Telkom 8 Mbps ADSL plans

[Nickste]

To those saying that they are currently unable to get 4Mbps on their exchange, and thus 8Mbps is a joke - remember that Telkom seem to be installing ADSL2+ on quite a few of their exchanges (mine went from normal to 2+), and thus (as I undestand it) you should be able to attain better max sync rates than you would before the upgrade.

Side note: I'm in London for the week, and this is what you get for 15 pounds a month:

With unlimited cap!

 

[AlwaysOnline]

So now we know the next LIE or announcement they make will be in March or next year some time, maybe nothing more should be said about it, as 99.9% chance it wont happen or it will be a complete cock up

 

[Tns]

now if only my wireless isp would upgrade my speed too.

 

[Nokkie]

damn, and I'm still sitting with 384k line.

 

[AlwaysOnline]

R185 for 12mb/s, ok so here it would probably be R6000 plus, approximately 30 times more,
at R3000 - lol dream on, it would be 15 times more expensive, at the moment uncapped 4mb/s. throttled during business hours is R2000, 10 times more expensive than a package that is 3 times faster, i believe that it will get sorted here in SA, just not in the near future, probably 50 times as long as it took everyone else

 

[Biscuit1018]

Capping becoming less of an issue

As long as I am on a capped package, 8mbit is useless for me. My 4 meg line works fine. Now if we had much bigger caps...it would be a different story.

Well some people want speed and a 'reasonable' cap is not such a problem.
I totally understand why people think that a 3GB is too low. A couple of users can chew that in email alone if they are running a small business.

But now many suppliers are introducing far lower cost High Cap models. I have tried 2 of them and their service is pretty good.

Many people on this blog seem to want huge caps or totally uncapped which isn't currently an option in todays marketplace. We are on the end of Africa and international links are way more expensive. Having said that our pricing is too high but it seems to be trending down fast since the introduction of SEACOM.

I do have a question for them. What would consume their bandwidth usage?
Why do they need the very high caps (other than they want it because other countries have it)

I am part of a business that consumes about 20GB a month mainly due to email attachments (and or Web Based hosted application.)

 

[mo_to]

Yes I am sure some folks would be interested as Vox Fishbone & Technology Concepts are marketing their own
channel bonding solutions connection back to their own bandwidth, ideally if the DSLAM MLPPP was enabled that will be great
thats refer to other methods of bonding

Yes, it's a similar solution to the above mentioned, however, they tie you down in 24months contracts, and they are quite expensive compared to what we can offer. We're aiming at the advanced internet home user, gamer, SOHO, SME..

What pricing do you think will be fair for such service to the above market?

 

[Nuro]

Well some people want speed and a 'reasonable' cap is not such a problem.
I totally understand why people think that a 3GB is too low. A couple of users can chew that in email alone if they are running a small business.

But now many suppliers are introducing far lower cost High Cap models. I have tried 2 of them and their service is pretty good.

Many people on this blog seem to want huge caps or totally uncapped which isn't currently an option in todays marketplace. We are on the end of Africa and international links are way more expensive. Having said that our pricing is too high but it seems to be trending down fast since the introduction of SEACOM.

I do have a question for them. What would consume their bandwidth usage?
Why do they need the very high caps (other than they want it because other countries have it)

I am part of a business that consumes about 20GB a month mainly due to email attachments (and or Web Based hosted application.)

Well, there is a lot of rich media on the net. Online media is becoming more commonplace, especially with regards to high def streaming. Watching one high def trailer from apple.com/trailers might consume up to 300megs in shot.
Once we have massive caps, or uncapped, online media might become more of a reality. Even simple operations like listening to online radio grabs a significant chunk of my cap. With game distribution models like steam coming into place, it looks like future software distribution will also be more net based.

The weird thing is, even local data is expensive (in comparison). Companies love to play the "international bandwidth is expensive" card, but then why don't we see very cheap uncapped local accounts? I'm sure there are companies the could offer tripple play products over such local uncapped accounts.

 

[Tns]

damn, and I'm still sitting with 384k line.

hey i've also got a 384 connection. wimax one, but on a 1:1 ratio so i always get full speed.

 

[kgatlem]

Higher speed & more usage would sound better for me thank you....!

 

[thirtysics]

My 4meg was cruising fine until telkom droped my speed to 2meg, i1st thought it was a line fault until i saw thins happening to my other sites in other towns aswell, and everytime i report it to telkom their answer is you're only paying for a 1meg line so if you reach 4meg it good but they only have to gaurentee 1meg so as long as its above 1meg, its not their problem. So If they cant even supply a 4meg line what is the chances that they will be able to supply me with a 8meg line. What we then noticed is that noboddy in town was able to get adsl that still hasnt got it because there isnt enough slots at the exchange, now suddenly they can provide everyone with dsl again, I wonder why, cutting into my speed and bandwidth are you.

Surely this means that they are falsely advertising a 4 meg service? Has anyone ever complained to ICASA/Ad standards people/Some court about this?

If they advertise a 4meg service but actually only guarantee 1meg, they why not go balls to the wall and advertise it as a 500gig line?

 

[LazyLion]

Surely this means that they are falsely advertising a 4 meg service? Has anyone ever complained to ICASA/Ad standards people/Some court about this?

If they advertise a 4meg service but actually only guarantee 1meg, they why not go balls to the wall and advertise it as a 500gig line?

Because 80% of the people using the service do actually get the advertised speed. They are only protecting themselves for those few who cannot get the advertised speed because they live too far away from the exchange. It is simply the nature of the technology.

I get the full 4 mbps at home and at the office. Thankfully.

.. and yes... the Advertising Standards Authority have already ruled on this.

 

[Elev8r]

I would happily upgrade to 8mb as long as it doesn't cost more. I also get full 4mb line speeds, seems I'm one of the lucky ones though

 

[Biscuit1018]

Rich Media yes but how much is legal

Well, there is a lot of rich media on the net. Online media is becoming more commonplace, especially with regards to high def streaming. Watching one high def trailer from apple.com/trailers might consume up to 300megs in shot.
Once we have massive caps, or uncapped, online media might become more of a reality. Even simple operations like listening to online radio grabs a significant chunk of my cap. With game distribution models like steam coming into place, it looks like future software distribution will also be more net based.

The weird thing is, even local data is expensive (in comparison). Companies love to play the "international bandwidth is expensive" card, but then why don't we see very cheap uncapped local accounts? I'm sure there are companies the could offer tripple play products over such local uncapped accounts.

Fair point. Media certainly consumes Gigs rapidly.
However I do believe that many people that are 'demanding' the No Cap actually download copyrighted media illegally.
There is legal free stuff and yes some people do pay for it.

I suppose I get frustrated with the silly comparisons to South Korea and other 1st world countries that are densely populated and have spending power.
Our position on the globe, our density, disposable income are all factors contributing to our pricing. It is not just greedy telcoes.
Sure broadband is too expensive. Sure the caps are too low.
But I sometimes think that expectations are silly.

 

[shogun]

Fair point. Media certainly consumes Gigs rapidly.
However I do believe that many people that are 'demanding' the No Cap actually download copyrighted media illegally.

Perhaps... but then look at a "legal" user like me.

There is a volunteer project that i'm involved in that has a huge amount of data (currently over 7.5GB). I need to download this data every month (some times I get away with 2 months).

I'd like to watch video on demand. I'm looking at the axxess video on demand at the moment to see if that might be a good choice (seems like myISP has cheap local at 6.50 per GB or something).

As soon as IPTV comes out, i'm there like a bear.

Then lets factor in web browsing, email, software downloads and updates, streaming news etc.

Pretty quickly I can eat through a lot of gigs in a month... without trying hard... and it's all legal. I don't want to have to worry about when my cap is going to run out.

The argument for very high / uncapped is a good one. It's not all about P2P (at least not for me).

Now as for the 8Mb connection, I'm not sure streaming an HD movie will be possible on a 4Mb connection, at the very least it will max out the line and prevent concurrent browsing etc. Even without higher caps, it makes sense bringing in 8Mb lines for things like local VOD services.

 

[Biscuit1018]

Perhaps... but then look at a "legal" user like me.

There is a volunteer project that i'm involved in that has a huge amount of data (currently over 7.5GB). I need to download this data every month (some times I get away with 2 months).

I'd like to watch video on demand. I'm looking at the axxess video on demand at the moment to see if that might be a good choice (seems like myISP has cheap local at 6.50 per GB or something).

As soon as IPTV comes out, i'm there like a bear.

Then lets factor in web browsing, email, software downloads and updates, streaming news etc.

Pretty quickly I can eat through a lot of gigs in a month... without trying hard... and it's all legal. I don't want to have to worry about when my cap is going to run out.

The argument for very high / uncapped is a good one. It's not all about P2P (at least not for me).

Now as for the 8Mb connection, I'm not sure streaming an HD movie will be possible on a 4Mb connection, at the very least it will max out the line and prevent concurrent browsing etc. Even without higher caps, it makes sense bringing in 8Mb lines for things like local VOD services.

From what I understand you need 8MB for HD and yes I will be there like a bear as well.

I am OK with a High Cap at a cost significantly lower than it is now. Certain ISPs have dropped their prices a lot and I suspect this is just the beginning . SEACOM is playing a role and certain ISPs are creating their own networks rather than just plugging into Telkom. I see R10 per Gig within 12 to 18 months or so. And lower than that a year later. We will see uncapped packages as well at decentish rates. It will still be way too much for some of course.

I am just realistic about our path. I want what you want. But we are never going to close the gap withsome countries. By the time we have 8MB uncapped our friends in South Korea will have a few hundred Mb or even a Gb (if they are not there already)