Wait and See [Archive]

keng

07-01-2004, 01:01 PM

Sentech

OFF TO A SHAKY START

By Marina Bidoli

Sentech plans to tackle Telkom head-on, but new developments aren't promising

In a sign of potential trouble for Sentech, multimedia group executive Angelo Roussos has quit the state-owned broadcasting signal distribution and telecom company, just weeks before it's due to launch its long-awaited wireless, broadband Internet service.

Roussos' departure signals a lack of faith in Sentech's ability to deliver a viable and sustainable alternative Internet-based service offering to Telkom's asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) product.

A medical doctor turned entrepreneur, who sold his satellite Internet business Infosat to Sentech, Roussos is tired of Sentech's bureaucratic culture and strategic direction.

"I am disappointed," he says. "The multimedia launch has been scaled back significantly."

He says he wanted a separate brand for the new offering but was denied control of marketing. The clash may be more cultural than anything else: Sentech is controlled by former regulatory, government and Telkom officials.

"We had a difference in vision," says Sentech CEO Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane. She says Sentech has the marketing experience to launch consumer services. It is doing a "soft launch", starting with "two or three" third-party Internet service providers (ISPs) in Gauteng, followed by Durban and Cape Town. Sentech has struggled to secure "high sites" (hills and buildings) because of stringent environmental impact assessment requirements, she says.

The wireless broadband offering will be launched by end-November. As with a cellphone network, signals will be broadcast from base stations, located on high sites in metropolitan areas.

The service will be provided to ISPs - Tiscali World Online and Internet Solutions, initially - for resale, and will be cheaper than Telkom's ADSL. Also, unlike Telkom's offering, its use will not be bandwidth-capped.

ISPs see the changes as positive. "We need Sentech to provide alternative services, particularly in areas where Telkom has been unwilling or unable to provide services," says Internet Solutions new business executive Hillel Shrock.

But consumers and prospective partners are waiting to see if Sentech, which started out as the SABC's broadcast signal distribution arm, will deliver on its promises. Since being issued the badly drafted, controversial carrier-of-carrier and multimedia licences by government 17 months ago, it's been slow in launching new services, spending much of its time fighting regulatory and court battles to clarify its rights.

Also worrying is Sentech's financial position. For 2003, it reported a headline loss of R9,3m on revenue of R462m.

The problems will be overcome, promises Mokone-Matabane.

"We've injected entrepreneurial-minded people into the company and industry suppliers are working with us," she says.

Sentech recently launched a satellite-based, always-on, broadband service for rural areas, and is looking to partner Indian-based convergence firms.

Mokone-Matabane blames the delays in launching the wireless access service on a lack of licensing and regulatory clarity, resulting in Sentech having to fight off challenges from Telkom. The Independent Communications Authority's (Icasa) "enormous delays" in issuing Sentech with required frequencies also meant the company had to delay the purchase of new equipment, she says.

But the communications department is planning changes to the telecom act so Sentech will be recognised as a "public operator", which means it will be able to lease bandwidth from Telkom and the cellular networks at wholesale, rather than retail, rates.

Gazetted out of the blue last month, the telecom amendment bill of 2003 is seen as a political settlement for Sentech dropping its court case against Icasa, communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and Telkom a few months ago. The case was brought after Icasa redrafted the facilities leasing and interconnection guidelines, and backtracked on its intention to recognise Sentech as a public operator. In court documents, Sentech alleged that Icasa folded under government pressure ahead of Telkom's initial public offering (Technology & Communications July 4).

"We cannot compete if we are forced to access facilities at retail prices," says Mokone-Matabane. The telecom act's intentions have always been to introduce competition, she says. But she expects Telkom to challenge the bill. "Telkom has now been listed. It is doing well and does not need protection."

AcidRaZor

07-01-2004, 01:17 PM

By the looks of things, I think that this article was written pre November 2003 when Sentech made public their plans to launch by end January 2004

Thus, please refrain from posting these thing and sending people's blood pressure sky high. [:p]

if this article was posted recently (like a week ago) I'd certainly be worried and call them right now to clear stuff up...

AcidRaZor

07-01-2004, 01:26 PM

I was right
http://secure.financialmail.co.za/03/1024/technology/atech.htm

please ban keng, he just wants to stir, this article was written 24 October 2003, and has no relevance to the current state of affairs.

off with his head![:(!][}:)]

ProAsm

07-01-2004, 09:03 PM

OMG thats old, out of place and totally uncalled for.
Is this possibly Tommy with another nick ?
Pity I did not accept the Moderator offer as this topic would dissapear.

Perdition

07-01-2004, 10:21 PM

Take it easy guys [;)] It's possible that keng was not aware of all that has been happening at Sentech in the past few months.

mbs

07-01-2004, 11:28 PM

Still inexcusable - he/she should have read the postings on this and other forums to get up-to-date, BEFORE posting out-dated articles. It's a question of having "opened mouth only to put foot in it", or "those who don't know, and don't know that they don't know, he is a fool, ignore him", as opposed to "those who don't know, and know that they don't know, he is ignorant, teach him". (Forgive the proverbial pop references [:p] [:D]) So... he/she should have merely asked in the posting whether this had been seen before, and whether it still had any relevancy. For keng - trust this helps...

freeek

08-01-2004, 12:28 AM

the article just makes me feel doubt, October isn't so long ago.
"Sentech is controlled by former regulatory, government and Telkom officials." ya we know telskum tries to control everything

..- dot dot dash ;)

ChezAnwyne

08-01-2004, 03:47 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by ProAsm
 OMG thats old, out of place and totally uncalled for.
Is this possibly Tommy with another nick ?
Pity I did not accept the Moderator offer as this topic would dissapear.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

ProASM, quite frankly, this attitude has left me with far more doubts about Sentech than the original article, which is neither out of place, uncalled for, or even that old.

If anyone posted a critical article about Telkom that happened to be 3 months old, no one on this forum would object. In fact, most of us would enjoy it. One of the stated objectives of this forum is to provide us with objective information, and keng's post is certainly relevant.

Despite all of your previous helpful posts, I'm grateful that you or anyone else from Sentech don't have moderator privilges, with the power to make negative critisism "dissapear".

Is this how Sentech is planning to handle complaints from their customers?

Chez

BTW, microfast posted the exact same article on 11 Nov 2003
http://www.myadsl.co.za/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=932&whichpage=11
and no one complained or asked for him to be banned.
So why all the fuss now?

AcidRaZor

08-01-2004, 07:56 AM

Well, seeing as microfast posted that article for discussion on the 11th of November 2003 (a couple of weeks old), and not 6 Jan 2004 (a couple of months old) I am complaining.

The fact of the matter is, it has been up for discussion, why bring something negative to a relativly new company forward AGAIN? a ploy to debunk and sow distrust to future customers perhaps?

Remember, telkom has been around for ages and the word "telkom" runs synonymous with the words "customer dissactisfaction and general distrust"

The phrase, "Sentech is controlled by former regulatory, government and Telkom officials." is also taken out of context! Is it just me or don't you notice the words FORMER in that sentance?

FORMER - Previous (Adj.) Meaning : Past, ex-, Earlier

Besides, I won't blame Sentech for wanting to take down this thread in the first place, at least you KNOW you're touching a nerve, not like telkom ignoring you, besides, telkom has done it's fair share of monopoly and misinformation in the past... I won't be suprised if keng was a manager there... hahaha

'nuff said

Bongo

08-01-2004, 07:56 AM

I have to agree wth chez,u cant just go around editing something ,just because it does harm to yor company.
I thought this forum was to discuss openly and objectively,and not open to censorship,or degrading other members just cause they dont feel the same way as you.

AcidRaZor

08-01-2004, 09:25 AM

i'm not going to even justify that with a reply after my last post...

silversurfer

08-01-2004, 09:36 AM

to bongo,chez and keng....

the topic is old, hence MISLEADing! ... i would of deleted it on sight aswell. and i have nothing to do with sentech. Thats the normal job as a moderator, delete the uninformed, regurtitated, recuring crap.

and its the duty of those that actually do know bout 90% of the content of this forum to point out the fact immediately that the artical is out of place and old.

rpm

08-01-2004, 11:55 AM

Hi Silversurfer and others

Although I understand your concern regarding possible false information or dated articles, I believe one should maintain an environment of free speech and open discussion. This will always mean that some false information etc. will be published, but as we have seen it is usually quickly pointed out by our members. I think the success of MyADSL is based partly on the fact that all users can have their say, independent of viewpoint or preferences.

Regards,

RPM
rpm@myadsl.co.za

Mux

08-01-2004, 12:24 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by ChezAnwyne
ProASM, quite frankly, this attitude has left me with far more doubts about Sentech than the original article, which is neither out of place, uncalled for, or even that old.

If anyone posted a critical article about Telkom that happened to be 3 months old, no one on this forum would object. In fact, most of us would enjoy it. One of the stated objectives of this forum is to provide us with objective information, and keng's post is certainly relevant.

Despite all of your previous helpful posts, I'm grateful that you or anyone else from Sentech don't have moderator privilges, with the power to make negative critisism "dissapear".

Is this how Sentech is planning to handle complaints from their customers?

Chez

BTW, microfast posted the exact same article on 11 Nov 2003
http://www.myadsl.co.za/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=932&whichpage=11
and no one complained or asked for him to be banned.
So why all the fuss now?

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Firstly, I have to compliment Sentech (ProAsm) for having the common sense and client centric focus in participating in MyADSL. Telkom has had this open offer and in their standard, as expected arrogant approach, has declined to participate “officially”.

ProAsm merely expressed his view, a brave one I might add, but has not taken the option to be a moderator. He should not be slated for his views as it is already a million times better than not participating at all. Yes maybe a bite on the lip and try to be a bit more diplomatic is probably the choice, but personally I prefer a straight-forward no frills approach. Sentech already showed that they do plan to deal with clients complaints by participating in the open with issues via MyADSL.

No, I don’t think comparing the first post by Microfast was inappropriate as it was the initial awareness and a lot of debate has happened since then. The current re-posting just seems malicious, although it might not have been, as a lot of people posting here don’t always read old forum postings. Old article for a new start-up initiative to take on Telkom is far more damaging than an article about Telkom that has shown its disgust with MyADSL and even try to discredit it. Telkom has not shown any intent to listen to its clients (MyADSL is this case) and very few of their articles “age” anyway, as their approach/attitude seems unchanged.

You don't know what you don't know.
Mux

Bongo

08-01-2004, 01:07 PM

Well Sentech hasnt shown any intrest here either so whats your point,ProAsms posts have not been official at all.
So taking that into consideration there attitude as far as this forum is concerned is the same as Telkoms.

silversurfer

08-01-2004, 01:35 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by rpm
 Hi Silversurfer and others

Although I understand your concern regarding possible false information or dated articles, I believe one should maintain an environment of free speech and open discussion. This will always mean that some false information etc. will be published, but as we have seen it is usually quickly pointed out by our members. I think the success of MyADSL is based partly on the fact that all users can have their say, independent of viewpoint or preferences.

Regards,

RPM
rpm@myadsl.co.za
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

ye 4 sure. well atleast this one has now been quickly pointed out.

I really dont get the sentech knocking, b4 there is even a product. Telkom sat and beta tested ADSL for 2 years, thats reason for knocking them alone. But let sentech release their product. Then take a look at their service. They have already killed telkom in every aspect of customer relations thus far. I just chated to their (human) call centre staff today, unlike the ... well we all know what species we classify the telkom helpdesk as... ;) soz ;) mybad. 8)

AcidRaZor

08-01-2004, 02:16 PM

kewl, when do they release again? maybe i should call and apply so long :)

Zeliard

08-01-2004, 04:12 PM

The article, despite its age and possible "bite" effects on Sentech's corporate image brings up one important point - does Sentech intend to distribute its service through ISPs only (who will "package" it according to their will and probably charge you another 100 bucks for the cream on top of the cappucino), or will it deliver on its website promises to sell MyWireless directly?

ProAsm

08-01-2004, 09:33 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">"Sentech is controlled by former regulatory, government and Telkom officials."<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Freeek I'm not aiming this at you or anyone but just want to inform everyone where Sentech comes from.
We were originally part of the SABC and in 1995 (thereabouts) we broke away completely and became Sentech.
We are in no way subsidised by the Goverment and operate as a commercial enterprise.
70% of the staff are ex SABC, the rest joined after 1995. There are a few ex Telkom people but only a very few of them.
We have offices in Johannesburg (Head Office) and Control Center offices in Bloemfontein, Capetown, Durban, Ermelo, George, Kroonstad, Middelburg, Pietersburg, Port Elizabeth, East London, Upington, Vredendal, Vryburg and Vryheid.
Total staff compliment is around 500.
I've been with the company for 23 years [:)]

Karnaugh

08-01-2004, 10:25 PM

The reason why post's like this should be moderated is because they are damaging with misinformation. Posting something from October 2003 that has already been posted, with a topic like "Wait and See" just seems more like a troll than anything else aimed to create false doubt.

Of course, the aim of these forums is to be a public service. ProASM as the right to say what he likes just like anyone else, he says so as himself, not on behalf of Sentech or anyone else.

<hr noshade size="1">
"Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."

NetLink Research

MOnk

08-01-2004, 11:37 PM

Yo Sup SS ! :)

Just like to say, enjoy reading ur guys posts. :) Just one thing I think is a bit dodgy, that the poster of the topic and article has not yet posted anything in response. Doesn't that seam strange to you ? I mean if you post an article like this you at least voice ur oppinion on what you think this means for the porduct/company, otherwise whats the point of posting it, just to let ppl know ?

Although I agree it's a critical part of a forum like this to be open to all views and comments but it should still be done in a fair and objective way. After all you can find faults in anything if you can try hard enough. :)

silversurfer

09-01-2004, 11:19 AM

lol, wasssup monk :)

keng

12-01-2004, 03:00 PM

Please note that it was not my intention to put Mywireless in any kind of bad light. I truely hope that they succeed in their endeavours. I was not aware that the article was previously posted, as I do not have the time nor inclination to read all submissions.

AcidRaZor

12-01-2004, 03:16 PM

dude, i work a "standard" 55 hour week, I don't have time, I bill by the hour.

plus, i'm not even supposed to be on the net, yet i have the time AND inclination to read every post. it helps doing it bit by bit. [:D] and not getting caught doing it [:p]

Staind

12-01-2004, 09:30 PM

tisk... most topics wud be deleted if there was no freedom of speech.. remember all the speculations.. static ip's and burstability what a load of sheet. that was the first question i asked and was put in place very abruptly.why is this topic called wait and see? honestly... a news article from a few months ago has no significance on whats happening now.. until u sign a contract everything could change you should know that.

mithrandi

12-01-2004, 10:23 PM

There's no need to delete or moderate the post, plenty of people have noted the fact that it's an old article.

mithrandi

freakazoid

13-01-2004, 10:09 AM

Just some of my experiences with Sentech I'd like to share...

My first real problem since my VSTAR has been installed, was addressed by one of their technical "managers" whom decided it was appropriate to literally swear at me in a email... Thank god Telkom doesn't do that... yet.

The most classic outage I ever had in my entire life... My Service goes offline on the 23rd of December. I contact the support center to open a SR to get the service back online. The 25th, they come back to me saying it's "bad weahter" - yet, we have a perfect summers day where I'm located. On the 31st the service is STILL offline, Sentech decides to eventually send two technicians out to my premises, as there are no one working at Sentech HQ in Johannesburg (not even skeleton staff) to look after, or resolve tickets - regardless of the fact that is was logged with the highest possible priority. The technicians arrive, only to find out that Sentech has literally, switched my VSTAR Terminal off in Johannesburg. And I'm affraid to say, 90% odd of my problems are Sentech "switching off my terminal".

The Support desk was literally unable to get hold of someone at Sentech's NOC Center from the 24th to the 31st to simply push a button and reactivate my VSTAR... Not even Telkom is that bad.

Furthermore, in the 6 odd months that I've had the VSTAR Sentech is yet to match their SLA as specified in the Contract. Be prepared, the SLA means buggeral. My attempts to get credit where credit is due as per the contract has been simply met with a responce that the SLA is only credited once per year, regardless of the fact that I have to pay per month (The support desk actually believes that the SLA is on the Satellite and not on the VSTAR Service itself - to be specific to the product). I really wonder how Sentech plans to establish which 10 minute outage from 12 months ago was caused by bad weather and which was a actual outage.

On the 31st when the Sentech technicians visited me, I also had a very long conversation with them, ranging from Television broadcasts (something which we also have a problem with in our area), straight through to the VSTAR and MyWireless services. I'm not going to go into details as to what was said, but from the Technicians own mouth, Sentech is not ready to offer, or maintain the VSTAR range of services, and I seriously believe that the same goes for MyWireless. In their own words, they are under staffed, and lack the appropriate skills to troubleshoot advance problems on the systems.

For the record as well, since Sentech has started their "trails" on the MyWireless, my 512KBits of bandwidth has been reduced to less than 256KBits on avarage. I maybe manage to burst over 300KBits once per day odd... A month or two ago, I had no problems running for days on end maxing my throughput. My pings are also completely unstable, ranging anything between 700ms and 10 seconds - yet, a month ago it was stable at 630ms odd... I wonder what brought the sudden change on with the service.... One word - myWireless. A plain and simple shortage of bandwidth at Sentech.

Needless to say, I am staying away from Telkom, and the way Sentech is going on at this stage, I'm afraid to say I'm on the virge of staying away from Sentech as well...

AcidRaZor

13-01-2004, 10:33 AM

noone said there WON'T be teething problems...

wait a minute... i DID say that [:D] [:p]

SK33T

13-01-2004, 05:58 PM

.......and thats why I say wait six months before signing.

SK33T

13-01-2004, 06:21 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">dude, i work a "standard" 55 hour week, I don't have time, I bill by the hour.

plus, i'm not even supposed to be on the net, yet i have the time AND inclination to read every post. it helps doing it bit by bit. and not getting caught doing it <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">noone said there WON'T be teething problems...

wait a minute... i DID say that <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

How old are you?

Anthen

13-01-2004, 08:13 PM

I have to go with freakazoid on this one. The sentech support is non-existent. If you think being down for a couple days is bad, try a month. In fact the problem has still not been resolved. This is since 10 Dec.

I guess sentech is hoping that ISP's will support their products in the end.

Dont get my wrong. Although support is non-existent, speeds can go quite high at times. I registered a whopping 400+kb/s not to long ago on solo24 from the bandwidthplace site. But this was during a period in which they were experiencing problem, which would've brought the contention ratios down. On average 128kb/s.

Another worrying thing about sentech is they are providing public ips to the mywireless clients. What is stopping adsl users tunneling through mywireless? This would kill the whole system. Users found doing this should be shot[}:)]

The opposite of war is not peace, It's creation
Jonathan Larson Rent

jgoosen

13-01-2004, 08:46 PM

I have been trying to contact sentech via telphone(Got Put on hold or no answer )They do not reply to any e-mails either......And why not make people pay for the equipment and give them maybe just 12month contract or so all they do is making you pay off the stuff via the contract same with the vsat option

hurt yourself, then find someone to sue about it.

freakazoid

14-01-2004, 12:25 AM

Well, I'm glad to find out that I'm not the only one!!! Though, sadend by the fact that there actually are 'others'. No one should be put through this thing Sentech calls a "service"...

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Anthen
Another worrying thing about sentech is they are providing public ips to the mywireless clients. What is stopping adsl users tunneling through mywireless? This would kill the whole system. Users found doing this should be shot[}:)]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Absolutely nothing? Quite frankly, I wont be surprised if it happens - and I can almost guarantee you it will happen as well. The contention ratios on the ADSL as well as MyWireless will thankfully limit the impact but it still can consume vast amounts of bandwidth very quickly.

AcidRaZor

14-01-2004, 07:43 AM

To the question on my age, I'm 24 and loving it. Workoholic extraordinare.

To the people who are suffering from lack of support and downtimes, what difference is this to telkom? Almost nothing? I remember waiting 6 months (and alot of my friends as well) just to get ISDN installed, then having problems with it every other day, and even having downtime for more than 3 weeks.

The people on the VSTAR package, and freakazoid, remember, the weather factor isn't only at your residence, but at the sentech satelites as well, although, I do understand the whole "switching off your terminal thing"

chill, they're still new at this...

besides, every time I called to enquire about mywireless or vstar, their support staff answered my calls immediatly.

BTW, sk33t, what the hell does my age have to do with things?! :P

freakazoid

14-01-2004, 09:54 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by noone
To the people who are suffering from lack of support and downtimes, what difference is this to telkom? Almost nothing? I remember waiting 6 months (and alot of my friends as well) just to get ISDN installed, then having problems with it every other day, and even having downtime for more than 3 weeks.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yes. Exactly my point... Esp. in regards to the MyWireless, I am getting the suspecions (spelling I know) that people are more and more expecting a "miricle cure" over the Telkom alternatives. This was basically merely a warning that they will be getting allot less than it. In all honestly, if I have to choose between Sentech and Telkom, I'll most definately choose Telkom. In my experiences and usage (This may be area specific I know), Telkom is far more superior than Sentech on availability of service. Quite frankly, from what I have experienced from Sentech so far - *ANY* ISP is more superior.

For one thing, except a single piece of fiber optic between Sentech and IS, Sentech has zero other connectivity, nor redundancy. And yes, that single piece of fiber did actually break once, leaving me (and 99% of the rest of Sentech's customers I'm sure) without connectivity for about 3 hours while they re-spliced the cable...

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
The people on the VSTAR package, and freakazoid, remember, the weather factor isn't only at your residence, but at the sentech satelites as well, although, I do understand the whole "switching off your terminal thing"
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yes! Now tell that to Sentech please! "Bad Weather" is about the only excuse I get out of them, and I *KNOW* it isn't bad weahter in JHB (That's now besides the point that every time my VSTAR went down because of "bad weather", my DSTV still worked - they use the same satellites in the sky). If I am offline due to bad weather in JHB, all of Sentech's other VSTAR clients will be offline as well because of the fact that Sentech's HUBs in JHB will be unable to link to the Satellite in the sky. Not once did I receive any confirmation from the support desk about a single other client that was down due to "bad weather" as I was. Sentech CPT also links to their HQ via a VSTAR installation - ironically, they have been offline once in almost a year, and that was due to scheduled maintenance (If I remember the stats 100% from what the technicians told me on the 31st). If I am off on this stat, it won't be much...

Yesterday, I had another outage on my Terminal again. Sentech promptly came back to me, denying the fact that my terminal was down. I will be buying myself a digital camera now, and will be emailing them pictures (proove) of every time that my terminal goes down... I wonder what lies they are going to make up then. Quite interesting as well, when my service did come back, I was faced with pings in the region of 160 seconds for about 20 minutes afterwards - yet, Sentech says "nothing is wrong"...

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
chill, they're still new at this...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Rubbish. VSTAR has been operating easily for a year to a year and a half already. If they can't manage to iron out most of the issues and provide a stable service in that time, then I honestly don't know. Remember, I'm not asking for a perfect service (I know that doesn't exist). I dont think asking for a STABLE service is to much however, neither is asking for honesty from Sentech's staff.

Secondly, if they are still testing, my contract does definately not include being a lab rat. They should go set up a test rig and run their funky little tests and outages on that - not my service which costs me a absurd amount of money for on avarage, throughput that is less than ISDN.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
besides, every time I called to enquire about mywireless or vstar, their support staff answered my calls immediatly.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yes, I have no problems with their support desk, and quite frankly it is one of the best support desks I have ever worked with. Unfortunately, there is little to nothing that they can do except log a ticket and wait for Sentech to come back to them with a bull story. I have actually attempted to push Sentech to give the call center more power in the sense that they can resolve smaller issues themselves - but once again this has fell on empty ears.

AcidRaZor

14-01-2004, 11:16 AM

You're an intelligent oke, and from the looks, probably run your own business, don't expect ANY business to be "god" for just over a year of a service they provide.

You WILL get teething problems, and it may take anything from 1 - 3 years to get things running smoothly, hence, why, if you start any kind of business, you should expect to only show profit in 3-5 years, not only because of capital layout, but getting your service reliable, stable and effecient enough to generate sufficient clientele.

I'm not saying they couldn't do better, but from my experience, they're not doing too bad, and with the release of MyWireless, things can only get better for both of us, because as you know, they will be messing with end-users now, which will demand more and better things, and which they will provide.

I won't be suprised if their support desk will start resolving minor issues in a year or so themselves, like I said, they're still breaking into the market, and they're still working on it... give them time...

see, telkom can't use that as an excuse :) and I'm pretty sure Sentech will learn from Telkom's mistakes.

remember, the more effecient you are, the more stable and reliable, the more you can sell it to clients, and the more money you generate (even with a small client base, if your effeciency is running at optimum, you're more than likely to make more money because you're cutting down on unnessacary cost)

and again... my spelling may be lacking too... i'm not suppose to be online!! :)

mithrandi

14-01-2004, 12:45 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Another worrying thing about sentech is they are providing public ips to the mywireless clients. What is stopping adsl users tunneling through mywireless? This would kill the whole system. Users found doing this should be shot<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Users found doing that should be taking to a mental asylum. I'm certainly not letting any ADSL users tunnel through my connection, I'll be using the bandwidth myself; I can't imagine that the situation would be any different for anyone capable of setting up tunnels / proxies / whatever to achieve that.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">In all honestly, if I have to choose between Sentech and Telkom, I'll most definately choose Telkom. In my experiences and usage (This may be area specific I know), Telkom is far more superior than Sentech on availability of service.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Everything you described about your bad experiences with Sentech is incredibly tame compared to the bull**** I've had to put up with from Telkom. If those are the only problems you've been having, I'll take Sentech over Telkom any day of the week.

mithrandi

georgestrydom

14-01-2004, 09:48 PM

I really cannot believe why any normal person would ever think for one moment, that a government organisation would ever deliver a "better than" service. You don't get competition when you the only two players in the field, ie. Telkom and Sentech, both suffer from, "tomorrow is another day".
ProAsm claims that they are a commercial enterprise. I suggest he browse through his own Annual Report on Sentech's web page.
I quote " As a State-owned enterprise, the shareholder of the company is the "State" as represented by the Minister Of Communications."
Their mindset was developed over many years of constructive disengagement. Why they cannot let somebody with the right drive, push "My Wireless" into the future, I just cannot understand. This system would be the ideal thing to setup in your suburb as a Small Business. Instead of having great big areas, cut them down to eg. 5 square Kms. A single techie could quite easily live of the profits of that area.
NO, lets give it too some state run enterprise whose best ability is to see how much money they can lose without all getting thrown out into the real world and actually have too work for a living.

MOnk

14-01-2004, 10:28 PM

What you are saying (if I am reading it right) sounds 100% nonsense. Are you saying that you would rather have millions of small companies setup R5km wireless networks than have 1 national operator ?

If that IS what you are saying, then you seriously need to learn the basics of good bussines practices. This isn't your local Spar we are talking about. Imagine the overheads you would need, it would be papper work upon paper work to get all this little cells connected together. I mean I can just picture some little punk go claim the area around where u live and then charge 10x the price that the guy 5km away is paying .... Certain benifits of wireless would also be cut out, such as the ability to roam and setup a connection in another area (i.e home/work).

I am sorry if I mis-interpreted what you said, but the way I see it now it just makes no sense what so ever.

georgestrydom

15-01-2004, 05:58 AM

I don't see Spars running at a loss, but I can see your thinking. Must have lots of paperwork, that will make people think I am working. Not from Telkom are you.

AcidRaZor

15-01-2004, 08:13 AM

*slap* you silly beeches

Spar is an entity, and all the spar's in the whole country is little cells run by whoever wanted to start their own spar franchise, thats how a franchise works.

Because Spar buys bulk, and then "sells" that to their franchisees, they're able to keep prices low, thats why they're competitive, same with Shoprite or any other big chain.

Hence, why Sentech will get partners, offering different packages, Sentech is the big daddy provider, and all the little "cells" are the different isp's (or whoever) re-selling their product. the company that sells their product, earns commission per sale, which shifts the paperwork and package offerings away from Sentech themselves, and leaves them with the money to collect.

State owned or not, we're all getting fugged, if you're old enough to vote (16+) please vote ANY other party except ANC, I don't want to see another 10 years of corruption!

not that politics has anything to do with the crap service we're getting, or does it? [:D]

ProAsm

15-01-2004, 08:22 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">ProAsm claims that they are a commercial enterprise<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I did not say that, I said we operate AS A Commercial Enterprise which is 2 totally different things.

Regarding the outsourcing of the system, hehe.. find me a medium/small company who is prepared to buy 10,000 modems (just for starters) for a system most have never heard of or even tried out, not to mention the initial or long term investment.

Why some are so angry I cannot understand, and why look for support for a system that has not been launched yet.

I'm beginning to see the reason why Telkom staff stay 1000 miles away from forums.

Already Doomy has pulled out - keep it up [:(!]

Anthen

15-01-2004, 09:30 PM

ProAsm, the problem with sentech support is there is no communication. I have mentioned this to sentech management. One way of improving communication could be to appoint two support techs to an ISP. They then deal directly with those two around the clock. It would save time waiting for "someone" to call back. Another benefit is they start to know the client and the network setup, which make it easier for them to troubleshoot.

I would choose Sentech over telkom any day, even though I am still waiting. Today a month[:D]

I'll find a small/medium-sized business that will pay upfront 10,000 modems, if you can find me a corporate company that has 10,000 clients of +R700p/m in a 5km radius.

We cannot try out 3G for a couple reasons. If you think about it you'll realise why and that brings me to another point...

I think it is unfair that Megawan had to close, but yet Sentech can do the exact same thing, telecommunication over public roads. This is definitely double standards. Is this ICASA's way to start a monopoly in wireless? I think 3G or Wifi licenses should be made available to small/medium-sized businesses in a determined area e.g. a city or 15km radius. This way wireless is not monopolised and small/medium-sized businesses can compete as it is stated in the Competition Act. Medium sized businesses most often provide the best service. They are small enough to be vulnerable to bad publicity, but also large enough to be competent at what they do. They are also more likely to be more open to suggestions. That is already enough to put a medium sized business in a competitive position. Private owned companies are also more customer satisfaction aware.

ProAsm, the level of support Sentech is providing on vsat and infosat products make people worry about mywireless. As I understood freakazoid, he was trying to look for support on his vsat not the product that has not been launched yet, though it will be the same company providing the support.

The opposite of war is not peace, It's creation
Jonathan Larson Rent

Anthen

15-01-2004, 10:05 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by mithrandi
 Users found doing that should be taking to a mental asylum. I'm certainly not letting any ADSL users tunnel through my connection, I'll be using the bandwidth myself; I can't imagine that the situation would be any different for anyone capable of setting up tunnels / proxies / whatever to achieve that.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I can imagine many ADSL users capable of setting up a tunnel, that would love to do that, with or without permission. Besides, static ip no bandwidth limit... what stops nocap.co.za from getting a mywireless 512kb and selling that?

Although I am not a fan of the 3Gb cap, there is certain logic behind it. The only way Telkom can allow unlimited traffic on an 512kb ADSL is to sell leased lines (which happens to be from the DSL family) for R1000. Which means they will be losing out on R30 000 per month. And ADSL users think they are being ripped off.

Would a 10Gb cap with the option to buy more traffic not be appropriate for mywireless ?

The opposite of war is not peace, It's creation
Jonathan Larson Rent

Anthen

15-01-2004, 10:18 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by noone
Hence, why Sentech will get partners, offering different packages, Sentech is the big daddy provider, and all the little "cells" are the different isp's (or whoever) re-selling their product. the company that sells their product, earns commission per sale, which shifts the paperwork and package offerings away from Sentech themselves, and leaves them with the money to collect.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

It does not seem that they are interested. Been waiting for feedback since Nov. And besides, they allready choose to give the "partners" the finger by selling directly to the public, which eliminates the "big daddy" and "bulk" thing. Unless Sentech is going to franchise? Dont think so.

The opposite of war is not peace, It's creation
Jonathan Larson Rent

MOnk

15-01-2004, 11:33 PM

MY FSKING WORD !!!!!!

Anthen, on a few ocasions I had to close my eyes while reading ur posts. I almost fell over when you ASKED for a cap to be placed on Mywireless and said cap on ADSL made sense by saying if there wasn't one it would take over from a Leased Line ... *recovers from initial shock* Firstly the ONLY reason why there is a cap on ADSL and why the service is so ****ty is because otherwise Telkom would lose a large portion of their Leased line clients to the much cheaper ADSL.

You sort out bandwidth problems by changing contentions ratio's not by placing caps on a service.

Also Sentech has not given anyone the "finger" as they are allowing ISP's to resell their product.

noone, as wit the issues with the spar :P ... I am not saying it's not a good idea to break sections up into smaller parts of a whole but having thounds of tiny independant sections is just counter productive. Don't you think ? Sorta like instead of having a large controling body (i.e Spar the Company) with lots of sections (Spar shops) you have thousands of independant quick spars, each having to purchase goods on their own and each having to fight the next quick spar for more customers. ...... I hope I make sense .... kick me if I don't :P

AcidRaZor

16-01-2004, 08:01 AM

Well, dude, same thing goes with how many people sell PC's nowadays, but thats another story.

About megawan, megawan used a "grey area" in the ICASA rules and guidelines to send their signals, I'm not mentioning the frequency they did it at because I will be lying. They didn't get awarded with a license TO broadcast. (and they shut down because of bad debts, not because icasa said they should)

Sentech has a license to broadcast on a frequency that megawan never could (or could, but would be illegal without a license) If you're looking for a megawan type company, go ahead, I know of 3 that does the same thing, but comparing the prices of what you get and the range they broadcast, I'll wait for sentech (60 hours to go approx!)

About "buying 10000 modems upfront" (going back to the spar analysis) you don't have to, sentech could still provide the modem (as big daddy spar provides the apples to his little independant spars) no need for big capital layout and less worries about dealing with customers.

If you have 10 resellers (and you provide the modems and services) the client contacts his/her respective reseller, and then the reseller contacts sentech (for support for instance)

Then instead of dealing with 10000 customers, you deal with 10, thats why Virtual ISP's got so popular early 2000, they resold dialup accounts under their name etc, but didnt have to worry about buying bandwidth etc

My opinion and how I would have tried doing things till I learn more about the market and type of business I went in ;P

ProAsm

16-01-2004, 12:04 PM

Noone I think you missing my point on the 10000 modems etc.
Once the system has been running for say a year and is pretty wide spread, then yes, the distribution across several vendors so to speak can and probably will happen.
But initially, 3 months before a system that no body understands is to be launched, someone, has to layout R30,000,000 to buy modems only so he can supply someone 10 as you say. Which wholesaler do you think will be prepared to do that.
Someone initially has to take that risk, like leaping off a cliff and hoping your unknown parachute is going to open :)

Anthen

16-01-2004, 01:42 PM

Same as with ADSL, what is the point of reselling a product if the reseller will make R20-R30, not to mention valueadded items and services that need to be included to make the product lucrative.

I know of two ISP's in my area closing. They just cant compete against ADSL. Btw, there is a law against this, but hey its telkom, they are above the law.

Monk, that is what i was trying to say. I hate the cap and the dinamic ip, but with out that the service will be what others are paying R30k for. So we will all cancel our leased lines and get ADSL or myWireless.

In the end there will only be two ISP's/ASP's left, telkom and sentech. Why you guys are happy about this, I dont understand.

The opposite of war is not peace, It's creation
Jonathan Larson Rent

Anthen

16-01-2004, 02:15 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by MOnk
You sort out bandwidth problems by changing contentions ratio's not by placing caps on a service.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Erm, R30000/R240 (average adsl price per 3Gb) = 125
1:125 uncapped bandwidth, contention ratio's just wont do it. The speed will be dreadfully slow. What I am saying is leased line prices should come down, not ADSL should be capped. Telkom charge R4.6k for a 512kb martis line, which happens to be DSL as well. Now why charge R4.6k for the same thing and label it as something else and sell it at R800?

Then the bandwidth issue, R240/3000Mb = 8cents per MB. While 512kb leased line capable of pulling 64Kb/s * 60sec * 60min * 24H = +-5.5Gb a day, that will never happen because of overheads and error checking, but never mind. So a leased line can consume 5.5Gb * 30days = 165Gb. R30000/165000 = 16cents per MB.

So telkom is selling bandwidth directly to the public for half the price it is selling to ISP's, and this is right? If your spar headquarters are selling products directly to the public for the half the price they sell to you (remember you have to sell this again) would you not also feel that they should burn in hell[:)]

The opposite of war is not peace, It's creation
Jonathan Larson Rent

Anthen

16-01-2004, 03:23 PM

And that does not take in consideration that ADSL has unlimit national traffic. I'll rather not work out what the price per MB would be on international only traffic, might just spoil my day[:)]

The opposite of war is not peace, It's creation
Jonathan Larson Rent

Karnaugh

17-01-2004, 01:59 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">ProAsm, the problem with sentech support is there is no communication.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

You want support for a system that hasn’t been released yet, and that you aren’t even a customer of? Um. aye ok. can see that one making sense.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I think it is unfair that Megawan had to close<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Very unfair seeing as they blatantly went against ICASA and the law without even attempting to acquire licenses etc, there by tainting the relationship between ICASA and other ISP's and completely demolishing their trust in other organisations?? As opposed to a company with a lot more experience and resources than MegaWan who are licensed to operate it. Yup... Seems unfair to me.

http://www.ispa.org.za/advisory8.htm - Read me.

On the issue of nocap.co.za, I'm sure there are clauses about reselling your MyWireless bandwidth. As well as the fact that you only have a 128K upstream (Upstream goes towards the ADSL user so they would only get 128k download? rather useless...) What stops them doing the same with 128K ISDN users? didnt think that plan out all the way exactly eh.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
and they shut down because of bad debts, not because icasa said they should<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
No, they shut down because ICASA said they should.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I think 3G or Wifi licenses should be made available to small/medium-sized businesses in a determined area e.g. a city or 15km radius. This way wireless is not monopolised and small/medium-sized businesses can compete as it is stated in the Competition Act. Medium sized businesses most often provide the best service<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

We could also point a 2GHZ wave guide between your legs and see how you enjoy it? There are reasons for regulation!

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Would a 10Gb cap with the option to buy more traffic not be appropriate for mywireless <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

To be honest it probably would, but I would use the route taken by other countries who have experience in this. Namely the 1Gb/day idea. This would prevent people generating excess traffic, while not limiting them unreasonably

<hr noshade size="1">
"Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."

NetLink Research

Karnaugh

17-01-2004, 02:16 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">So a leased line can consume 5.5Gb * 30days = 165Gb. R30000/165000 = 16cents per MB.

So telkom is selling bandwidth directly to the public for half the price it is selling to ISP's, and this is right?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Diginet is in general 0 contention when buying directly from Telkom (guranteed bandwidth depending on line usage), and costs alot more than R30000.

Telkom is selling contended bandwidth as ADSL. ISP's buy guranteed international and local bandwidth from Telkom and oversell it to make a profit (and it is a *very* good profit).

Seeing as Sentech are using IS as peering I doubt they will close, besides UUNet and IS have more customers than SAIX at the end of the day. I dont see MWeb or Tiscali closing any time soon. And there are many other new ISP's opening.

<hr noshade size="1">
"Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."

NetLink Research

Anthen

19-01-2004, 08:27 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Karnaugh<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
 

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
You want support for a system that hasn’t been released yet, and that you aren’t even a customer of? Um. aye ok. can see that one making sense.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Erm, please read the post before replying.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
ProAsm, the level of support Sentech is providing on vsat and infosat products make people worry about mywireless. As I understood freakazoid, he was looking for support on his vsat not the product that has not been launched yet, though it will be the same company providing the support.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
On the issue of nocap.co.za, I'm sure there are clauses about reselling your MyWireless bandwidth. As well as the fact that you only have a 128K upstream (Upstream goes towards the ADSL user so they would only get 128k download? rather useless...) What stops them doing the same with 128K ISDN users? didnt think that plan out all the way exactly eh.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Erm, please read the post before replying.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
Another worrying thing about sentech is they are providing public ips to the mywireless clients. What is stopping adsl users tunneling through mywireless? This would kill the whole system. Users found doing this should be shot
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

ISDN is dynamicly assigned... didnt think that out all the way hey? And yea, 128kb is still pretty good if you compare that the a capped ADSL line. Anyway, the public ip will probably only be available on the 512kb option. Clauses on bandwidth? Yes and so are there for multiple user/pass for ADSL.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
We could also point a 2GHZ wave guide between your legs and see how you enjoy it? There are reasons for regulation!
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Erm, please read the post before replying.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
I think 3G or Wifi LICENSES should be made available to small/medium-sized businesses in a determined area e.g. a city or 15km radius. This way wireless is not monopolised and small/medium-sized businesses can compete as it is stated in the Competition Act.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I am against calling any human being stupid or an idiot, but you really tempt me. ICASA can make a lot more money doing it this way.
But please Karnaugh, dont reply on a post that you dont understand or have the maturtiy to try and understand.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
Diginet is in general 0 contention when buying directly from Telkom (guranteed bandwidth depending on line usage), and costs alot more than R30000.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

No, the post clearly states Megabyte per second. And yes CR is much more expensive which makes the crime worse, whats your point?

Yes, there are many new "Resellers" opening, that is about what they can do. Same with myWireless, they can only resell and not much to improve the service. If there are any technical issues with basestations or servers, the resellers can only sit and wait, meaning that there is no improvement on the service. While if they make a license available, private owned companies can provide the same, yet improved service.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
"Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Everytime you quote this, you shoot yourself in the foot.

The opposite of war is not peace, It's creation
Jonathan Larson Rent

AcidRaZor

20-01-2004, 08:56 AM

this just brightened up my day, thanks [:D]

Karnaugh

20-01-2004, 12:20 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">ISDN is dynamicly assigned<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Just like MyWireless, you can request static IP's for ISDN at a small extra charge.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">128kb is still pretty good if you compare that the a capped ADSL line.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> Between how many people?

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Erm, please read the post before replying.

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think 3G or Wifi LICENSES should be made available to small/medium-sized businesses in a determined area e.g. a city or 15km radius. This way wireless is not monopolised and small/medium-sized businesses can compete as it is stated in the Competition Act.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am against calling any human being stupid or an idiot, but you really tempt me. ICASA can make a lot more money doing it this way.
But please Karnaugh, dont reply on a post that you dont understand or have the maturtiy to try and understand.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

You clearly dont understand what I'm saying. Frequencies are regulated because if any joe could do what they like then it can be harmfull to others. I dont see anywhere in the past that said you couldnt apply for a license to ICASA? Whether they will give you one is another story.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">No, the post clearly states Megabyte per second.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I'm not sure I (or even you) know what you are talking about.

Personal insults aren't going to win your argument, experience in the ISP market might. Do you have any?

<hr noshade size="1">
"Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."

NetLink Research

Anthen

20-01-2004, 03:06 PM

License, yes there is. Sentech paid R800 000 for their licence. What I am saying is, average ISP's cant afford R800 000 just for the license to put up a national wireless network, so lets break it down to city/town and work from there. There are a lot more than 80 possible city/towns, times that by R10 000-R15 000 and you will see what I mean that they can actually make more money. Two years ago ICASA wanted 1.6mil for a similar licence. Rather break it down in smaller segments so we can see more competition in the market.

ISP experience, yes

The opposite of war is not peace, It's creation
Jonathan Larson Rent

AcidRaZor

20-01-2004, 03:39 PM

JOU MA! [:o)]

Chaz

20-01-2004, 04:24 PM

Id like to reply to Karnaugh's comment on MegaWan - one specific point. I am not commenting on frequency usage, debt, management, Sentech or anything else.

This comment

"Very unfair seeing as they blatantly went against ICASA and the law without even attempting to acquire licenses etc, there by tainting the relationship between ICASA and other ISP's and completely demolishing their trust in other organisations?? As opposed to a company with a lot more experience and resources than MegaWan who are licensed to operate it. Yup... Seems unfair to me."

Most of Karnaugh's credible information about MegaWan comes from an ISPA advisory that was posted sometime ago. At the time, with my involvment with MegaWan (I was in the management team for a short while) we were made aware of this advisory. It was known as a very one sided commercially driven advisory that was very anti MegaWan, and very pro 'let someone else do this'.

Dude, and anyone else that wants to comment about MegaWan. If you dont know the facts, and I mean the 100% truth, then rather keep quiet.

If you knew the kind of information that was flowing between MegaWan and ICASA, you would be surprised. There was weekly contact, trying to legalise the business and trying to get all 3 the required licenses. Your comment is ill founded, unaccurate and a blatant lie.

MegaWan took a huge knock. One thing people forget is that they did a lot of ground work at a huge cost for others to follow in.

Good luck to Sentech - they have a strong product - but it will not be easy.