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Wildblue was one of the original satellite internet services. With service started in 2005, it was able to offer another option to rural internet users struggling to find decent internet. Wildblue was purchased by Viasat in 2009, and many Wildblue customers transferred their plans over to the better Viasat and Exede plans being offered. However, many decided to maintain their legacy WildBlue satellite internet services, which were given a free 2-6x speed boost in 2012 by the Viasat company.
Even with that speed boost, the Exede and Viasat satellite plans offered much better performance. Why did so many choose to keep their WildBlue internet? While we can only guess, there are a few reasonable explanations. One is that some customers likely wanted to keep their wildblue.net email accounts. Changing services would mean they would have to get a new email address. Others had enjoyed the understanding WildBlue customer service representatives for a long time and didn’t want to switch to a different customer service that might not understand rural internet customers. Lastly, WildBlue was known as a pioneering company, one of the first internet providers providing service from space. This name meant more to some customers than internet speed.
WildBlue upgraded its service by launching WildBlue-1 in 2006 and beginning service in 2007. The satellite’s service capacity was increased by using Ka-band spot beam technology. This allows the WildBlue-1 satellite to split frequencies over different areas, increasing service and coverage.
WildBlue brought a welcome advance to satellite internet services of its time. While it’s 1.5 to 3 Mbps service may sound incredibly slow today, for rural internet users in 2007, it was something to be happy about. It was way ahead of the finicky, inconvenient, and slow service offered by dial-up. WildBlue offered broadband internet that was always on, and most importantly, was available to those in remote areas. WildBlue was an innovating and pioneering company in its day.
WildBlue and Exede internet plans came with email services. While modern Viasat plans do not, Viasat decided in December 2017 to continue supporting the email services of those with Exede and WildBlue addresses. Exede email can be accessed at login.exede.net and Wildblue email can be accessed at mail.wildblue.net. These email services are still working and there is no need to switch.
In order to support WildBlue legacy users, Viasat maintains the WildBlue Help Center. Here you can manage all the aspects of your WildBlue account, including billing, internet services, account information, and customer service. This is the place for any WildBlue users to get the assistance they need.
The Viasat forums are another great place to get help from people who have been using satellite internet for a long time. Those using WildBlue satellite internet will find these forums and their users very helpful. Whether you have a technical issue or just a question, the Viasat Community forums are a great place to find the answers you need.
While you won’t be able to sign up for WildBlue as a new customer, there are plenty of newer and better options for satellite customers today. Just compare the max WildBlue speed (3 Mbps) to the max speed of new Viasat plans (100 Mbps). Viasat has kept improving its technology over the years and continues the innovative spirit of WildBlue internet. To learn about the plans available in your area and sign up for satellite internet, call Viasat today.