Pigeon-Power versus ADSL

I'd rather give my money to Winston :)

Redundancy in this country means Telkom will get to it next week :P At least we can track Winston's progress :P
 
1. No Redundancy
2. Very High Latency
3. Reliability
4. One Way
5. Support and Trouble Shooting
6. Scaleability

Not like Telkom is particularly good with any of these. See the numerous threads about SAIX's crap latency, unreliability and crappy support. ADSL may not be "one-way" but you say yourself that upload speeds suck. And the Telkom network is old, expensive and use outdated technology. Hardly scalable in the modern sense of the word.

Everybody keeps saying, "yes, but the business should have rented multi-hundred thousand rand leased lines to do the job properly". But that is exactly the point! Reliable data connections are vastly overpriced, and the connections that -are- affordable are severely outdated and slow.
 
Everyone can have a ultra fast data line in which ever form for tens of thousands of rand. That's not the point. It just means telkom's got the capability if you use the right type of connection but at what price?
 
psichron said:
Everybody keeps saying, "yes, but the business should have rented multi-hundred thousand rand leased lines to do the job properly". But that is exactly the point! Reliable data connections are vastly overpriced, and the connections that -are- affordable are severely outdated and slow.
Click to expand...

This is what makes articles such as these so amusing. They are missing the point! We all know that this isn't a realistic option - I mean come on!
 
I also had to switch from ADSL to WiMax as my ADSL was never working and I'm also only 1KM odd from the exchange. It does however take them 6.5KM to get to my house which is past their 5KM mark for max distance. The irritating thing though is I use to connect at 4mb on my ADSL and was less than 5KM until they replaced cables (new cables have higher resistance is what I was told) and decided it would be better 2 route me differently :-/
 
the_lobe: Yea, this whole thing was never a serious challenge. This article is stupid for trying to seriously compare Telkom to a pigeon. Stop shooting down the bloody pigeon! It is a gimmick to focus our attention on something important: We have 54x worse internet at home than people in rural Europe.

I'm currently in a small town in Belgium for two months and we have ADSL2, 21mbps. Telkom can't even handle 8mbps locally and I don't see ADSL2 getting rolled out any time soon within the next 5 years..... Our local infrastructure is seriously lacking. ADSL1 has been outdated in the rest of the world for a long time.
 
Let's kill this dumb a***d argument once and for all.

1) Buy this http://www.kalahari.net/electronics/Samsung-HD103UJ-1TB-3-5-HDD/4660/34399903.aspx

2) Send it with the highest level of insurance you like, from the post office, as you slip it into a padded registered letter envelope, and send it airmail express, to someone on the very opposite side of the world.

3) 1TB in about 24 hours at about R1000. Beat that telkom. In time and price. C'mon...SNAIL MAIL WHIPS tELKOM'S **S!
 
now they tell me.. after i got myself a few pigeons. was just about to announce im starting a pigeon service provider. :erm: ah well, guess ill have to keep my eyes and ears open for the next big thing.
 
If you call yourself a professional business, you make provision accordingly. Take for instance, you require desktops...... You have no choice as your business depends on it. Do you revert to the old pen and paper if the price does not suite your budget and complain that the prices are just too high and you cant afford it. You budget and purchase accordingly.

The point is you need to make provision for every instance in your business to make it run efficiently. Yes the cost of a leased circuit through Telkom is significantly high, but if it is a requirement you implement.

I hate the fact that companies pass the buck. Just imagine if one of the ISP's had to complain that a 155 meg pipe was just too expensive and because of this they were implementing a 64k because this was all they could afford. I don't care how small your business is, you make provision for your needs.

Further to this, If Telkom provided such crapy service to this company, then why in heavens name did they still stick it out. Competition is here, make use of it.
 
Lightscribe said:
Let's kill this dumb a***d argument once and for all.

1) Buy this http://www.kalahari.net/electronics/Samsung-HD103UJ-1TB-3-5-HDD/4660/34399903.aspx

2) Send it with the highest level of insurance you like, from the post office, as you slip it into a padded registered letter envelope, and send it airmail express, to someone on the very opposite side of the world.

3) 1TB in about 24 hours at about R1000. Beat that telkom. In time and price. C'mon...SNAIL MAIL WHIPS tELKOM'S **S!
Click to expand...

:eek::D

We all know the test was fraught with technical problems but it was fun to watch. We all know Telkom's service is extremely poor (Unless you fork out mega-dosh and there's no satisfaction in that). But the real question is what are they doing about it?
 
Imoe: You still miss the point. Leased lines are unfairly expensive to businesses due to Telkom's monopoly and stranglehold on the market. Yes, if one desktop computer were to cost you 30x what it costs elsewhere in the world, you would have your employees use pen and paper. Not so long ago computers were still too expensive for businesses and they made due with pen and paper.

"Budget" is not some magical term that creates money and lets you buy anything you want. You can't just "budget accordingly" and give each employee his own Ferrari so he can get to work quicker. The problem is that at the moment, telecommunication is taking far too big a cut out of businesses profits than is necessary and that makes them less competitive compared to their international counterparts.

The point is that Telkom is unfairly overpriced and outdated and that there is no alternative. There is no competition like you say. You even admit that consumers are suffering due to Telkom exploiting businesses because they pass the buck on to their clients which they are forced to do. No company can just absorb that kind of expense.
 
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Imoe said:
If you call yourself a professional business, you make provision accordingly. Take for instance, you require desktops...... You have no choice as your business depends on it. Do you revert to the old pen and paper if the price does not suite your budget and complain that the prices are just too high and you cant afford it. You budget and purchase accordingly.

The point is you need to make provision for every instance in your business to make it run efficiently. Yes the cost of a leased circuit through Telkom is significantly high, but if it is a requirement you implement.

I hate the fact that companies pass the buck. Just imagine if one of the ISP's had to complain that a 155 meg pipe was just too expensive and because of this they were implementing a 64k because this was all they could afford. I don't care how small your business is, you make provision for your needs.
Click to expand...
Dunno if you missed the point of the experiment, but I don't think anyone is going to lease pigeons any time soon :rolleyes:
Further to this, If Telkom provided such crapy service to this company, then why in heavens name did they still stick it out. Competition is here, make use of it.
Click to expand...

Where? I'm in East London and I want an alternative to a 155Mb telkom leased circuit... please pm me.
 
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Telkom is not the only business option available. Call Centres can use, amongst others, Neotel, MTN or Vodacom Business ADSL/other solutions as well.

This was a publicity PR stunt and nothing else. Don't read too much into it.

We are all very aware of high telecoms prices in SA. A stunt like this does nothing to help.
 
moggie: You are incorrect as well. Yes it is just a stunt, but it focused a lot of international attention at our dismal situation which is a good thing. All the more incentive for government to regulate the market better.
 
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