Most of the information I've gotten about satellite Internet came from reading customer forums. My actual experience with it is very limited.
I tried a Starband demo at Radio Shack (which has since dropped it). It seemed slower than a dial-up connection, but the salesperson explained that the demo used a different satellite than the live service.
On the "FAP" issue, I should have said that was a policy of Hughes (DirecPC, Earthlink, Pegasus, etc.), and not Starband - although the Starband TOS does give them the right to impose a similar policy.