I'm tackling another ticklish issue today. I was going to lift the
veil on all these cryptic and scary abbreviations floating around
the connectivity circuit, such as ADSL, DSL, bandwidth, ISP and so
forth. What I discovered was that the real issue seems to be the
inequity with which Telkom monopolises our access to the World Wide
Web and charges sometimes as much as four times what overseas
countries dare to charge for this service.
You see, we are all dependant on a submarine cable called SAT-3 in
which Telkom has a controlling stake and the government has a
controlling stake in Telkom. Unless you can find a wireless way into
the Internet, at some point or another, we all end up on good old
SAT-3 to get our data. So even if other companies who wish to
provide a service in the Internet industry would like to deliver a
fair charge for connectivity, all but the wireless sector (such as
Sentech) are bound by the charges Telkom lays down.
As I investigated this issue I came across many grievances lamenting
the fact that this part-government owned monopoly is our only route.
A very informative and biting site pointed out to me by a Witness
Geek reader is
www.hellkom.co.za, the name of which already says it
all. It aims to raise awareness of the fact that we consumers are
being fleeced for a service that is an integral part of our everyday
lives. The many articles on this site fill the reader in on the
entire goings on and negotiations currently underway. If you find it
interesting, also see
www.myadsl.co.za.
Eastern African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) is looking into
providing cheaper international bandwidth, but this project is still
in the pipeline, if you'll excuse the pun. Right now the talk is two
years before EASSy is in place.
The other good news is that a Second National Operator (SNO) will be
rolling out later this year, direct competition to Telkom. Its main
advantage is an already existing fibre network throughout South
Africa. So they will hopefully be able to sell bandwidth cheaper,
thus forcing Telkom to relinquish its current stance of "Like it or
lump it, this is what we charge because we can". It is interesting
to note that no mention was made of improvements regarding
telecommunications during the recent State of the Nation address by
the president.
Enough said, what I'd like to finish off with is an explanation of
how getting ADSL works and how much it's likely to set you back.
What is it?
If you have a standard dial-up 56k modem, you will know only too
well how slow things are. Downloading large emails or free software
from the Net is an absolute pain and hardly worth the wait and cost.
So what options are there if you need more speed? Cyber speed is
measured in bandwidth and the more of it you have, the faster you
can download (or upload) data.
The option is to get a Digital Subscriber Line known as DSL. This
allows one or more computers to be permanently connected to the
Internet. Downloading speeds are faster than uploading speeds, in
other words getting something off the net is quicker than posting
something (like a website) onto the Internet. They call this
Asymmetric (not the same) and now we have ADSL, which stands for
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. In South Africa there are
currently four different ADSL speeds available, each with different
download and upload speeds:
Download Upload
192Kb 64Kb
384Kb 128KB
512Kb 256Kb
1024Kb 256Kb
So the slowest ADSL is already 3.5 times faster than a dial up, plus
you can start a huge download just before going to bed and by
morning it's there, because you are connected 24/7. Prices obviously
increase as your bandwidth goes up. With me so far? Here comes the
crux: ADSL has to use the Telkom controlled infrastructure (phone
lines, etc), so no matter who offers ADSL, they are all Telkom
dependent if they are land based.
Now there is a double whammy involved, because you will have to pay
Telkom for usage of the line and circuitry AND you will have to pay
an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to get access to the Internet.
In a way, it works much like your 56k dial-up modem where you have
to pay Telkom for the phone call you make to get online, plus you
pay your ISP a monthly free to have an email address and access to
the Cyber world.
I made a couple of phone calls to find out what kind of money we're
talking here and a rough pricing you can count from Telkom is R270
for the cheapest 192Kb/65Kb option. Then you need to order ADSL
access from your service provider and the one I called quoted R206
per month for a 2Gb cap. So a monthly cost of R476 cost gives you
ADSL if you chose this route. But many companies offer many options
and I implore you to shop around, starting with the websites
mentioned above, who have many links to ADSL providers.
Before you make a decision, consider the following, too: you need to
install ADSL connectivity and Telkom charges a once off fee of R404
to make you ADSL compliant and it takes 4 to 6 weeks to do this! But
wait, there's more: you need a USB (R499) or Ethernet modem (R999),
as your standard dial-up modem cannot cope with this technology.
Ethernet modems can connect more than one PC to the ADSL line,
whereas USB modems are PC specific.
With all the competition coming up, Telkom is keen to have customers
sign long term contracts, so they are currently offering a 60%
discount on the installation and a free USB modem if you take the
bait on their offer.
But I mentioned something called a 2Gb cap earlier, what is that
now? Service Providers wishing to give customers the best price for
the average usage, measure the amount you download or upload. If you
fall within under 2Gb per month (which is quite the norm), they can
give you a better price than if you went download crazy and
downloaded 10Gb per month or more.
Luckily Telkom aren't the only ones who can provide you with a USB
modem, in fact it has been said that their modems give hassles, so
you could get your own modem and reduce the set up fee.
I came away from my inquiries with my head spinning, but I made one
more call to Sentech. They are styling themselves wireless and do
not use Telkom at all, their technology works on special radio
frequency. The upside is that they are cheaper if you have a radio
frequency modem, but this modem will set you back R2999 at the
moment. No long installation lead time, once you have a modem, the
techies talk you through the connection process and presto, you're
connected. If you have this modem, R199 per month allows you 200Mb
cap per month at a speed of 256Kb/128Kb, with further options for
more download capacity. They will also become your ISP so the R200
odd per month that you need to pay for your ISP would fall away, too
and the flat fee of R199 stands. The bad news is that
Pietermaritzburg is not yet covered by this technology and Sentech
tells me that they will roll out Pietermaritzburg when there is a
large enough demand, as they need to put up towers.
If you happen to be in Durban, lucky you, Sentech covers.
When you're in the market to set yourself up with ADSL, be aware of
the hidden costs and consider the coming of SNO or ESSAy before
signing long term contracts that bind you. Let's hope no stumbling
blocks are put in their way and consumers can look forward to
affordable connectivity in the near future.
