Topic '[WildBlue] What is up with this recovery act and WB?' in forum 'WildBlue Satellite' - dslreports.com

Re: [WildBlue] What is up with this recovery act and WB?

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 20:48:21 EDT

davem1901 posted : Spice300, Thanks for the detailed explanation. I have also tracked my data usage and my speed. I tracked my speed for a longer time because I did not have a router that I could track my data usage until I got my linksys54G. Since I got it installed and setup I have tried to fairly diligently track everything. I even noticed the speed started creeping up before they announced they were upping the speed for WB customers. I looked at my data where I started tracking my data usage compared to WB and I noticed on months where there were 31 days, my usage stayed the same on the 31st day. Just never noticed it before.
I am going to give it a try. Thanks for the info.

Re: [WildBlue] What is up with this recovery act and WB?

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 19:45:59 EDT

Spice300 posted : davem1901, on the 30th and 31st of every month, the Wildblue FAP meter flatlines. I and others discovered this years ago by carefully measuring our usage and Wildblue's FAP meter. See FAP Flap Follow-Up (Feb. 28, 2007) to see the charts and the progression of our understanding of the Wildblue FAP meter. You can test this tonight or tomorrow.

wm4bama, we have had this discussion about the flatline before. I have accurately reported my observations and understanding of the Wildblue FAP meter. As of November 2012, the Wildblue FAP meter still works the way it was described back in 2007. Because this is not an official feature of Wildblue, they could change the FAP algorithm at any time without notice.

I will post my data from November 30, 2012, again for all to review.
up = upload usage in millions of bytes as read by Fapzilla from my Wildblue FAP meter (the AT&T FAP meter)
down = download usage in millions of bytes as read by Fapzilla from my Wildblue FAP meter (the AT&T FAP meter)
netstat down = my download usage in bytes since my network card was last reset as reported by the program netstat. Windows 7 reports this value 2 to 3 times higher than the actual download usage. The counter is 32-bits which means it rolls over at 4,294,967,295 bytes.
netstat up = my upload usage in bytes since my network card was last reset as reported by the program netstat. Windows 7 also reports this value 2 to 3 times higher than actual.

According to Networx I download 8.01 GB on November 30, 2012, while the download usage on my FAP meter remained frozen at 7386 million bytes, 14 million bytes below my cap. My download usage jumped up from 6686 to 7386 between 1 am and 2 am because I forgot that the flatline begins at 2 am MST when standard time is in effect instead of 1 am MST when daylight savings time is in effect. I started downloading at 3 Mbits/s too early and almost got FAPed.


   date  time (MST) up down netstat down,netstat up,comment
11/29/2012 23:04:00,257,6617,215624060,10473556
11/29/2012 23:34:00,258,6648,249009764,11962952
11/30/2012 00:04:00,258,6648,262108708,13451912
11/30/2012 00:34:00,259,6649,310523986,16399290
11/30/2012 01:04:00,260,6684,465145526,20506858
11/30/2012 01:34:00,261,6865,1110313974,35530210
11/30/2012 02:04:00,263,7386,2488279340,63953108,flat line begins at 02:00 MST
11/30/2012 02:34:00,263,7386,3842852760,92081906
11/30/2012 03:04:00,263,7386,888805464,119954214
11/30/2012 03:34:00,263,7386,2126020304,145054938
11/30/2012 04:04:00,263,7386,2892312676,161989468
11/30/2012 04:34:00,263,7386,3268162100,171177380
11/30/2012 05:04:00,263,7386,3490125620,178093508
11/30/2012 05:34:00,263,7386,3791048624,185317516
11/30/2012 06:04:00,263,7386,4093629376,192137614
11/30/2012 06:34:00,263,7386,234791062,202401602
11/30/2012 07:04:00,263,7386,774318566,214298442
11/30/2012 07:34:00,ERROR,ERROR,1052630926,221117649,WB modem lost lock
11/30/2012 08:04:00,263,7386,468812068,10204086
11/30/2012 08:34:01,263,7386,760161306,17105760
11/30/2012 09:04:00,263,7386,1021892812,23330538
11/30/2012 09:34:00,263,7386,1403324496,32021532
11/30/2012 10:04:00,263,7386,1587821970,36139178
11/30/2012 10:34:00,263,7386,1818885422,42135274
11/30/2012 11:04:00,263,7386,1896104166,44649196
11/30/2012 11:34:00,263,7386,2152662794,50484862
11/30/2012 12:04:00,263,7386,2290342042,54835452
11/30/2012 12:34:00,263,7386,2324123084,57982102
11/30/2012 13:04:00,263,7386,2339290570,60289922
11/30/2012 13:34:00,263,7386,3207807630,78642256
11/30/2012 14:04:00,263,7386,4109480278,97153202
11/30/2012 14:34:00,263,7386,945228734,119973114
11/30/2012 15:04:00,263,7386,1529843760,131719288
11/30/2012 15:34:00,263,7386,1532184966,131726748
11/30/2012 16:04:00,263,7386,1534034234,131730022
11/30/2012 16:34:00,263,7386,1535854598,131733296
11/30/2012 17:04:00,263,7386,1537565764,131736570
11/30/2012 17:34:00,263,7386,1594967472,134166710
11/30/2012 18:04:00,263,7386,1630464276,136338622
11/30/2012 18:34:00,263,7386,1692607504,140518186
11/30/2012 19:04:00,263,7386,1722997026,143066678
11/30/2012 19:34:00,263,7386,1894198208,148039108
11/30/2012 20:04:00,263,7386,2053425562,152377032
11/30/2012 20:34:00,263,7386,2204676670,156513618
11/30/2012 21:04:00,263,7386,2474390678,162922978
11/30/2012 21:34:00,263,7386,2808041050,170573650
11/30/2012 22:04:00,263,7386,3116412924,177786374
11/30/2012 22:34:00,263,7386,3261345060,182292048
11/30/2012 23:04:00,263,7386,3442184748,186879660
11/30/2012 23:34:00,263,7386,3528119294,189239074
12/1/2012 00:04:00,263,7386,3529996934,189242678
12/1/2012 17:46:59,259,7367,13803534,702282

I will download again tomorrow starting at 2 am MST. If the flatline operates differently than expected, then I will promptly post a thread here warning of the change.

--
Wildblue Value Pack, beam 31, Riverside gateway

Re: [WildBlue] What is up with this recovery act and WB?

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 13:20:35 EDT

wm4bama posted : What many of the long-time Wildblue Legacy customers are saying on wildblueworld forum is for months that have 31 days there is no usage counted during the 31st day..

Many say they've tested this many times and know it's true.

I was on the Value Pak Legacy system for several years but never tested this claim...

A rolling 30 day scheme is still used and usage is always the sum of the last 30 days of use...so months with 31 days???

But months with just 30 days (or Feb.), usage is counted on the 30th day...at least that's what the majority of customers say that have tried it.
--
Exede12, ViaSat-1, beam 342, Albuquerque Gateway, Denver AcceleNet servers

Re: [WildBlue] What is up with this recovery act and WB?

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 13:07:33 EDT

davem1901 posted : That statement does not make any sense. WB's FAP is based on a rolling 30 day count, not the 1st or last day of any month. Excede is based on a monthly (1st to last day of a month) measurement but WB is not.

Re: [WildBlue] What is up with this recovery act and WB?

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 20:46:06 EDT

anon posted : That seems somewhat confusing. I asked WB about the free download time and WB and they said nope, not available for WB users, just Excede. Plus are you saying one day a year, you get some free download time?

Re: [WildBlue] What is up with this recovery act and WB?

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:02:27 EDT

Spice300 posted : The Wildblue FAP meter stops counting on the 30th and 31st of the month. You can download all you want between 2 am MST on December 30 to 11:59 pm MST on December 31. With a download speed of 3 Mb/s and using a download manager to schedule downloads, you can get a lot done. This is Wildblue's undocumented feature to compensate for Exede's late night free zone.
--
Wildblue Value Pack, beam 31, Riverside gateway

Re: [WildBlue] What is up with this recovery act and WB?

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:27:46 EDT

silbaco posted : The rules for the recovery act customers disallow qualification if you have broadband currently at your existing location. Unfortunately, Satellite is included in this. However, it does not seem that Verizon aircards are or always are.

Unfortunately, canceling your service just to reconnect under the recovery act wouldn't allow you to qualify either. Your neighbor got lucky. He disconnected early on, so he now qualifies for it. Sort of a loophole.

[WildBlue] What is up with this recovery act and WB?

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 09:28:10 EDT

anon posted : I have had for around 6 years now. I purchased the pro package which was supposed to be 1.5 Mb down and around 256 Kb up. During max work times, I generally got close to the 1.5 Mb but never even close to the 256Kb up. I have fairly regularly tracked my speed over those 6 years and there were definitely times that I did not get even close to the 1.5Mb. For the past year I have been using a Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS router with dd-wrt so that I could also track my usage independently from WB. They track close enough. BTW love this router. Recently WB did upgrade the speed for existing WB customers. Mine went to 3Mb and I almost always get in the 3.2Mb range. If I have a major complaint about WB it is their data limits. With the Pro package, I am allowed 17GB/month and get an ugly email at 13.6GB. With all that is done over the internet today, this limit is just totally unrealistic. It precludes taking any classes over the internet. A lot of government/news pieces are out of reach because so much of it is video.
I know my subject was "What is up with how the recovery act works?" and I need to move on to that. I have a friend in my neighborhood that shall remain nameless. He lives approximately four houses from me. We are in the same basic -economic status, in the same neighborhood. A couple of years ago, we both had WB. He had the basic package (750Kb down) I had the pro (1.5Mb down) His service seemed to drop even more than mine at times. He got , left went to Verizon air card. That worked for a year or so. He got unhappy with Verizon. By this time both the service and the recovery act were out. He calls, they tell him he qualifies for the recovery act service. Before I go on, my service is @ $85/mo and has been for the six years I have had their service. He gets service through Excede/WB that is the following: 3Mb down (same as mine), 27GB/month (mine is 17GB) and he gets the free download at night (I don't) and his is $70/mo and mine is $85/mo. I have called and talked to everyone I can concerning the service that loyal customers have given to WB and nothing. All I get is "You don't qualify for the recovery act." I even told them I would go back to the 1.5Mb down if I could get a measly 27GB data limit. My son in law lives in Dallas, gets 25Mb download speed and 250GB sort of limit (not even a real limit) for $50/mo. Where is this ubiquitous broadband we were supposed to get through this recovery act?

Hope someone has an answer to my question and my post helps someone understand a little more of the system.