Broadband Definition

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rpm

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Hi folks

As part of the second Broadband Ratings Report we would like to include the definition of broadband. From the previous discussions it is clear that this is no easy tasks, but in order to guide/inform ICASA, ASASA and other organizations we must be clear on what we consider to be a ‘broadband connection’. If we can justify our arguments one will have a strong case against companies advertising broadband Internet which are sub-standard. I think we should settle on a numerical download figure that can be adapted as time progress, but maybe somebody has a better way to handle this issue. As always your feedback will be of great value!

Here are a few definitions & articles that might be of value:

Great article to start with!
http://www.entrepreneur.com/Your_Business/YB_SegArticle/0,4621,288231,00.html
“The US Federal Communications Commission when referring to the internet regards broadband as 200kbps or more in at least one direction.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3563320.stm
“It said 512Kbps was widely accepted as the starting speed for broadband.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/14/bt_clarifies_broadband_definition/
"For clarity, BT's definition of broadband is a connection of 500kbps or more. Some other providers are currently claiming mid-band connections as broadband and these are not able to provide the same internet experience for customers."

http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?query=broadband
“The term has come to be used for any kind of Internet connection with a download speed of more than 56 kbps, usually some kind of Digital Subscriber Line, e.g. ADSL.”

http://www.learnthat.com/define/view.asp?id=281
“Broadband refers to the ability of the user to view content across the internet that includes large files, such as video, audio and 3D.”
 
“Broadband refers to the ability of the user to view content across the internet that includes large files, such as video, audio and 3D.”
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I go with this one, the 3GB cap makes it impossible to do these things. But to do these things you need a fast enough connection (connection >= 512k).

No matter what you tell them just make sure that its more than we currently get, because this is not broadband. More like broadcap - the ability to experience true broadband for a day.
 
I don't like the one direction thing. One direction is a line.
A band is more than one "line" enabling up and down simultaneously.
A broadband is two or more bands.

Dial-Up is called dialup. No problems there. Dial up = One way Band.
So - Broadband has to be at least 2 x dialup up and down simultaneously.

Can you achieve broadband using multiple Dialups?
 
I dont know about you, but im on 384k and I get 512k speeds, local and international when uncapped.
 
But what really IRKS me, is the MAX nnnn advertising.
That's what is causing all this carp.
I want an SP that will sell a MIN 256 K (1024) bits per second garauntee'd throughput down to me, and a MIN 128 K (1024) bits per second garauntee'd throughput up from me to a point right on the internet backbone.
 
My view is already under consumerism - http://www.mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=17586

In short: Don't try to define what is broadband - it opens the door for tomes of legal arguments.

Rather define what is "MyBroadband Consumer Broadband"

In my opinion it should be defined as the average of the entry levels available in a number of countries. I did a example/suggestion calc for this in the thread above.

I also believe that the "MyBroadband Consumer Broadband" definition should include something like "we believe to that to claim that any slower speeds are fast in any manner is not presenting the reality compared to international tendencies."
 
For South Africa I would suggest the definition include:

- A speed of no less than 512Kbs can be concidered broadband.
- It must be flatrated for 24/7 connectivity
- And it must be able to carry several mediums of media at once. Voice and data at the same time would qualify.

In my opinion, if any of these are not met, it is not broadband.

Regards
Antowan
 
antowan said:
For South Africa I would suggest the definition include:

- A speed of no less than 512Kbs can be concidered broadband.
- It must be flatrated for 24/7 connectivity
- And it must be able to carry several mediums of media at once. Voice and data at the same time would qualify.

In my opinion, if any of these are not met, it is not broadband.

Regards
Antowan
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and it may not have a cap lower than 15% of the achievable bandwidth runing the connection 24h a day for one month.

Lol i guess that would mean that SA aint got no broadband services now :D
 
I agree with 99.999999% of what everyone has said so far on this thread, I am still thinking about this whole broadband thing & it is driving me nuts, so I can now understand why ASASA couldn't get a handle on it & reverted to ISPA for a definition.

The only way to get SA broadband to match what is considered broadband elsewhere is to link our definition to what is considered the norm internationally. Kaspaas' idea does exactly that, and is actually a simple elegant sliding scale based on a numerical calculation & it automatically adjusts over time.

However, I think we need to be aware that there are other characteristics of a broadband connection that are fairly much accepted internationally.
  • A fixed-rate/charge per month (i.e. not like dialup where you get charged per session by the telco).
  • Always-On is contentious, IMO it should be tied to an SLA that guarantees a minimum amount of achievable connected time per month, hence my reason for coining Potentially Always-On, how do you decide what that minimum is / should be? Simple, we do - we decide & service providers either take it or leave it. My suggestion is a cumulative 6 hours maximum downtime per month before money-back penalties start to kick in.
  • Again speed should be tied to an SLA that guarantees a minimum speed, this after taking into account contention ratios etc etc etc, so a Service Provider's adverts must reflect the minimum speed that any customer is guaranteed to achieve with a particular service. If they want to mention a maximum speed in ads alongside the minimum guaranteed speed then fine with me - all it does is show how variable & fluctuating the service itself is. Perhaps speed should be measured to a particular point on the backbone (as per stoke's suggestions in the iBurst forum).
  • Maximum Latency to a particular point on the backbone, this should be tied to an SLA. In the special case of Telkomonopoly monopolising the SAT-3 & SAFE cables - Telkomonopoly must be subjected to an international maximum latency in the SLA(s). VoIP is affected & that's my concern, online gaming can benefit as well I'm sure.
  • SLAs between customers & Service Providers must have a money back guarantee when set parameters are not met.
Vio said:
...
Lol i guess that would mean that SA aint got no broadband services now :D
Click to expand...
If that's what it takes to get Service Providers to actually provide broadband services then so be it, we come up with the definition, afterwards we apply the definition to services available & see if any of them make the grade, if none of them do it will point out just how far behind SA is from what the broadband market demands of Service Providers.
 
Hi Kaspaas, IC and others

I agree that a fluctuating value that is dependant on international trends might be the best indicator of whether a service qualifies or not… There are obviously other factors apart from speed, but speed is certainly the major indicator. In an Australian investigation they accepted 200 kbits/sec as broadband, and I think this might be a good starting point in South Africa as well. If we consider the lowest offerings as indicated by Kaspaas we reach the following average:

Bigpond 256/64
BT-Yahoo: 512k
Earthlink: 512k

Average Download Speed: 427 kbits.sec

Unfortunately there is a flaw in this basic calculation: these are advertised/maximum speeds and the reality is that this figure can comfortably be reduced by 30%. I think a figure of around 300 kbits/sec is more realistic, but this will disqualify most services in South Africa as broadband. I think it is still fair to describe Telkom’s current ADSL offerings as broadband, and our definition should therefore accommodate these services…

Please keep your views coming…

Regards,

RPM
 
Hi RPM,

That's a good point which I wasn't aware of, is there no service provider anywhere in the world that is gutsy enough to guarantee a minimum speed instead of a potential maximum speed [from time to time]? Surely there has to be...?

The way I see it, the possible maximum speed is mathematically tied to a guaranteeable minimum speed once the service provider applies their maximum contention (obviously it sounds a lot less speedy then for marketing purposes, but a truer reflection for the consumer). Am I missing something? :confused:

Another thing I was thinking about: broadband is effectively a sufficient amount of bandwidth to accomodate simultaneously transferring data for a user's different applications, whatever they may be, now in SA we have this situation where people tend to share their broadband connections amongst several users - due to the high cost of broadband. So, perhaps it is also possible to stipulate that a true broadband connection should comfortably be shareable between 2+ users (sufficient data transfer capacity) simulateously using it for their applications.

I am probably rambling - just woken up by my PC - Burst-i had disconnected, so if any of this is nonsense it's bcos I'm still groggy...
 
Wanting to provide clarity on the government’s understanding of broadband, the Minister issued a statement that reads: “The issue of broadband in relation to telecommunication services in South Africa, it is the intention that broadbands should only contain females, such as Destiny`s Child, as opposed to boybands such as Eminem.”

She added that it is not the government’s intention to define every single band that can be provided by a Vans operator as this “would lead to an absurd result as Culture Club is not a broadband even if Boy George looks like one.”, and assured the sector that the Convergence Bill, when tabled in Parliament, “will bring much needed certainty to the sector in this regard”.

:D :D :D

Sorry couldn't resist.
 
I'd say that in today's world, 3 Mb is a good start to think of as broadband. 1-3Mb is averageband, and below 1 is not worth mentioning.
 
Jerrek said:
I'd say that in today's world, 3 Mb is a good start to think of as broadband. 1-3Mb is averageband, and below 1 is not worth mentioning.
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Jerrek, the utopia we only dream about in this narrowband backwater that is ruled over by the iron-fisted Telkomonopolistic beast...:rolleyes:
 
Actualy utopia is 55mbit connection for R500 pm, more or less what you get in Japan. :eek:
 
Some of the smartest people on the face of the planet are JAPANESE. Might be why they have all the goodies over there...
 
If it weren't for the language & culture barrier I would lurv to move to Japan, I just don't think I can handle being regarded as an outsider for 30 years ;), other than that I think Japan & the Japanese are great :).
 
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