ADSL:Speed vs. Permanent Connectivity

[Paracetamol]

Hi Guys.

How big attraction is the “always on internet” to the normal Web / Email user
The speed is an obvious attraction by default especially to the hardcore users.
But
Let’s look at it from a normal subscriber’s view point.
If he was offered a 24/7 connection that is shared with other dialups will this be still an attractive service to him/her?

Your input is most welcome

Tx
P

 

[bekdik]

Provided it was:

1. reliable - no dropped calls (or redial was not charged for)
2. low cost compared with other offerings

It could well be attractive to the many users who dialup a few times per day to look at email.

 

[Paracetamol]

So a dense subscriber population will be ideal for such a service.

 

[JayKay]

Must save money!

I went to ADSL 192 to drop my phone bill from R1600 to R600. Speed was not so much the issue, although it helps.

 

[len]

i also feel that my phone bill is higher due to dial up internet... since adsl it has decreased

 

[kaspaas]

The biggest Q is not 24/7 or speed, but economics.

Most people I talk to use home internet merely for email - the web is to expensive using dialup. Who cares if it takes a minute or an hour to send/receive an email if one has a 24/7 connection?

People are used to 56k.

Making 24/7 connectivity available at 56k at an affordable cost would generate a lot of 24/7 low band connections.

As people get used to this, they will start to upgrade to faster connections.

The more people that use local internet, the better for the industry as a whole.

 

[ic]

I agree with you Kaspaas, does anyone know off-hand what factors influenced the shift in other countries (e.g. USA) to provide """free""" local calls?

As has been said by others soo many times we need free local calls in SA - even if the calls are just not charged for when the call is to an ISP.

Frankly I could care less about what Telkomonopoly think about this idea, IMO they have pillaged & plundered SA for long enough & it is time that everyone had 24*7 access to the Internet for a fixed fee with no dialup charges.

 

[JayKay]

Cost drivers

You must remember that 'always on' internet access requires that the ISP and Telkom have to provide connections (modems and lines) which are dedicated to you. This is not the same as free phone calls which are intermittent.

 

[Paracetamol]

Thanks for the input:
Have a look at this on voip in SA: http://www.zero27.net

 

[ic]

You must remember that 'always on' internet access requires that the ISP and Telkom have to provide connections (modems and lines) which are dedicated to you. This is not the same as free phone calls which are intermittent.

True, but you'd be less concerned with being disconnected from your ISP (line/call drops) if the local call were actually free of charges other than line rental. Another thing is we have been paying Telkomonopoly for years and they are now publically listed, however they need to put money into replacing old infrastructure and providing sufficient exchange capacity - instead of feeding all of that money to $izwe & shareholders...

 

[ajax]

I would be interested in a cheap 24/7 connection. Speed is not necessarily an issue, although anything below 56k would not do. I'd say 64kbps minimum. I have switched to Vodacom GPRS for browsing and emails (at R2 per MB) at home. Compared to my dial-up I will save more than half of my usual costs.

 

[francois9]

I stream quite a bit of video over my ADSL 384 line. I don't think I would be able to do it over a 192 line at a satisfactory rate.

 

[Paracetamol]

How about an ADSL connection over WIFI says sharing one 512Kbps line with 15 Pppoe Dialups?

Will this connection work for you?

 

[arf9999]

How about an ADSL connection over WIFI says sharing one 512Kbps line with 15 Pppoe Dialups?

Will this connection work for you?

It all depends on the user. In our office we have one ADSL line serving more than 50 users. The line is purely for web use, i.e. no email. For browsing and small downloads it is sufficient. I would think for "lite" internet users, a 512kbps connection could easily be shared between 10-15 people or even more. The real issue is that if, within your group of 15, you have just one serial leecher/p2p-head/bw-abuser the other 14 will have seriously degraded service. It would probably be neccessary to implement a proxy with port/protocol shapng in order to ensure equitable service delivery. (OMG I sound like Telkom/Sentech/iBurst...delete applicable)