When I spoke with them on Wednesday, they said that if I curtailed my usage for two days, my account would be reset to nominal performance and the performance would improve over the next 30 days as long as I stayed below the minimum download amount.
They also said that their system was more fussy about use during prime time (6PM to 10PM)
Fair enough -- I shut down my complete satellite dish setup during evenings and kept it on overnight to download email (a business requirement). At late nights, I would be able to open one sluggish browser window but nothing more.
Today, I log in to their account maintenance webpage and see the following:
Spork -- looks really interesting. Thanks!
Mike -- I live in a narrow valley and line of sight is a problem. My house is 1.8 miles from the end of ComCast's cable run (ComCast is who does the store internet) and I would love to run a point-to-point link but the valley is just too crooked.
Spork's DSL idea is awesome as I could go from the store (there is a Telco switch across the street) to my house and then use a Deliberant AP to serve the rest of the neighbors (the valley widens and straightens out a lot where my house is).
My problems are similar to yours, but not quite as dire. (Cellular is mildly better than satellite.)
I've been considering home brew DSL. The hardware for the setup is a little pricey, but once done, your month to month costs are minimal. (This assumes you have a landing point that has internet that can be "borrowed.")
more info:
http://www.odessaoffice.com/sdsl.htm
Here in Ithaca, NY, a local ISP uses 5.2 GHz radio to provide internet access to his remote customers. Perhaps you could put together a local version of this system yourself, allowing you to share the cost of the T1 with a few of your neighbors?