Keeping tabs on WebAfrica throughput, with IPConnect in mind
Since the start of the mass rollout of Telkom's FTTH network early this year, there have been predictions that the problems of exchange congestion and capacity constraints on Telkom's "IPConnect" product (IPC for short) were going to recur, exactly as with ADSL.
With 4 months' experience of WebAfrica's nominal 40Mbps service under the belt, I thought I'd share my impressions so far. Admittedly it's still very early days, but it may be of interest to others wondering about the issue.
As background : Telkom's FTTH service is an alternative type of fixed-line "last mile" connection that - when compared to xDSL - offers higher speeds and better reach, along with several other advantages. Once you're connected into Telkom's backbone, whether by xDSL or FTTH, the next issue is where you get your data services from. If you've signed up with Telkom for those too (ie Telkom is your ISP), then the issue ends there.
However if you've signed up with one of the other ISPs (MWeb, WebAfrica, Vox
et al), then there has to be another connection between Telkom's backbone network and your ISP's own infrastructure. This connection is generally done through Telkom's IPC service. IPC is kindofa "clearing house" where ISPs can connect subscribers hanging on one of Telkom's last-mile networks, into their own networks to provide internet services. Effectively the ISPs are paying Telkom for providing individual subscribers with a connection to one of Telkom's last-mile networks, and then paying again for a connection between the Telkom backbone and their own infrastructure.
ISPs have to buy IPC capacity from Telkom (so many Gb/s or Tb/s), and that capacity is shared between all the ISP's subscribers going through that IPC connection. The ISPs have to buy enough IPC capacity so that - on average - their subscribers get the speeds they are paying for.
So when a non-Telkom ISP delivers internet services to a subscriber over one of Telkom's last-mile networks, the main factors limiting the service speed are as follows :
- The speed of the access medium used for the subscriber's last-mile connection. This is the "line sync speed" on xDSL (typically 1,2,4,6,10 or 20Mbps) or the fibre line speed on FTTH (typically 2,4,10,20,40 or 100Mbps).
- The amount of IPC capacity the ISP has bought from Telkom, and how many people are sharing it at any given moment.
- The speed at which the ISP can actually deliver data to the subscriber.
So, the concern about the various ISPs' IPC capacity is a valid one. Back in July this year,
Sapphiron gave a very incisive (if somewhat pessimistic) prediction
here.
In his opinion piece,
Sapphiron makes the following prediction :
Telkom Fibre is not going to solve all the main problems with ADSL. It only solves the problem of the aging copper last mile infrastructure.
This is valid point, though for me - as with many other folks, I suspect - the "aging copper last mile infrastructure" was 90% of the problem. Various ISPs were happy to sell me 4, 6 or even 10Mbps ADSL, but my distance from the exchange and the aged copper infrastructure in my area meant that Telkom simply couldn't deliver more than 2Mbps. With FTTH now being rolled out in earnest, it is starting to become clear whether FTTH has removed that constraint. So now the emphasis will shift to my points (2) and (3) above.
With WebAfrica specifically, I've been keeping a close eye on the average throughput delivered over my nominal 40Mbps FTTH connection over the first 4 months of service. Generally, the downlink speed is always between 37 and 40Mbps, and the uplink speed between 7 and 8Mbps. On a good day, the trusty Speedtest downlink graph looks dead flat, like this :
On a not-so-good day (suspected IPC problems), the graph is much lumpier, like this :
Over the first 4 months of service with WebAfrica, and neglecting days when there have been obvious problems with the Telkom FTTH network itself, I think I have probably noted about 10 occasions when the measured throughput has been significantly lower than it should be. These have generally lasted from 1 to 6 hours at a time. Over the last 4 months, my Ookla "average speed" graph has looked as follows:
(I hasten to add that the Ookla SpeedTest graph tends to make the situation look much worse than it is, since one only really tests when you remember, or when there is a problem. As such, the horizontal scale doesn't give a good sense of relative durations).
Luckily, even when the service is "limping" along at 10Mbps, I can still do quite a lot. However, for someone contemplating total reliance on the full bandwidth, eg multiple users, high-volume VoIP, video conferencing etc, you definitely want to watch out for this, and perhaps invest in a failover service.
I've been making a point of keeping records and feeding back to WebAfrica when things aren't performing. I'm happy to say that they seem to be monitoring and responding to the situation on the ground quite well, including buying more IPC capacity as it's needed. One of the last communications I had was in mid-November, which included the following :
"
The previous [IPC] upgrades in question took place at towards the end of last month [October].
I've received word of the following from our Systems Admin : "We've requested further IPC upgrades from IS for all 3 regions today. ETA's will be provided when available".
Since that time, I have definitely noticed an improvement in the situation. Specifically, no "slow days" over the last month. You can see this over roughly the last quarter of the graph above.
Obviously, as more and more people sign up for FTTH at speeds of up to 100Mbps across various ISPs, this is going to place huge demands on the Telkom last-mile networks, IPC itself and the ISPs' own internal networks.
Interesting times ahead!
PS1: If you're monitoring this thread and you've been with a particular service provider for a while, please share your own experiences.
PS2: Lest I come across as overly pro-WebAfrica, rest assured I'm not. This is my first experience with them after being a long-time MWeb subscriber. I actually dumped MWeb (in favour of Telkom LTE) exactly because they had only been delivering about 1.5Mbps of throughput, even when the associated ADSL line (occasionally) synced at 4Mbps.
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. As such I can only see prices at the retail level.
