Satellite Internet - Direcway® fair use bandwidth policy ( FAP )

I am looking at buying a house in rural Virginia, where there is no Cable or DSL Available.  
 
Several of the Satellite ISPs I've looked at have a "Fair use" policy-- which means, in other words, if you use too much bandwidth, they slap a nasty restriction on your download speed (nasty == dialup).  At least one that does not have a posted policy revealed that they do review usage and act accordingly if you download too much in what shot.
 
I happen to be a bandwidth hog.  I understand the reasoning behind such policies, but I'm wondering if there is a satellite ISP out there that allows 1-3Mbps and doesn't care if you use it pretty much constantly.  I'm not very worried about my upload speed, and I'm willing to pay a reasonable increase if necessary to be able to continue my habits.  
 
I am not interested in ways to hack or bypass these limitations in violation of a service agreement.  I'm a hog, but I'm ethical.  
 
Also, I would be very interested in a provider that supplied both Internet and Television in one installation and payment.

You equated "bandwidth hog' with throughput speed. Apples and oranges. It's not speed that is rationed, it's quantity. I get up to 2 mbps throughput on a regular basis, but continue to do so because I do not download blocks of data in excess of the subscriber agreement. Direcway's entry level service permits you to download "up to 169 MB" in any given 4 hour period (225 MB between 0200 and 0500 Eastern). You're generally safe downloading 40+ MB/hr around the clock. But try to download more than 169 (or 225) MB in one big chunk, be prepared to see your throughput drop to (or below) 33.6 kbps for several hours.
 
I'm told Starband has hidden similar limitations in their TOS, but I can't quote to you their numbers.
 
Be very careful of the smaller satellite broadband providers. Some of them call it RUP (reasonable use policy), and can be absurdly low - something like limiting your download totals to a ridiculous 17MB per day, abusers being throttled for a whole 30 days. Read the terms of service very very very carefully, before signing on the dotted line.
 
//greg//

Actually, further investigation has revealed that DirecWay (formerly DirecPC) is not only the most tolerant of behaviour like mine--- but the most honest about their policy.  
 
I talked to StarBand, and they don't HAVE any numbers.  They review it manually, and if they thing you're overdoing it, they'll let you know, and if you don't stop, they'll spank you with dialup speeds.  
In other words, they claim to be better-- but they can provide no hard and fast numbers to quantify the claim.
 
As far as being a bandwidth hog-- I was referring to quantity as well as throughput.  I've been known to pull down 20-30GB in a day over cable.  
 
Right now, I'm thinking I'm going to get the DirecWay "Small Office" package.  It's actually cheaper than their high-capacity "professional" service, the bandwidth is double, and their FAP gives you 500MB in four hours.    That's considerably less than Ideal, but it seems like the best option I'm going to get.
 
The thing that stinks is that the "Professional" service (intended for the home user) currently allows you to get the equipment pretty much free (though you pay a higher payment), but the "Small Office" package requires a larger dish that costs $1000.  
 
I'm still pricing around-- that's quite an outlay, particularly since we're moving into our first house.  But I'm going to be a Geek in Green Acres, so I gotta have some pipe!

Only difference you'll see between the elliptical dish and the larger round one is faster uploads on the latter. I've never gotten more than 110 kbps with the smaller, and that was to a FTP server. Typically, I get more like 40-50 kbps on a good day. Sub-modem speeds on a bad day. Remember, this is shared bandwidth
 
Depending upon your location and assigned satellite/transponder with the larger dish, you can generally take MY numbers - and double them. Download speeds do not differ between the two.
 
//greg//

Well, I personally could care less about the dish, but direcway doesn't offer a megabit connection on the smaller dish.

Well, I personally could care less about the dish, but Direcway doesn't offer a megabit connection on the smaller dish.  Nor does the Direcway Small Office specifies "up to" a megabit. Once again, what you're getting with the bigger dish and additional monthly charge - are "enhanced uploads" and a 500 megabyte FAP threshold with a 56 kbps refill rate. (Smaller dish gets 47 kbps refill rate). You'll find little or no difference in long term download speed averages.  
 
Granted, Direcway only advertises "up to 500" kbps for the smaller setup. But they use the very same modem, and the very same bandwidth. Shared bandwidth. With my 74cm elliptical dish and consumer plan, I typically receive in excess of one mbps. On good days, it's over two mbps. On rare occasions, I've downloaded simultaneous bit-streams (4-5 files from the same server at the same time) in excess of six mbps. But when it's bad, it's bad. When too many people are "up" at the same time, it can drop well below 100 kbps. Upload rate code is fixed at 1 (up to 128 kbps), but as I've already told you - that's a horribly inflated number.  
 
My point? Same modem on shared bandwidth means you're not going to see any noticeable difference in download speeds between the two dish sizes. But by design, the bigger dish gets more of your transmit signal to the Direcway gateway - permitting the modem to switch between upload rate codes 1 and 2 (up to 256 kbps, also horribly inflated), depending upon atmospheric conditions. The business plan part buys a line of code in their server that raises your FAP threshold/refill rate. But your received signal is included in the same 48 MB broadcast that everybody else receives. Simple fact of the matter is, the more users that are "up" at any given moment, the less of that 48 MB each receives. Shared bandwidth.
 
//greg//

Hmm.  If their download speeds are faster than advertised... then all I'm interested in from the "Small office" plan that I was looking at is that FAP threshold.  
 
500MB in four hours is not so bad... but 167 absolutely sucks.    I'm now completely torn, because if there's not a difference in speed, then the savings from using the consumer plan are worth it.  I think.
 
Gah.  I wonder what it costs to run a T1 to rural Virginia?