To make sure fair Internet access for all HughesNet® subscribers, HUGHES maintains a Fair Access Policy (FAP). This policy establishes an unbiased balance in Internet access across satellite broadband services for HughesNet subscribers. To ensure this equity, customers may experience some temporary throughput limitations. HughesNet Satellite Internet access is not assured. This policy applies to all service plans including “Unlimited” plans where subscribers’ use of the Service is not limited to a specific number of hours per month. HughesNet system usage data indicates around 5% of subscribers are responsible for a disproportionate share – often as much as half – of the total HughesNet service traffic. Unfortunately, many of those subscribers are not using HughesNet for its intended purpose. To ensure that all HughesNet subscribers have fair and equal access to the benefits of the Satellite broadband service, HughesNet has enacted a Fair Access Policy to prevent abusive consumption of bandwidth by a handful of users.
FAP (Fair Access Policy) is straightforward: based on an analysis of usage data, Hughes Network Systems has established a HughesNet usage threshold well above the maximum typical usage rates. When a customer exhibits patterns of system usage which exceed that threshold for an extended period of time, the FAP may temporarily limit that subscriber’s throughput to ensure the integrity of the system for all HughesNet subscribers.
Typically, the restrictions will be lifted within 8-12 hours of the original application of the FAP if the customer’s usage in this period stays below the FAP threshold.
During this recovery period, the HughesNet service may still be used, but speeds will be slower. Web browsing, for example, will be significantly slower than subscribers’ normal browsing experience. Subscribers will return to normal download speeds after the recovery period as long as they minimize their bandwidth-intensive activities. If they continue these activities during this recovery period, reduced download speeds may continue beyond 24 hours.
For example, you may experience FAP if the cumulative requested downloads in a relatively short time period (1-4 hours) exceeds your HughesNet plan download threshold. An example of what can be downloaded within any HughesNet plan would be a software application such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Adobe Acrobat. And normal Internet surfing generates small downloads for each Web page viewed. For example, an hour of surfing can generate 1-10 MB of download activity depending on the content being surfed – well below the amount required to trigger FAP. Subscribers are likely to avoid the limitations imposed by the FAP if their use is typical of the majority of Internet users and consists of Web surfing and a reasonable amount of downloading. See below for a table of FAP parameters for each plan.
| HughesNet – Fair Access Policy (FAP) Parameters | ||||||
| Plan | Home | Professional | ProPlus | Elite | Elite Plus | Elite Premium |
| Download Threshold | 200 MB | 375 MB | 425 MB | 500 MB | 500 MB | 500 MB |
| Recovery Rate | Approx. 50 Kbps | Approx. 50 Kbps | Approx. 50 Kbps | Approx. 150 Kbps | Approx. 150 Kbps | Approx. 150 Kbps |
Where:
- Download Threshold is the volume of data that can be downloaded continuously before the Fair Access Policy may restrict the download speed.
- Recovery Rate is the rate at which a service plan recovers the Download Threshold.
