Is ADSL in decline?

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jes

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Is ADSL in decline?

As broadband market shifts from copper to fiber, is DSL a dying technology or does it have a future?
 
Add copper theft and incompetence to the equation and ADSL is won’t be around much longer in South Africa
 
I have seen that DFA is trenching in Randburg this month. They are actually going into residential areas( This maybe that it is the only available route though), I wonder if they will ever offer any residential products.
 
My guess would be that in South Africa unless we get LLU adsl will die.
Telkom do not seem interested in encouraging landline installs (barrier to entry is very high - expensive, slow install)
If Telkom had a much lower barrier to entry like the cellphone companies (ie R1 for sim) and then charge for add on bundles ie free calls to landlines after hours and adsl if you buy a specific airtime bundle per month then adsl may stand a chance.
if the cellphone companies keep coming out with good and better deals like cell c prepaid option then I think telkom should just close up shop.
 
Curse you Telkom scum!

Seriously...this article has made me ill...angry...deeply upset and extremely frustrated. To think that the world blazes ahead with FTTH and we're left with a paltry 1GB cap + LOCAL bandwidth on a 384K Telkom Simple plan...and that Telkom Dr (whatever that A-hole's name is) wants to tell us this is sufficient.

I hope Telkom die a horrible death...I'm getting smug satisfaction at seeing them writhing in corporate pain in the knowledge of how they've stifled the South African economy for so many years and screwed the consumer.

For a company to have a monopoly over a service as essential and vital to modern life as ADSL...yet Telkom still seem incapable of getting their act together is a sad indictment that goes beyond pathetic corporate leadership, lacklustre regulation or even corporate lethargy...it's just plain disgusting!
 
Urgh! Is Telkom going to force everyone into 3G cellular? Can VirginMobile supply me with a dongle? I already have a data SIM card from them but cannot find any info on their website. As long as Telkom has the monopoly on copper, ADSL won't go anywhere. Heaven forbid Telkom gets fibre, only the Oppenheimers would be able to afford it then! There is still no movement on Telkom upgrading 384kbps users to anything quicker, but the prices are going up again in July!
 
We haven't even come close to the full potential of ADSL in South Africa, but at the rate things are going I would rather switch to Fibre now than wait 5 years for my 384 line to get faster or cheaper.
 
rory said:
My guess would be that in South Africa unless we get LLU adsl will die.
Telkom do not seem interested in encouraging landline installs (barrier to entry is very high - expensive, slow install)
If Telkom had a much lower barrier to entry like the cellphone companies (ie R1 for sim) and then charge for add on bundles ie free calls to landlines after hours and adsl if you buy a specific airtime bundle per month then adsl may stand a chance.
if the cellphone companies keep coming out with good and better deals like cell c prepaid option then I think telkom should just close up shop.
Click to expand...

you can't really compare....can you get uncapped for R1000 on wireless? nope...
adsl will never die...it's just so cheap as compared to wireless and fibre

1-whatever small cap - yes GSM is supreme....but as soon as you go into hundreds of gigs adsl runs away.
 
manesan said:
I have seen that DFA is trenching in Randburg this month. They are actually going into residential areas( This maybe that it is the only available route though), I wonder if they will ever offer any residential products.
Click to expand...

It is rather cute that DFA are trenching while Telkom is retrenching.
 
In ZA, for the sub 5GB user, it's cheaper to use Cellular.
If people realise this, then ADSL will decline - and be replaced by Cellular.

ADSL will stay for business, gaming and uncapped/high cap users.

So yes, in ZA, ADSL will decline - but not because of FTTH.

Since Telkom don't understand what the consumer wants, the decline will be even faster.
 
system32 said:
In ZA, for the sub 5GB user, it's cheaper to use Cellular.
If people realise this, then ADSL will decline - and be replaced by Cellular.

ADSL will stay for business, gaming and uncapped/high cap users.

So yes, in ZA, ADSL will decline - but not because of FTTH.

Since Telkom don't understand what the consumer wants, the decline will be even faster.
Click to expand...

agree - actually for the sub 10GB user HSPA is cheaper and faster than 384 adsl.
 
system32 said:
In ZA, for the sub 5GB user, it's cheaper to use Cellular.
If people realise this, then ADSL will decline - and be replaced by Cellular.

ADSL will stay for business, gaming and uncapped/high cap users.

So yes, in ZA, ADSL will decline - but not because of FTTH.

Since Telkom don't understand what the consumer wants, the decline will be even faster.
Click to expand...
The irony is that 8ta's new data products will be a better value offer than their ADSL!!!!!
 
drukkie said:
you can't really compare....can you get uncapped for R1000 on wireless? nope...
adsl will never die...it's just so cheap as compared to wireless and fibre

1-whatever small cap - yes GSM is supreme....but as soon as you go into hundreds of gigs adsl runs away.
Click to expand...

I actually just did over 240gigs on my wireless connection with iBurst for under R550 per month. They were in fact running a competition and the user that downloaded the most for May received a new 2MB/s modem. So not only were they encouraging their users to abuse the network, but they rewarded the highest user with a new modem which would allow me to double my usage for the same monthly fee. So theoretically I could download 500gig a month for R550/m. Show me another ISP out there that actively encourages its users to download as much as they can without throttling the life out of the connection. The Bubbles Challenge

I know iBurst does not have the best reputation especially in their billing department but I have been Telkom free forever and don't intend to use their service ever.
 
Last edited:
MickeyD said:
The irony is that 8ta's new data products will be a better value offer than their ADSL!!!!!
Click to expand...

That does irk me somewhat...

Mobile is supposed to be a premium connection due to its mobility... and I personaly prefer a wired connection for my home, not a fan of wireless...
 
ADSL great, backhaul not...

With the amount of copper around and how cheap it is to install I am sure ADSL will remain relevant for some time still. More important is how fast FTTN grows, that will remove exchange contention and pave the way for FTTH. Copper to the home in most areas is still just so easy and cheap it is tough to dispace it with a relativily expensive and sensitive technology like fibre- think of those overhead lines to many residents across the country- how long do you think fibre would last in that configuration? Before you answer think about trees, wind and so forth and then how easy it would be to fix as well...
 
Imagine the future South Africa.

One Nation
Under Zimbabwe
Filled with Shacks
Held together with Fibre Optic Cable
 
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