Hughesnet false performance claims and UNFAIR "Fair Access Policy" (F.A.P.) Germantown Maryland

I recently purchased Hughesnet satellite internet sevice. I chose the plan that claimed to offer 1.6 MBPS download speed and 250 kbps upload speed. After becoming frustrated with the low speed of my service I decided to test the service at regular intervals. The 15 tests I performed over a 48 hour period , my service averaged well below Hughesnet's performance claim.

Aside from the lack of advertised performance, there is a hidden "fine print" penalty imposed on users who transfer data that exceeds their so-called "Fair Access Policy". (or F.A.P. in short)My current plan offers 500mb per day, which is the maximum amount for household use. The very first evening I had my Hughesnet service the F.A.P. was exceeded due to the fact that my computer hadn't been online in quite some time and performed an automatic update. Had I even KNOWN about the F.A.P. I would have disabled automatic updates. This happened to me again last night when a guest left their laptop on and connected while we went to dinner.

One of the more frustrating aspects of Hughesnet's "Fair Access Policy" is that it is completely UNFAIR to any average internet user. Almost every software update or driver update an average user would require to be able to utilize basic functions of their computer will exceed the threshold of the F.A.P.

What is really disturbing in that Hughesnet misleads customers into thinking that their F.A.P. is rarely broken. - Taken directly from Hughesnets F.A.P. page :

"Hughes assigns a download threshold to each service plan that limits the amount of data that may be downloaded during a typical day. A small percentage of subscribers who exceed this limit will experience a temporary reduction of speed."

This is a total LIE. I have spoken to several neighbors and even relatives who break the F.A.P. anytime an update is needed of drivers are needed. Most of us have resorted to taking our computers into town to update the software. Some people have even PAID to have it done. Reason being , the 3 hour window that Hughesnet offers unlimited downloads gets bombarded by use and speed drop off significantly. The last time I tried to update my software It was a choked to a rate slower than dialup and was estimated to take 13 hours.

The honest truth about Hughesnets F.A.P. is that they oversold their equipments capacities and instead of making viable performance improvements, have found a sneaky way (F.A.P.) to punish the paying customer for AVERAGE use levels. The more people they slap the F.A.P. on the faster their service is provided to those not yet over the F.A.P. line. Its a rotational band-aid for their outdated equipment where only the customer suffers.

Unfortunately I have very few options for internet service in my area. I have 10 days before my 30 days to opt out of Hughesnet are up and believe me I am diligently looking for other options. I am even considering going back to dialup.

Rock hill
eagle point, Oregon
U.S.A.