Wildblue, my ISP, uses a 30 day rolling average FAP. When I signed on in August of 2005 I got 10,000MB per 30 days. We were well within FAP limits until they lopped 25% off all packages — reducing it to 7500MB — and didn’t lower the cost. I was up against the ceiling all the time.
Satellite internet is fine for what it is, but it is NOT comparable with cable. No way, no how. You can’t use VOIP, latency makes online gaming impossible, and downloading movies is out of the question.
Take heart, though, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. More and more wiMax and wireless companies are putting up towers in rural areas, mine included. Since we subscribed with Wildblue, Verizon extended their reach and put us in EVDO territory. The town north of us also put in a wiMax transmitter which *might* reach us, giving us cheaper and faster internet access with NO latency and NO FAP!
There are problems with both Hughesnet and Wildblue. I get my service through a co-op, and this is one case where having a middleman has been priceless. People with Wildblue direct have far more horror stories involving installation and customer service than I do.
It's not perfect by any means,especially during bad weather like thunderstorms which are frequent in N.Fla,but overall I'm a happy camper.