So on the first of the month my torrents are flying. Only difference from the previous days is I'm not in the 'orange'. So is TI throttling p2p traffic now when one reaches the oranges warning level as I cannot think of any other explanation?
-
Join the MyBroadband community
South Africa’s biggest forum. Discuss, discover, and connect with thousands of members.
-
Question of the Day: If you were buying a TV today, which brand would you choose?
Telkom Internet Capped/Uncapped User Feedback (Pt2)
- Thread starter bwana
- Start date
So on the first of the month my torrents are flying. Only difference from the previous days is I'm not in the 'orange'. So is TI throttling p2p traffic now when one reaches the oranges warning level as I cannot think of any other explanation?
MickZA
Executive Member
Strangely I'm seeing the opposite, I was still in the green (~50%) at the end of Dec but my torrents dropped to about 50kB/s yesterday afternoon and are running at about the same speed since I finished upgrading my main workstation to Fedora 21 just now.
Last nights graph shows the same nightsurfer behaviour as the previous night:
... no changes to settings, ignore the 8Mbps spike caused by downloading the F21 upgrade files via fedup.
I'll have look and see what happens between 00::00-07:00 tonight.
Quick Question. I'm on the 4Mb Telkom Uncapped.
How far can I push the "status bar" before my internet speeds get affected/throttled?
Also, will it affect the download speeds between 00:00 - 07:00, or are downloads always full speed during that time no matter how much you have downloaded?
How far can I push the "status bar" before my internet speeds get affected/throttled?
Also, will it affect the download speeds between 00:00 - 07:00, or are downloads always full speed during that time no matter how much you have downloaded?
ranger
Expert Member
Not entirely, but there do seem to be some differences in the Cape Town site vs. the others. We worked on a morr comprehensive bandwidth model in late December, and the IPC capacities were based on this model, but the transit capacities were based on the previous model.
We worked today towards some cleanups required that are required to validate the transit aspect, so that we can re-assess transit capacities early next week.
d0b33
Honorary Master
Does telkom Internet block cryptocurrency ports? I'm unable to sync with the dogecoin network.
ranger
Expert Member
We don't block any ports or protocols at present. I haven't played with any of the crypto-currencies yet (seems too much like a pyramid scheme) myself ...
Foxhound5366
Honorary Master
This is a great question Keeper, and I want to echo it. Reading Telkom's official Fair Use Policy document (accessible from their website with a bit of hunting) doesn't help much - I couldn't find any actual mention of figures in it. Is this something they just change regularly based on local demand in the area?
It's a bit like you're paying for Uncapped access to a product that Telkom actually would prefer you rather didn't use, lol. At least when I was on the capped package it showed how much data I'd used and how much I had left, but when I switched to uncapped it just tells me I'm a normal user with zero indication of total data usage (never mind distance to throttling). Why so vague, Telkom?
MickZA
Executive Member
Check actual usage here - http://userstats.adsl.saix.net/
ranger
Expert Member
Product Management didn't want us disclosing all the details of the current FUP implementation as they felt it may have a negative effect (much like breathalysers placed in U.K. bars resulting in bar-goers competing to see who could get the highest score). Being Telkom, we have seen that kind of thung before ...
However, they took their time in finalising what they wanted changed, and agreement hasn't been reached in the finer details.
If the technical requirements are finslised soon, we may be able to complete the enhancements by March or April.
d0b33
Honorary Master
dogecoin is best place fo start, I've not bought any so no losses.
Foxhound5366
Honorary Master
Thanks MickZA, very useful! Apparently my wife and I are downloading 30GB/month ... no wonder that 20GB capped account wasn't enough at the start. Hopefully this will be something Telkom will make a bit more prominent as per Ranger's post below.
And that's interesting Ranger, thanks for the explanation. I hardly think Telkom has to worry ... you guys control the ability to throttle people's access once they start abusing their connections, so there is no negative effect possible, surely (unlike bar-owners' control over drunk patrons)? If they want to blow throw their data as rapidly as possible and then find themselves throttled immediately, that'd be their loss. I guess Telkom's network would take some initial strain if that was the case, but you could always implement different tiers of throttling: rolling limits might help, where people can just stop downloading for a bit and drop out of the throttle again. That was applied when I went to University, and people very quickly learned to behave trust me.
Definitely, there is a lot more transparency needed. South Africans are only going to keep demanding more bandwidth, and those who want to abuse the system at others' cost need to be identified and given the choice of being throttled or paying more.
Telkom is to blame for this whole "abuse" crap that keeps flying around, it all started with their whole 3GB cap is enough for everyone and people are still in that mindset 10 years later. Some people have higher usage patterns than others, whether it is for legal usage or not.
The only time you can use the word "Abuse" is when people are using VPNs and the like to bypass shaping/throttling completely.
It is only in South Africa where we pay more than most other countries for our bandwith and yet people are scared to use it.
ranger
Expert Member
These are the kinds of details that haven't all been agreed upon in detail.
So this is why we launched uncapped with a FUP, instead if bolting it after, but I have been advocating for more transparency internally for a long time. It should pay off soon.
Foxhound5366
Honorary Master
Awesome job man, I wish we had more common-sense advocates in big corporates.
whatwhat, I think the issue is that we need parity between users. It's not fair to have one user who only downloads 10GB per month on their uncapped ADSL connection paying the same monthly rate as the power-user who consumes 80GB or more.
It's a bit like the argument around overweight people and airplane seats - should people who encroach on others' plane seats end up having to pay more for bigger seats? In both cases, the arguments for an against are sensitive because they're so personal.
I think Telkom just needs to be wise in terms of offering different tiers of 'uncapped' service, maybe with more intelligent speed restrictions involved (ideally placing total visibility and control into users' own hands). Hopefully what Ranger is hinting at won't be too watered down by the time it escapes the marketing vortex.
MickeyD
RIP
Nothing unfair about it. The user must select the correct package. Users consuming under 50GB should be on a capped account.
Totally disagree.
Uncapped is uncapped and there should be no "lite uncapped", "premium uncapped", etc.
Foxhound5366
Honorary Master
Surely that would provide for a better quality of service, MickeyD? ADSL providers, like all businesses, have to be able to reasonably accurately predict user demand. How are they ever going to do that with a completely uncapped client base?
The only two variables providers have to play with are data cap and speed, when determining price. If you demand uncapped, but also force them to commit to a price for you to pay before you start using, you can expect they'll start limiting your speed somehow to restrict your usage to budgeted-for forecasts.
That's exactly what's happening now.
There is a reason there are so few unlimited deals, even on buffets where people are limited by stomach size. Some people's stomachs are just too big.
What's the alternative for people who decide they really want to 'download the Internet'?
Unhappy1
Honorary Master
- Joined
- May 25, 2011
- Messages
- 28,879
- Reaction score
- 21,798
If you're only downloading 30GB pm why dont you get yourself a 40GB capped account?
MickeyD
RIP
Do not confuse uncapped with unlimited, those are two totally different concepts.
Are you referring to ADSL providers from a network or ISP perspective?
From a network perspective Telkom can pretty accurately predict usage trends and provision sufficient network well in advance.
From an ISP side, the ISPs can also do pretty accurate demand forecasts. Whether they want to purchase additional capacity or not is a business decision that they have to make. To not do so would mean service degradation, which some would then blame on the network provider(s).
Foxhound5366
Honorary Master
I might end up doing that, after a couple extra months. Coming from a 3G/LTE background, I only got ADSL three months ago and immediately ran into the 20GB cap I thought would be more than enough lol.
That's coming from a context of 2GB and later 5GB recurring data bundles on mobile!
I switched to uncapped, and it looks like my usage is just accelerating as I discard my self-policing.
For now, it's just worth it for the freedom
When that grows old, I'll probably revert back to higher-performance capped deals.