Wildblue Satellite/ViaSat FAP – by Todd

This was a comment on one of the threads but I thought it deserved its own post:

Thanks to the creator of “WildBlueSucks.Info”!!!

I’ve had the misfortune of being a Wildblue Internet Satellite customer since December 2007. I work from my home, and choose to live in a rural area, and satellite Internet is the only “non-dial-up” Internet access option I have. From talking with other local Wildblue and HughesNET customers, apparently both providers are a bird of the same feather regarding the FAP (Fair Access Policy). During the sales process of attracting customers like me, Internet satellite providers certainly don’t talk about the sharp white teeth of the FAP. Unfortunately, I misunderstood what how the FAP works, I thought it was like our cell phone providers where the number of available airtime minutes resets at the end of each month and/or cycle. This is NOT the way the FAP works – BUYER BEWARE!!!

My work requires me to use an online back-up solution (Carbonite.Com), and this process kills the miniscule upload limitations of the FAP for my service option – i.e. 5.0GB. I log daily my usage from the Wildblue bandwidth monitor – http://www.wildblue.com/myaccount/index.jsp – and have found the following hard truths about WildBlue’s FAP:

1. WildBlue’s tech support lies about how this “bandwidth monitor” works. They have admitted to me that it does not reflect “real-time” measurements of your actual usage. Thus a responsible person cannot accurately monitor / manage keeping out of the FAP penalty box.

2. I keep a daily log of actual “bandwidth monitor” screen-shots and track that data in an Excel spreadsheet. There is no precise methodology that I have found / observed as to how WildBlue’s FAP translates into actual available bandwidth to users. For example, since March of 2008, my upload bandwidth usage averages 3.3GB at any one given time. This means that although I’m paying for 5.0GB of up upload bandwidth in my monthly Wildblue service fee, I’m only able to access / use 1.7GB of uploading bandwidth at any given time. In other words, I do not have access to the remaining 3.3GB of upload bandwidth I’m paying for because of the FAP’s methodology of how it measures what you’ve historically used and sets that unchangeable number to what’s left in your service plan’s upload availability. Again, this number never resets back to zero, thus I’m paying for 5.0GB of upload bandwidth capacity, but Wildblue only grants me access to 1.7GB of that 5.0GB based on my past usage – NOTE: This is the same for the “download” bandwidth levels as well. To explain my point, WildBlue’s FAP is like buying all your stuff at the “company store”, you make $100, but your paycheck is only $30, because the rest they’ve laid claim to for past goods purchased / used.

3. When confronting Wildblue about their FAP violation, here’s what I went through:

a. Tech support – no help on this issue, and they refused to connect me with anyone above the person who answered the phone.

b. I was not able to find a Wildblue Communications corporate phone number; then found that they were purchased by a company called ViaSat in San Diego, CA (Chief Executive Officer is Mark D. Dankberg). Eventually, I tried requesting information from Wildblue about “commercial” grade services with more bandwidth. In essence here were my options:

i. I would have to go to another company who’s a reseller of Wildblue Internet satellite services

ii. Pay two-times more per month for a few GB’s more bandwidth monthly and no increased speed (upload or download)

iii. This would require me having to buy out the remainder of my existing Wildblue contract (no transfers)
iv. Pay for additional service / set-up charges with the new company to get the same service I’m currently getting but with increased

v. Have to get a new Email address

vi. Still have to deal with Wildblue’s “bandwidth monitor” requirements

vii. Good deal eh?

c. When you go into FAP violation, they “throttle” back your bandwidth speed to that of dial-up. When I asked Wildblue how long will I be in the penalty box, they cannot / will not give an answer. They have a magic formula that they apparently can’t share with the customer as they simply state; it depends on your upload/download usage. So I asked the question, “If I do not turn on my computer, and no one else is using the Wildblue Internet connection, how long will I be in penalty box / violation?” They cannot or will not answer that question. I finally pressed a Wildblue sales guy at their Colorado (former headquarters) office hard enough that he told me about two-weeks based on how much I went over my upload quota. My job afforded me the luxury of scheduling a 2-week business trip, and upon my return, I was still in the FAP penalty box. It took 15 days to have the “normal speed” turned back on. Effing amazing!!!!

I pray for the day I have an alternative to dial-up and Wildblue here in my area (South Dakota). I hope that day comes soon! Wildblue / ViaSat in my experience, engage in dishonorable and unethical business practices. I accept 100% responsibility for my actions of signing up for this service, and have done everything in my power to try to understand Wildblue’s business practices, and do my best to be a good steward of our agreement. However, Wildblue’s actions are vastly different from their intentions, and misleading the customer is their true business model, not providing a good Internet access service to honest paying customers!