It's Been 16 Years But It's Time to Break Up with Viasat

OK, let's try this. - I wrote this a couple years ago but never posted it because - well, you know - I was being a shit. After reading through it again the other day it still seems relevant. So instead of wasting it I thought I'd throw it out here now with an update tacked onto it.

Those antennas have been up there on the barn for sixteen years now.

The further one is DirectTV while the one closest started out as Exceed then they were bought out by the current service, Viasat. (satellite internet service)

Well we just got a pleasant little communication from Viasat couched in celebratory terms designed to make us feel special while we're getting screwed (Damn marketing people!), essentially saying, though our relationship is and has been working just fine on the current Ford-Pinto basis for a decade and a half, they, with no input from us, have unilaterally decided to take our relationship to a Cadillac Escalade level.

That’s right. They jerked our plan out from under us and tossed it in the trash with one slimy hand while with the other jeweled and bedazzled hand presented us (Ta-Da!) with the new alternative.

How exciting!

Wait! What?

You see that Liberty 25 bit on our current plan? That’s 25 GB of data and in 16 years there have only been a handful of months when we received the “we’re about to throttle your speed” notice for getting to close to the limit, and then only within days of the limit resetting anyway. (that Free-Zone crap is 3 hours per day of data-usage that doesn’t count against our 25 GB, Of course it’s between 0200 and 0500, hours when normal people [yeah, one of you readers out there knows who I’m NOT talking about!] are not much interested in browsing the Amazon shelves, reading the Yahoo news-feed, or researching the latest – unnecessary – updates.) So why in the hell would we suddenly be interested in the 60 GB of data they are so gleefully offering us in the new plan? (And that 12 Mbps claim -yeah right! If that was really the case why all that small print telling us all the reasons it might - will - be slower?)

Oh, and as an added bonus we have to foot the 25% increase in cost out of our own pockets for the privilege.

Well, unfortunately for Viasat their timing SUCKS.

Just last month we were without Viasat services for nearly two weeks waiting on a simple replacement power-puck for the modem. During that blackout period The Wife and I started playing around with the 5 GB of hot-spot data that comes with each of our T-Mobile basic Magenta accounts, (That’s 5 GB per phone for a total of 10 GB.) and could see no discernable difference in data-speed between the cell and the existing Viasat services.

THEN, a few weeks after getting Viasat up and running again, (We, of course received no credit for the lost time.) it cratered all over again. This time the modem was powered up and working but it looks like the transmitter/receiver up on the antenna has crapped out. So now we have the added privilege of paying for another call-out plus parts just to get back on air again with our new, and more costly plan.

So let’s review here. For a 25% percent price increase to $100 per month Viasat is offering us more data that we don’t need and didn't ask for, but by adding a $10 rider to each of our phone-plans we can bump our combined hot-spot data from 10 GB to 30 GB, which past history says is at least 5 more than we need, and the hot-spot speeds are comparable to the Viasat speeds we're used to.

Oh, and if that’s not enough hot-spot data it only takes $5 more per phone to bump us up to a combined 80 GB of hot-spot data! That’s 20 GB more than the “upgrade” at Viasat for significantly less cost!

Humm – carry the one – subtract the – Yep! Pay $70 less per month/$840 less per year and get sufficient data at the same speeds we're used to without worrying about cloud-cover issues?

I’m callin’ that terminate number right now!

And before you ask – no. I’m not allowed to cancel my service on line like any civilized person would want to. Instead I have to go through the recording at the call center and two different agents to actually break-up with Viasat. (And I SUCK at phone!)

And I’m not sure how this fits into a good business model, but they made it clear that if I go through with this I can’t come back for 180 days. (Yes ma'am, I understand and my hand feels properly smacked - and not in the good way!)

Oh yeah, and that line up there about no termination fees if I leave? Well I suppose that technically it’s true, but not actually.

You see, they are so pissed off about us leaving they want their old, broke, and obsolete equipment back, and if I want someone to come out and remove the transmitter/receiver from the actual dish - which they will graciously let me keep (The dish part) as a souvenir - it will cost me a $95 call-out. And if I don’t return the equipment to them within 30 days they will bill me $300 or so all over again for stuff I’ve long since paid for.

Yeah, we’ll skip the callout fee’s thank you very much.

But now the fun starts!

My longest ladder is still 4 feet short of tall enough so I have to get up on top of the roof to remove the transmitter/receiver from above.

But first a zoom-shot to see if I can figure out what tools to take up there with me, because I’m not Spiderman and this is a one-trip deal damnit!

I do have a platform on the side of the building that my ladder can reach.

And from there

I can step, very carefully, onto the roof.

And make my way, one short, shuffling step at a time, along the peak

Until I get to the end

 And the antenna

OK. Let’s see if, among all the stuff I brought with me in the stuff-sack tied off to my belt, I have what it takes to remove the transmitter/receiver.

Well Crap!

Simple philips-head screws but stainless isn’t always the hardest of metals and this screw has clearly been over-gorillaed in the past.

Even with a perfectly fitting bit I just couldn’t get it to back out.

So plan B.

Fortunately, anticipating something like this I brought a couple adjustable wrenchs up here with me so now I’m just going to take the entire carrier/trans-receiver assembly off the arms

And separate them from each other at the safety of my workbench

Where I had to drill way down into that one screw, obviously not quite as straight as I would hope, to get enough purchase for my screw-extractor to overcome the torque and corrosion.

 UPDATE June 2025: (I originally wrote this post sometime in late 2022 or early 2023)

We've been without a sat connection, and any sort of traditional internet, for over two years now and it's working out just fine.

In my case, I immediately started using my phone for everything and and typically only turn my aging laptop on once a month to update my spreadsheets and run backups, for which I don't need to go out on the internet.

The Wife has zombie-fingers making it difficult for her to use touchscreens so she uses her hot-spot to connect her laptop to the world, where she (especially during the hot months because she loves airconditioning!) trolls the Yahoo news-feed, watches funny videos with dogs, window shops, and orders groceries/houshold goods for curbside pickup.

For a portion of that two years I wasn't very active, or even very ambulatory, so The Wife spent more time inside than usual keeping an eye on me while using her laptop for entertainment, using more data than in the past.

The result being, we upped her hotspot to 40 GB (for a total bump of $15 per month) while leaving mine at the 5 GB that comes with the basic Magenta plan. So now we pay $150 per year for internet access through a hot-spot, verses $1200 a year for access through a satellite connection.

Kind of a no brainer!