Free ADSL gaming bandwidth kicks in

[rpm]

Free ADSL gaming bandwidth kicks in today

Web Africa is migrating its ADSL users to its new network, signaling the start of free bandwidth for gamers from the ISP

 

[j@w]

FP

Organised Choas partnership EPICFAIL by WA

For the rest of the article, nice job WA

 

[User4456]

this is amazing! well done Web Africa!

I can't wait to see their offerings stemming from their new network. (prays there's a top notch uncapped offering for us 4mb users)

 

[Yuu]

Guys & Gals , is it worth it for me to purchase COD4 (might sound sily) for the MP portion as my first purchase after years was COD6 and loving it ALOT?

Well Done WA, looking forward to making use of this service

 

[killadoob]

COD6 is mw2 right? That cannot make use of the WA network so you will pay to play that game.

 

[Penquin]

Would've been cool if they could make the p2p bandwidth between WA customers free. That would sort out MW2 aswell as console gaming. And then all these gamers would encourage their mates to use WA because it would be cheaper to play online.

 

[EasyUp Web Hosting]

I'm pretty sure that most people are playing COD MW2 now, so this doesn't really help us.

 

[Paparazzi]

I'm pretty sure that most people are playing COD MW2 now, so this doesn't really help us.

Very true... i myself are now playing MW2, so I won't be moving to WA because MW2 isnt covered. Hopefully they will cover some of the latest game soon too.

 

[jaffar]

“All Web Africa users with a Web Africa ADSL account will not utilise any of their monthly caps whilst gaming within the Web Africa network,”

Thats lame it means you have to play on their server and all the people that you want to play with have to aswell. Besides its a whole 4 game's most people play a whole lot more and definitely not on the web africa network.

We use a large web africa account at work and im personally a bit worried about this change over, the trial accounts sucked for surfing, yes they were ok for p2p but thats not the only protocol people use.

 

[evilsee]

I have played cod4 since release, I switched over to MW2 when it was released, and I wont be going back to cod4. Dont bother with COD4 and Webafrica please somehow add this to your free gaming bandwidth if you someone like me as a customer!

 

[alternate]

Its impossible to make MW2 free, don't be stupid....

 

[adsl3g]

“All Web Africa users with a Web Africa ADSL account will not utilise any of their monthly caps whilst gaming within the Web Africa network,”

Thats lame it means you have to play on their server and all the people that you want to play with have to aswell. Besides its a whole 4 game's most people play a whole lot more and definitely not on the web africa network.

We use a large web africa account at work and im personally a bit worried about this change over, the trial accounts sucked for surfing, yes they were ok for p2p but thats not the only protocol people use.

Thats strange, I had much better browsing speeds on the trial account than with my 4mb SAIX account.

 

[SlyFly]

Use it, don't use it, don't knock a free offering just because you can't utilise it... Nice job WA!

 

[zll]

Its impossible to make MW2 free, don't be stupid....

Ok, I'm thinking, like most games, MW2 will use specific ports and protocols to communicate. I acknowledge that the Steam traffic will still need to be accounted for since, but I don't see what is stopping WA from simply allowing traffic that falls into a certain range in terms of protocols/ports to be free, particularly if nothing else uses that range.

It's easier to manage with a dedicated server, but I think it's possible (probably just difficult) to do for MW2.

But what has me wondering, apart from the bandwidth being free, how is WA going to draw players to their servers? Ultimately people play where the majority are, and if the WA servers are quiet then it's ultimately pointless.

Also, my trial account was super fast. Excellent p2p and much faster speeds on youtube/fb and various other art forums I visit.

 

[h0ll0w]

“All Web Africa users with a Web Africa ADSL account will not utilise any of their monthly caps whilst gaming within the Web Africa network,”

Thats lame it means you have to play on their server and all the people that you want to play with have to aswell. Besides its a whole 4 game's most people play a whole lot more and definitely not on the web africa network.

We use a large web africa account at work and im personally a bit worried about this change over, the trial accounts sucked for surfing, yes they were ok for p2p but thats not the only protocol people use.

The mind boggles.

Could you please explain to me how you went from

“All Web Africa users with a Web Africa ADSL account will not utilise any of their monthly caps whilst gaming within the Web Africa network,”

to

it means you have to play on their server

I dont know whether to laugh or to cry.

 

[jaffar]

If your gaming within their network, ie the traffic doesnt leave their network. Which means you have to use a server that is on their network or i guess directly connect to someone else on their network. I was basically trying to make the same point zolly did, that unless their servers are busy then its pointless.

Another point would be is the voip on those games going to be included ?

 

[Surv0]

“All Web Africa users with a Web Africa ADSL account will not utilise any of their monthly caps whilst gaming within the Web Africa network,”

Thats lame it means you have to play on their server and all the people that you want to play with have to aswell. Besides its a whole 4 game's most people play a whole lot more and definitely not on the web africa network.

We use a large web africa account at work and im personally a bit worried about this change over, the trial accounts sucked for surfing, yes they were ok for p2p but thats not the only protocol people use.

LOL? You do realise this is the biggest innovative thing ANY isp has done for the gaming community in this country? Yes you will have to play on their servers...whats the problem? Theres an entire South African gaming community who will move over to their servers in the coming months after launch so you should rethink your opinion. FREE bandwidth is the underlying money shot here and I for one will make use of the service. The 4 games are only for the start of the service, its those games theyve been testing so they are already setup. The coming months will bring many other titles to the fore for others to enjoy.

I have played cod4 since release, I switched over to MW2 when it was released, and I wont be going back to cod4. Dont bother with COD4 and Webafrica please somehow add this to your free gaming bandwidth if you someone like me as a customer!

Sadly MW2 is only a small part of online gaming in this country, the fact that its p2p makes it impossible for any ISP to host. You are asking WA to include in free bandwidth? meaning they should start allocating certain p2p ports on accounts just for certain games? gets a bit rediculous. Opening up p2p will mean free downloads which wont happen.

Imo, this is the future of gaming in this country, WA have gone all out to make sure the community is involved with what games will get hosted, testing, and any new developments. This is a first for us, and im stoked. Theres going to be a host of titles coming out soon, some already out but without dedicated servers (excluding MW2), these have been mentioned with positive feedback from the gamemasters, so in the next few months, we will have quite a selection. That being said, free bandwidth for games, noteably Bad Company 2 in march, is going to save us some nice buckaroonies...

 

[Surv0]

If your gaming within their network, ie the traffic doesnt leave their network. Which means you have to use a server that is on their network or i guess directly connect to someone else on their network. I was basically trying to make the same point zolly did, that unless their servers are busy then its pointless.

Another point would be is the voip on those games going to be included ?

of course traffic leaves their network, and enters it from other networks. WA gaming network is not closed, its open to anyone anywhere, the only difference is, if you use a WA account, your gaming b/w is free. Their servers will get busy, dont worry about that. And shooting down this service before its gotten off the ground isnt going to help.

Yes VOIP will be included in any game that can make use of it.

 

[wamatt]

HI Guys

Just to confirm, gaming is welcome and open to all users from any ISP. We know we not going to be #1 gaming destination over night, we are always realistic about the fact that gamers will come only if other gamers are there and the servers are busy. Nonetheless we are all motivated to making it happen eventually with your help

Just to clarify, only the free part about the gaming, is exclusive to WA network end users and resellers since it falls into the FreeZone which is a WA feature. In addition we will be adding some more content around this shortly!

 

[Surv0]

Ok, I'm thinking, like most games, MW2 will use specific ports and protocols to communicate. I acknowledge that the Steam traffic will still need to be accounted for since, but I don't see what is stopping WA from simply allowing traffic that falls into a certain range in terms of protocols/ports to be free, particularly if nothing else uses that range.

It's easier to manage with a dedicated server, but I think it's possible (probably just difficult) to do for MW2.

But what has me wondering, apart from the bandwidth being free, how is WA going to draw players to their servers? Ultimately people play where the majority are, and if the WA servers are quiet then it's ultimately pointless.

Also, my trial account was super fast. Excellent p2p and much faster speeds on youtube/fb and various other art forums I visit.

Im sure opening up certain ports just for certain games could be problematic and open to abuse. Also if the host is international, and you decide to play, WA is handing out free int b/w to play on some other dudes machine.. Just dont see it happening. For now, p2p based games will be left off the list, dont blame WA, blame IW.

There has been quite an outreach on their forums to gaming clans and various other people, asking them for advice on how to get going correctly and efficiently taking into account the concerns of established gaming clans around the country. This will roll down to the players in these clans and so the migration begins. Right now, we can count our hosted gaming services on one hand, even fewer is the amount of positive, outgoing, motivated admins controlling these servers. SGS has become a lame duck interms of admin presence.. WA have already shown that this is where they will be strong. Having servers which are maintained by visible approachable admins, kept upto date by the gaming communities needs and requests, and staying in line with new releases will make this whole thing a success...

I guess right now i might sound like some WA spokesperson, but im just really stoked about what they are doing. We need more companies in this country to have such a dynamic approach to gaming. This is pure win for me...