Prepare for ADSL disillusionment

[Dastrix]

lets organize a protest outside their offices

invite the media

i already have my banner, "ceo sleeping again?"

This is the only way we are going to get anything to change in this country - and it starts with ICASA.

Torches and pitchforks ppl!

 

[Nocturnity]

Ohi! Well, some changes have come but I have some new fears as these regulations increase the pressure a little. This will probably mean that telkom will push up prices to cover the "losses" they make because of the new regulations.

It's not all grim though!

http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/telecoms/2006/ADSL_regulations.htm

Have a look at the following sections:

Section 4: throughput speeds
Section 5: port prioritization
Section 6: key performance indicators
Section 7: 24 hour ADSL service reset

That's not so bad!

Unfortunately they don't state any regulations for pricing which means that we can still be charged exhorbitant prices...

 

[donaldza]

What an absolute crock. I hope the ICASA councellors got paid well by Telkom for shafting the country like this.

 

[duderoo]

Well we might as well just die, I will never get internet in this country when we have a bunch of muppets by name of the ICASA running the show......how can you live with yourselves after going through all the hearings and then giving us uncapped local bandwidth as a consolation.

 

[stoke]

Count me in. Just make it quick , i'm leaving on monday.
DRAMMIT ... Finally some action and a chance to try out my toiy toiy bells and I leave the country.
EISH.

I am really really sore about the completely ignored no-more-shaping demand.
There was nothing at all wrong with that request and allowing teklom to keep on blinding us about actual achievable network speeds is admitting to climing into bed with teklom's lies and deciet.

2.1 – The structure of an ADSL tariff shall comprise of an installation and bringing into service charge, a monthly rental for provisioning and maintenance of ADSL lines and a bandwidth charge.
2.2 – The installation charge shall be levied once off at the inception of the services.

Right, and when we need to stop the overpriced service for a month to buy a new car or perhaps a house then when we re-connect we get to pay the same "installation" fee ? That really seems sooo honest and sooo damn fair and a real service to us the people you serve ICAKSA.

3.4 – Local bandwidth usage shall not be subject to the cap

Ooooooh ... try : LOCAL BANDWIDTH SHALL NOT BE INCLUDED IN THROUGHPUT TOWARDS CAPPING MEASUREMENTS AS LOCAL BANDWIDTH MAY NOT BE CAPPED NOR PART OF THE CALCULATION TOWARDS THE CAP ? Oooh .. noo ... ICAKSA didn't see that one. ICAKSA were too busy doing nothing to pick up on that one. ICAKSA probably still don't get it after reading this post.

3.5 – Telkom or SNO shall publish updated information on ADSL-enabled exchanges in the white pages of the telephone directory or electronic directory

Whoop do doo ... and how will that solve the "Sorry - there are no more ports available" problem exactly ? Hatts off to ICAKSA to creation of senseless rules.

3.6 – Telkom or SNO shall install the ADSL service within thirty (30) working days of receipt of an application if the applicant qualifies and resides within an ADSL-enabled exchange area.

Or else we will spank them with our feather and then proceed to have some prime fillet for lunch ? I hereby declare that ICAKSA must redraft these regulations in 30 minutes.

4.1 – Telkom, SNO and ISPs shall guarantee minimum broadband speeds for the ADSL service in order to ensure that the service does not lose its broadband character
4.2 – Any services provided with speeds lower than those defined as broadband [minimum download speeds of 256Kbps] shall not be advertised as broadband services.

International or Local ?

5.1 Telkom, SNO and ISPs shall not be allowed to impose port prioritization on their subscribers.

WHAT ??????? WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ... NO WAY ... I KARENT BELIEVE IT ... IT'S HERE ! BEEEEGUP ICASA ! Wooooot ! ... ye may just redeem yourselves here.

/me shakes me head cos some peeps are commenting without having read the document and then I believed them

The KPI and Content Ratios MUST BE PUBLISHED !!! Wooo Hooo !!!

No MORE RESETS ALLOWED ! Woooo Hoooo !!!

SLA's ... WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!

... some nice points there ... it's not ALLL BAD

 

[duderoo]

Section
3.4 – Local bandwidth usage shall not be subject to the cap

This is not clear to me. Seems like a bit of a hole here..

Who cares about local cap, what is their to really browse in SA anyway, most of it is international.

 

[Dastrix]

On the side of caution, I will wait for the official doc, however I have drafted this email which is ready to go:

I would like to congratulate ICASA on the ineptitude of its staff and leaders resulting in one of South Africa’s biggest farce’s to date. Namely, your spineless ADSL regulations.

Despite the overwhelming facts delivered to ICASA by public and business through written submissions and hearings, consistently and repeatedly proving Telkom’s abuse of their monopoly, ICASA chooses to ignore their mandate to protect the public and protect the biggest hindrance to economic growth in this country.

I am unable to decide on which is more disgusting, the fact that access to the internet is above the financial reach of more than two thirds of this country, or the fact that in the last 3 years ICASA has done nothing to change this.

I no longer have faith in ICASA as a regulator, the word “independent” should be removed from the title, since there clearly is no independence for Telkom’s lapdog.

Telkom is committing economic rape on a daily basis, now with your stamp of approval.

I wonder whose pockets were filled (this time) to allow Telkom to continue to abuse the South African public.

And please, while you comment and mock yet another “whiner”, may I ask that you do this in silence, lest you wake Paris up at his desk.

Utterly appalled and dissapointed,

 

[stoke]

Who cares about local cap, what is their to really browse in SA anyway, most of it is international.

Thing is ... now they are actively encouraging the crowth of local content cos when we run out of international, then we will seek local content before we go buy some more international, and that has opened the market up for local mirror servers and stuff like that.

It is a good move, we must grow our local internet.

 

[duderoo]

ICASA has indicated that they will address the ADSL pricing issues after it has received Telkom’s COA/CAM reports, and it is hoped that this will result in significant reductions in the price of ADSL.

Does this mean we still have hope.

 

[duderoo]

Thing is ... now they are actively encouraging the crowth of local content cos when we run out of international, then we will seek local content before we go buy some more international, and that has opened the market up for local mirror servers and stuff like that.

It is a good move, we must grow our local internet.

The price for hosting local is still gonna be the same it is just the accessing that content that has changed, so yes it will be good for us, but not necessarily for the people that produce the content.

 

[Vio]

And that would be excactly what most people would be doing anyways if a) the internet wasn't 800% more expensive and b) hosting wasnt 1000% more expensive.

 

[Sneeky]

5.1 Telkom, SNO and ISPs shall not be allowed to impose port prioritization on their subscribers.

They dont impose it on you now.Think about it, if you dont want a shaped service you can opt for the unshaped service., it just costs a truckload of cash, but then the pricing issues have not been addressed, so useless.

 

[|tera|]

Well I'm a bit of a crafty rascal regarding local browsing, does anyone remember nukecap? If you had the nukecap service you could browse international using your local bandwitdh and download some basic stuff too,

I've already suggested openweb and webafrica should start similar services, if ICASA fails us, the main ISP's might be able to provide an inexpensive uncapped service, man it would be heaven! but at least half of my line speed after cap please!!

 

[Rkootknir]

How do they define "port prioritization". Surely even a company as backwards as Telkom doesn't shape specific ports anymore?

As far as I know Telkom uses packet inspection to shape traffic.

 

[NameOfBeast]

Well I'm a bit of a crafty rascal regarding local browsing, does anyone remember nukecap? If you had the nukecap service you could browse internatrional using your local bandwitdh and download some basic stuff too, I've already suggested openweb and webafrica should start similar services, if ICASA fails us, the main ISP's might be able to provide an inexpensive uncapped service, man it would be heaven! but at least half of my line speed after cap please!!

Does nukecap still exist? This is/was a pay service? Inexpensive?

 

[|tera|]

It was like R60 a month, they do still exist, but it was very slow (for me).

 

[silversurfer]

Who cares about local cap, what is their to really browse in SA anyway, most of it is international.

to some ppl, local is extremly valuable. trust me.

3.4 – Local bandwidth usage shall not be subject to the cap

is just not clear enough for my liking. I think it can still be exploited by telkom, just by removing local traffic from the international cap, but then imposing a local cap too.

 

[krycor]

Ooooooh ... try : LOCAL BANDWIDTH SHALL NOT BE INCLUDED IN THROUGHPUT TOWARDS CAPPING MEASUREMENTS AS LOCAL BANDWIDTH MAY NOT BE CAPPED NOR PART OF THE CALCULATION TOWARDS THE CAP

Thats what i'm interested in, cause if it forms part of calc, then its not really free is it? Then again, if thats the case i'm gonna get me a 1MB account for local only, heck 1bit if possible.

 

[stoke]

They dont impose it on you now.Think about it, if you dont want a shaped service you can opt for the unshaped service., it just costs a truckload of cash, but then the pricing issues have not been addressed, so useless.

Gewd point sneeky - i missed that one completely. I should go work for icasa.

 

[stoke]

The price for hosting local is still gonna be the same it is just the accessing that content that has changed, so yes it will be good for us, but not necessarily for the people that produce the content.

Well ... I can host a local website now on ADSL where they cannot charge me for local throughput, which means that I can get a 512MB/s line and host my content at 265KB/s and no matter how much is downloaded by local peeps, my cost remains the same.

This move should make hosting in SA on ADSL infrastructure cheap.
If you need redundancy, host at multuiple ADSL points throughout the country.
Dynamic DNS FTW !

Kapeesh ?