FapZilla Update

[Copperhead]

A new revision to FapZilla is out .. FapZilla 3.1. (Available for MacOS, Linux, & Windows.) You can grab it on the Downloads Page here :

http://www.wildblue.cc/wbsoft.htm

Special thanks to Grover92000 for his continued effort on this great programs !

[TalonDancer]

Anyone who is having issues with the WB FAP or those just interested in how it works, should begin running fapzilla immediately.

By using fapzilla you can automatically record your WB FAP (UL and DL) and optionally your router's upload and download traffic at any time interval you chose (24 hr, 12 hr, 1 hr, 30 min. etc.). The results are stored in a small text file that you can read with any text editor or load into a spreadsheet for graphing etc. Remember you will need over 30 days of your usage data to even begin to make sense of your FAP and you can't get this data retroactively. So starting now is the only way to check the accuracy of your FAP next month! In the worst case, you can later decide you aren't interested and just delete the file.

Several members are now using fapzilla to monitor their FAP/routers. And a couple of us have posted detailed comparisons between our FAP and Usage measurements (e.g spice300, gover92000, Talon Dancer, etc.*). Interestingly, NONE of the members who are actually monitoring/comparing their usage have reported huge flaws in the way WB's FAP has worked since January 2007. But several of us have seen short period anomalous FAP glitches. For example, the very recent large spike in Spice300's FAP that lasted only 30 mins. Or the several day duration bulge in my FAP in early March. These short term anomalies could potentially affect users close to their FAP limits by temporarily pushing them over the line. Ironically, NONE of the people who are currently complaining about being FAP'd have reported their FAP vs Usage data and the ones who are reporting are not anywhere near their FAP limits. So we really don't know what happens at these rarified levels

If you are anywhere near your FAP limit we need your data!

Talon Dancer

Edit:
* BTW these three members are on three different WB pack levels, beams and gateways...
Spice300 - Value Pak, beam 31, Riverside Gateway
grover92000 - Pro Pack|Beam 29|Laredo NOC
Talon Dancer - Select pack, beam 41, Syracuse Gateway

[UserBlue]

Isn't it ironic that we need people to devote so much time and effort to prove the obvious for so many users?

What does this say for Wildblue? To me it says that the onus is on the users to prove that they are getting the royal scam. Not that it needs to proved if you are stuck in this mess of a service and watching your FAP turn you into a thought criminal for profit.

I really appreciate the resources that people are expending to point out what is so truly wrong about this company and their methods and policies. It is not like you are doing anything but preaching to the choir. Currently, the company seems to act with a very strong impunity. Their castle walls and smokescreens leave us to our own devices -- and with very little to show for it in a practical sense.

The anecdotes, reports, statistics, opinions, and proofs, are all in. They all seem to suggest that Wildblue is in the process of screwing its captive audience with very little in the way of direct response, action, or acknowledgment. They seem to bank on the "You are stuck with this, we provide it, what can you actually do about it"" model.

Some might choose to be thankful to have this in place of nothing. I don't choose that because what the booty they require from me is no commensurate with anyone else I know who has high-speed.

When the news of a new bird being launched hit me, I thought, we all payed for them to sucker more people into their scarcity game, and I didn't even get a freekin' T-shirt. That sucks, and it seems, just after their proud, money-making bird hit outer space, my browsing hits gave me even more grief with resets and "page not found" problems like never before.

[TalonDancer]

Originally Posted by UserBlue

Isn't it ironic that we need people to devote so much time and effort to prove the obvious for so many users?

What does this say for Wildblue? To me it says that the onus is on the users to prove that they are getting the royal scam. Not that it needs to proved if you are stuck in this mess of a service and watching your FAP turn you into a thought criminal for profit.

I really appreciate the resources that people are expending to point out what is so truly wrong about this company and their methods and policies. It is not like you are doing anything but preaching to the choir. .....

What is "obvious" is that you and others, haven't carefully read the detailed reports by people who are monitoring their FAP vs Usage. So I'll make this simple --

The FAP is NOT fundamentally broken. But it does not work like most people thought ( i.e. a "running 30 day total").

The FAP DOES regularly subtract prior usage within the nominal 30 days 'advertised' on the WB site -- since early January 2007 the FAP has only included 28 days of usage or roughly 6% less than advertised.

There are a number of things I still don't like about WB and its management. But, after doing some homework, the FAP is no longer one of them

Talon Dancer

[Spice300]

As of July 2, 2007, here is the thread for Fapzilla version 3.2 for Mac: Fapzilla V3.2 for *nix/MacOS

Here are some instructions for installing it on a Mac as of January 6, 2007: Running Fapzilla on Mac OS X.

Beginning February 29, 2008, if Fapzilla returns "ERROR,ERROR" in place of the usage, see Fapzilla errors and a workaround for a fix to a possible DNS issue.

[rdharper]

Originally Posted by TalonDancer

But, after doing some homework, the FAP is no longer one of them

Talon Dancer

X2 TD

[SMKolins]

everything I read so far tells me that fapzilla dumps out to the text file that can be read by something to make a graph (like Excel.)

Anyone looked at adding modules to generate a webpage? I'm looking at running it on a little internal server rather than my laptop because it travels with me a good bit. That being the case I'd love to be able to watch my FAP/router graphs by url....

I know such things are possible but also I'm not a perl programmer.....

[SMKolins]

problems with the final prep step of installing Fapzilla on a 10.3.9 machine.

when I run sudo perl -MCPAN -eshell and go into perl, the last suggestion is is to run install Bundle::XML. The others preceeding this command seem to have finished well enough. This command fails though....

something about several tests failing... It's failed in different ways over several runs, strange enough, but usually it complains about failing tests.

[beaslwd]

All, OK, I'm not the brightest bulb when it comes to computers, I'm running IE-7 (Windows XP)and trying to download Fapzilla. That's accomplished, I've opened the zip files, but am unable to install, what is the next step?

[grover92000]

Originally Posted by beaslwd

That's accomplished, I've opened the zip files, but am unable to install, what is the next step?

Just extract the ZIP to any place on your computer you want. It's self contained and can be run from anywhere on your PC. After it's unzipped open fapzilla.cfg with something like Notepad and change the Email= line to your primary email address. All the others are optional. It's easiest to run fapzilla.exe from a command prompt to make sure it is working before you set it up as a task. There's more info in the docs folder.

[beaslwd]

Grover92000, OK, I found the fapzilla.cfg file and changed the email address.

What is the procedure for running it interactively to make sure it works? I did read the quickstart section but sorry it just does not sink in I guess.
thanks
Bill

[Spice300]

Originally Posted by beaslwd

What is the procedure for running it interactively to make sure it works?

Fapzilla does not work interactively. To execute it from the Command Prompt in Windows XP, do the following beginning at the Windows desktop:

Left click on "start"

Left click on "Run..."

In the box labeled "Open:," type in "cmd" without the quotation marks and press the "Enter" key on the keyboard. In the window that opens, change to the drive and directory where you placed fapzilla.exe by typing in the following and then pressing the "Enter" key:

cd c:\fap

Replace "c:\fap" with the drive and path where you actually placed fapzilla.exe.

Type the following into the Command Prompt window and then press the "Enter" key:

fapzilla -u user_name@wildblue.net

Replace "user_name@wildblue.net" with the email address of your primary Wildblue account. If you obtained WB service through Dish Network, then use your customer number that has the form "ES-xxxxxxxxxxx" (the x's represent unknown numbers).

If everything works correctly, it should read your FAP meter and display results like:

3/16/2008 19:35:47 239 6064

The first field is the date, the second field is the time, the third field is your upload usage in MB (millions of bytes or megabytes) and the fourth field is your download usage in MB.

You can save the data in a file by using the -l option like:

fapzilla -u user_name@wildblue.net -l fap.txt

If you do not specify a path for the file, it defaults to the directory where fapzilla.exe is located.

To get a list of command line options, use the -h option for help:

fapzilla -h

If Fapzilla returns "ERROR,ERROR" in place of your usage, see Fapzilla errors and a workaround for a fix to a possible DNS issue.

[beaslwd]

Thanks Spice, You guys are great

[kms456]

Hi, and thanks for this program and all of the help you're providing.

I've installed the app, changed the config file as instructed, and followed the instructions in the docs folder on setting up the task. It's running as specified, but not logging the results. It logged the first try, but is not appending new info to the log.

I'm not a programmer, and I'm not sure where I went wrong - some help?

Thanks again!

[Spice300]

Originally Posted by kms456

I'm not sure where I went wrong - some help?

It probably is related to the path for the log file. In the configuration file, fapzilla.cfg, any line that begins with "#" is a comment line and is ignored by fapzilla. If you do not specify the full drive and path for the log file, it defaults to the same directory where fapzilla.exe is located. If you do not correctly specify a log file, then fapzilla displays the results without saving them.

For those having difficulty with the configuration file, you do not have to use it. In Windows XP Task Scheduler (aka Scheduled Tasks) in the box labeled "Run:" where you enter the drive, path and file name for fapzilla, you can specify command line options. For example:

C:\fapzilla.exe -u user_name@wildblue.net -l C:\FAP\fap.txt

This says that fapzilla.exe is located in the root directory of drive "C:". Replace "user_name@wildblue.net" with the address of your primary Wildblue email account or, if your WB service is through Dish Network, with your customer number. The log file, fap.txt, will be created and updated in the directory "FAP" located on drive "C:". You can change the drives and paths to any valid ones where the files are located.