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From: Donn Edwards
Sent: Monday, 18 October 2004 08:15
To: Smith, Winston
Cc: Potgieter, Michelle
Subject: RE: [despammed] Complaint to the Adertising Standards Authority
Dear Mr Smith and Dr Potgieter
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "I could discuss when and how we are ale to allow you to do the demonstration". I would prefer to keep these discussions in writing. There have been so many conflicting statements in the media about the MyWireless service that it seems like MyWireless "reinvents" itself on a monthly basis.
The "specific constraints" of the service are obvious, even to a novice user. The "MyWireless 128kbps" service does not operate at 128kbps, as you well know, even though the modem is capable of "download speeds up to 3Mbps". Similary the 256k users do not experience speeds of 256k, and 512k users do not obtain speeds of 512k. Not even when doing the Sentech speed test. So clearly there is a problem.
My question is simple: Sentech insists on using the term "broadband" to describe its service. Yet very few of the users ever experience broadband connection speeds, even when doing the local speed test. Furthermore, the Sentech submission to the ASA dated 16/07/2004 delibrately ignores the
Sentech press release in which it is clearly stated
"Broadband refers to a connection speed from 128Kbps and higher from the end user to the network provider."
So by your own definition the MyWireless 128 service is sub-broadband (since it doesn't work at 128kbps), yet you insist on using the term "Enter the Sentech Broadband Zone". Even after the ISPA has stated
... in ISPA's opinion, "broadband Internet access" is any form of Internet access which provides significantly faster access to the internet that traditional dial-up services. In ISPA's view, "significantly faster" means at least four or five times the speed of traditional dial-up services.
In my email I specifically requested the following information:
What download speeds should MyWireless users expect from
a) The Sentech Speed test http://www.sentech.co.za/speedtest/display_speed.php
b) Local web sites, such as http://www.702.co.za or http://www.mweb.co.za
c) International web sites, such as http://www.cnn.com or http://news.bbc.co.uk
for each of the 3 packages.
The reason for asking this specific question is precisely because <b>Sentech has been deliberately vague and evasive about answering this question</b>, either on its web site or in its media statements. Had you clarified this at the beginning, your customers would have been able to make a properly informed decision on whether to commit themselves to a 12 or 24 month contract, and would not have been misled by all the hype about "broadband".
For further information on my specific complaint to the ASA, please visit http://privacy.4mg.com/MyWireless.html
You will find copies of the complaint, details of tests that I and others have conducted, and proof that using a dial-up modem is faster than MyWireless.
I look forward to your reply
Best wishes
Donn Edwards
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No reply has been received to date. They obviously don't want to admit the truth.
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Donn Edwards <font size="2"><div align="right">
MyWireless: Diva-style reliability, dial-up performance (
or worse)</div id="right"></font id="size2">
<font size="1">“If our government ever goes bad, as sometimes happens in a democracy... As we extrapolate our [surveillance] technologies into the future, if the incumbency has that political advantage over their opposition, then if a bad government ever comes to power, <b>it may be the last government we ever elect</b>.” See http://privacy.4mg.com </font id="size1">
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