IMPORTANT: Telkom usage tracker

[rpm]

Hi folks

I am glad to inform you that Telkom is re-evaluating their usage tracker, and your opinions will play a major role in determining what option will be followed. It is great news that Telkom consults MyADSL’s members about this decision, and they should be commended for this move. We must also thank Hans Van De Groenendaal for his continuing effort to improve the relationship between Telkom and MyADSL.

Can you please give your preference about these options (please select one of the two) mentioned within the next few days. I must give feedback within a week, and will need to compile a report before then.

Regards,

RPM

__________________________________________________ ________________

TelkomInternet ADSL Usage tracker

Following many questions around usage tracking, Telkom has evaluated the process and can offer two alternatives:.

Currently the usage is measured at the end of a session. This has created some questions around the carry over at the end of each month. If a user logs on at say 1 am on 30 October, the session will end 24 hours later on 1 November at 1 am. The usage will be measured at the end of the session and reflected as usage on November 1, therefore as part of the usage of the new month.

Telkom has configured a second option, which is based on the measurement at the start of a session. With this method the usage will be reflected on the day the session was started and not as part of the following day if the session ends after midnight. All usage of sessions open over midnight will only be reflected and added to the applicable day in which the session was started, 2 days later. This means that the entry for day one will display a different value on day 3. However all usage will be accounted for on the day of usage

Telkom is working on a third option that would end all sessions at midnight on the last day of the month to ensure no usage gets carried over to the new month. However this option will not be available in the foreseeable future.

Telkom would value your opinion of the above two options. Which one would you prefer?

__________________________________________________ _______________

[mbs]

For reasons of accuracy, the second option would seem to be preferable - after all, if I initiate a session that happens to go over midnight due to port shaping constraints, is this my problem? I would expect my usage to be calculated based on the day of session initiation, not later...

Ideally, the third 'uanvailable' option would be the preferred solution, provided 'end all sessions at midnight' does not imply that Telkom would unilaterally halt all sessions and drop the line (which would probably be the case, given that they act as a law unto themselves most of the time, witness their poor service delivery...*sigh*)

[mithrandi]

Well, you can always schedule your own disconnect just before midnight; we do this to avoid IP address changes/disconnections during the day. But clearly option two is far preferable to option one.

mithrandi

[martin]

Yip, I'd prefer option 2

[dojob]

Option 2 seems to be the best choice :)

But why cant they update bandwidth in real time?

Ive had it with Telkom, gona swap over to MyWireless and dont have to worry about all this 'Usage Tracker' and 24 Hour auto disconnect.

P.S. Why dont we have a poll as to who is gona swap over to Mywireless :)

[mithrandi]

The poor forums would run out of disk space with all the people posting that they're switching over to MyWireless ;) Maybe we should just ask who ISN'T switching, and see if we get any replies...

[:p]

mithrandi

[VQuest]

If those are our only options then I go with option 2 as well.


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

[grubman]

hmmm, actually none of those options are truely ideal.

1st option ... we get the month end bleed into the new month.
2nd option ... i can only view my usage two days later ... although hmmm, could be to our benefit.
3rd option ... if it means we'll all be disconnected at midnight every night, then this is a definate no.

Telkom should prolly implement a proper system instead of wasting time with these half baked solutions. Here's my proposal ...

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
HiHat
<br />
These larger ISP's have their own radius servers which do authentication for their user base, so SAIX simply forwards all logon requests to their radius servers. They get a radius start record from SAIX when you logon and a stop record when you logoff. The stop record contains the number of Rx/Tx octets (bandwidth) used for your session. These values are added to your running total. Usually on a daily basis your bandwidth total is checked and if it has exceeded 3GB then your are "capped".

As the radius protocol uses UDP and because there are always problems somewhere the stop records do not always reach the radius servers. In this case some ISP's will then just ignore that session and you score the used bandwidth free. Other ISP's go one step futher and fall back to the last alive record (an alive record is sent every 30 minutes you are logged on) and treat that as a stop record. So if this happens you can score a maximum of the last 30 minutes bandwidth free. If you can determine when this will happen so that you benefit, please let me know :-).

http://www.myadsl.co.za/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1027
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

ok, so it's actually very simple. Monitor all the 'alive' records. At midnight, if the last record received was not a stop record then use the last 'alive' record to determine usage for that session. When the stop record is received, simply subtract the tx + rx value from the midnight value. This new value is stored and added to the next session at midnight the following day. They could even take this one step further and give us 'real' time usage patterns - it would be every half hour.

[mithrandi]

Obviously doing the tracking properly would be ideal; however, Telkom seem too technically inept to do this, so let's go with the best option available [8D]

mithrandi

[kaspaas]

I prefer none of the options.

The "carry-over" to the next month is plain fraud. The contract states monthly usuage and does not mention "carry-over"

Having my bandwidth usage days late is no use either - I can't manage on ancient data.

Being disconnected to measure sounds like a solution evident of technical incompetence.

The fact is that there was already plenty reference on this forum that the Kiwis are capable of separating local and international traffic for bandwidth measurement.

What we need is:

Separation of local and international bandwidth for measurement. Decent capping limits such as 1 GB per day local and 100 MB International (See the Virgin ISP in trouble thread)

Hourly measurement without getting disconnected.

I do manage my bandwidth with care. As Telkom can't offer a solution of technical competence, I placed a old fashioned time switch on the plug of my ADSL router to switch of just before midnight for 15 minutes. (It was lying around and can be programmed bug-free without thinking [:p]) At least I now have regular predictable and possibly reliable data.

I still don't trust Telkom's system.

It is time Telkom demonstrates their technical ability to be on par with the rest of the world.




South Africa needs World Class Broadband at World Competitive Prices.

[mithrandi]

Point taken. However, a partial solution is better than none at all; let's take what we can get.

mithrandi

[Andre]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by kaspaas</i>
Decent capping limits such as 1 GB per day local and 100 MB International (See the Virgin ISP in trouble thread)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Windows XP SP1 is 137M, how would you download that?

[rpm]

Hi folks

Can you please give your views on this matter. It is of value even if you just indicate option one or two. If none of these options suit you, please also indicate this (but I will appreciate a ‘most preferred option’ in that case). It is the first time that MyADSL is consulted on these issues, and I feel that we should give a better feedback than the current few opinions. If the feedback is adequate I am certain Telkom will use this avenue again in future, which will mean that you have more say in the molding of the product… something we have been fighting for all along.

A good response to this post will be very useful in future discussions with Telkom or other organizations. We need this to show that users are interested in participating in the improvement of ADSL in South Africa.

Regards,

RPM
rpm@myadsl.co.za

[ASF]

Again, neither is ideal but if it's a choice - Option 2.

[kaspaas]

The least rotten apple offered in my view is option 1 - the current one.



South Africa needs World Class Broadband at World Competitive Prices.

[mitchmagi]

Option 2 is preferred - but again, we need to continue to push for a separation of local & international bandwidth with regards to the cap

[Andre]

Option 1 sounds like it would be less confusing to me.

So long as you remember to disconnect before the end of the month.

The usage of your own tracker such as Costaware or one of the others is probably the best way to monitor your bandwidth.

[Solar]

No, option 1 definitely SUCKS. I certainly don't want to REMEMBER to switch my modem off on the end of each month... option 2 would be the best one if you had to choose between the two.

Still, why are they spending time and money on this little problem, when they could be fixing the fact to LOCAL usage + International counts towards cap.

It seems like telkom is wasting (our) money again.

[mithrandi]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Still, why are they spending time and money on this little problem, when they could be fixing the fact to LOCAL usage + International counts towards cap.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
There's nothing to fix - if Telkom actually wanted it to work differently, it would be trivial to do so. Local and International counts toward the cap INTENTIONALLY; deal with it.

mithrandi

[pdsm]

Oh well i suppose option 2

[rpm]

Hi Hans

Thank you for involving MyADSL members in the decision making process regarding bandwidth measuring. I think this is definitely a step in the right direction to bring users and Telkom together to ensure an ADSL service which suits both party’s interests.

Most of the users that votes were in favor of option 2: “Telkom has configured a second option, which is based on the measurement at the start of a session. With this method the usage will be reflected on the day the session was started and not as part of the following day if the session ends after midnight. All usage of sessions open over midnight will only be reflected and added to the applicable day in which the session was started, 2 days later. This means that the entry for day one will display a different value on day 3. However all usage will be accounted for on the day of usage”. Of the votes cast, 82% selected option 2 while 18% thought option 1 was the better choice. It should be noted that many members that voted were of the opinion that the third option or a more specialized measuring service will be beneficial to ADSL users. We are eagerly awaiting the implementation of these more advances measuring services.

Thanks again for trying to improve the service to suit user’s needs.

Regards,

Rudolph Muller
MyADSL

[doekvoet]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by mithrandi</i>
<br />Well, you can always schedule your own disconnect just before midnight; we do this to avoid IP address changes/disconnections during the day. But clearly option two is far preferable to option one.

mithrandi
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Please help with this one mithrandi - how do I schedule a disconnect? I use a marconi USB modem an run Win2000Profesional. I would love to schedule a forced disconnect just before midnight

[biometrics]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Please help with this one mithrandi - how do I schedule a disconnect? I use a marconi USB modem an run Win2000Profesional. I would love to schedule a forced disconnect just before midnight
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

You could use our Telkom ADSL Router Utility but it's only for the Ethernet Marconi.

Get it here: ftp://ftp.biometrics.co.za/Miscellaneous/Biometrics.co.za_Telkom_ADSL_Router_Restart_1.0B.E XE

[kaspaas]

Please help with this one mithrandi - how do I schedule a disconnect? I use a marconi USB modem an run Win2000Profesional. I would love to schedule a forced disconnect just before midnight


The easiest way is to buy an old fashioned time switch plug - they are R50 at my local P&P. Then you switch of the power to you modem.



South Africa needs World Class Broadband at World Competitive Prices.

[alex]

There is sodtware out there just go to google and search for it , EG: internt dissconecting software and so on , i am shure the are houndereds of progies out there

[grubman]

i'm sorry, but I don't see why I should have to resort to such things as having to disconnect my connection before midnight to accomodate telkom. They sell me 3gb of usage per month, if they carry any of it across to a new month then they are knowingly breaching the contract.

If telkom cannot give accurate figures of usage then they should not be allowed to enforce a cap - plain and simple!

[mbs]

HHUUHH?! Yesterday I looked at my usage tracker volumes on http://adsl.telkomsa.net, and it showed something like just over 1Gb of combined 'up and down' volume for the month of January - this morning it shows 614Mb!! Mind you, not that I'm complaining (what's to complain if they can't count before I get capped - hehe), but it certainly shows the need for one to use another tracking mechanism, and not Telkom's useless offering...

[VQuest]

Yes, mine has decreased as well - but I had logged a call with Telkom about the large difference in results from their online usage tracker as apposed to the daily emails I get. So I thought they had fixed their mistake. Although the online usage tracker still states that I've used about 200MB more than the emails. Strange...but true.


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