MyADSL Broadband Report

Hi Gatecrasher

Various costs were taken into account when calculating the final percentage, including monthly costs without modem costs, bandwidth costs, contract prices etc. As the 24 month contract cost for iBurst and MyWireless is higher than ADSL due to the high modem costs it was the logical figure to display. Wouldn’t you say?
 
ic said:
I have something to say about that 64kbits/s after being capped - this is not available to all of iBurst SA's customers - there are plenty of posts over a very long time period where forumites complain that they can only access iBurst SA's website after being capped, IOW no 64kbits/s. This is allegedly a 'bug' that after such a long time period still has not been fixed, which begs the question: is the lack of 64kbits/s for many customers, a bug, or is it really a feature deliberately built into iBurst SA's capping system...?
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I've been capped several times and never experienced "Death by Cap". "Death by Cap" is certainly a bug, not a feature. Obviously, in the forum, people will report when this occurs. People will not report when it does not occur. Given that most forumites hit their cap at some time during each month, the actual prevelence of this problem is quite small.
 
rpm said:
Hi Gatecrasher

Various costs were taken into account when calculating the final percentage, including monthly costs without modem costs, bandwidth costs, contract prices etc. As the 24 month contract cost for iBurst and MyWireless is higher than ADSL due to the high modem costs it was the logical figure to display. Wouldn’t you say?
Click to expand...

No it is not logical at all. It is completely inconsistent with the method used in the Mobile Broadband report, where a month-to-month price was used, not a 24 month contract (modem inc) price.

Ideally, the same methodology should be applied to all packages. Rather split the once-off all-in setup costs (Modem, installations, etc) into one fiigure, and the monthly costs into a another figure. Then people can compare like with like. And be better informed as to what each package entails. In general, contracts are to be avoided at all costs!!!
 
ic said:
I have something to say about that 64kbits/s after being capped - this is not available to all of iBurst SA's customers - there are plenty of posts over a very long time period where forumites complain that they can only access iBurst SA's website after being capped, IOW no 64kbits/s. This is allegedly a 'bug' that after such a long time period still has not been fixed, which begs the question: is the lack of 64kbits/s for many customers, a bug, or is it really a feature deliberately built into iBurst SA's capping system...?
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This is not many users IC, the ones that complain are about the only ones. I have also had this problem, and so have people I know with iBurst, so I'd admit it does probably happen to quite a few users, but if it happens once it doesnt mean it happens again. I am currently capped using the 64kb service and a few months ago I had the "Death By Cap". Also you can get it fixed, so either way you will have your 64kb access. Saying it is not available to all users is incorrect, all users can get their 64kb. Obviously only if it applies to them, ie. non i-Go users only.

But the point that was made is that iBurst is not hard capped at all, and this is a big pro for iBurst, yet you put hardcapped as a con in the report. That should definitely be fixed before this is finalised.
 
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There is no mention of additional bandwdith costs in the report. Yet this is one of the most crucial aspects facing broadband users. So you could have: SetUp Costs, Monthly Costs, Cost for each additional gigabyte.

The most important part of my question was not answered earlier. But that is just symptomatic of the principal deficiency in the reports.

I pick up on Iburst issues because I'm an Iburst user and interested in comparing Iburst to other offerings. But my biggest problem with the report has nothing to do with Iburst. It is a general problem.

Since the outcome of these reports are used in advertising campaigns by competing companies, I have a serious problem with the lack of transparency in how the final ratings are compiled. Clearly many people will take what they want from the reports and be quite content. To my mind, there are just too many unanswered questions. The fact that the ratings don't appear to link up to the comparison charts is one of those problems. That there seems to be no link between pros and cons and final ratings is another problem. That there seems to be no consistency in the pricing models is yet another. How are results compiled and weighted?

The fact that there is a separate "mobile" section seems to have neatly convenienced the principal advertiser on this site. That 1Gb was used at the bandwidth measure here is highly fortuitous, because any higher number would have presented the winner with very serious difficulties on price. Yet can 1Gb usage in a month really be considered broadband?

Sadly, the report has become even more of a black box than in previous years. That is a step backwards. Without transparency, the validity and credibility of the report is open to serious question. Especially as so much commercial interest is now vested in the results.

Raw information is probably an overkill, but please do provide a detailed breakdown. It doesn't even have to form part of the report. It can be a reference or a weblink. But the information needs to be made available. The credibility of the report depends upon it.
 
thanks RPM... now awaiting the ISP report ;)

no suprise at sentech's positions.
 
ic said:
I tend to disagree about any old iBurst SA customer being able to get death by cap fixed - the problem still persists, why has iBurst SA not fixed the problem for all iBurst SA's customers?
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Certainly a million dollar question. I know I appear to be an Iburst fanboy at times, but I have a host of issues and concerns about iBurst right now. That people are suffering from "Death by Cap" is just one them.

Perhaps they are suffering from rapid-growth syndrome. The Iburst approval "barometer" has taken a huge dip in the last month or so.

Currently I cannot get close to the good performance I received while testing for this report. The Hyde Park basestation had an overnight array allignment change last month which meant me having to default to the distant and overcrowded Randburg basestation. I have now focused on Illovo with only marginally better results.

The IBurst accounts and billing policies are simply beyond derision.

Their online blog is a laughing stock.

There has not been one significant change to their packages and pricing for almost two years. Very disappointing indeed.

They are not engaging users at MyADSL. Another broken promise.

There are many promises about improved speeds, better service, better contention, new packages etc, but these promises don't hold much water.

It is only my disgust for Telkom that is holding me back from jumping ship. But I will probably hold out until mid-2007, when hopefully some new and better non-Telkom offerings will be available to South African broadband customers.
 
ic said:
I tend to disagree about any old iBurst SA customer being able to get death by cap fixed - the problem still persists, why has iBurst SA not fixed the problem for all iBurst SA's customers?
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I did not mean fixed necessarily permanently. But if it happens you can have it fixed for that month. Personally, and with another user who I know and has had DBC once before, once we have had it fixed it has not come back yet. That has only been going for about 5 months, but we both get capped every month. There has been a statement by Ed to one of the people affected by DBC that it has apparently been fixed in their database so that it would not affect them again. I'm not sure if this is true though, but perhaps it is. However there must be a problem with fixing it across the entire network.

It is of course a big problem that they are not able to fix permanently.

In any case, you dont dispute the fact that the report is wrong in saying iBurst is hardcapped, do you? I find it hard to believe you guys made that blunder, did you really not know that iBurst isn't hardcapped when you are talking about the 3 or 1 Gig accounts?
 
ic said:
Or is it really a feature of iBurst SA's capping system, that's perhaps designed to teach "abuser" customers a lesson to not use as much bandwidth in subsequent months?
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This does not affect only "abuser" customers at all. I suppose you could say anyone going over their cap is an abuser, but people using iBurst for almost a year and having never gone over their cap have got DBC after the first time they got capped. Others who get capped every single month and download up to 20 gigs + per month on their accounts might not get DBC at all. It does appear to be completely random.
 
ic said:
Actually yes I do dispute this, remember that this a broadband report and pertains to broadband services, even IncompetentCASA specifies that anything less than 256kbits/s is not broadband [although that minimum should be much higher and ICASA does not say anything about download or upload speeds - one has to conclude that both download and upload should be no less than 256kbits/s to qualify as broadband]. No matter whose broadband definition one applies, there is no way that 64kbits/s is actually a broadband speed.
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Yes, but you don't call the IS ADSL services hardcapped. Do they all go at above 256kbps after your cap? Well then caps basically don't exist on IS, unless that was referring to local only in which case I'd say 64kb of local or international is actually more useful. Most users would hardly bother with their broadband if they can't do anything on international.

I still think its incorrect though. Are you really going to leave it like that? When I saw it I immediately thought it was a typo or something. People will be quite surprised if they read this and then notice that their iBurst is in fact not hardcapped.
 
rpm said:
Hi folks

Please find the first draft of the MyADSL Broadband Report. We have included all research, including the fixed broadband report and the mobile broadband report. Your feedback will be great.

Do you find this kind of report valuable?
Are the performance indicators in line with what you experience using the service?
Any suggestions?

Regards,

RPM
Click to expand...

Hi RPM

Do you have a 2007 or 2008 MyADSL Broadband Report yet?
Or any other reports that show the Internet market in 2007/2008?

Thx

Da Messyone
 
Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!!!

:eek: I thought I saw a ghost when I read this thread! :eek:
wow.gif
 
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Why is Telkom DSL still R 815 per month?

Isn't it supposed to be updated to R554?

EDIT: whoops :o
 
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Glad others have picked up on the Telkom 4 for 1 thing - perhaps Telkom sees the word trial and automatically draw it out
 
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