What does "prioritize" your data behind other people mean exactly? What is the effect on me during that time?

The unlimited data states that after 150gb, that exede may prioritize other people's data ahead of mine. I would like to know what that means in terms of speeds for me during those times. Is there still a garaunteed speed? Could I be as low as kb/s during those times? etc.

Christopher El Sergio Birkinbine

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Posted 2 years ago

2 years ago

Old Labs (VS1-329-L12FZ)

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Think of it more as de-prioritization.

With de-prioritization, an ISP isn’t limiting the your data. Instead, the ISP has the option placing your requests behind those of other subscribers usually based on a prespecified amount of data usage. The result will be lower speeds during peak usage periods. During non-peak usage periods, it may have no perceptible impact.

On Exede, the magnitude of decrease is largely dependent on the current utilization of your assigned spot beam - some beams are more heavily populated with users than others and users that are de-prioritized often report speeds less than 1 Mbps during prime time (some to even .2 Mpbs including myself).

The current "Unlimited Data" plans use de-prioritization after 150GB - during non peak hours speeds "up to" the plan's limit may occur.

Liberty plans use both throttling and deprioritization on reaching various thresholds. During non peak hours speeds between 1 - 5 Mbps may occur.

Classic plans tend to use simple throttling to what most consider unuasable speeds. Speeds are likely good for only email (using a desktop client) or simple (i.e. real simple) web browsing.

No minimum speeds are guaranteed - ever, regardless of speed and are advertised as up to. Your current speeds will always be impacted by current utilization levels.

Think of it this way... if ViaSat were to guarantee a minimum speed of even 1 Mpbs for all customers at any given time on ViaSat-1, they would need to limit the number of customers assigned to ViaSat-1 to an order of magnitude somewhere 140,000 since ViaSat-1's capacity is 140Gbps (140,000 Mbps) - we'd all be paying approximately 4+ times what we're paying now ;) Yeah I know that's not how it really works. it was meant to be figurative...

(Edited)

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2019-10-12T12:06:50+00:00

Matthew Mills

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They call it unlimited but after you use so much data, the speeds get cut and yeah it always depends on the signal bean and the number of users at a time. But during when there's nobody on it it might be good speeds but if there's a lot of users and (cloudy/rainy) weather it will be affected. So that being said it's really not unlimited all the time. After you use so much data or bad weather or if the network is busy it will not be top speed. Its very similar to Hughesnet. Hughesnet has allowance plans all at 25 mbps, witch mine by the way is like 50mbps when it good weather at both ends (the gateway where the signal is coming from and on my end) and when the network is not too busy. They have 4 allowance plans 10gb, 20gb, 30gb, and the 50gb, all at 25mbps, But if you go over it the speed is cut from the average to 1-3 mbps until the next billing cycle. They said once the reason for the allowance plans was to prevent the network congestion, so the network could keep up with the internet usage.

2019-10-12T19:52:34+00:00

Beth Chambers

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Prioritize means they are going to reduce your speed to the point you can’t use it. I just started and I have 15 days to my cycle and have already blow through (they say) my unlimited 100GB limit. ????? Isn’t that an oxymoron? How can I have a limit, but be on the unlimited gold plan and am now stuck for worthless service for another 15 days? I should have known from the moment I saw the technician or rather the moment I smelled the technician at 9:00 A.M. in the morning and after when he left everything a mess that this was a shoddy organization, but I didn’t think they were crooked too. I live in a 900 sq foot ranch home and there is only two of us that use the WiFi and I work full-time, not even sure I we could exceed the 100 GB in less than 15 days. How do we start a class action suit in Virginia. They can’t keep up with the data usage now, but it doesn’t prevent them from advertising constantly on television.

2019-10-12T19:55:57+00:00

Beth Chambers

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Oh, now they have reduced it to 100GB for new customers.

2019-10-12T19:59:57+00:00

Beth Chambers

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2019-10-12T21:53:34+00:00

ExSatUser

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I guess you are not on a magic beam.

2019-10-12T22:13:55+00:00

Old Labs

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34ms latency is pretty magical ;)

Of course we only dismiss that particular speed test when it yields a good result but it's just as accurate either way.

Needless to say, exceed your data usage threshold and all bets are off particularly on weekends or during peak usage periods. Very easy to exceed 100GB in 15 days. It's probably just as important with unlimited "plans" to know exactly what's using data and manage it tightly - a lost art except for those who get by on much less.

The landscape has changed in two years and we all know what happened to those legacy 150GB plans... but everything old is new again.

(Edited)

2019-10-13T11:41:14+00:00

Matthew Mills

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One thing I don't like about Viasats pricing, it goes up on you after 3 months. So if your paying $70 for the 25mbps unlimited, after 3 months the price increases to $100.00. I don't know about you but I don't like how they have there pricing. I have had Hughesnet for almost 4 years now and I still like, the price has stayed the same ever sense I've had the service, I have the 20GB plan that's 25mbps and it's been the same price sense I've had it. It's advertised to be 25mbps but on good weather days at the gateway and on my end and without a lot of people on it (network congestion), it's about 50mbps to sometimes 60mbps.

2019-10-13T14:01:36+00:00

ExSatUser

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One thing I dont like about Viasat is the variable plan pricing. Some people pay more money for less. Taking adavantage of poor rural folk who have slim internet options. Sad.

2019-10-13T14:39:16+00:00

Old Labs

303 Posts
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Your objections to a 3 month discount are duly noted and we agree... going forward we will not offer promotional pricing and it will be $100 from day one ;)

Instead our new promotion will be free NFL Sunday Ticket streaming for life from February through August.

(Edited)

2 years ago

Bev, Champion

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Old Labs is correct. Those of us on Unlimited plans will NEVER be hard throttled, no matter how much data we use. (Liberty, Freedom and, Classic plans are all hard throttled after the priority data is used.) Once we have used 150 GB in a month, the Gateways will handle data to and form our computers AFTER they handle data too and from everyone that has not exceeded their priority data on our beam.

That means that if a lot of people are online on our beam at the time, we might see slower speeds but, if not a lot of people are online on our beam right then, we aren't slowed at all, even if we have used 500 GB that month.

What we do get instead is video data optimization, depending on the plan as to what resolution we are locked into for video.

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2017-11-06T17:41:16+00:00

exedeuser

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What speeds did you see when you were de-prioritized? or was it just your ping/response time slower?

(Edited)

2017-11-06T18:56:27+00:00

Bev, Champion

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I have not exceeded 150 GB used since switching to an Unlimited plan so, I can't tell you what those speeds are like on my beam.

It will vary by beam and, time of day (Utilization of that beam) and be slower when more users are active on your beam than when fewer users are active. You may see times when you have used more than 150 GB and, speeds are not slowed at all and, other times when you have used more than 150 GB and speeds approximate dial up, or anything in between , depending on the utilization of your beam at the time.

On my beam I expect the slowest to be about 5Mbps, but, as I said, that varies by beam.

2017-12-16T04:17:42+00:00

exedeuser

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Curious if you’ve experienced the de-prioritization of you data yet and what speeds you’ve had if so.

2017-12-16T04:24:47+00:00

VeteranSatUser, Champion

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The problem is it is all beam dependant and also based on the time of day. There is no right or wrong answer here unfortunately.

2017-12-18T21:01:40+00:00

Ken

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What we do get instead is video data optimization, depending on the plan as to what resolution we are locked into for video.

There is the problem. Since it's not really 'unlimited' (at priority speed), let the user eat up their 150GB however they choose, then de-prioritize their data.
I'm not signing up for a resolution-locked 150GB plan ('unlimited').

(Edited)