IS Uncapped Express Threshold - how does it work?

[fz1]

Hi all

Sorry if this has been posted numerous times on the forum (someone please point me to the thread if it has), but how does the thresholding actually work? Let me give you a scenario I am likely to go through every month:

Nov 1 - I assume the thresholding 10 day period starts with the calendar start of month.

Nov 5 - say, I've already used up my 10GB (of an Uncapped Express 512k account)

Nov 6-10 - I'll definitely be throttled to 256kbps, right? But, say I carry on downloading, ending up doing another 5GB (bringing my total for the month to 15GB so far)

Nov 11-20 Am I given another 10GB of unthrottled bandwidth (i.e. at full speed)?

Nov 21-30 (Repeat cycle above)

In other words, I know that you have "10GB divided into rolling periods of 10d each" - but what does this actually mean for the rest of the month if you hit (and exceed) your 10GB in your first 10 days?


Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Browser]

From what I understand about the throttling (presuming the worst, which is normally the case)

Some say you will be throttled if you exceed 5Gb per 10 days, and 15Gb per month (384K account)

So if you download 6Gb in the first day or two, for example, you will be throttled for 20days (first 20 of the month), and won't be throttled from day 21 onwards presuming you don't go over 15Gb before or during the last 10 days.

If you download 16GB on the first day (as if lol) you will be throttled all month.

Hows you're speeds on the uncapped account, presuming you have one?

 

[fz1]

Thanks for the response, Browser.

...
So if you download 6Gb in the first day or two, for example, you will be throttled for 20days (first 20 of the month), and won't be throttled from day 21 onwards presuming you don't go over 15Gb before or during the last 10 days
...

EISH! That sucks. I was thinking that my interpretation (that you receive 1/3 of your monthly quota for use during each 10 day period) was all too fair for us in SA. This means I'm most likely going to be throttled every month right after the first week!

Hows you're speeds on the uncapped account, presuming you have one?

I do have one: 512k Uncapped Express on a DSL384 line. Speeds are pretty crap at the moment (as you may have seen me comment on the other threads) - P2P in particular is completely flaky / inconsistent (lucky to average about 15KB/sec, whereas it was about 32KB/sec before) although web is not too bad (makes me think that they are now shaping 24/7 or something - as someone else commented earlier today on another thread).

Anyone else have any experiences to contribute regarding how the thresholding/throttling works?

 

[Necuno]

“Uncapped” express explanation as per gamco

Uncapped Express ADSL – Interpreting the service (http://www.gam.co.za/connectivity/uncapped-express.html)
This Business ADSL service has been developed mainly for the conservative business user who requires the assurance of an uninterrupted and fixed cost ADSL service. The Business ADSL Express service is a managed service, whereby the customers usage is monitored and recorded. The service is allocated a certain threshold for the month which is divided into a 10 day rolling window. If a customer reaches his 10 day threshold before the 10th day, his bandwidth will be halved (e.g. 384K to 192K, 512Kbps to 256Kbps and 1MB to 512K). However, if the consumption is reduced, the bandwidth will be restored to the purchased level. This mechanism has been put in place in order to discourage abuse of the service and thereby giving the conservative business user a more superior service.

The thresholds are as follows:
384K= 15 Gig for 30 days which is divided in 3 segments of 5 Gig each. The usage is monitored over a 10 day rolling window period. Should you reach these thresholds the service still remains uncapped but your download speeds are reduced by half (192K)

512K = 30 Gig for 30 days which is divided in 3 segments of 10 Gig each. The usage is monitored over a 10 day rolling window period. Should you reach these thresholds the service still remains uncapped but your download speeds are reduced by half (256K)

1024K= 60 Gig for 30 days which is divided in 3 segments of 20 Gig each. The usage is monitored over a 10 day rolling window period. Should you reach these thresholds the service still remains uncapped but your download speeds are reduced by half (512K)

only good speeds i got out of my FakeUncapped was with giganews's ssl unlimited account, constant 1MBS speeds

 

[fz1]

Thanks Necuno. I've seen that before when I was shopping around. It's pretty much the standard explanation that all ISPs use - none of them bothered to expand on it / clarify it: "if the consumption is reduced"... To how much and when/what timeframe? "the bandwidth will be restored to the purchased level" - again, when and how is this influenced by how much bandwidth has been used up to that point in time?

It's all pretty vague to me - as is all of the information broadband providers in South Africa provide (such as on shaping ). I really find it sad and disappointing that they cannot come clean with what rules they implement. We have a right to know, IMHO. Seems like they can just bully us around and change their rules on-the-fly (or make "upgrades" that cause unacceptable service deterioration for an unacceptably long time) - but I guess this is nothing new in the world of SA's ADSL market.