Telkom LIT_ 360p maximum resolution

[system32]

Hello MyBB,

I'm considering adding Telkom LIT_ to SmartBroadband Home LTE.
I have a Huawei B618 wireless lte router through which my devices connect.

Reading the LIT_ T&C
http://www.telkom.co.za/today/media/downloads/Terms_and_Conditions_for_LIT_Music_and_LIT_Video.pdf

The LIT_ streaming service has the following limits for Video:

• The 50GB is only limited to stream standard definition video of 360p resolution from the participating OTT video providers.
• LIT Video is limited to the following OTT video providers:
• Google Play Movies
• Netflix
• Showmax
• YouTube
• DSTV Now (according to website)

As you know, youtube is all streamed encrypted in https.

Q. How does Telkom differentiate which resolution my devices are streaming thru the LTE Router when the data is via https?

Thanks in advance.

 

[OneKnight]

This is what I can see:

"Prior to Telkom launching LIT into the market, the company was concerned about the strain that its own network would take due to the traffic expansion that accompanies zero-rated video data.

READ: Telkom launches its zero-rated streaming platform LIT
To counter strain on the network, Korff said that Telkom partnered with Huawei, its infrastructure provider, to assist with assessing and predicting the increase in network traffic when LIT entered the market.

The companies used a video compression adaption in order to reduce quality of content from services like DStv Now, Showmax and Netflix - all of which stream free, but require their own subscription.

The video is compressed to the standard definition (360P), which cannot match high-definition when watching on an HD TV, but is hardly noticeable that it is not HD while viewing on a smartphone or smaller screen.

https://www.fin24.com/Tech/News/telkom-to-grow-zero-rated-streaming-service-lit-20171107

DPI could possibly be used here to see which protocol the traffic is destined for and then acting on that.

"HTTPS (referring to the wide suite you mentioned) is an application layer protocol. It will defend against deep packet inspection that reads the content of the application layer, but not against DPI at lower levels of the protocol wrapping. For example, HTTPS will not prevent DPI from looking at the TCP packet and examining the destination port to guess what protocol it is for. But it will prevent the DPI from learning the actual application data payload of the protocol."

 

[cavedog]

From what I have seen it does allow you to stream 1080p from that bundle but the speed is capped to 1Mbps so it will buffer. DSTV now does work fine.

 

[system32]

Thanks @OneKnight and @cavedog.

From your comments DPI can see which IPORT you connecting to. eg youtube.com:443.
DPI can't examine the contents of the packets because they encrypted.
DPI can't see if it's 360p or 720p or 1080p
Telkom use a blunt instrument and limit the speed to 1Mbit/s which will cause buffering if you select 720p or 1080p.

No sure if that make LIT_ worth using?

 

[cavedog]

Thanks @OneKnight and @cavedog.

From your comments DPI can see which IPORT you connecting to. eg youtube.com:443.
DPI can't examine the contents of the packets because they encrypted.
DPI can't see if it's 360p or 720p or 1080p
Telkom use a blunt instrument and limit the speed to 1Mbit/s which will cause buffering if you select 720p or 1080p.

No sure if that make LIT_ worth using?

Well yeah. Is it worth it? I honestly don't think it is as a paid addon because even if you have data and wanted to stream in HD you will not be able to because once you buy that bundle connection gets capped to those services.
So adding it to lets say the uncapped LTE is a BIG no no. Adding it to a large capped LTE is also a no no adding it to maybe a 5GB or 10GB LTE might be worth it but still @ R229 it's still a pricey addon unless you know you going to use more than 10GB on those spocific streaming sites you might be better off with a 10GB+ 10GB once off LTE/LTE-A bundle top up for R249.

 

[cavedog]

So I wanted to try a setup for my parents that seems to work but with limitations.

I got them setup with the R299 Rain 25+25GB deal with a B618. Works nice +- 70Mbps but linking it to the the Explora was a disaster and 4 days the 50GB was gone.

So I setup a second router with a prepaid Telkom sim and bought the LIT Video bundle for R229. 50GB is enough for dstv catchup plus and some showmax shows because the Rain connection was fast so it would download each show even if you only wanted to watch 5min of that episode.

Great Telkom LIT video dies indeed work like this and both DSTV Catchup and Showmax does indeed work fine like this BUT the speed limit of 1Mbps is probllematic because even when you select SD it seems to still buffer because SD on the explorer is not 360p it might be 480p so the 30 second buffer the explora uses is not enough and it runs out after a while.

Seems like these lit bundles are only good for 1 thing. Mobile devices on 360p nothing else and one has to ask yourself they include it for free with FreeMe but charge R229 for other packages they could have at least upped the quality a bit. For R229 to use the full 50GB on your mobile device seems to be a bit of overkill especially on 360p.

Such a pity because it works so well if you have a sim with this bundle only and it's linked to an explora.

 

[Budza]

From what I have seen it does allow you to stream 1080p from that bundle but the speed is capped to 1Mbps so it will buffer. DSTV now does work fine.

Does this use the LIT data or your standard bundle data?

Also, can I set phone as hotspot and stream on another device (at the limited resolution if needed) and still use only LIT data?

 

[cavedog]

Does this use the LIT data or your standard bundle data?

Also, can I set phone as hotspot and stream on another device (at the limited resolution if needed) and still use only LIT data?

Yes you can but as stated before the speed is capoed. So you can't run more than 1 stream at a time from the simcard. You can do it but because it's speed capped it means you can basically do 2 x 144p streams at a time....

 

[Budza]

Yes you can but as stated before the speed is capoed. So you can't run more than 1 stream at a time from the simcard. You can do it but because it's speed capped it means you can basically do 2 x 144p streams at a time....

Thanks.

1 stream is fine. Is all traffic capped @1Mbps or only the free video traffic?

Also, is there any similar quality restriction on music?

 

[cavedog]

Thanks.

1 stream is fine. Is all traffic capped @1Mbps or only the free video traffic?

Also, is there any similar quality restriction on music?

As far as I could tell music speed restriction if there is any isn't low enough to do anything you can stream in the highest music quality.

As for video all the free ones like dstv, youtube and shiwmax is rate limited to 360p. Others not included like netflix and stuff will go at full speed but deducts your normal data bundle.

 

[Budza]

As far as I could tell music speed restriction if there is any isn't low enough to do anything you can stream in the highest music quality.

As for video all the free ones like dstv, youtube and shiwmax is rate limited to 360p. Others not included like netflix and stuff will go at full speed but deducts your normal data bundle.

I'm away for a week or two at the end of the month- I'll put all this to the test then.