E-Rate for schools a joke

voipnow said:
Lots of schools have link ( assume ADSL ) cos they use it to submit pupil data.

schools are cautious to give pupils net access cos they cant control its use.
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Sure, but that has nothing to do with Telkom and billing the schools the normal price. What's the bet that Neotel will be held liable to fulfill their community service while Telkom gets off.
 
AcidRaZor said:
I know this is going to be blasted like a mofo again because everyone wants a free ride and a free party with lots of free stuff like hats and tshirts and crap.

But I feel this could be a perfect opportunity for myBB to use the community fund in sponsoring free bandwidth to schools. Perhaps even lobby then (by this example) to big ISP's to start complying with the law set out. And start a "proudly south african" type group which they can belong to once they proved that all schools who purchase bandwidth from them get this discount.

I know this won't be viable for the ISP's to do, but this will make a big stink in the news paper based off of Telkom being the only one (the government owned entity) not complying with this rule and ISP's out of their own good will including this website sponsoring this to help the nation of retards to become more educated.

Health, Education and Security has made it so this country can't get a foot up on it's 3rd world status. If we can provide an example JUST for education. The rest should follow.
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Sustainable solutions... I can see telkom smiling as the MyBB community funds are emptied into a couple of rural schools internet fees...
 
AcidRaZor said:
But I feel this could be a perfect opportunity for myBB to use the community fund in sponsoring free bandwidth to schools. Perhaps even lobby then (by this example) to big ISP's to start complying with the law set out. And start a "proudly south african" type group which they can belong to once they proved that all schools who purchase bandwidth from them get this discount.
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i like this idea and their needs to be a lot more pressure on all providers

at the moment the law is broken - an ISP by definition had to lease network facilities from Telkom. If it gives a 50% discount on its service it does not get a 50% discount from Telkom on the facilities which it was forced to supply and runs at a loss. This is not viable for the smaller guys.

this will change shortly and the discount will work all the way up the chain which should help a lot

having said that there are already signs that the bigger ISPs are being obstructive and ideas like yours and whatever other pressure that can be brought is needed

the e-rate really pisses me off - it is such a simple simple positive thing
 
if (when) I make money with my own business I'll start pumping it into a school or two for free (or subsidised) internet.

If they're really focussed on the education of this country they would've done something long ago. I'm pretty sure I can get a few (hundred) teachers as well into this.
 
AcidRaZor said:
if (when) I make money with my own business I'll start pumping it into a school or two for free (or subsidised) internet.

If they're really focussed on the education of this country they would've done something long ago. I'm pretty sure I can get a few (hundred) teachers as well into this.
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You have no idea how many school heads in rural areas use education department funds to buy at their preferred supplier - i.e. the one offering them a free fax and computer for home... I have seen some personally, I think there are many. So if you are offering something for free that they can get on tender, unless you can beat the personal incentives, it's an uphill battle. Of course maintenance of the systems is an afterthought - often left out of the tender equation... so the systems go to ruin and end up being unused. However, that is OT.
 
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Actually, in all honesty, that is not really OT... its just an added dimension to the issue, and its a dimension that does need to be addressed properly for this e-Rate thing to actually take off the way it should.
 
I'm not familiar with this E-Rate thing at all, but how would you propose that it doesn't end up being resold or shared?
 
tomatosarefruit said:
You have no idea how many school heads in rural areas use education department funds to buy at their preferred supplier - i.e. the one offering them a free fax and computer for home... I have seen some personally, I think there are many. So if you are offering something for free that they can get on tender, unless you can beat the personal incentives, it's an uphill battle. Of course maintenance of the systems is an afterthought - often left out of the tender equation... so the systems go to ruin and end up being unused. However, that is OT.
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Sorry but your post confused me there.

How is me giving them 3 GB worth of bandwidth out of my own pocket an uphill battle against tenders and tax?

Or how is me spending R1000 of my own money to help with the R3000 odd bill they might have for internet at the school the same thing? Personal incentives for what? Why would someone turn down free money for the further education of their students compared to someone who's tendering to get paid from the government to provide a service? I don't get it sorry.

I'm talking about helping schools pay for **** the government said they should pay 50% on already. All schools. Not just public schools. If public schools get government funding to pay for their internet and PC infrastructure, awesome. I applaud them. The tax Telkom pays on its revenue actually gets pumped back into the system completing the circle of "life"

However, I'm talking about the other 99% of schools out there that has limited budgets to spend on education as it is AND have to spend money on technology and internet where it could educate hundreds of students just because the e-rate is not in effect. Imagine having to make a teacher redundant because you can't afford to pay his salary AND have an internet connected computer science lab... 50% is 50%

I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is, cause aparently no one else cares about this (no one being the government)
 
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