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Understanding and working within the Rocks Pond Wifi uploading & downloading limits. Rocks Pond uses a system called the "Fair Access Policy" (or better known simply as the "F.A.P.") to regulate the uploading and down- loading capabilities of it's Rocks Pond Wifi subscribers. To ensure equal Internet access for all Rocks Pond Wifi subscribers, Rocks Pond Network Systems maintains a running average Fair Access Policy (FAP). Fair Access establishes an equitable balance in Internet access across satellite broadband services by service plan for all Rocks Pond Wifi customers regardless of their frequency of use or volume of traffic. To ensure this equity, customers may experience some temporary throughput limitations. Rocks Pond Wifi 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. System usage data indicates that approximately 5% of subscribers are responsible for a disproportionate share — often as much as half — of the total internet service traffic. Unfortunately, many of those subscribers are not using Rocks Pond Wifi for its intended purpose. To ensure that all Rocks Pond Wifi subscribers have fair and equal access to the benefits of the Satellite broadband service, Rocks Pond Wifi has enacted a Fair Access Policy to prevent abusive consumption of bandwidth by a handful of users. FAP is straightforward: based on an analysis of usage data, Rocks Pond Network Systems has established a Rocks Pond Wifi 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 Rocks Pond Wifi subscribers. For example, you may experience FAP if the cumulative requested downloads in a relatively short time period (1-4 hours) exceeds your Rocks Pond Wifi plan download threshold. An example of what can be downloaded within any Rocks Pond Wifi 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. 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 Rocks Pond Wifi 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, Rocks Pond does not want it's customers to be able to utilize those high speeds continuously. To stop users from using up too much bandwidth & resources on the Rocks Pond Wifi system, they have implemented the "Fair Access Policy". What the FAP does is limit the amount of data Rocks Pond Wifi customers can download in a given time span. When that limit has been reached, Rocks Pond 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 Rocks Pond means when they say "the FAP may temporarily limit that subscriber's throughput". Web-surfing and the FAP : Ok .. so now you know that whenever you're active & online (surfing & such), that you're downloading 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 the FAB limit -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 LimeWire, BitTornado, BearShare, BitTorrent, and the like, are types of programs that can quickly overload the Rocks Pond Wifi network. As such, these services are strictly banned on the Rocks Pond Wifi network. /footer> |
