Direcway - Hughesnet Directway Beware of "FAP" Internet, Nationwide

While the Hughesnet service works where other services (Cable or DSL) do not & have a better speed & data transfer than Wild Blue, they have an access policy which limits you to a very minor amount of DATA. At a limit of 200mb (or up to 500mb if you can afford it) goes very quickly, a few e-mails, a couple of pages & a Windows update & you are done.

Hughesnet states that if you are in violation of their "FAP" (Fair Access Policy) which restricts you "for up to 24 hours to dialup speeds. What they don't tell you is that thier 'Dialup" speeds can be outclassed by a 300 baud modem.

Typical transfer rates for the 1mbps service is about 800kbps when not in violation, but when in violation access is restricted to a best speed of 17kbps & typical of about 5 to 7kbps (typical dialup modems are 56kbps). As long as you read e-mail, or got to web sites that do not have any flash, audio or video of any kind, this service will work for you, but if someone in your house goes to POGO or similar sites you will be in restricted access more often than not.

If you have any updates to do or any streaming DATA requirements, best wait till 2:00 am EST (till 7:00 am EST) to do it when access is currently unrestricted.

If you are in an area serviced by Alltel's EVDO revsion "a" cellular service, they have an unrestricted cellular broadband DATA plan for about $80 a month which is the same as any basic satellite internet service plan be it from Hughesnet/Direcway or Wildblue, but without a restrictive "FAP".

I have heard that Sprint offers a similar unrestricted plan, but ATT & Verizon still had "FAP"s of around 5GB per month.