Telkom fair use policy, how much is "fair"

timthetank

Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2014
Messages
21
Reaction score
0
Location
Expatriot
I got my Telkom ADSL today 4mbps uncapped @ R499 per month. First thing I did was to add a movie on utorrent, speed was half descent at about 300kbps and then... less than 5 minutes after dl started speed dropped to >10kbps.

Im extremely upset with telkom, im a new user, I have used less than 100mb, no 50mb and there they go and throttle my downloads. I was under the impression telkom only throttles your speed after you have exceeded a certain usage during the month? Is anyone else finding telkom throttling their torrent dl speeds?

Now im not going to be subjected to telkoms crappy policy and believe a person should be free to do what they want to do on the net, so I purchased torguard VPN, was skeptical at first but its an amazing product R70 pm and im continuously getting constant speeds of 250kbps during office hours...BOOM TELKOM!

I would also like to voice my opinion on "fair use policy" the fair use policy is nothing but false advertising in my books, what constitutes fair? How much is fair? If you do go and throttle a users line after x amount of data usage it is not really uncapped is it?

I lived abroad for 5years and recently came back to SA. Overseas I paid R150 pm, 10mbps line UNCAPPED, NO throttling and I constantly went over 400GB per month. A 700mb movie took me less than 15 minutes to dl. NOw that is proper uncapped internet for you!

I will let my torrents run through my VPN 24/7 and hope for the best. Would like to know if any user roughly knows how much data I will be able to burn through before they will shape my line...?
 
The heck are you downloading that you need it running 24/7
 
OP you do know you're suppose to be shaped during business hours... right? Right?
 
The heck are you downloading that you need it running 24/7
LOL Overseas they don't ask questions like that.

Telkom uncapped is quite severely shaped. It may get throttled if you overdo it.
I've also seen the speed jump to max and then to zero where it stays during the day plus weekends until after 1AM.
Lately it has been quite unpredictable.
 
Ah, a businessman I see.
Good luck.
Wonder how long until you get put into the naughty corner.

And thats what I want to know, once you are in the naughty corner can you get out? How naughty do you need to be to get there? As we speak my torrent via VPN dl speed dropped from 350kbps to 50kbps...BLEAK
 
LOL Overseas they don't ask questions like that.

Telkom uncapped is quite severely shaped. It may get throttled if you overdo it.
I've also seen the speed jump to max and then to zero where it stays during the day plus weekends until after 1AM.
Lately it has been quite unpredictable.

This is South Africa.
 
And thats what I want to know, once you are in the naughty corner can you get out? How naughty do you need to be to get there? As we speak my torrent via VPN dl speed dropped from 350kbps to 50kbps...BLEAK

Oh, for science?
In that case....
Telkom has its thresholds and shaping policy public, this isn't a mystery. Just search around the forum.
 
LOL Overseas they don't ask questions like that.

Telkom uncapped is quite severely shaped. It may get throttled if you overdo it.
I've also seen the speed jump to max and then to zero where it stays during the day plus weekends until after 1AM.
Lately it has been quite unpredictable.

Am I the only one that believes it is false advertising selling an uncapped product which is not really uncapped?
 
Am I the only one that believes it is false advertising selling an uncapped product which is not really uncapped?

They don't cap you, they just slow you down a tad bit. Seems fair to me, and you did read their terms of service and you agreed to purchase a shaped product.

Uncapped=/=Unshaped=/=Uncontended
 
Oh, for science?
In that case....
Telkom has its thresholds and shaping policy public, this isn't a mystery. Just search around the forum.

I know and I read about it, and that is why Im so upset, as I understand "shaping" only happens after a certain amount of data has been consumed, I have consumed less than 2gb thus far!
 
They don't cap you, they just slow you down a tad bit. Seems fair to me, and you did read their terms of service and you agreed to purchase a shaped product.

Uncapped=/=Unshaped=/=Uncontended

Okay I get that BUT dont advertise the product as 4mbps then
 
I know and I read about it, and that is why Im so upset, as I understand "shaping" only happens after a certain amount of data has been consumed, I have consumed less than 2gb thus far!
No shaping happens during business hours.
 
I know and I read about it, and that is why Im so upset, as I understand "shaping" only happens after a certain amount of data has been consumed, I have consumed less than 2gb thus far!

Your understanding is wrong, you get THROTTLED after a certain usage, but shaping is applied constantly (until after hours). If you want an ISP that offers better options check my signature.
 
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X