| The Problem
It's a matter of bandwidth. All of the current crop of
consumer-grade satellite broadband
providers simply do not have the network capacity to accommodate much more
than conventional usage - basic web page surfing and email without large
attachments, for example. There are some
practical and economic reasons for this. Satellite transponder
leases are expensive, and bandwidth rationing is one way for a
provider to avoid the additional costs associated with providing
unlimited access for their customers. Even business- and
enterprise-class providers like SkyVista need a way to deal with
those who abuse their bandwidth. And that's the point, isn't
it? When you sign up for any broadband service, be it satellite,
cable or DSL, your expectation is that you can use that service as
much as you like anytime you want. The reality is that all
providers - even cable, DSL and terrestrial wireless - use and
enforce some sort of 'Fair Access Policy' in order to ration their
resources and to deal with abusers. And they don't
always do so in a customer-friendly manner, as
this recent article in the Boston Globe shows.
As an aside, for most cable- and
DSL-based providers, Internet access is something of a loss-leader.
Despite the fees they charge, they don't make that much on ISP
services compared to the real golden calf: TV for the cable boys and
POTS (plain old telephone service) for the telcos. The bottom line
is that cable and telco ISPs don't want to make the investment in
the infrastructure that would make their networks more secure, more
manageable and with greater available bandwidth. Network management
- what a concept.
TANSTAAFL
What it all comes down to is ths:
TANSTAAFL, or "There Ain't No Such
Thing As A Free Lunch. Simply put, TANSTAAFL means that one cannot
get something for nothing. Even if something appears to be free,
there is always a catch. For example, you may get free food at a bar
during "happy hour", but the bar-owner either figures out a way to
get you to pay or gets some sort of benefit (such as attracting new
customers, who will return on other occasions and pay for their
food). And so it is with bandwidth - it isn't free, and
someone, somewhere at some point has to pay for it.
How Can This Affect Me?
In practical terms, how can these FAP
restrictions affect you? Got a web site that you update
frequently? Like to listen to 'Podcasts? Want to get product manuals and Windows service packs
for your networked PCs?
Downloading a new piece of software? Want to download last week's
episode of Desperate Housewives? Swapping AutoCAD files with
your customers? Got more than one machine
attached to your firewall/router? Then you're really taking your chances with
StarBand and HughesNet - less so with WildBlue and SkyVista.
Now, most of the consumer-class
satellite Internet providers are willing to
raise your threshold if you're willing to pay for the privilege, but
you still run the risk of bottlenecking your Internet access if you
exceed their limits. To their credit, WildBlue offers an easy
upgrade path without having to change equipment and without having
to jump through bureaucratic hoops. StarBand will only with great
difficulty renegotiate your contract, and you may also face a
satmodem change - which won't be cheap. SkyVista and WildBlue makes this process
relatively painless - all it takes is a phone call - and their
service extends all the way up to enterprise levels.
So how do you know whether or
not you're approaching any of these FAP thresholds? StarBand
has a mediocre tool and WildBlue has a nicely structured and
accurate tool accessible from the customer's portal website that
states current usage and approach to FAP threshold. We advise that
you check it often.
So, if you engage in any of the
activities listed below,
you're gonna get FAPed.
What Constitutes 'Abuse?'
Abuse of bandwidth can occur in a
number of ways. Let's take a look at some of the most common
examples:
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Web site hosting. No ISP
will allow you to host your own website on their connection. The
pipe isn't not big enough, the network isn't optimized for type of
traffic and it's competition for what the ISP provides to
others. In any case, it's better and actually cheaper in the
long run to host
your website with an outfit with a good rep, good service and good
security. |
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Acting as an ISP. ISPs
don't like small-time competition, mainly because of the way it
impacts their bandwidth. In other words, don't farm out your
internet connection to others. But those of you with unsecured
wireless access points may be giving your neighbors a free ride
on your subscription and at your expense. LOCK DOWN THAT
WIRELESS ACCESS POINT! Hide the SSID and use strong encryption.
StarLAN Consulting Services can show you how to do this. |
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Uploading streaming audio, video and software titles on demand. Selling something?
Selling something you perhaps shouldn't? Think about it. |
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Downloading streaming audio.
That's listening to the radio over the Internet. Do it long
enough and often enough and you'll trigger a FAP event. |
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Downloading entire movies and
shows. That'll suck up bandwidth in a hurry. Don't do it.
Use NetFlix instead. |
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'Oversubscribing' your
network. You can't squeeze a medium-sized business network
with, say, 20 or 30 workstations or more through a
satellite-based internet connection - unless, of course, you're
willing to pay for the requisite bandwidth. Larger operations
usually 'load balance' their workstations through two or three
or more separate satellite broadband connections. This approach
to load balancing is not
uncommon, either. It's also not reasonable to expect a
residential-class service level to handle business class data
flow. |
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Spyware, viruses and other
malware. This stuff is insidious because it sneaks around
behind the scenes and tries to use your systems as open relays,
private spam email servers, porn servers and such. 'Zombied'
machines are used to participate in denial of service attacks
and other nasty things. The point here is that you must keep
your workstations squeaky clean AND secure the edge of your
network with a business-class firewall/router (like SonicWALL)
to prevent malware from sucking up your bandwidth and triggering
a FAP event. Important clue: is your satmodem transmit light on
solid, or does it just flicker from time to time? If it's the
former, you've got big trouble. |
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Peer-to peer networking.
A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a
network that relies primarily on the computing power and
bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than
concentrating it in a relatively low number of servers. P2P
networks are typically used for connecting nodes via largely
ad hoc connections. Sharing content files containing audio,
video, data or anything in digital format is very common. When
such networks connect across the Internet, they can consume
inordinate amounts of bandwidth. This covers file sharing
systems such as Napster, BitTorrent, XBox live gaming sessions,
and so forth. As a side note, any sort of peer-to-peer
networking is inherently insecure and you put your personal data
at risk when you allow this. So don't do it. |
FAP - Who's Doing What
All of the players in the satellite
broadband marketplace - StarBand, HughesNet (formerly DirecWay), WildBlue
and SkyVista - 'throttle' or otherwise restrict your
service when you exceed a certain download limit - 169 MB per hour,
in HughesNet's case. That's about the size of a product manual in PDF
format and it's far less than a Windows Service Pack 2 update.
Satellite broadband providers call this their 'Fair Access Policy.' Let's take a brief look at how
each of these services handles their respective 'Fair
Access Policies.'
HughesNet
(formerly DirecWay)
Here it is from Hughesnet's website in their own tiny print:
"HughesNet Systems are subject to a Fair Access Policy limiting
cumulative total download amount to 169 Megabytes during a 1-4 hour
period."
All right
- how does that relate to Hughesnet's offerings?
|
Home |
Professional |
Small Office |
Business Internet |
|
DW6000 |
DW7000 |
DW6000 |
DW7000 |
DW6000 |
DW7000 |
DW6000 |
DW7000 |
|
Download
Threshold
1
|
169MB |
175MB |
350MB |
350MB |
500MB |
500MB |
800MB |
1.25GB |
|
Recovery Rate
2
|
47 |
50 |
50 |
56 |
56 |
150 |
100 |
400 |
|
1 Download Threshold is the volume in
megabytes of data that can be downloaded continuously
before the Fair Access Policy may restrict the download
speed.
2 Recovery Rate is the rate in
kilobits per second at which a service plan recovers the
Download Threshold.
3 1000MB = 1GB. Thus, 3,000 MB = 3
GB. Stating the numbers in MB makes it look more
generous than it really is. |
|
It doesn't
take long to exceed HughesNets
'Fair Access Policy' limit and find yourself throttled or even shut
down if you persist. HughesNets 'recovery time,' or the time it
takes to return to your former speeds is anywhere from 8-12
hours to 2-3 days. Limits such as these are completely
unacceptable if you are running a home office or home-based
business.
StarBand
StarBand's most recently applied1
AUP
(Acceptable Use Policy) is arguably better than WildBlue's FAP,
and much better than Hughesnet's. StarBand's policies reset
on a rolling seven day basis, and the 'recovery time," that is,
the number of days required to bring your rolling seven day
average back into line is usually a day or two. And the kicker is
that usage is only monitored between 6AM and 12AM EST!
Draw your own conclusions.
|
StarBand Service Levels |
Nova 1000 |
Nova 1500 |
|
Combined Upload1/Download2 Threshold (MB)
|
20003 |
5000 |
-
Upload Threshold is the
volume of data that can be uploaded during the previous
7 days before the Fair Access Policy may restrict the
user’s speeds.
-
Download Threshold is the
volume of data that can be downloaded during the
previous 7 days before the Fair Access Policy may
restrict the user’s speeds.
-
1000MB = 1GB. Thus, 3,000 MB = 3
GB. Stating the numbers in MB makes it look more
generous than it really is.
|
Again, please
note that the FAP thresholds are only monitored between the
hours of 6:00am and 12:00am.
Nova Pro 1000 (1024 x 128)
Download Threshold (rolling 7 day period) - 1600 Mbytes
Download Recovery Rate - 150 Kbps
Download Exit threshold (rolling 7 day period) - 1024 Mbytes
Upload Threshold (rolling 7 day period) - 400 Mbytes
Upload Recovery Rate - 56 Kbps
Upload Exit threshold (rolling 7 day period) - 275 Mbytes
Nova Pro 1500 (1.5 x 256)
Download Threshold (rolling 7 day period) - 4000 Mbytes
Download Recovery Rate - 400 Kbps
Download Exit threshold (rolling 7 day period) - 2750 Mbytes
Upload Threshold (rolling 7 day period) -1000 Mbytes
Upload Recovery Rate - 96 Kbps
Upload Exit threshold (rolling 7 day period) - 700 Mbytes
Customers who
are close to exceeding their assigned bandwidth usage for a
rolling period of seven days will be sent a warning message via
a web message and via their StarBand email account. Customers
who exceed their assigned bandwidth usage for a rolling period
of seven days will again be notified via a web message and via
their StarBand email account. The web message will specify that
the customers’ speeds will be temporarily reduced until the
customers’ seven day rolling average drops below the ‘exit
limit’. The customer's normal high-speed access (as specified in
the customer’s contract) will be restored after that time
period. Because there is a seven-day monitoring period,
customers are not penalized for one-time or occasional bandwidth
bumps unless the total for the entire seven days is very high.
In addition, customers get one free pass to remove the
restriction by calling StarBand customer service and requesting
a restriction removal. Customers who repeatedly use excessive
bandwidth and have received multiple warnings may be suspended
from using StarBand services for a specified period of time.
Customers may or
may not be aware of when they are using high amounts of
bandwidth. Intended causes of high bandwidth consumption may
include uploading and downloading large files and networking
additional computers to access the service. Some unintended
causes of high bandwidth consumption may include viruses, worms,
malicious code and downloads that occur with web browsing. By
monitoring activity, StarBand can identify when customers are
using excessive bandwidth, whether it is intentional or not.
1
StarBand began to apply this policy
in December of 2005, but didn't bother to inform their customers
OR THEIR DEALERS until April of 2006.
As of 11/24/07, StarBand still does
not state what their FAP limits actually are until you reach the
new account configuration page.
WildBlue
Some history is in order. When
WildBlue was first offered to consumers, they didn't have the 30
day "Rolling FAP" that exists today. The limits were
month-to-month, and users got what amounted to a clean upload &
download slate at the beginning of the month. With the
rolling-30, a user never gets a clean slate unless they
don't use their service for an entire month straight. The
"Rolling FAP" was started on 12/01/05.
One month later on 01/01/06
WiildBlue again changed the FAP .. this time by lowering
the amounts of data a user could upload and download. The
original limits were:
- Value Pak: 3000 / 10000 (Now
lowered to 2,300 / 7,500) ..
- Select Pak: 4,000 / 16,000
(Now lowered to 3,000 / 12,000 )
- Pro Pak: 6,000 / 22,000
(Now 5,000 / 17,000).
Here's what WildBlue has to say
about this subject (to their credit, they don't hide it in 6 point
type and they spell it out clearly):
To ensure
that all WildBlue customers have equitable access to the
WildBlue network, WildBlue has implemented a Fair Access Policy
(or “FAP”)...
If at any time during a calendar month your Actual Usage is
above the monthly Usage Threshold, we will reduce your WildBlue
access speeds, typically to 128 kbps in the downstream (from the
Internet to you) and 28
kbps in the upstream (from you to the Internet, for the
remainder of the calendar month... You are likely to avoid
any limitations imposed by the FAP if your use is typical of the
majority of Internet users and consists primarily of Web surfing
and a reasonable amount of downloading.
Ok, so what's 'a reasonable amount of
downloading'? WildBlue says:
Usage
is far more likely to exceed the FAP limits if you use
peer-to-peer file sharing programs, you use a webcam or you
download full length movies, large quantities of music files,
full software applications or similar high-bandwidth activities.
Here are the details as they
apply to WildBlue's service offerings as of
11/23/07:
- Value Pak: With the
Value Pak a user is allowed to upload up to 2.3 Gigs (2,300
Megabytes) per any consecutive 30 day period, and download up to 7
Gigs (7,500 Megs) per consecutive 30 day period.
- Select Pak: With
the Select Pak a user is allowed to upload up to 3 Gigs (3,000
Megabytes) per any consecutive 30 day period, and download up to 12
Gigs (12,000 Megs) per consecutive 30 day period.
- Pro Pak: With
the Pro Pak a user is allowed to upload up to 5 Gigs (5,000
Megs) per any consecutive 30 day period, and download up
to 17 Gigs (17,000 Megabytes per consecutive 30 day period
And here it is in an easy-to-read
table format:
|
WildBlue Service Levels |
Value Pak |
Select Pak |
Pro Pak |
|
Upload Threshold (MB) 1 |
2,3003
|
3,000 |
5,000 |
|
Download Threshold (MB)
2 |
7,500 |
12,000 |
17,000 |
|
1 Upload Threshold is the
volume of data that can be uploaded during the previous
30 days before the Fair Access Policy may restrict the
user’s speeds.
2 Download Threshold is the
volume of data that can be downloaded during the
previous 30 days before the Fair Access Policy may
restrict the user’s speeds.
3 1000MB = 1GB. Thus, 3,000 MB = 3
GB. Stating the numbers in MB makes it look more
generous than it really is. |
The uploads and the downloads
will be at full speed until the user reaches or exceeds either the
upload or download limit. Once the user reached or exceeds their package
limits, WildBlue will decrease their upload and download speed until
the previous 30 days use equals less than the users package limits.
Typically the upload speed is reduced to around 28kbps (dialup speeds), and the download
speed is reduced to around 128kbps. It doesn't matter if the
user only exceeds the upload limit, or if they only exceed the download
limit. Either will result in both the users upstream
and downstream
speeds being reduced for the remainder of the period. When those
requirements are met, the speeds are returned to full. WildBlue
will send users an email letting them know when either their upload
or download limit has reached 80% of its allowed limit. This is so
users can gauge their use and try to keep from getting their speeds
reduced for going over their limit.
Not too bad as limits go, but
that 'rest of the calendar month' slowdown can be a real buzzkill. Could your business stand that? I
didn't think so.
The Takeaway:
No
business that depends upon fast, reliable Internet access can afford
to operate under the restrictions of a residential service-class 'Fair Access
Policy'. All you have to do to trigger the FAP is
to have two or three PCs on your network download a good-sized
Windows update or service pack. Even dialup users get better
treatment than this.
So don't get FAPed - it's a business
killer. For business needs,
BroadSky Networks' Business and Enterprise class services are your best bets.
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