South Africa’s inadequate broadband usage limits

[general_koffi]

How about playing games online on Telkom's own servers?

The 1.41 patch for Battlefield 2 is something like 500Mb...

And if you want to play Counter-Strike, you either have to buy it straight off Steam to the tune of I don't know how many GB, or you buy it and then have to update it through Steam... Again, to the tune of I don't know how many MB.

But then gaming makes you an "abnormal user", or "greedy capitalist bandwidth hog" or something.

Speaking of greedy capitalist hogs, this is what I'd imagine the internet would be like in the Soviet Union (if the Soviet Union was still around.) But then places like China have some of the best connectivity on Earth... (Well. Except for filtering etc.)

 

[BruceS]

"Speaking of greedy capitalist hogs, this is what I'd imagine the internet would be like in the Soviet Union (if the Soviet Union was still around.) But then places like China have some of the best connectivity on Earth... (Well. Except for filtering etc.)"

I always find it odd when people mention Telkom and capitalism in the same sentence, as if to imply that capitalism is the reason we've got these problems. The truth is that the current situation is not what capitalism is about. In a well functioning capitalistic telecoms environment (where, for instance, a private company is allowed to build a cable to compete with SAT3) system there wouldn't be such impossible constraints on competitors and things would be a lot better.

 

[UglyKidJoe]

Typo: think it should read 'developing', but otherwise excellent article that describes our pathetic situation really well.

Quote:
"For many broadband subscribers in the developed world – like South Africa – its means that they have to avoid any of the new media websites which bring information to consumers in an enhanced, more user friendly and entertaining way."

 

[Alchemist]

Usually as soon as I'm capped I smoke some pot. I find that a joint helps me over-come the frustration. While under the influence I then buy a second and third account and so on and so on. My pot intake has dramatically increased over the years as files became larger and downloads and capping increased...that is apalling!

And government are surprised we have an alcohol and drug abuse problem in this country. It's because of government that people need to resort to "recreational" substances in order to make life more tolerable in this country that is hurtling towards complete and utter inadequacy.

 

[kris860911]

What's this crap of doing movies online, i see Telkom and Polka be advertising it lately.

Have you ever watched half a movie, a really good one. That you are really into. Then switched it off and finished it next month?

Thats doing movies like never before. Telkom style!

 

[AirWolf]

Telkom is always finding new ways to make fools out of themselves - how the hell can you "do movies" with there capped packages and lousy download speeds?

 

[ldmelsa]

Telkom is always finding new ways to make fools out of themselves - how the hell can you "do movies" with there capped packages and lousy download speeds?

The marketing's obviously got nothing to do with the product.

 

[Tns]

Thanks telkom, btw the gov owns most of them, but they also not doing much except making lots of noise

 

[Meisteral]

I feel for you gng and I really hope that the situation does NOT deteriorate.

(Gone are the days when I was capped - Europe has given me The World. I'm on 145gb this month and counting - damn some online games really hit the rate)

 

[superfly]

now Google Pack comes with the excellent Sun Star Office Suite, but it's a heft 149 Mb download. To install that on every PC I own is going to use up at least half a Gig of download. This forces me to download it once, find the installation files in the temp folders and then copy those installation files to every other PC I own... a real Schlepp!

Download OpenOffice.org, Sun's Star Office is based on that, and you get the installation files as well, and it's free.

 

[Nutcracker]

Has anyone seen the Hellkom's WIKI page

here's the link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellkom

I think their description of "South African ADSL broadband" is quite sad.

South African ADSL broadband usage is currently being hampered by the 3GB monthly traffic limit (equivalent to less than a day of moderately sustained usage, after which access is cut off for the rest of the month), the exorbitant cost of the service, and by the heavy port prioritization and bandwidth throttling/traffic shaping of international traffic at exchanges.

Then comes the coup dè gràce is that my boss FREEEEEEEAAAAAAAKS out about 20Gb's traffic in a month. We are 12 people in the office. Thats 1.6Gb/person.

All that we can all hope and pray for is that all the cables that are distant to come to South Africa, comes. And then when they arrive here, that Internet prices fall like Mugabe(and Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe Casaburri for that matter) should fall from a cliff.

 

[MFour]

I would like to see the DoC comment on an article like this, also on comments that are left about this article. Also get Telscums reply on the article. Obviously there would be a lot of spin and lies told in the process, but never the less, we need to push their buttons as much as posible.

A thought that comes to mind; does the DoC even know what the internet can / is being used for?

 

[Lord Anubis]

Has anyone seen the Hellkom's WIKI page

here's the link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellkom

I think their description of "South African ADSL broadband" is quite sad.



Then comes the coup dè gràce is that my boss FREEEEEEEAAAAAAAKS out about 20Gb's traffic in a month. We are 12 people in the office. Thats 1.6Gb/person.

All that we can all hope and pray for is that all the cables that are distant to come to South Africa, comes. And then when they arrive here, that Internet prices fall like Mugabe(and Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe Casaburri for that matter) should fall from a cliff.

in my office they limit us to 15mb per week through webmarshal...however....I have figured outh teh coolest proxy move heheh and have unlimited