I got a Fair Access Policy violation, and there is nothing I can do about it.

I used my Dishnetwork to access the internet through a third party company called Wildblue.

I got a FAP Violation. Our internet service has been dramatically reduced due to over
bandwidth usage (we had something like 2 gigs uploads and 5 gigs downloads which is suspect since we were not at home, nor was there computer on the premise, and our wireless is secure during the time in question). Anyhow, I can not determine when the bandwidth will return to normal, nor can Dish network give us break based upon our usage history, and remove the limitation for being a good customer with no priors.

I must say that end result of the violation of the FAP is one of the most ridiculous things I have encountered. Imagine using too much water, and instead of getting an option to pay an additional fee, your water service gets reduced to a trickle (so now you have to drive out of your way to find water or spend triple the amount of time doing a once quick task like washing your dishes with a cup of water).

It would be helpful if Dish provide some kind of automatic email service that has an update of bandwidth usage. Banking services let you know when you reach a certain fund availability. Because there are some many different causes to a violation and most customers are probably not as savy as some, you should set a delimiter to occur when the upload/download reaches 75% of capacity so that customer who may respond with preventative measures, can still retain some working level of connectivity for a shorter amount of time.

Finally, the biggest frustration is that as a customer we have no recourse and are assumed to be guilty of the FAP violation but Dish can't provide any specific details on the exact time and files, IP addresses, etc to support their claim (they say privacy issues). If I have I had knownly violated my services, I would accept the consequence of that, but since as I have pointed out previously, the wireless is secure, we don't have teenagers, we don't P2P, don't watch movies online, download music, and there was no laptop on the premise during some of the dates in question, nor was there any kind of game system, PDA, or other device available.

Here was their response:

"Neither Dish Network nor Wildblue control how fast your service is, with the exception of service level upgrades, downgrades and Fair Access Policy violations. Because you are currently in a Fair Access Policy violation an upgrade to your service is not an option, also because you have the Platinum level of service, and a downgrade would bring you further away from your goal to 70% of the threshold and because we are unable to lift a violation on an account, I am unable to fulfill your request."

So why am I paying these guys every month? There isn't anything fair about this policy from a customer perspective.