Telkom negotiations letter [Archive]

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rpm

04-10-2003, 08:13 PM

Hi guys

Here is the basic letter to Telkom regarding possible improvements to the ADSL service. Please give your comments and proposed changes. I will be glad to make amendments before sending it. I realize that there is currently quite a bit happening on the forums, but I think it is a good idea to start with all the proposed actions and see where we stand and what we should focus on.

Regards,

RPM

__________________________________________________ ________________

Mr. White

The ongoing discussions at MyADSL have identified points where Telkom can easily accommodate ADSL users in South Africa. Telkom’s willingness to improve their service in this respect will go a long way to show us that you have our best interests will at heart.

1. Since international bandwidth is expensive to Telkom, the 3 Gigabyte Cap can be calculated regarding international traffic usage only. Should Telkom not currently have the technology to facilitate this, we feel it is fair that you invest in this technology as it will greatly benefit the ADSL service and users.

2. We think credits should be earned after 12 hours of service downtime. An uptime of higher than 99% is generally seen as acceptable in the ISP industry, and considering that a single downtime of 12 hours will drop this percentage to below 98.5%, we feel that this is a fair request. Many hosting companies and ISP’s worldwide will scrap a full month’s service fee for every 6 hours downtime, and I think Telkom will do well to follow a similar criteria.

We hope you find these improvements agreeable.

Regards,

Rudolph Muller (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/226998-Rudolph-Muller)
MyADSL

__________________________________________________ ________________

ernstn

04-10-2003, 08:42 PM

A few suggestions:
a) Invite him to put a link on their site to myadsl, esapecially since he believes that onlu a few disgruntled users exist. That should then lead to a fairer reflection as regards to Telkom's side of the story. The way you have designed this site, I believe that newbies can gain valuable insite.

b) Port prioritisation is even more important according to me than capping. Each person should use his internet experience his own way. This is an even bigger issue than the 3 gb cap, because this was NEVER a condition previously. One of the main reasons I changed to ADSL was to provide me with a 24 hour connection for support of my customers. The port prioritisation is provoding me with endless hassles when i use a VPN and I am sick and tired of having to log on on a 10 minute basis.

c) Once capped or during the 8-5m period, the speed should at least be ISDN 64kb level.

c) I also believe that Telkom is generally changing the rules on a one-sided stuff us basis. The application of the 3 gb cap(now local +overseas,up and download) and suggestrions on how to use the internet are prime examples of this.

WhatsUp

04-10-2003, 09:08 PM

Originally posted by rpm
Mr. White

The ongoing discussions at MyADSL have identified several points where Telkom can easily accommodate their ADSL users in South Africa. Telkom’s willingness to improve their service in this <s>respect</s> regard, will go a long way <s>to show us</s> towards both showing us and demonstrating that you have your subscribers best interests <s>will </s>at heart.

1. Since international bandwidth is expensive to Telkom, the 3 Gigabyte Cap <s>can</s> should be calculated <s>regarding</s> with respect to international traffic usage only. Should Telkom not currently have the technology to facilitate this, we <s>feel</s> believe that it <s>is</s> would be fair that <s>you</s> Telkom invest in this type of service, since <s>technology as</s> it will be of great<s>ly</s> benefit to the company, your <s>the</s> ADSL service and related users.

2. We <s>think</s> believe that a system of credits should be implemented <s>earned</s> after 12 hours of service downtime to your subscribers. An uptime of <s>higher</s> greater than 99% is <s>generally seen </s>considered as the acceptable norm in the ISP industry, and considering that a <s>single</s> total downtime of 12 hours/month will drop this percentage to below 98.5%, we feel that this is a fair request. Many hosting companies and ISP’s worldwide will scrap a full month’s service fee for every 6 hours of downtime, and <s>I think</s> we believe that Telkom <s>will</s> would do well to follow a similar service criteria.

We hope you find these improvements agreeable.

Regards,

Rudolph Muller
MyADSL

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rpm, I hope the above will be of some help to you.

In addition to the above I am in full agreement with ernstn.
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If at first you can't download, try and then try again...

rpm

04-10-2003, 09:31 PM

Hi WhatsUp

Thanks a bunch for the improvements. Much appreciated.

Regards,

RPM
rpm@myadsl.co.za

musnit

04-10-2003, 11:06 PM

I also think that you should complian about the 3 gig cap being for uploads and downloads combined. Dont overload them with too many complaints - rather keep the port prioritisation for the next letter.
Also I dont think that the port prioritisation is sooo bad...i can still manage over 10Kbps on Kazaa if im lucky...

Andre

05-10-2003, 11:12 AM

In my opinion the port prioritization is the most serious flaw of Telkom's ADSL implementation. You should be able to get 50kbit/s on Kazaa.

What's the difference if I use up my cap by downloading on FTP or HTTP or Kazaa? You can easily do a sustained 182 Megabytes per hour download via FTP or HTTP. In other words in less than 17 hours you could reach your cap.

So the prioritization is pointless. It only serves to frustrate and even deny service to users who need access to what Telkom seems to see as "non standard" ports.

The cap can at least be worked around by purchasing an additional account.

SK33T

05-10-2003, 11:43 AM

Port priotization is DEFINATLY an issue

VQuest

05-10-2003, 12:12 PM

I personally don't think the cap and port prioritisation should be played up against one another. They are equally important problems. Port prioritisation must go and if there has to be a cap, it needs to be increased. 3GB is clearly not enough for the average user. There should be no need to purchase a second account.

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United we stand!
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rpm

05-10-2003, 12:23 PM

Hi folks

I agree fully that the issues mentioned are of great importance. My aim with this letter is not to address all problems, but rather to give Telkom the opportunity to show that they are willing to improve this service. It must be something that can easily be achieved and easily verified. I think we must start off with something small, like international bandwidth only, and then try to address some other issues.

Please let me know if you do not agree with this. This letter must be a reflection of MyADSL member’s views.

Regards,

RPM
rpm@myadsl.co.za

VQuest

05-10-2003, 01:10 PM

Thats fine with me. Any improvement made will help.

----------------
United we stand!
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Nickste

05-10-2003, 06:23 PM

Lo all.

I agree with RPM, dumping a whole load of requests on telkom in one letter will probably not work as well as focusing on one point and pusing that point until it is changed.

Keep rockin' RPM and MyADSL users [:D]

Chow, Nick

Nick Smit
adsl@nicksmit.za.net

onionpeel

06-10-2003, 12:11 AM

It looks fine for now... I am looking forward to the second letter[:)]

rpm

06-10-2003, 09:00 AM

Hi guys

I send the ‘improved’ version of the letter to Telkom. I agree with Paf and others that we might not see the second request fulfilled soon, but these two request will quickly reveal Telkom’s attitude towards us and its users. We will definitely address port prioritization and other issues in future.

There are still two outstanding responses from Telkom (over one week each). The first is the letter with questions raised on the forum, and the other is the one dealing with BlueIce’s hosting problems. I hope to bring you news about these two soon.

Regards,

RPM

RPM
rpm@myadsl.co.za

kaspaas

06-10-2003, 09:17 AM

Port prioorities has been raised in a previous letter - if my memory does not fail me.

We are still wating for a response.

Thanks RPM.

Telkom is in the defensive mode at present thanks to your letters.

I trust the press will take up the line again.

SK33T

06-10-2003, 06:36 PM

Id rather see a letter that goes similar to this ,
(very abrieviated)
Here are our problems that we are having,blah,blah blah.
But at the moment could we perhaps concentrate on the following,(then go on about int b/w).

I dont know man ,its difficult,but we dont want them to forget about the other issues either.
I see your aproach,but we dont want them to go to the press and say ,We did this for them and now we get another letter,they are a constant moaning bunch.
I dont know if Ive put this right in words,do you guys get what Im trying to say here?[:)]

ASnogarD

07-10-2003, 07:33 AM

I see where you are getting at , and I can practically visualise the Telkom guys at thier meeting saying something like "Give them an inch and they will take a mile".

silversurfer

07-10-2003, 10:31 AM

hehe ironically thats all we want... the last mile ;)