. Said they would call within 4 hours, that was almost exactly 4 hours ago.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That sucks. I would be happy with that even.

 

[Psssniper]

Connection lost @ 12:32 it then resets. Now we get 5-10 min then it does it again… and again.
Homefi appears to be rebranded OTR Mobile odyssey units. Rebranded as in they just placed their sticker over the OTR odyssey name. I’m done with this game

 

[Younggun]

That sucks. I would be happy with that even.

It’s good enough to handle whatever is streaming in the TV, happening on the phones, a laptop, and 2 desktops. We don’t stream in 4K or anything. Picture looks fine on a 75” TV, whatever resolution it defaults to.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Younggun]

Just got off the phone with NextLink. Guy spoke perfect English.

Asked some questions, said their system showed we did have data communication. Explained that it quit working and I found some broken wires (technically true) so I spliced them as a temp solution.

He’s concerned since we have a tower and said they would have to look at the installation photos to see if they would need 2 techs on site so one could climb. Told him the cable was on the ground but didn’t seem to matter. Probably not something he is supposed to say yes or no on. Supposed to pass it on to dispatch and they would contact me with a repair date. Wouldn’t give me an estimate on when that would be.


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[Axxe55]

Connection lost @ 12:32 it then resets. Now we get 5-10 min then it does it again… and again.
Homefi appears to be rebranded OTR Mobile odyssey units. Rebranded as in they just placed their sticker over the OTR odyssey name. I’m done with this game
View attachment 297717 View attachment 297718

Yep, Faith for Support sent me almost identical emails! Then once I expressed that I wasn't satisfied with the device, and that it was either defective, or misrepresented and I wanted it replaced, or a mailing label to return it for a refund, that's when the crickets started. And when the next email I get is for me to update my billing information so they can charge my CC for next month's bill, I'm pretty certain it's a scam now.

I looked closer, and mine too seems to be a re-branded OTR Odyssey as well.

Some of the others seem to be re-branded SkyRoam Solis units.

 

[Axxe55]

On a side note, the device seems to work very good for internet service for my laptop or my phone, and there does seem to be less buffering than with the HughesNet satellite internet.

The problems seem to occur when I'm on the computer, and on the forum or surfing the web, and the wife starts using the Roku and the TV. Within about 10 minutes or so, internet either slows way, way down, or just loses the internet signal, and the TV is buffering a lot. Also noticed the device gets hot at the same time. I suspect a cooling issue with the device.

The device was advertised as being able to support up to 5 devices. We can't get past 2 for more that about 10 minutes!

 

[Psssniper]

Seems I have the same issue. When it was just tv it ran well, added my phone and wife’s laptop then it eventually goes down. Oh well. Hope this has helped others to avoid wasting their time!!