Rural Americans already depend on their satellite dish to receive hundreds of channels of television entertainment, but broadband over satellite has traditionally been slow, limited and very expensive.

There is little evidence things will change quickly for those without access to traditional cable or phone company DSL. But the launch of new, higher capacity satellites, have at least increased satellite broadband speeds and eased back on extremely low usage caps under a provider’s “fair access policy.”

This week, Viasat’s Exede broadband pricing through DirecTV was formally announced. The “up to 12Mbps” service will cost:

• $39.99 for 10GB of monthly usage;
• $69.99 for 15GB;
• $119.99 for 25GB

These discounted prices are good for the first year of a two year contract. Prices increase $10 a month for the second year. Contract customers will have the $49.99 installation fee credited back on a future invoice.

There is one significant improvement: the satellite service removes the data cap between 12 midnight-5am daily – good for automated downloads, software updates and any other high bandwidth applications.

Customers have until Jan. 31 to sign up for the promotion.

Wall Street pans AT&T’s plans to spend billions to upgrade and expand its U-verse service.

Wall Street credit ratings agencies are unhappy with AT&T’s plans to increase spending on its broadband network to upgrade U-verse speeds and provide the fiber to the neighborhood service to more customers.

First, Moody’s placed AT&T’s “ratings on review for downgrade,” because AT&T’s plan to spend $22 billion to upgrade service and repurchase its own shares would throw AT&T’s debt level too high. Now Fitch Ratings has gone further, telling clients it has “downgraded” AT&T with a “negative outlook” because the phone company will spend money to provide U-verse to customers not profitable quickly enough to make the spending worthwhile.

Several Wall Street firms question the return on investment providing Internet service in rural areas where capital costs are higher. But many investment analysts are more positive about AT&T’s wireless service, which delivers substantial profits in much shorter time periods. Fitch called AT&T’s investments in LTE 4G service positive and important as Verizon Wireless continues to build and expand its own 4G LTE network.

Clearwire wants a divorce from customers it deems are using the wireless broadband service too much — as in around 5GB per month, despite the fact many of those customers pay for “unlimited” accounts.

Broadband Reports says several ex-customers are now complaining on Twitter about their abrupt, involuntary departure this week as paying customers, despite company promises that advance warnings would be sent if a customer was engaged in “excessive use.”

“One user excessively running heavy bandwidth applications can adversely affect the speeds and service quality for their neighbors,” Clearwire told Broadband Reports. “It is rare that we take this step and when we do it affects an extremely small percentage of our total user base. We typically contact users to notify them of this type of situation first in order to provide an opportunity to make necessary changes.”

Broadband Reports:

How much usage was considered too much? Clearwire won’t get specific, but one of the users tells Broadband Reports Clearwire informed him he’d breached 5 GB three months in a row — which frankly doesn’t sound excessive for a modern wireless network.

Clear began throttling heavy users on unlimited accounts to around 256kbps back in 2010. They’ve never really been specific about what triggers the throttled state for users, given it appears to be calculated on the fly based on local tower congestion — so what triggers throttling may be different in different markets. It’s not entirely clear why throttling these users back to 256 kbps wasn’t substantial enough of a punishment for these “fired” customers.

FairPoint Communications will introduce DSL service across 33 New Hampshire communities that either have incomplete coverage or no broadband at all.

At least 4,000 homes and businesses will gain access with financial assistance from the FCC’s Connect America fund.

FairPoint says it has invested $189 million in network infrastructure since purchasing northern New England landlines from Verizon Communications. That investment has targeted broadband improvements through fiber middle mile networks and extended DSL service with Ethernet and DSLAM equipment. The last mile installation to individual homes and businesses requires a suitable return on investment. If a provider cannot recoup expenses within a few years, those failing the test will not receive service. The Connect America Fund covers some of the investment costs, bringing rural areas closer to the return expectations providers have.

FairPoint earlier promised to reach 95 percent of New Hampshire with broadband service, with similar goals in Maine and Vermont.

FairPoint customers in larger northern New England communities can also expect eventual speed upgrades as the company continues to work on deploying next generation DSL technology.

Cable competition in the region is spotty, with Comcast and Time Warner Cable providing the bulk of service, mostly in the largest communities.

The communities slated to see DSL service (or extended service into previously unserved areas) include:

Alexandria, Barrington, Bartlett, Canterbury, Concord, Conway, Cornish, Croydon, Dorchester, Dover, Durham, Effingham, Epping, Epsom, Franklin, Gilmanton, Goffstown, Grantham, Jackson, Lee, Litchfield, Manchester, Meredith, New Hampton, Nottingham, Orange, Ossipee, Pembroke, Richmond, Sanbornton, Strafford, Tuftonboro and Wolfeboro.