Plugg Uncapped ADSL Feedback

[Rohan]

Any gamers around? Anyone having problems with latency spikes while gaming online using Plugg?

 

[AfricanTech]

Yay - changed schedule to the recommended - back to 3 stars

 

[wingnut771]

Hi Janitor

Please can you check what's going on with my star rating and provide some clarity?

I've been using another account to give my uncapped a break. Last week I got it up to 5 stars. I used it last friday which dropped me back to 4. From saturday I have been using the other account again and I could have sworn I saw 5 stars appear briefly, and I say briefly because even though I haven't used the account since then, I am back and stuck on 4 stars, even though I haven't moved any data since 6am saturday.

I think you still have my details?

Many Thanks,

Wingnut

 

[Kwerty]

Just got downgraded from 3 to 2. I've done 500MB in the last 5 hours [and 2321MB total in the last 12 hours - which is what lead to the downgrade I guess]. Yay

4Mbps uncapped.

 

[techead]

Well I'm about to download path of exile via steam RIGHT NOW

so I will be on 1 star by the end of the day no doubt

This whole star thing is starting to work on my tit

Its just not consistent and that's the part that REALLY pisses me off

 

[treebsd]

Well I'm about to download path of exile via steam RIGHT NOW

so I will be on 1 star by the end of the day no doubt

This whole star thing is starting to work on my tit

Its just not consistent and that's the part that REALLY pisses me off

but it's well known on this forum that downloading big during the day is sort of a no-no with IS' star rating system. whats so inconsistent about that ?

besides, could be worse, could be both your tits affected ;-)

 

[AfricanTech]

Well I'm about to download path of exile via steam RIGHT NOW

so I will be on 1 star by the end of the day no doubt

This whole star thing is starting to work on my tit

Its just not consistent and that's the part that REALLY pisses me off

Lol, fortunately I was up latish last night so I started it after 23h00 - didn't have a chance to check, but should have completed by this morning so hopefully my my star rating not affected

 

[Kwerty]

I managed to move 8GB between 11PM and 8AM today with my star rating increased from 2 to 3

I don't mind downloading during the night and I do think that some sort of shaping mechanism is needed, but it would be nice for real time data (like browsing and maybe streaming to a lessor degree) to be unshaped during the day irrespective of your star rating. I can survive when my downloads are being shaped but if your browsing experience is affected; that starts working on my proverbial tits.

Edit:
Scratch that. I watched some YouTube and I'm down to 2 stars again.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~

 

[Ovenmit]

Its easy lol.. if you want the speed you paid for.. you can only use your internet between 23:00 and 06:00. cool eh?

 

[bradza]

Having a good chuckle over the last few comments of people struggling... *sigh* Now you see what I was on about. It's just the way it is (look at MWeb and the ASA ruling) you can't change it, just have to bite the bullet and take the bad, overpriced services

 

[bradza]

Its easy lol.. if you want the speed you paid for.. you can only use your internet between 23:00 and 06:00. cool eh?

What really confuses me is doesn't this create a self-fulfilling prophecy and then increase the demand on the network between the said hours? Surely then causing for the system to feel the strain? Ah anyways... dammit why do I keep questioning, baaad me.

 

[treebsd]

What really confuses me is doesn't this create a self-fulfilling prophecy and then increase the demand on the network between the said hours? Surely then causing for the system to feel the strain? Ah anyways... dammit why do I keep questioning, baaad me.

i dont really think that is the case. businesses demand much more b/w during the day than any consumer which means at night there are plenty of b/w available for consumers. but this brings up a question though. what is it that we actually want from isps?

let us download as much as possible, at the highest speed available, all the time. is that it? how would that make any sense for isps, business or financial wise?

so, if you are in control of b/w for an isp, how would you manage your users?

 

[bradza]

so, if you are in control of b/w for an isp, how would you manage your users?

Very good question treebsd. I would take a flight to the US and EU and observe with fellow ISP's based in those areas in how they manage their users. First thing I'd do here though is purchase more international bandwidth so the dirt road turns into a freeway and lower prices way more than they are now and make by volume then partner with various digital content firms. I know the market is very limited, there's only so many customers you can take on in this country but thats why you'd adjust accordingly in the areas you can. The model being used by the ISP's to monitor bandwidth is not really wrong, it's just made way too low with restrictions that just make it uneconomical from the consumers point of view to actually even use any internet. When you have ISP's that cut prices nearly half and others follow days later, that is either oligopoly planning or proof of not needing to check the books to cut prices because the profit margin is so huge it allows for price drops and still remain in profit.
Issues are not enough bandwidth being purchased by ISP's, too much control by certain ISP's and players (yes telkom line rental should be removed among other ISP things), real development and investment in infrastructure by private sector (a political instability risk here) and prices in general are way too high for "world class" internet. As for political involvement, it would be interesting to hear if there is any political involvement when it comes to the pricing chain as that would explain a few things too and if that is so, why don't ISP's speak up. If they did though, then profits would take a hit so why change the cake ingredients when the icing is so awesome?

 

[bradza]

I can see though the conversation is moving more to a general ISP focus so won't post much more on things unless Plugg specific but it has been interesting chatting. If I was an ISP right now though, I'd be worried about the backlash that is waiting once everyone has used up all the free trial accounts from another ISP in order to try get their ratings up on their own ISP and realise nothing changed even though they didn't use it. Perhaps some promotions or another price special in the line in the coming month or two by ISP's to keep the unrest down haha. Have a great weekend all.

 

[treebsd]

First thing I'd do here though is purchase more international bandwidth so the dirt road turns into a freeway and lower prices way more than they are now

but the problem is not international bandwidth. the problem relates to the costs of ipc. you can buy as much international b/w as you like, but when you still have to give away 70% of your own cost back to telkom re ipc, what does it matter how much international b/w you have.

what do you suggest isps do re ipc costs?

partner with various digital content firms.

most isps host cdn already locally on their own infrastructure for various companies. how would you convince hulu, netflix to bring it to our continent? there must be surely be a reason why they do not want us currently using their services, hence the work-arounds. do you think "partnering" up would be free or would there be a fee involved? would this not push up the pricing up even more for a subscriber?

The model being used by the ISP's to monitor bandwidth is not really wrong

monitor or manage? anybody can monitor bandwidth, but whats the point of monitoring it if you can not manage it properly. or do you say that it should be the case of 'downloading as much as i want, as fast as my local infrastructure supports it, all the time, and pay as little as possible for it'. how much b/w and let's just say ipc, would an ISP require in order to give you everything all the the time?

it's just made way too low with restrictions that just make it uneconomical from the consumers point of view to actually even use any internet.

pricing. ok, i will bite. how much should we be paying as consumers (taking into consideration your line & access component). what do you think is a fair price. forget for a moment what people are paying in the US/EU. what do you think would be reasonable in south africa.

As for political involvement, it would be interesting to hear if there is any political involvement when it comes to the pricing chain

who owns 39% of telkom?

why don't ISP's speak up.

isps been speaking up for years but unfortunately it also take years for things to come to some sort of point re all these complaints or rather speaking up. let's not forget the fiasco of dina pule, or even the fact that icasa can not manage their own finances or put any sort of real pressure on the industry to make changes.

i for one think it is a good thing there is no real political interference when it comes to isps.

I can see though the conversation is moving more to a general ISP focus so won't post much more on things unless Plugg specific but it has been interesting chatting.

do not think the janitor would mind much for hijacking their thread; but we could always take this outside and start a whole new thread and get more people's input.

If I was an ISP right now though, I'd be worried about the backlash that is waiting once everyone has used up all the free trial accounts from another ISP in order to try get their ratings up on their own ISP and realise nothing changed even though they didn't use it.

well, i am sticking to downloading between 00:00 and 06:00, and not really bothered if it takes a day longer to watch something. not much of a gamer, so not bothered re that. there is life outside the house ;-)

at least plugg been upfront over how/when they are shaping rather than other isps that claim what they are doing are only affecting 3% of their users.

anyway, all the best to the stormers for tomorrow

 

[bradza]

I'm for the Sharks so hopefully they actually play a good game tomorrow unlike the last one, esssh. Noticed how rugby players seem more interested in their hair these days? Miss the old days of rugby.

To really answer your questions properly I'd love more data. I'm a data/analysis junkie and any white papers and other documents would be awesome to go through, perhaps we could move this to the general ISP area and see if any others can also contribute various data to go through. My work is already pretty demanding but will try contribute where/when possible.

I will admit, it is nice for Plugg to say what time but it does appear the stars go down much faster than they go up. Is it midnight till 6 then and not 11 till 6? That might explain why stars vanish in the night sky when I start at 11:20pm but after only 200megs of use, is still just way too pathetic.

Regarding advocacy, consumer complaints take zero time away from political/regulatory advocacy, I know that because that is among one of my jobs. Yes, ICASA is a disaster, they don't even know what IPTV is if you phone them (seriously, I went through over 7 people in one call and ended up educating them on what IPTV was, I felt like I needed to submit a consultation invoice).

No I wasn't talking of Telkom, I know they gov and was already discounted in the comment but what I'm referring to is if any other regulatory prices added along the way besides Telkom. Even bring in the question if they having to choose BEE (or BBBEEEEE or BE whatever the way they call it on todays date) suppliers to keep points up yet pay a higher price for the service.

It's really looking at the financial sheets and then seeing where costs could come down, why they can't come down if they can't, how to then make them come down with or through other options and channels either commercially, politically or geographically and still keep a profitable and skilled operation. I'm not referring to the smaller ISP's, I have friends that own many ISP's (or used to and sold, one was the previous owner of an extremely large data provider in SA, he still owns shares in it), I'm talking about the big boys who control the golden gates. Hence why I say, would love further industry data as I'm not in access of that any more, at least, not all.

It's also a different thinking though as most SA companies that have grown and made overseas acquisitions like a fat rich kid in a sweet store, have gotten there through high prices (and other things). I think a lot which also start out to try lower the price for the consumer end up getting enticed by the high profit margins and rather match the price of the competitor and just go with the flow, unfortunate but its human psychology.

Have a good weekend mate. Go sharks!

 

[bradza]

oh and Netflix, Hulu and co might have to do with SterKinekor Distribution perhaps. Primedia have a lot of power and there are a lot of agreements with the Hollywood studios when it comes to South Africa. NuMetro, pff, they wish they made a dent in a meeting.

 

[Bar_Rat]

Youtube videos arnt loading on anything higher than 240p.
Change to higher and the videos dont load. Set to auto and you get 240p

 

[wingnut771]

Youtube videos arnt loading on anything higher than 240p.
Change to higher and the videos dont load. Set to auto and you get 240p

You seem to have a lot of issues, sure it's not telkom? How does another ISP perform?

EDIT: Can't comment tho as I signed up prorata AH uncapped account to give my stars a rest. Up to 5 now

So, in theory, at month end when I go back I should have 10 days of 24/7 bliss

 

[Bar_Rat]

You seem to have a lot of issues, sure it's not telkom? How does another ISP perform?

My AH account gives me no problems.