Spring Day ... and Sentech still sucks

mrbob

Active Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
69
**** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****
**** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****
**** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****
**** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****
**** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****
Downloading off local p2p server, maxing at about 1.4K/s , great fix
 

loosecannon

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2004
Messages
731
yeah there is no fcking diff -uN

mv /dev/usb/ttub/0 /dev/null

if only it were that easy ...
 

MrGray

Executive Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Messages
9,391
Sentech has now failed to meet the promised deadline to fix their network. They are making fools of us for ever believing that they were really going to do anything. We have repeatedly been let down, anyone who still believes that the situation is recoverable is an idiot.

The only way their service will now improve is if enough people cancel and they have spare capacity, although even that probably won't make any difference with the hard cap on international bandwidth. Remember when the problems started in May and they said they'd fix it by the end of the week? Let's not be stupid by allowing ourslves into being conned for the umpteenth time. Sentech's behaviour borders on fraud.

Since their internal network and local bandwidth is now at full speed, the only possible explanation for the hard cap on international bandwidth must be that they do not have sufficient upstream bandwidth. This is not a technical issue that takes weeks to solve, but merely a financial issue which could be rectified in minutes. Clearly they are so contemptuous of their customers that they couldn't even be bothered to organise extra bandwidth at a time when their customers' expectations are so high.

They are dishonest. How can they advertise different packages at different costs and yet provide the same international hard cap on all packages?

Barring a miracle by sunrise, I will attempt to cancel my contract first thing in the morning, and resort to dial up while I wait for Telkom to install ADSL. I have a business to run and Sentech has cost me enough money already as their connection has been effectively unusable for any serious online work.
 

qdada

Expert Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2003
Messages
1,416
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by garp</i>
<br />

The only way their service will now improve is if enough people cancel and they have spare capacity, although even that probably won't make any difference with the hard cap on international bandwidth. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Another reason it wont get better is that Sentech will continue to sign up new users so; whatever bandwidth recovered from the mass cancellations will soon be taken up by new users.

Their business model is NOT viable.

The only thing we can hope for right now is that when SNO gets commercial they have access to SAT/3 or an equivalent.

Before that happens I see us growing premature grey hairs.

For now ... pass that KY while I assume the position.
 

donn

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2004
Messages
213
From the Telkom Speed Test today (1/9/2004 9am):

"Your line speed is approximately 103.6 Kbps or 12.7 kBytes/sec"

Download time: 39.38 seconds
Size of file: 500 KiloBytes
Estimated line speed: 103.6 (kilobits/second)
Estimated line speed: 12.7 (kiloBytes/second)
This is one of the more <b>optimistic numbers</b> I have got.

International download speeds are still around 25% of this:

3.89 kBytes/sec from Germany http://www.avup.de/personal/en/avwinsfx.exe

3.99 for http://www.hellkom.co.za/research/carteblanche.rm

Locally, http://www.sentech.co.za/speedtest/512k.gif
is only managing 10.15 kBytes/sec when using FreshDownload.

and The Adobe Reader download from tucows.is.co.za is coming along nicely at 11.98 kBytes/sec when using FreshDownload.

So for me the speed has improved from "worse than a 33.6 modem" to "mostly better than a 56k modem" but there is still some way to go before we get to actual broadband at 128k.

* BBC RealAudio is not as good as ADSL or 128k leased line via DataPro
* DNS speeds often suck, so you have to try several times to get a page
* SABC video and audio feeds are pathetic (maybe that's just the SABC)
* 702 (http://www.antfarm.co.za/clients/702/702_16.asx) reception is worse than medium wave - 16k stream
* Impact Radio stream works most of the time (mms://196.22.208.114/impactradio103) but it is only a 9k stream.

So I don't think we've "Entered the Broadband Zone" yet. Nice try, but I'm <b>not going to withdraw my complaint to the ASA for misleading advertising</b>.



<hr noshade size="1">
Donn Edwards

Why is ADSL like a Cheeseburger? Find out at http://privacy.4mg.com

“Free-market advocates often warn that the only thing worse than a state-controlled monopoly is a privatised one.”
 

gripen

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2003
Messages
1,693
Donn, please remind the ASA if required, that we are currently capped and the product is advertised as explicitly uncapped. Thanks!

<font size="1"><center>** still capped at <b>48kbps</b> and who knows for how long ** <font color="green"> proof </font id="green"></center></font id="size1">
 

Claymore

Executive Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Messages
8,340
For the first time in months, I got a semi-decent speed! I did the Sentech speed test, and got 88kbps! Amazing! Three times faster than my average! Of course, I should have got 128kbps on *Sentech's* own speed test...
 

donn

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2004
Messages
213
I think there must be some kind of cap in place because I am busy downloading http://www.avup.de/personal/en/avwinsfx.exe on an ADSL line at speeds almost double what I reported.

But they'll say it's not a CAP it's BANDWIDTH MANAGEMENT (i.e. enforced sharing).

BTW, 103.6/128k = 80% of advertised speed. Close, but no cigar!

From ADSL the Sentech speed test comes in at
Your download speed is: 49.17 KBps, or 393.38 Kbps
The test took 10.88 seconds to complete.
So is it fair to say "that's not 512k" on ADSL?
From the Telkom web site I get "Your line speed is approximately 458.4 Kbps or 56.2 kBytes/sec" on ADSL. 458.4/512 = 90%
Considering they don't guarantee a 512k speed, I think it's still well within the definition of "broadband", where 88k is not.

My basic point is: don't say "Enter the Sentech Broadband Zone" when it isn't broadband. 128k is the very bottom limit of broadband. 56k is definitely not broadband. If 128k users are getting somewhere between 50k and 100k that still doesn't make it broadband.

If 256k and 512k customers are getting less than 128k that isn't broadband either.

<hr noshade size="1">
Donn Edwards

Why is ADSL like a Cheeseburger? Find out at http://privacy.4mg.com

“Free-market advocates often warn that the only thing worse than a state-controlled monopoly is a privatised one.”
 

donn

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2004
Messages
213
I think it's time to remind the public how bad MySlowness is. I have posted a comment at
http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2004/0408230922.asp
and I would encourage others to do so too.
 
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