-=PCTechTalk=- Re: high speed internet

What is an FAP violation and FAP limit?
Sandi
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gman" <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 5:44 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: high speed internet


> Sandi,
>    We had problems with the service almost from day 1.  The speeds and
> connectivity were great at first, but soon started to drop off.  Within
> about a month, we were hardly able to connect at all.  After several calls
> and transfers (and a couple of months complaining), I got to speak with a
> WildBlue senior tech who confessed that one of their 5 satellite beams was
> having a serious issue and it was affecting everyone running off of that
> beam.  During our conversation, she asked me if I would prefer to back out
> of my contract without penalty.  I asked her to give me her personal 
> opinion
> on whether the service would be fixed and improved any time soon and she
> said she did, but couldn't give me a timetable since the techs themselves
> weren't really sure what was at the root of the problem.  I knew she was
> being real with me (a VERY strange feeling when dealing with most tech
> support people) so I told her I'd hang in there a little while longer.
> Thankfully, she was kind enough to add that offer to my records so that I
> could activate it later if necessary.
>
>    Well, they got the beam fixed, but a few months later, we were hit with
> a FAP violation and our speeds were cut down to just above dial-up speeds.
> Our contract was for their top tier $80 US/month service (1.5Mb/second)
> which includes 17000Mb worth of downloads and 256Mb in uploads over any
> rolling 30 day period (this is much higher than Hughes FAP limit, BTW), so
> there was no way that we had come anywhere near that amount over the
> previous 30 days (or ANY 30 day period for that matter).  I called to
> complain and was told that DishNetwork doesn't monitor bandwidth use and 
> has
> no way to even look into the matter.  When I asked them to put me in touch
> with someone at WildBlue, I was told that my contract specifically states
> that I can only get support directly from DishNetwork.  I was absolutely
> livid!  The speed reduction remains in place until the measured use drops
> below 70% of the limit, which is 11000Mb in our case.  It took about 3 
> weeks
> at those dial-up speeds for it to drop that low and our advertised speeds 
> to
> be reinstated.
>
>    By now, you can probably imagine where I'm going with this.  After
> numerous calls, transfers and runarounds (and a couple more FAP violation
> accusations/speed reductions), I eventually had enough and decided to play
> the wildcard that wonderful WildBlue senior tech had added to my account
> record.  I backed out of the 18-month contract after about 10 months of
> headaches without penalty (although they unsuccessfully tried to charge me
> for a lot more equipment than I had used) and switched over to the DSL 
> that
> my phone company had JUST finally brought into my neighborhood.
>
>    My current connection is now DSL and is the slowest speed the company
> offers (1.0Mb/s), but they tell us it's the best they can do for our area.
> The funny thing is that our perceived speeds are actually much faster than
> when we were using satellite internet, there's no such thing as a FAP and
> the company is very responsive, courteous, etc. to customer calls.  Oh, 
> and
> the package only costs us $20 US/month for the first year under the sale
> they had going at the time we signed up.  That will increase to the usual
> $30 US/month for the second year.  Faster speeds, no FAP and decent 
> service
> for about 1/4 of the price?  Go figure!            lol
>
> Peace,
> Gman
>
> "The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask"
>


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