Reality Check - SA vs Netherlands

[Vic502]

CAUTION: Depression may follow.

So my brother lives in the Netherlands and his 100 Mbps line (cable bundle, with telephone and digital tv, unshaped and uncapped @ ~€65) just got upgraded for free to 180(!) Mbps recently. Puts SA ISPs' recent free upgrades from 1Mbps to 4, 4 to 10, etc. into perspective, regarding global (or at least European) broadband speeds.

His ISP website/bundle offering: https://www.ziggo.nl/alles-in-1/extra

Screenshot of his latest speed test:

And yes, I keep on reminding him that I don't need screenshots of his latest broadband speed test, because it seriously depresses me, considering I pay about the same amount for an uncapped (shaped & sometimes throttled) 4Mbps line + (unwanted) Telkom telephone service + small DStv offering.

Reality ... checked!

 

[gelid]

Your post depresses me.

 

[Space_Chief]

CAUTION: Depression may follow.

So my brother lives in the Netherlands and his 100 Mbps line (cable bundle, with telephone and digital tv, unshaped and uncapped @ ~€65) just got upgraded for free to 180(!) Mbps recently. Puts SA ISPs' recent free upgrades from 1Mbps to 4, 4 to 10, etc. into perspective, regarding global (or at least European) broadband speeds.

His ISP website/bundle offering: https://www.ziggo.nl/alles-in-1/extra

Screenshot of his latest speed test: View attachment 120485

And yes, I keep on reminding him that I don't need screenshots of his latest broadband speed test, because it seriously depresses me, considering I pay about the same amount for an uncapped (shaped & sometimes throttled) 4Mbps line + (unwanted) Telkom telephone service + small DStv offering.

Reality ... checked!

That's nice. Except what can you DL at that speed? I am able to do what I want to do, which is about 120GB per month and while faster speeds would be nice, speeds that fast would be redundant.

 

[Dubes]

That's nice. Except what can you DL at that speed? I am able to do what I want to do, which is about 120GB per month and while faster speeds would be nice, speeds that fast would be redundant.

On this we agree, Space_Chief. If this is the most depressing thing in someone's life they are leading a charmed life...

 

[BrrIan]

Puts SA ISPs' recent free upgrades from 1Mbps to 4, 4 to 10, etc. into perspective, regarding global (or at least European) broadband speeds.

Hardly. South Africa is close to three times the size, has a population density a tenth of the size and a per capita GDP a quarter the size.

 

[Peon]

Forget the terse posts. But if someone in Telkom management just read through this website in the last 7 years and applied some of the advice given then they would be in a better position, and clients would be all connected to MSAN's. Soz to derail your thread slightly.

Dunno if Paul Hjul and those guys are awake but I think the ship has sailed. Writing this honestly, without emotion I cant help but feel one day soon we going to open MyBB and the on the home page the main article will read MTN buys Telkom or portions of it. I cant help but feel the problems facing Telkom now are too big to fix and its only a matter of time - probably when the money runs out.

 

[Marcan]

Reality Check - SA vs Netherlands
I thought you were going to discuss a heavy defeat in the WC hockey !
But this one is even more depressing.

 

[DJ...]

Dunno if Paul Hjul and those guys are awake but I think the ship has sailed.

??

 

[Lycanthrope]

These threads are getting boring now

That's nice. Except what can you DL at that speed? I am able to do what I want to do, which is about 120GB per month and while faster speeds would be nice, speeds that fast would be redundant.

I can download whatever I want, whenever I want.

It takes me about 20-minutes to download a 40GB game (Wolfenstein, for example) from Steam and I can download it on two computers simultaneously. On top of that, I could have Netflix playing on the TV or I could be listening to Spotify or just doing some ordinary browsing--all without feeling the impact of any of that at all.

At no point do I need to have any of my Steam games installed since I can simply download them in a matter of minutes.

I pay for convenience. And since it's affordable, why not?

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

That's nice. Except what can you DL at that speed? I am able to do what I want to do, which is about 120GB per month and while faster speeds would be nice, speeds that fast would be redundant.

This is a problem with the way people think about internet in this country. Sure you can use the internet to download things but that's not the future of the internet. Everything is going cloud and if I want to watch a 1080p movie instantly I don't want to have to wait 3 days to download it first, I want to hit play and watch it. And if there are other people in my house they should be able to do the same thing without affecting me.

These threads are getting boring now

I can download whatever I want, whenever I want.

It takes me about 20-minutes to download a 40GB game (Wolfenstein, for example) from Steam and I can download it on two computers simultaneously. On top of that, I could have Netflix playing on the TV or I could be listening to Spotify or just doing some ordinary browsing--all without feeling the impact of any of that at all.

At no point do I need to have any of my Steam games installed since I can simply download them in a matter of minutes.

I pay for convenience. And since it's affordable, why not?

I envy you I probably paying 10 times more for 10 times less.

 

[Lycanthrope]

This is a problem with the way people think about internet in this country. Sure you can use the internet to download things but that's not the future of the internet. Everything is going cloud and if I want to watch a 1080p movie instantly I don't want to have to wait 3 days to download it first, I want to hit play and watch it. And if there are other people in my house they should be able to do the same thing without affecting me.

Precisely

I envy you I probably paying 10 times more for 10 times less.

It's 835kr, which is around R1,300. Although you can get decent access for much cheaper. A 100/100 line is 320kr (R500) and if you don't care about upload you can get a 100/10 line for 224kr (R350).

I'm very happy with my internet access.

 

[Drake2007]

sadly Telkom is a follower and not a leader nor innovator in their field and subsequently they will always be more expensive and slower than the tech leaders.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Precisely



It's 835kr, which is around R1,300. Although you can get decent access for much cheaper. A 100/100 line is 320kr (R500) and if you don't care about upload you can get a 100/10 line for 224kr (R350).

I'm very happy with my internet access.

I am one of the lucky ones in this country I guess, have 40/3 VDSL where I live and I'm not paying that much for it (relatively speaking). Got a deal with AH for R600pm but is only with 50GB of data. I should be able to make do with 300GB a month so that will cost me an extra R400 about.

So all together it's:

R150 (Telkom Line)
R600 (AH 40Mbit bundle + 50GB)
R399 (WA 120GB+120GB)

R1150 Total. Still a lot more than R350 for 100/10

 

[Lycanthrope]

I am one of the lucky ones in this country I guess, have 40/3 VDSL where I live and I'm not paying that much for it (relatively speaking). Got a deal with AH for R600pm but is only with 50GB of data. I should be able to make do with 300GB a month so that will cost me an extra R400 about.

So all together it's:

R150 (Telkom Line)
R600 (AH 40Mbit bundle + 50GB)
R399 (WA 120GB+120GB)

R1150 Total. Still a lot more than R350 for 100/10

That's not too bad, relatively speaking. I think I used to pay just under R1,000 for my old ADSL line (one of the reasons I don't struggle too much with justifying what I pay for my line here ).

What speeds are you getting out of the VDSL?

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

That's not too bad, relatively speaking. I think I used to pay just under R1,000 for my old ADSL line (one of the reasons I don't struggle too much with justifying what I pay for my line here ).

What speeds are you getting out of the VDSL?

This is with my capped account, also running a 20Mbit uncapped account which runs at full 20Mbps but can't afford it anymore so won't have uncapped from next month anymore

 

[Lycanthrope]

Pretty reliable speeds.

How much is the 20Mbps uncapped, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Pretty reliable speeds.

How much is the 20Mbps uncapped, if you don't mind my asking?

R1,000 just for the data account. And that's a consumer account so downloads are shaped to about 6-8Mbps during business hours.

 

[Lycanthrope]

R1,000 just for the data account. And that's a consumer account so downloads are shaped to about 6-8Mbps during business hours.

Uff... Not nice

Thanks for sharing. I find it interesting watching things move forward while I'm on the other side of the planet. Hopefully by the time I get back things will be bit more reasonable.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Uff... Not nice

Thanks for sharing. I find it interesting watching things move forward while I'm on the other side of the planet. Hopefully by the time I get back things will be bit more reasonable.

How long are you planning to stay over there?

I must say I am very happy with my internet situation at the moment, it's just that VDSL areas are very limited at the moment but if you're able to get it the experience is a good one. Only thing I would like is to have symmetrical speeds but that would only happen with fibre.

My internet evolution goes from 56Kbps -> 3G -> 384Kbps ADSL -> 4Mbit ADSL -> 20Mbps VDSL -> 40Mbps VDSL, so I would say that we are definitely getting somewhere.

 

[Lycanthrope]

How long are you planning to stay over there?

My mood changes frequently

I'll be here until I get my citizenship, so around three more years, probably. Then I want to go back to ZA and keep an eye on me ol' mommy. After which I may well come back here.

I love Sweden, and Europe as a whole, very much. So I'm not completely sure where life will take me.

I must say I am very happy with my internet situation at the moment, it's just that VDSL areas are very limited at the moment but if you're able to get it the experience is a good one. Only thing I would like is to have symmetrical speeds but that would only happen with fibre.

heh... Might sound a bit silly but I really just want a full symmetrical 1Gb line. Blame OCD or whatever but I want it

Regardless, I'm very happy with my line. I can't possibly express how wonderful it is to not have to worry about shaping, throttling, usage limits, downtime or any other nonsense. It's an incredibly liberating feeling to just use your internet with the same convenience as you would your electricity: flip a switch, make your coffee, enjoy.

My internet evolution goes from 56Kbps -> 3G -> 384Kbps ADSL -> 4Mbit ADSL -> 20Mbps VDSL -> 40Mbps VDSL, so I would say that we are definitely getting somewhere.

You started with 56Kbps? You noob! I started out on a 33.6Kbps modem. That upgrade to 56Kbps was the bee's knees

My internet evolution is very similar: 33.6Kbps > 56Kbps > 384Kbps ADSL > 4Mbps ADSL > 250Mbps cable > 600Mbps fibre

One thing about back in ye olde baud modem days--there always seemed like there was so much to do on the internet and you never had enough time to do it all (or the bandwidth)