there own turn around time guidelines should have seen this dealt with within 3 weeks - or at least within 3 weeks of it going to the adjudicator any further particulars should have been sought I made a query to establish that nothing was missing at a 5 week mark and will again at what would have been a full 8 working weeks and a bit at the festive season. The 21st of January will represent 3 months by which stage it is undeniable that ISPA is either not taking the complaint seriously or is stalling. At this juncture it will be necessary to approach ICASA and to discount ISPA. Of course ICASA is likely to similarly be a time taker but the implications for MWEB are more severe. What I find interesting is that MWEB have quietly sort of changed their practice but no where near what is necessary.
ISPA needs to function properly if the Internet as a service is going to develop in SA having Telkom and Vodacom (two very significant network operators) on ISPA - coincidently because Telkom is not an ISPA member I tend deal with Telkom on a in-house complaint and then an ICASA complaint which ALWAYS has seen results. The only exception was when I took up a complaint to the ASA on Telkom calling their ADSL products broadband while explicitly disclaiming minimum service guarantees. Unfortunately an us vs them discourse has remained with respect to the ISPs on one side and Telkom on the other and honestly this is a massive hindrance to things like LLU.
Unfortunately we also need to start seeing businesses that use the Internet as a means of delivering a service take a bigger interest and volunteer some resources and energy and in that respect I think there is a bit of a chicken game at play. I have had very little engagement concerning the Internet Society's SA chapter but what is clear to me at this juncture is that the role of civil society needs to jack up a notch but this requires no strings attached financial assistance and good people with time and resources on hand. There certainly have been instances of some companies stepping up - and often quietly - but there are a lot of businesses dependent on an ecosystem that they aren't contributing to and it would be lovely if they did a bit.
There was a brief bit of a tangential discussion on the law not being well adapted to the Internet the other day (might actually have been yesterday) and I expressed my strong view that the problem is generally found in badly crafted statutes - ECTA being a lot better than most actually - rather than in the underlying ordinary legal principles. One factor I forgot to mention was the effects of preservation lobbying and in the case of things like POPI and the ADSL Regulations (which have been a general abomination although they were useful to get minimum line speed levels from Telkom) that can clearly be seen. This is why I am exceptionally weary of LLU regulations.
ISPA needs to function properly if the Internet as a service is going to develop in SA having Telkom and Vodacom (two very significant network operators) on ISPA - coincidently because Telkom is not an ISPA member I tend deal with Telkom on a in-house complaint and then an ICASA complaint which ALWAYS has seen results. The only exception was when I took up a complaint to the ASA on Telkom calling their ADSL products broadband while explicitly disclaiming minimum service guarantees. Unfortunately an us vs them discourse has remained with respect to the ISPs on one side and Telkom on the other and honestly this is a massive hindrance to things like LLU.
Unfortunately we also need to start seeing businesses that use the Internet as a means of delivering a service take a bigger interest and volunteer some resources and energy and in that respect I think there is a bit of a chicken game at play. I have had very little engagement concerning the Internet Society's SA chapter but what is clear to me at this juncture is that the role of civil society needs to jack up a notch but this requires no strings attached financial assistance and good people with time and resources on hand. There certainly have been instances of some companies stepping up - and often quietly - but there are a lot of businesses dependent on an ecosystem that they aren't contributing to and it would be lovely if they did a bit.
There was a brief bit of a tangential discussion on the law not being well adapted to the Internet the other day (might actually have been yesterday) and I expressed my strong view that the problem is generally found in badly crafted statutes - ECTA being a lot better than most actually - rather than in the underlying ordinary legal principles. One factor I forgot to mention was the effects of preservation lobbying and in the case of things like POPI and the ADSL Regulations (which have been a general abomination although they were useful to get minimum line speed levels from Telkom) that can clearly be seen. This is why I am exceptionally weary of LLU regulations.
