One forum user notes that there is a rare bit of good news for HugheNet satellite broadband customers this week. The company's FAP FAQ has been updated to note that the uncapped window customers see from 3-6AM has been expanded two hours -- and will now be from 2-7AM starting this week (unless you're a HN9000 modem owner, in which case you'll have to wait a month). "5 hours, I'm actually quite shocked that HughesNet is hooking us up with the extra bandwidth," says one user. "I hope they don't raise prices again, or cut some package speeds in trade."

When you've got a captive audience (like say, rural broadband customers with no other options), you can get away with a hell of a lot. Just ask Hughesnet, who've managed to stay in business despite offering consistently sub-par service to customers for much of the last year. Not only does HughesNet service come with low caps (misleadingly called the "fair access policy" or FAP), the users who violate those caps face being throttled to below dial up speeds (between 7 and 14kbps).

Even when well within their FAP limits, our users have consistently complained that they very rarely get the speeds advertised. But because many rural customers lack options, they can't vote with their wallets. In some instances, satellite broadband users have been migrating to 3G wireless services as their sole broadband connections -- the limitations placed on services by Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T or Verizon seeming generous in comparison.

There was some hope that the launch of HugheNet's new Spaceway 3 satellite would alleviate some of these congestion problems. HughesNet recently made waves ripples by unveiling 2Mbps/300kbps ($119.99), 3Mbps/300kbps ($189.99) and 5Mbps tiers ($349.99) that all utilize the new satellite. Unfortunately, our users note that even with these new tiers, they frequently don't see advertised speeds, with 2Mbps customers sometimes seeing speeds as low as 610kbps. All tiers have FAPs of 500MB or lower -- even the $350/month tier.