# to much broadband



## TexasArtist (May 4, 2003)

we're on starband and they keep telling us we are using to much braodband so the turn us down to dial up speed. What the heck does this mean and how can we fix it??? We don't do anything but use the computer for surfing the net or check email when needed


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

TexasArtist said:


> we're on starband and they keep telling us we are using to much braodband so the turn us down to dial up speed. What the heck does this mean and how can we fix it??? We don't do anything but use the computer for surfing the net or check email when needed


Are you using hughes.net?


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## TexasArtist (May 4, 2003)

no it's not hughes net it's starband. My mom gave me the wrong word it bandwidth that they said we're using to much of. ....now what the heck is it cause they sure didn't give her any tips on using less or anything they just turned her net waaaaay down to dail up speed:boring:


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

TexasArtist said:


> no it's not hughes net it's starband. My mom gave me the wrong word it bandwidth that they said we're using to much of. ....now what the heck is it cause they sure didn't give her any tips on using less or anything they just turned her net waaaaay down to dail up speed:boring:


The satellite Internet providers have to do that. When I was with DirecPC they called it the Fair Access Policy (FAP), and set the bandwidth limit at 160 megabytes per hour. After that they would "FAP" you, by lowering your bandwidth to 56K for a day or so.

I suspect you agreed to something similar in their Terms of Service when you signed on.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Here is a Q/A from the Starband's web site

*Are there any time limits or hourly restrictions on the StarBandÂ® service?*
There are no restrictions regarding time of day or hours of usage. StarBand is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year.* (Note, however, that continuous use of your StarBand system may result in excessive bandwidth usage in violation of StarBand Acceptable Use Policies.)*

Are there any activities prohibited on the StarBand service?
Yes. Like most, if not all, ISPs, StarBand does not permit activities that are illegal, or that violate or are disrespectful of the rights of other StarBand members or any Internet users. *Also, in consideration for all StarBand members, StarBand reserves the right to limit excessive bandwidth usage by members. *The Acceptable Use Policy details a number of these activities and applications and the various available remedies and actions that StarBand may take to stop inappropriate or bandwidth hog activities.

Furthermore, StarBand is committed to helping reduce the proliferation of SPAM (bulk e-mail) activities over the Internet. StarBand's e-mail service automatically blocks known SPAM accounts from entering into the StarBand system, and we reserve the right to take other measures to limit SPAM messages (such as limiting the number of addresses in outgoing e-mail messages).

You may not host a Web site on a PC connected to the satellite system. However, StarBand will host a personal Web site for you. See our Acceptable Use Policy for more information on restricted activities.


You may want to vist their page for further reading.
http://www.starband.com/faq/servicefeatures.html


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## Terre d'Esprit (Aug 31, 2004)

Everything you do takes bandwidth. It's how much you actually download. If you look at YouTube, any cams, streaming video, large graphic files, movies, anything that is graphic-intensive, you will use a lot of bandwidth quickly. I have Hughes, and I upgraded my plan so that I can download a whopping 300 MB per day. It's difficult to stay under that.

On Hughes, you can check your bandwidth usage to see how much you are using at a time. The hourly usage can give you an idea of what you are doing that might be contributing to your being "FAPped" (as we refer to it here).

You should also check to be sure you don't have any malware on your computer that could be downloading things in the background.

Good luck.

L


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## alpha phi (Oct 16, 2007)

Unlimited internet.....with limits?

My parents got unlimited long distance, so step dad could telecommute 2 days a week.
The phone Co. tried to pull the excessive use nonsense.
They called the phone co. 
After arguing the deffinition of "unlimited" for a while, he told them to turn off the phone, so he could do business with a competitor.......his use was suddenly not excessive after all.

Call their bluff, or just find a better ISP.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

alpha phi said:


> Call their bluff, or just find a better ISP.


If satellite Internet is the only broadband available then they've pretty much got you. I doubt that calling Starband's bluff will get any customer very far.


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

alpha phi said:


> Unlimited internet.....with limits?
> 
> My parents got unlimited long distance, so step dad could telecommute 2 days a week.
> The phone Co. tried to pull the excessive use nonsense.
> ...


It's not a "bluff", in fact, if you find a satellite ISP that has no FAP, at their lower rates, please, by all means post who they are. I bet everyone here on satellite would switch over to them.

We had DirecPC also and would run afoul of their FAP occasionally, and this was before they had the 3 or 4 tier plan. They had their normal package and their business package.

The Business package was well over $100.00 a month. We were paying 60+ for their normal package and had to buy all the equipment.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Get a download meter... I use Down2Home, cause it's free. I leave it running in a corner of my desktop. I can glance over and see if I'm using too much bandwidth... Also helpful if you're doing nothing, and it shows your uploading or downloading... if so, you got spyware communicating or viruses... Also, there are lots of zombie programs that'll zombify your computer, using your bandwidth to send out spam.

You'd be surprised how much bandwidth you use... a good meter will enlighten you to how much you're actually using...


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## jenofthewoods (Jan 21, 2008)

Do you have a wireless router if so is it secure????
I use my neighbors wireless internet. (With permission)
Someone that lives near you could be using your bandwidth wirelessly somehow.
Just a thought.
Thanks Jen


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

texican said:


> Get a download meter... I use Down2Home, cause it's free.


When I was with DirecPC I was experimenting with making VCDs with low quality mpeg movies, so I was doing a lot of downloading. I got a download manager and set it for 150 megabytes/hour (FAP limit was 160). I was fapped anyway.

I checked my usage online and was under the 160 limit every hour, so I called customer service. He told me that he had no control over it because customers were automatically fapped by software, to which I took strong exception.

I told him that while I, of course, had no objection to Hughes.net using software to administrate their contractual obligations, the fact that the software was doing that was no excuse for not living up to their contractual obligations. It seemed to me that THEY were the ones who set the 160 megabyte/hour limit, so they had no defense for cutting me off for using 150 megabyte/hour limit. Fortunately I had an alternative to satellite service the following month so I was able to drop Hughes.


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## SCRich (Feb 27, 2008)

Just dropping them may not be an option, that is why I never went ahead and tried them. Thought about it but too much bad talk about all the providers so I decided not to. Once your 1 or so week trial period is over you are stuck with them for either 1 or 2 years, I think one of the 3 companies do not even care if you had the equipment installed yet, once you order you are stuck with the contract.

Rich


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## Rocktown Gal (Feb 19, 2008)

I have the same thing with hughes.net. When I complained they told me that mature people get it and that I was using to much download. I told them that the last two times I was put on FAP there was not even anyone home to use the computer so I know that I was not doing it. They more or less said suck it up and live with it. The only other option I have is dial up, and I really do not want to use that. But I think a 24 hour restriction is not fair to the customers. I did upgrade and was told that upgrading did not stop the problem. Ugh they got you anyway you go.


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## TexasArtist (May 4, 2003)

texican said:


> Get a download meter... I use Down2Home, cause it's free. I leave it running in a corner of my desktop. I can glance over and see if I'm using too much bandwidth... Also helpful if you're doing nothing, and it shows your uploading or downloading... if so, you got spyware communicating or viruses... Also, there are lots of zombie programs that'll zombify your computer, using your bandwidth to send out spam.
> 
> You'd be surprised how much bandwidth you use... a good meter will enlighten you to how much you're actually using...


do you know there web site?


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## TexasArtist (May 4, 2003)

jenofthewoods said:


> Do you have a wireless router if so is it secure????
> I use my neighbors wireless internet. (With permission)
> Someone that lives near you could be using your bandwidth wirelessly somehow.
> Just a thought.
> Thanks Jen


Hmmm well I'm wondering how close they would have to be to 'use' some of it? I share off my parents computer and I'm less the a buss length away. The only house closest to us is about 5 bus lengths away nose to tail. They wouldn't be able to draw from the far away would they? I'm hardly getting connection sometimes where I'm sitting:shrug:


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

jenofthewoods said:


> Do you have a wireless router if so is it secure????
> I use my neighbors wireless internet. (With permission)
> Someone that lives near you could be using your bandwidth wirelessly somehow.
> Just a thought.
> Thanks Jen


If you're accessing your neighbor's wireless router then they either gave you authentication information or they're operating with no security. It's very common for people to run their wireless routers with no security. As long as file sharing isn't enabled in any of your computers it's safe to operate with no security. The most a freeloader can do is suck bandwidth.

Sharing a satellite connection with wireless is a good application for security though. Neighbors and passers by can see that your network exists, but they won't be able to access it.

Normally satellite providers make usage statistics available to their subscribers. Satellite users should check those statistics from time to time to assure that nothing phony baloney is going on with their accounts.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Nevada said:


> When I was with DirecPC I was experimenting with making VCDs with low quality mpeg movies, so I was doing a lot of downloading. I got a download manager and set it for 150 megabytes/hour (FAP limit was 160). I was fapped anyway.
> 
> I checked my usage online and was under the 160 limit every hour, so I called customer service. He told me that he had no control over it because customers were automatically fapped by software, to which I took strong exception.
> 
> I told him that while I, of course, had no objection to Hughes.net using software to administrate their contractual obligations, the fact that the software was doing that was no excuse for not living up to their contractual obligations. It seemed to me that THEY were the ones who set the 160 megabyte/hour limit, so they had no defense for cutting me off for using 150 megabyte/hour limit. Fortunately I had an alternative to satellite service the following month so I was able to drop Hughes.


Nevada, I had the one way service since 01, and got fapped quite a bit, usually by accident (a program not closing when it was supposed to, in the wee hours of the morning...)...but back then, the FAP was only 6 to 8 hours. The FAP would hit at 160, but it was averaged out over several hours... If I had zero dl for 8 hours, I could get 160 to 165 and get FAPped. I could do 150, wait about three hours and do it again, no FAP. If I did ~150 one hour, waited an hour and did 50 more, I'd get FAPped. Copperhead over at one of the Hughesnet shadowsites (DSL reports???) had a neat program that'd show you how much you had left in your 'bucket'... you could use that much and no more without getting fap. The bucket scenario made the most sense... Drain the bucket almost dry, and it didn't fill back up instantly... it took a steady drip drip drip to get the bucket back up to full... try to empty out the whole bucket when it was only half full would get you a FAP.

Reckon you figured it out, but, talking to Direcway (hughes) customer support, is like talking to a Cat... or a brick wall... useless  I avoided reformatting a computer with a bad hard drive, for over a year, because customer support couldn't help me with a very simple thing... like telling me the dialup # of the local isp (needed with the one way service)...

Now, with two way direcway, the FAP is 200mb. Better yet, there's a free for all time between 3 and 6am...

the link for down2home is http://jitserv.coolfreepage.com/


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

TexasArtist said:


> . The only house closest to us is about 5 bus lengths away nose to tail. They wouldn't be able to draw from the far away would they?


 Well, there is something going on, so yes they could be, I would dump the wireless router and go to wire's and also run a spyware detector program at least weekly. If you're getting FAP'd when you know theres no one on the computer, there is something else going on.


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