Viasat Satellite → Managing Exede Evolution

Hello,

I just came across the Exede Evolution (haven't looked at Satellite options in over a year), and it seems interesting. I'm trying to determine if there's a good way to manage it and deal with it's limitations.

Basically I have two 3mbps DSL lines on a load balancer (i never actually get that speed out of them). What I'm thinking about doing is putting a ddwrt router between my switch and the LB and create some routing rules to fwd the appropriate traffic to the Exede modem, and the rest to the DSL LB's. Obviously start with ports 80 and 443 going to Exede and everythnig else to the DSL LB, but on top of that there's more limitations.

So I guess I have questions on how exactly they monitor what you're doing, and if you're on a site with an embedded game (facebook), or embedded video (youtube). Is it just based on web address, so anything youtube.com is metered (embedded or not)? What if the website has an embedded flash video hosting on their own site ie the website and the video is streaming from www.mysite.com, some non common website? Do they somehow examine each page's code (or by other means) to determine if its embeding a video? If it's the latter it seems like it may be impossible to manage from a routing standpoint. However if they just have a list of websites/url's that are under the "Metered" category - it'd be very easy to create routing rules for those I'd imagine, esp if we could get that list. Also how do they determine if you're downloading a file from a website - if it's over port 80 or 443? Is there a limit per page like 5MB and anything over that triggers the metered category? Is there anything else I'm missing that would be needed to manage this?

Maybe it's all just a pipe dream I don't know. I/we typically use more then 25GB for straight web trafficking a month, so even if I did this on their highest plan it doesn't make much sense. I know a lot of people are against the Evo plan but I think if you have a second ISP and can properly route/manage the traffic it may be worth it.

Let me know your thoughts,

Thanks.

1. Overpriced; it should be around $39.99/month
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RE: how exactly they monitor

2. When Wildblue rolled out in 2005, DOCSIS format was used. Tom Moore was involved in both Wildblue and ViaSat usage of DOCSIS; "ViaSat-1 satellite, optimized to work in conjunction with the next generation ViaSat SurfBeam® satellite DOCSIS® networking system..."

DOCSIS has specifications for counting the beans (bucket usage). ViaSat does use CISCO equipment, so between the two, bean counting and types of data (ftp, html, etc) can/are acted upon by this equipment.
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RE: a site with an embedded game

3. They explain on their web page what happens when your bucket is exceeded....Streaming vids..."Some web pages contain elements that will count toward your data allowance — with embedded videos being the most common one you should consider." But, I'm not aware of specific data elements (ftp, mp4, etc) being explained.

4. Exede Evolution may be good for people with infected computers, or older folks with grandchildren who get their bucket Zapped, but otherwise its an overpriced service for a 5 Gig bucket limit.