New LTE AUP from September 2016

[Snah85]

I have no idea what is happening with our service, but I have a sinking feeling that we are being throttled, and throttled terribly.

Our household of four averages at about 1.2TB a month. Yes, the usage might be considered high, but it is not unreasonable given the amount of iPads, iPhones, Macs, game consoles and streaming we do. Everything is on auto update. It's all legitimate usage.

For example, 1 hour of a Netflix in HD is 3GB. If we each watch one hour a day, that works out to 360GB a month. That is for 1 episode each, per day for 30 days. That is for one single application. Needless to say, we all stream far more than that daily, and we do more than simply watch Netflix.

This month, we are sitting at about 200GB already (sister literally streamed the first two seasons of Gossip Girl last week whilst my mom binge watched The Bachelorette).

Since Sunday, the speed has started decreasing. From Saturday at 30Mbps down/5Mbps up, to less than 0.5Mbps up and down today. Right now, the internet is unusable at the moment. Speedtest doesn't even run. Webpages don't load. We cannot use the service as advertised or intended.

I have logged the issue with Telkom as a fault, in the hopes that it simply is a tower issue.

However, tonight I turned on my VPN that I once used for US Netflix... and low and behold, I managed to get a Speedtest of 4Mbps down/2Mbps up. At least I can now surf the web.

This leads me to believe that Telkom are indeed throttling the service after a certain threshold, which goes against the original agreements of the contract, in my opinion. Given that our FUP never goes over 1 GB (no need to torrent anymore with this service), I am honestly shocked that they have changed their policy so one sidedly.

 

[Saba'a]

Request confirmation that you are indeed being throttled.

 

[SeaSickMama]

I have no idea what is happening with our service, but I have a sinking feeling that we are being throttled, and throttled terribly.

Our household of four averages at about 1.2TB a month. Yes, the usage might be considered high, but it is not unreasonable given the amount of iPads, iPhones, Macs, game consoles and streaming we do. Everything is on auto update. It's all legitimate usage.

For example, 1 hour of a Netflix in HD is 3GB. If we each watch one hour a day, that works out to 360GB a month. That is for 1 episode each, per day for 30 days. That is for one single application. Needless to say, we all stream far more than that daily, and we do more than simply watch Netflix.

This month, we are sitting at about 200GB already (sister literally streamed the first two seasons of Gossip Girl last week whilst my mom binge watched The Bachelorette).

Since Sunday, the speed has started decreasing. From Saturday at 30Mbps down/5Mbps up, to less than 0.5Mbps up and down today. Right now, the internet is unusable at the moment. Speedtest doesn't even run. Webpages don't load. We cannot use the service as advertised or intended.

I have logged the issue with Telkom as a fault, in the hopes that it simply is a tower issue.

However, tonight I turned on my VPN that I once used for US Netflix... and low and behold, I managed to get a Speedtest of 4Mbps down/2Mbps up. At least I can now surf the web.

This leads me to believe that Telkom are indeed throttling the service after a certain threshold, which goes against the original agreements of the contract, in my opinion. Given that our FUP never goes over 1 GB (no need to torrent anymore with this service), I am honestly shocked that they have changed their policy so one sidedly.

I think going over 500gb is abuse of this system. That's crazy 1.2TB I never did that in a whole month of downloading a crazy amount of series and games on 20mb Adsl. If you get throttled then yeah that's expected

 

[Gothan]

Has anyone that felt that they are being throttled actually get confirmation of this? So far my speed is fine (well yesterday it sucked, but it was a problem on the tower). All my traffic for this month has gone to streaming and normal Internet traffic. With about 6gig nntp downloads that occurred between 12am and 6 am

 

[KaMoS]

Has anyone that felt that they are being throttled actually get confirmation of this? So far my speed is fine (well yesterday it sucked, but it was a problem on the tower). All my traffic for this month has gone to streaming and normal Internet traffic. With about 6gig nntp downloads that occurred between 12am and 6 am

I've had no changed in speeds. My connection still sucks during peak times (7pm-10pm) but othewise all is good. I've done about 100gb so far this month, no p2p downloads.

 

[Snah85]

I think going over 500gb is abuse of this system. That's crazy 1.2TB I never did that in a whole month of downloading a crazy amount of series and games on 20mb Adsl. If you get throttled then yeah that's expected

It's not unreasonable, in my opinion, for a household of four people sharing the connection.

If I was living alone, yes. That would be a total abuse of the system. But I'm not, and we all consume media in our own way.

My personal Xbox One, not counting my PlayStation 4, iPad, iPhone etc, pulled in 300GB in August. That is just from updates and new games (digital downloads).

Reaching 1TB, between four people, is much, much easier than you think with devices that are always online/streaming etc.

 

[Snah85]

Has anyone that felt that they are being throttled actually get confirmation of this? So far my speed is fine (well yesterday it sucked, but it was a problem on the tower). All my traffic for this month has gone to streaming and normal Internet traffic. With about 6gig nntp downloads that occurred between 12am and 6 am

Not yet. For all I know it could be a base station/backhaul issue.

I've attempted to contact Telkom via a variety of methods, but have yet to receive any word on what the problem actually is.

If it's a service issue, then I'll update my post accordingly. Same if I am told it's throttling.

 

[furpile]

Here is something to think about. On ADSL everybody knows you have contention ratios and you share the connection with other people to make it affordable. LTE is no different. Just because it is uncapped does not mean you can stream 24/7 at full speed and expect everything to be fine.

Say max connection speed is 85 Mbps. That means you can download just over 38 GB an hour, or about 27,5 TB per month. That will be the max that one sector on the tower can handle. Now Telkom said they limit the number of users to 150 per tower. Assuming LTE towers also has 3 sectors (like 3G), that is 50 per sector. So take the sector capacity divided by 50 people and you have a limit of 550 GB per month. That would be your fair share of the product. If you expect to use more than 1 TB per month on a R600 deal with very high speeds, I have bad news. The fairy tale is going to come to a very bad ending.

These calcs are probably not 100%, but there is definitely a limit to what will be fair use.

 

[SeaSickMama]

Here is something to think about. On ADSL everybody knows you have contention ratios and you share the connection with other people to make it affordable. LTE is no different. Just because it is uncapped does not mean you can stream 24/7 at full speed and expect everything to be fine.

Say max connection speed is 85 Mbps. That means you can download just over 38 GB an hour, or about 27,5 TB per month. That will be the max that one sector on the tower can handle. Now Telkom said they limit the number of users to 150 per tower. Assuming LTE towers also has 3 sectors (like 3G), that is 50 per sector. So take the sector capacity divided by 50 people and you have a limit of 550 GB per month. That would be your fair share of the product. If you expect to use more than 1 TB per month on a R600 deal with very high speeds, I have bad news. The fairy tale is going to come to a very bad ending.

These calcs are probably not 100%, but there is definitely a limit to what will be fair use.

Totally agree with you

 

[willsotaku]

Here is something to think about. On ADSL everybody knows you have contention ratios and you share the connection with other people to make it affordable. LTE is no different. Just because it is uncapped does not mean you can stream 24/7 at full speed and expect everything to be fine.

Say max connection speed is 85 Mbps. That means you can download just over 38 GB an hour, or about 27,5 TB per month. That will be the max that one sector on the tower can handle. Now Telkom said they limit the number of users to 150 per tower. Assuming LTE towers also has 3 sectors (like 3G), that is 50 per sector. So take the sector capacity divided by 50 people and you have a limit of 550 GB per month. That would be your fair share of the product. If you expect to use more than 1 TB per month on a R600 deal with very high speeds, I have bad news. The fairy tale is going to come to a very bad ending.

These calcs are probably not 100%, but there is definitely a limit to what will be fair use.

Flawed logic that is, sector can handle much more then 85MBps most 5GHz Mikrotik sectors can handle upto 300MBps without breaking a sweat so i suspect expensive LTE sectors should be able to push around 1.2GBps easily per sector think the issue lies more within the backhaul either being fibre or 17Ghz PTP Links

 

[furpile]

Flawed logic that is, sector can handle much more then 85MBps most 5GHz Mikrotik sectors can handle upto 300MBps without breaking a sweat so i suspect expensive LTE sectors should be able to push around 1.2GBps easily per sector think the issue lies more within the backhaul either being fibre or 17Ghz PTP Links

Well there is a difference between LTE tech and Wifi tech, and my values were based off the thread I linked.

Here is the relevant post from SAdata:

Yup each sector on a 3G tower is 21.6mbps. Usually 3-6 sectors on a tower. Thats why in ads they say you get up to 21.6mbps - yes if youre the only person connecting. Thats why most towers in urban areas have a coverage radius of 0.5km - 2km only or else there just isn't enough capacity. Also why uncapped isn't feasible on 3G as the network would grind to a halt.

This is where cellcs problem with poor data on their network came from. They chose 900mhz for 3G in urban areas, which can cover probably 1.5 - 2 x normal 2100mhz of the other networks. But there was still only 21.6mbps connectivity per cell. Plus there cheap pricing + inefficiencies of having too many people connected to a single sector (whether moving data or not) = dead network.

This is why LTE has been punted so much - it speeds things up to 100mbps per sector. Even if you only get double what you were getting on 3G (which is often the case), at least 1 sector can handle more people

 

[Snah85]

Here is something to think about. On ADSL everybody knows you have contention ratios and you share the connection with other people to make it affordable. LTE is no different. Just because it is uncapped does not mean you can stream 24/7 at full speed and expect everything to be fine.

Say max connection speed is 85 Mbps. That means you can download just over 38 GB an hour, or about 27,5 TB per month. That will be the max that one sector on the tower can handle. Now Telkom said they limit the number of users to 150 per tower. Assuming LTE towers also has 3 sectors (like 3G), that is 50 per sector. So take the sector capacity divided by 50 people and you have a limit of 550 GB per month. That would be your fair share of the product. If you expect to use more than 1 TB per month on a R600 deal with very high speeds, I have bad news. The fairy tale is going to come to a very bad ending.

These calcs are probably not 100%, but there is definitely a limit to what will be fair use.

I totally hear you, and for the most part, I agree with your logic (that link was an interesting read, thank you). The issue is the way Telkom are marketing the product.

If we entertain that your calculations are on the right track, then they are misleading the public with their advertising. That is the actual issue here.

If it was clear from the get go that 500 GB was the AUP with the line being throttled to half or 10 Mbps etc, then there wouldn't be an issue. However, that is not how they are currently marketing the product to the public.

As such, I feel it has become a matter of principle. Consumers have the right to be upset about signing up for a product that is no longer working as advertised, irrespective of their usage.

 

[furpile]

I totally hear you, and for the most part, I agree with your logic (that link was an interesting read, thank you). The issue is the way Telkom are marketing the product.

If we entertain that your calculations are on the right track, then they are misleading the public with their advertising. That is the actual issue here.

If it was clear from the get go that 500 GB was the AUP with the line being throttled to half or 10 Mbps etc, then there wouldn't be an issue. However, that is not how they are currently marketing the product to the public.

As such, I feel it has become a matter of principle. Consumers have the right to be upset about signing up for a product that is no longer working as advertised, irrespective of their usage.

Sure, but that has been done before with ADSL many times. Many people have been upset about uncapped products not really being uncapped, but that is the way it is. There will probably not be a hard cap at a set amount, but based on historical usage maybe. All ISP's use similar systems, to varying degrees of success and customer satisfaction, be it a monthly quote, the star rating system, rolling 10 days or whatever.

The one thing I wholeheartedly agree with you on, is that ISP's should make the provisions clear. This is a big issue on ADSL as well. They should just state that uncapped has a fair use of xxx GB a month and after that you will be restricted. Instead nobody (almost) is willing to state what the limits are and then accuse customers of abusing the service.

 

[proze]

Since this has kicked in my internet seems faster. I am pretty light on my usage though. I only stream and do general browsing.
I never got any email or sms about warnings on my usage.

This. Since all the hogs got capped a bit, my experience has been much better. I'm all for it.

 

[Cactus]

This. Since all the hogs got capped a bit, my experience has been much better. I'm all for it.

+10. My speeds increased greatly and I now see the money worth for the product. I'm a very lite user though.

We all know a lot of LTE base stations are congested, so if this will eases up the congestion, by all means go ahead! I won't be affected because I don't try to back up the Internet every month.

Put things in perspective. Telkom sells 100GB pm for R999. If you didn't have the R599 uncapped option, would you guys pay 5k-10k per month to use 500GB-1TB? Don't think so. What am I saying? Be considered of others in your neighborhood.

 

[Saba'a]

+10. My speeds increased greatly and I now see the money worth for the product. I'm a very lite user though.

We all know a lot of LTE base stations are congested, so if this will eases up the congestion, by all means go ahead! I won't be affected because I don't try to back up the Internet every month.

Put things in perspective. Telkom sells 100GB pm for R999. If you didn't have the R599 uncapped option, would you guys pay 5k-10k per month to use 500GB-1TB? Don't think so. What am I saying? Be considered of others in your neighborhood.

Uhm who backs up? If you note everyone complains about using streaming only. I have used 119gb to date for 7 days so looking at 500 to 600gb pure streaming. Torrenters didnt buy product as its a 50gb (edit FUP).

Why should users limit themselves because telkom failed to limit towers to eg 100 users? Or failed to have fibre backhaul as I suspect is case in my neighbourhood since I cant get fibre.

The product is also inconsistent ito speeds so cant compare to stable adsl. Consecutive tests performed immediately after each other resulted in between 6 vs 17mbps (edit download).

 

[Azg]

+10. My speeds increased greatly and I now see the money worth for the product. I'm a very lite user though.

We all know a lot of LTE base stations are congested, so if this will eases up the congestion, by all means go ahead! I won't be affected because I don't try to back up the Internet every month.

Put things in perspective. Telkom sells 100GB pm for R999. If you didn't have the R599 uncapped option, would you guys pay 5k-10k per month to use 500GB-1TB? Don't think so. What am I saying? Be considered of others in your neighborhood.

To answer your question no I would not pay R5k - R10k to use 500GB . Telkom 10Mbps Do Premium - 100GB anytime plus uncapped night surfer - plus a top up account from any of the other ISPs (Afrihost / Webafrica etc) would allow you to stream & download practically without restrictions for not much more than than the R799 for Telkom LTE.

Why is it so difficult for Telkom to state the usage thresholds they deem abuse? That way we would not have individuals dictating that only their current usage qualifies as fair usage and anyone else's usage is "abuse".

 

[Saba'a]

126gbs used to date yet no netflix was streamed tonight. So 7gbs used tonight just music streaming and youtube. Torrenting non existent.
Netflix normally on for 3 - 4 hours. So imagine the gbs it would have been with netflix.

My speeds averaging 20mbps now.

 

[Saba'a]

To answer your question no I would not pay R5k - R10k to use 500GB . Telkom 10Mbps Do Premium - 100GB anytime plus uncapped night surfer - plus a top up account from any of the other ISPs (Afrihost / Webafrica etc) would allow you to stream & download practically without restrictions for not much more than than the R799 for Telkom LTE.

Why is it so difficult for Telkom to state the usage thresholds they deem abuse? That way we would not have individuals dictating that only their current usage qualifies as fair usage and anyone else's usage is "abuse".

Totally agreed.

 

[Cactus]

To answer your question no I would not pay R5k - R10k to use 500GB . Telkom 10Mbps Do Premium - 100GB anytime plus uncapped night surfer - plus a top up account from any of the other ISPs (Afrihost / Webafrica etc) would allow you to stream & download practically without restrictions for not much more than than the R799 for Telkom LTE.

Why is it so difficult for Telkom to state the usage thresholds they deem abuse? That way we would not have individuals dictating that only their current usage qualifies as fair usage and anyone else's usage is "abuse".

You cannot compare wireless and fixed line. You are not the only one on the tower. There is people passing through the area on their cellphones throughout the day. There's that guy sitting at the local cafe with his dongle etc. Wireless has much more "ifs then and buts" than fixed line.

At the end Telkom sold you a product that doesn't live up to it's expectations. We all agree on that, but as my initial statement, look at similar offerings from capped products and their pricing. I think it's reasonable to expect more or less the same data usage.

The same goes for ADSL. You're not going to get much data out of a el cheapo R200 uncapped account.