Fair Access Policy (FAP)

Hughes employs a system known as the "Fair Access Policy" (or better known simply as the "FAP") to regulate the download capabilities of it's DirecPC & DirecWay subscribers. Unfortunately, the bottom line is that this policy can at times hinder subscribers internet performance. As such, Hughes does not go out of their way to let it's DirecPC/DirecWay subscribers know about the existence or details of this Fair Access Policy.

This page is devoted to giving you straight-forward information about the policy, and how you can best avoid hitting the FAP barrier.

First, here is the official Hughes U.S. FAP Policy : To ensure equal Internet access for all DIRECWAY� subscribers, Hughes Network Systems maintains a running average fair access policy. Fair access establishes an equitable balance in Internet access across Satellite broadband services by service plan for all DIRECWAY customers regardless of their frequency of use or volume of traffic. To ensure this equity, customers may experience some temporary throughput limitations. DIRECWAY Internet access is not guaranteed. This policy applies to all service plans including "Unlimited" plans where customers' use of the Service is not limited to a specific number of hours per month.

DIRECWAY� system usage data indicates that approximately 5% of subscribers are responsible for a disproportionate share - often as much as half - of the total DIRECWAY service traffic. Unfortunately, many of those subscribers are not using DIRECWAY for its intended purpose.

To ensure that all DIRECWAY subscribers have fair and equal access to the benefits of the Satellite broadband service, DIRECWAY has enacted a Fair Access Policy (FAP) to prevent abusive consumption of bandwidth by a handful of users.
FAP is straightforward: based on an analysis of usage data, Hughes Network Systems has established a DIRECWAY 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 DIRECWAY 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.

For example, you may experience FAP if the cumulative requested downloads in a relatively short time period (1-4 hours) exceeds 169 MB* (megabytes). An example of what can be downloaded within 169 MB* would be a software application such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Adobe Acrobat. Normal Internet surfing, on the other hand, 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.

* From 2:00 AM to 5:00 AM ET, offpeak threshold is 225 MB.

So what does all that mean ? : Well first, it's best to understand a little something about how web-surfing works. Here's the basics : When you're surfing the internet, you're actually both uploading and downloading data. ( Most surfing consists of much more downloading than uploading.) When you view a web page, you're actually downloading the contents of that page into your computer so it can be viewed. While downloading the web page you want to view, your computer will occasionally upload a small amount of data back to the website to let it know that everything thus far sent has been received ok. While very basic, that's a good/simple way of understanding web browsing. Ok .. with that said and understood, let's continue on .. :-)

The FAP Simplified : Your DirecPC/DirecWay system is capable of delivering the internet to you at very high speeds. Web pages pop up fast, pictures load quickly, & files can be downloaded at very high speed. However, Hughes does not want it's customers to utilize that high speed capability to any great extent. To stop users from using up too much bandwidth & resources on their (Hughes') system, they have implemented the "Fair Access Policy". What the FAP does is limit the amount of data DirecPC/DirecWay customers can download in a given time span. When that limit has been reached, Hughes throttles back the speed on customers high-speed satellite connection. When under FAP restrictions your speed will be as slow as, if not slower than a standard 56K dial-up modem. Your online speed will remain (painfully) slow until the FAP restriction is lifted. (Which is what Hughes means when they say "the FAP may temporarily limit that subscriber's throughput" .)

So what exactly triggers the FAP ? : Specifically, when a *user (*Family Surfer Unlimited Plan) downloads 169 megs over the course of about an hour or two the FAP is activated. (Note : from 2:00am - 5:00am EST the download limit is raised to 225 Megs). So is it easy to download 169 megs in an hour or two ? That depends largely on what you use the internet for ......

Web-surfing & the FAP : Ok .. so now you know that whenever you're active & online (surfing & such), that you're down - loading while you browse. Now, if all you do online is browse websites & check your email, you'll likely never hit the FAP. Most web pages don't containg a great deal of data. So, even if you're looking at page after page of content .. or spending the better part of a day shopping on eBay .. you just won't take in anything near 169 megs in an hour or two. You'll stay well below the FAP barrier & will be able to browse consistantly at high-speed.

What about file downloading ? : Popular file sharing programs like KAZAA, MORPHEUS, AIMSTER, and the like, are types of programs that can bring DirecPC/DirecWay users to the 169 Meg / FAP limit. If you're into downloading full length movies, large quantities of music files, full software applications (games, productivity software, etc.) then you'll likely meet up with the FAP ... and it won't take long. Depending on your download speed, you'll find yourself under FAP restrictions within an hour or so of heavy high-speed downloading.

How long does it take for the FAP restrictions to be lifted ? : Hughes lists the time for the FAP to be lifted as "8-12 hours". In practice though, it takes more like 6-8 hours.

Is the 169 Meg limit an "absolute" number ? : No. For no known reason, sometimes the FAP doesn't kick in until a larger amount of data is downloaded. That's why the recovery time is not a set/constant number. The 169 Meg number is a pretty good rule of thumb though.

Is the FAP limit the same for DirecPC Classic & DirecWay 1-Way & 2-Way ? : The FAP download limit doesn't depend on which model system you have, but rather on which "package" you subscribe to. Here's some of the packages that are available, & the FAP thresholds for them : "Executive Surfer : 90Mb" "Family Surfer Unlimited : 169Mb" "Office Surfer Unlimited : 360Mb" . Most home users are subscribed to the 169 Mb Family Surfer Unlimited plan.

Is the FAP limit the same for users who subscribe thru Hughes, Earthlink, AOL, etc.. ? : Yes. No matter which company you subscribe to the DirecWay/DirecPC service through, all downloads (& uploads for 2-Way users) are still routed through & monitored by Hughes. As such, the FAP is the same for each.

How exactly is the FAP restriction lifted ? : This part of the FAP calculation requires a little math, & a little imagination. :-)
The FAP "recharges" at a rate of about 56 kbps (about the speed of a decent dial-up modem connection). So, if you download 169 Megs over the course of an hour or two, you'll now need about 8 hours to recharge completely. This is because at 56kbps you can download about 16-20 megs per hour. Using the 20 megs per hour number, it would take just over 8 hours to completely recharge. (169(megs) divided by 20(megs) = 8.45 (or just over 8 hours). Confused ? Ok ... let's describe this process a bit differently. (This is where the "imagination" part I mentioned earlier comes in :-) )

Lets say that you've been offline for a day, so there's no doubt you're under no FAP restrictions. You've now got a full 169 megs of high-speed downloading ready & available to you. Picture that full 169 Megs as a full bucket of water.
Now lets say you start a large file download. Picture the bucket rapidly emptying as you receive data at high-speed. Once the bucket is empty it means you've downloaded the full 169 megs, and you'll be under FAP restrictions. Given the buckets rapid rate of emptying, it'll only take about an hour or two before it's completely empty.
   However, all the while the bucket is quickly draining, there is a small trickle of water being put back into your bucket from Hughes. The trickle (a 56 kbps refill rate) is better than nothing .. but it doesn't come close to matching the rate at which the water is depleating. Since the water is going out much faster than it's going in, you'll eventually have an empty bucket and only be able to download at the "refill" rate of about 56kbps. (So, you'll then be downloading at a speed comparable to a 56k modem.)
    Make a little more sense now ? Hope so . :-)

So can I get offline for a little while .. let the bucket fill a bit .. then resume downloading at high-speed for a while longer ? : Well .. sort of. Here's where FAP rules are a little gray. In theory, you should be able to hop offline for a few minutes .. let the "bucket" fill a little bit .. then hop back online & download a little bit at high-speed. Sometimes it does work that way, and sometimes it doesn't .... with no apparent reason to why it works on one day and not on a next. Sometimes you'll have to wait nearly the full 8+ hours before resuming high-speed transfers. Sorry .. no definitive answer on that one. :-(

So why is my plan called "Family Surfer Unlimited" if my high-speed access is indeed limited ? : Hughes guarantees it's customers unlimited internet access ... NOT unlimited high-speed access.

DirecWay has the DirecWay music feed available from MyDirecWay.com. Does that music count towards the FAP ? :
No. The music feed from MyDirecWay.com does not count towards the FAP. Any other online music source would though.

The numbers game ... : DirecPC/DirecWay connections are generally fast, & allow you to download large amounts of data at very high speed. However, because of the download limitations imposed by the FAP you could argue that you're limited to an average of a mere 21.125 Megs per hour (which is only slightly more than you could achieve with a straight dial-up modem connection !) . How can that be ? Well, while you can download 169 megs in well under 8 hours , it will take you about 8 hours to recover from the FAP (to refill your bucket). So, 169 divided by 8 equals an average of 21.125 megs per hour. Don't worry though .... unless you're looking to download large amounts of data constantly, it shouldn't be a problem. The above is just one example of how the numbers can be played out.

   Here is the Hughes DirecPC/DirecWay Service Plans chart : Note the different recovery rates (the recovery rate equals how fast the "bucket refills") at the bottom of each plan.

Managing the FAP : Ok .. so now you know how the FAP works .. what it's limitations are .. and what triggers it. So what can you do to try to keep away from the FAP ? Here's a few ideas .
(1) If you're looking to download something especially large .. like something over 169 Megs .. you could try to start your download at 2:00am Eastern Time. Hughes alters the FAP boundaries slightly for "off peak" time (which is from 2:00am - 5:00 am EST.) to 225 Megs, rather than 169 megs.
(2) If you're downloading large amounts of data, try to stop your downloading before the FAP hits. Once the FAP is imposed it can take quite a long time to be lifted . Even though your "bucket" is refilling, you may not be able to access the internet at high-speed until it's near completely full. Stopping your download before the FAP hits ... then waiting a couple hours and resuming your download ... can keep you going at high speed.
(3) Check the FAP barrier occasionally. While the 169 Megs limit is usually accurate, there are times when you can exceed it significantly. Since the reason is unknown, it's also unknown "when" these times will be. The only way to tell is to hop online and start a large download. If you find you're able to exceed the 169 limit by a great deal (at least 50 megs or more), then you've probably found such a day. It's been my experience that when these days happen, they last the whole day .. not just a couple hours. So, should you find such a day then it's time to see if you need any big files ! :-)

What's the best way to monitor how much I've downloaded ? : Until recently, there was no really good method to monitor your DirecPC/DirecWay data transfers. Things like the MyDirecWay music feed messed with standard download monitoring software, as it counted the music towards your total data transfer. More important, the standard download monitoring software doesn't do anything to show you the FAP "refill" rate.
   Recently though, the good folks at the TecnoApoyo group in association with us here at DirecPC Uncensored ! have developed a fantastic program called "FAPMon". This program allows you to monitor the amount of data you've downloaded, as well as monitor the data refill rate. It does not count MyDirecWay music feed towards your total download. It also shows your data transfer rate, (overall download speed), satellite signal strength, & MUCH more !. Best of all, the program is configurable for the different types of download plans available thru Hughes. So, whether you have the Family Surfer, one of the Business plans, or even one of the European plans, this program will work for you !

For complete details, and to download FapMon visit the FAPMON page under the DOWNLOADS section of the menu

                       The Fair Access Policy (F.A.P.) (European Users)

First, here's a copy of the Fair Access Policy for European DirecWay users :

To ensure equal Internet access for all DIRECWAY� subscribers, Hughes Network Systems maintains a running average fair access policy. Fair access establishes an equitable balance in Internet access across Satellite broadband services by service plan for all DIRECWAY customers regardless of their frequency of use or volume of traffic. To ensure this equity, customers may experience some temporary throughput limitations. DIRECWAY Internet access is not guaranteed.

DIRECWAY� system usage data indicates that approximately 5% of subscribers are responsible for a disproportionate share - often as much as half - of the total DIRECWAY service traffic. Unfortunately, many of those subscribers are not using DIRECWAY for its intended purpose.

To ensure that all DIRECWAY subscribers have fair and equal access to the benefits of the Satellite broadband service, DIRECWAY has enacted a Fair Access Policy (FAP) to prevent abusive consumption of bandwidth by a handful of users.

FAP is straightforward: based on an analysis of usage data, Hughes Network Systems has established a DIRECWAY usage threshold well above the maximum typical usage rates. When a customer exhibits patterns of system usage that 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 DIRECWAY subscribers.   These limits may need to change from time to time as new applications become popular.

Typically, the restrictions will be lifted within 5-10 hours of the original application of the FAP if the customer's usage in this period stays below the FAP threshold.

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. * End *

So there you have it. Looks pretty darn close (at least on paper) to the U.S. policy . In practice though, they're rather different. Here are the details :

The Fair Access Policy in Europe works a bit different than it does here in the States. Here in the U.S., we pretty much have only one number to concern ourselves with. That being the FAP limit number. Reach that limit & our speeds get throttled to pretty much equal our recovery rate.

In Europe the FAP works a little different. First, their download (FAP) limit is a bit smaller. Most different though is their sort of two-tier FAP system. Here 's how it works ... We'll use the "Bronze" package for this example.

The "Bronze" user can download at full speed (No FAP) until they download 61.6 MB.(In a relatively short period of time) At that point, the FAP kicks in & drops their download speed to 128 kb's . Unlike the U.S. FAP, this throttled rate is significantly higher than their "refill" rate.
However, if after the FAP kicks in the user continues to download (now at 128 kb) ... Should they reach 92.4 MB (61.6 divided by 2 = 30.8 . 30.8 + 61.6 = 92.4 ... basically, half again as much as the FAP limit) Hughes will disconnect the user completely. (Right .. no connetion to the internet at all. Now there's an FAP ! :-) ) That user would be offline for about 1.1 hours before their "bucket" would refill enough (25%) for Hughes to allow them back online.

The Hughes FAP charts for Europe are below :

The chart above shows how if the Bronze user downloaded 61.6 MB their download speed would be reduced to 128kb/s . Their recovery ("bucket refill") rate would be 32 kb/s , & by Hughes calculations it would take 4.3 hours of inactivity for that user to be completely out of the FAP. The chart below kicks in should the user continue to download at their now throttled 128 kb/s speed.

The chart above picks up at the 61.6 MB download of the Bronze package user , who is now throttled back to 128 kb/s download speed. Now should that user download another 50% of the previously downloaded (61.6 MB) amount , that user would reach the 92.4 MB disconnect limit . The user would be disconnected at that time. Their recovery rate would still be 32 kb/s , so Hughes estimates it would take 1.1 hours for the person to be able to get back online. Hughes requires the users "bucket" refill to 25% before they can get back online.

Hopefully this page has given you a better understanding of the Hughes Fair Access Policy. If you have any questions that you don't see covered here, please drop me an email & I'll add it to this page.