Broadband: SA’s poor performance

george_vg said:
The same place it comes from now... There are already more wireless broadband connections than wired according to the article - does this mean the available spectrum is already congested?

Given the choice of no wired line or a cellular connection, myself and I wager most ppl will choose wireless. The point being it removes telkom, cable theft, LLU, and the high entry point from the broadband equation. This also means that someone in rural SA can access internet at affordable rates on pre-pay for example. The only stumbling block IMHO is the cost of data on cellular currently.
Technology also adapts - so if "instability" is a problem it will be improved or replaced with better tech as per the upgrades by Cell C.
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Just how much of this finite resource do you propose should be used? Where do you propose the spectrum come from? The point is we have a limited spectrum available to us for mobile and fixed wireless applications, replacing all Telkom lines with wireless solutions will just make for a piss poor service. We'd hit the same roadblock our current mobile service providers are facing - limited spectrum to be shared amongst millions of subscribers ergo the high mobile data rates. Wireless wasn't intended to be the is all and end all technology, it would be silly to try use it as such. Telkom should have been replacing copper segments of their network which have stolen or vandalised long ago. Instead they insist on replacing the stolen copper with surprise surprise... more copper! This is under the assumption they will see it as a viable option by the number of subscribers affected.
 
LLU - Local Loop Unbundling

What I would like to understand is why is it going to take so long for LLU to happen in S-Africa ?
I understand the concept of LLU, last mile by ISP. I've experienced LLU first hand when I lived in the UK. At first, broadband speeds was standard at 512k dominated by BT, then 1mb, the LLU happened around 2003 and then speeds exploded. By 2005 one paid one standard flat rate and just got the fastest speed your line could handle. A similar situation played itself off in Netherlands, but in NL they where a couple of years ahead of the UK with LLU and broadband penetration. Cut-thoat competition certainly helped the situation as well.

Any infrastructure/telecom guys here, would you please help me in explaining why is it going to take such a long time in S-Africa to complete ? What are the (technocalogical) hurdles, or is it just a matter of bearocratic incompetance and kleptocratic greed ?
 
"According to World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck the strong mobile broadband growth and comparatively weak ADSL growth essentially comes down to competition."
Really? I would never have guessed. This man must be a genius.

"The World Wide Worx MD is however realistic, adding that there is not a strong culture in Telkom of slashing costs to remain competitive – something which may well be a remnant of its years of monopolistic reign."
Remnant of it's years of monopolistic reign? He makes it sound like they no longer have a monopolistic reign and it's all in the past now. Prey tell - who and where is this competition to Telkom? They are still a very well entrenched MONOPOLY and do just what they like.

By the way - what happened to the line speed upgrades? It has been spoken about since Feb this year and several proposed (speculations and rumours mostly, but where there is smoke, there is normally fire) dates have been proposed. The latest was that implantation would be the 1st of June. Well, that has come and gone and still nothing... Oh well, I can always change to another provider who can offer me higher ADSL speeds... Oh, hang on. I can't, because Telkom is a MONOPOLY and they own the entire DSL network.
 
"According to World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck the strong mobile broadband growth and comparatively weak ADSL growth essentially comes down to competition."
Really? I would never have guessed. This man must be a genius.

"The World Wide Worx MD is however realistic, adding that there is not a strong culture in Telkom of slashing costs to remain competitive – something which may well be a remnant of its years of monopolistic reign."
Remnant of it's years of monopolistic reign? He makes it sound like they no longer have a monopolistic reign and it's all in the past now. Prey tell - who and where is this competition to Telkom? They are still a very well entrenched MONOPOLY and do just what they like.

By the way - what happened to the line speed upgrades? It has been spoken about since Feb this year and several proposed (speculations and rumours mostly, but where there is smoke, there is normally fire) dates have been proposed. The latest was that implementation would be the 1st of June. Well, that has come and gone and still nothing... Oh well, I can always change to another provider who can offer me higher ADSL speeds... Oh, hang on. I can't, because Telkom is a MONOPOLY and they own the entire DSL network.
 
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Se7enty4 said:
WTFRUT2S

We cannot read your mind.
Please spell out your acronyms.
Acronyms are SO Abused that Nobody knows what they mean Anymore !!
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WBWWWYCJTAEPIAA?
(why bother with words when you can just turn an entire paragraph into and acronym)
 
i think there's value in what goldstuck says - he seems to have claimed the role of "mouthpiece of the geeks to the laity".
he may be spelling out the obvious, but to the greater populace, it seems that this is what they need.
 
george_vg said:
In theory, we could actually completely dump telkom, BUT that would mean that cellular providers will have to replace telkom and as such at least be priced equal or lower than telkom.

My simplistic view is:
1. that you do not need a copper cable or trunking.
2. The virtual "cable" cannot be stolen
3. and less points of failure or as such sites to protect.
4. You can have your "line" with a simple sim activation,
5. you can use pre-paid to limit bad debt write-offs -

BASICALLY you could wonder why we even need a fixed line at all? It kind of sounds like ancient tech really - if hardwire was that good, then why even bother with creating wireless tech?

Now thats the dream, which the cellular providers CAN achieve if it wasn't for greedy shareholders!
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All sounds good, but wireless is slower, more unreliable and less responsive than a fixed line connection.
 
Not to come to Telkom's defense, but another thing influencing this is the rise of security villages / estates and the like in South Africa. For example, where I live you can't have a phone line installed; so I'm forced to use wireless Internet even though I hate it and desperately want to have ADSL installed. I know a few other people in a similar position.
 
TMoose said:
... so I'm forced to use wireless Internet even though I hate it and desperately want to have ADSL installed. I know a few other people in a similar position.
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For us living in rural backwaters, we would also like to have ADSL but the exchanges are usually a lot more than 5km apart. 20km, 30km, 70m apart. We are forced to use (fixed WISP) wireless as there is no other alternative. Any drop in data prices would hardly make a difference for me. I would still be at the mercy of WISP. We living in rural backwaters can forget about online gaming, torrents, Youtube, etc. How difficult is it to start a WISP ?
 
gerasmus said:
<snip>How difficult is it to start a WISP ?
Click to expand...
You need to spend at least 4 weeks scouring through the ridiculous legislation and updates.
Then you have to pick a segment and apply to use that segment.
Then you have to wait for at least 1 year while the slowpokes get their slow-motion asses into gear.
Then, you have to pay your ass off.
Then you have to get some customers and, if you don't get enough customers, you lose your license.

i.e. They make it so difficult, that only the insane would even try.
 
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