Testing public opinion

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munwaal

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Ok, I'd like to test public opinion here a bit. With telkom announcing that local will be capped, as well as a 1 megabit line coming up in a few months, I'd like to know how you'd feel about various options that telkom have at their disposal. (Yes, I know it's telkom, and I know that we could very well be the only country in the world with a 1mb line and 3 gig cap.. humour me..!)

As you know, Axxess (G0d bless their souls :p) are now offering 10, 20 and 30 gig caps. Let's assume that telkom have allowed this because they are considering this as a new cap structure for when they cap local and release 1 mb lines and are testing how caps of this size will impact their network. Let's assume that pricing stays the same, would you be happy with telkom upgrading all 3 gig accounts to 10? (remember that this now includes local as well, so 10 gigs total)

Personally, I think that 10 gig minimum cap is rather pleasant. I've used 6.4 gigs for the month so far, with about 10 days left of the month.

Granted - this is all theoretical - I'm just trying to get a feel, given the sad reality of telecoms we find ourselves in, what other users would find acceptable. We all know it's not going to drop in price or suddenly become the be all and end all of internet connections, so realistically, what would you find acceptable?
 
I would pay R250/mo for the 512 with a 10GB combined cap - all inclusive.
 
Until it does, I'm happy paying next to nothing with this connection I'm sharing.. Telkom doesn't impress me one single bit, there are options, and I have convinced a great deal of people to use other means of connecting.. wireless is the way (if done right..... not like the 2 providers who are currently having problems) for cheaper access as long as Telkom dominates the local loop.

As can be seen abroad, speed isn't the biggest factor determining price, its more the cap.

If Telkom introduced the 1Mbit connection with a 3GB cap, it shouldn't cost more than any other connection with a 3GB cap, 3GB is 3GB - the speed isn't all that important when you only have 3GB. Although I dont think im explaining myself correctly :)
 
Well if the cap were to be increased to 10gig and local access was included in the cap and there were no line rental, then I think that it would be better than what we have now by far.
 
unfortunately no matter how much we speculate ... its not gonna change anything.
We need to wait and see what the options available are and then b!tch and moan :)
 
Ok, let me clarify a little: I'm not asking what would be acceptable in the context of the rest of the world - as I said above, this is in the context of the current framework. I'm basically asking if raising the cap to 10 gigs (instead of 3), for example, would counter balance the capping of local traffic.
 
If Telkom increased the cap to 10GB (local + national), and kept the price the same as the current 3GB account, I'd consider signing up. But then again, Axxess would probably offer something better ;)
 
My reasoning on this Telkom local cap debacle is that it is their way of preventing loss of income due to VoIP being offered, which blocks them from making any income on the call.

At the end of the day, it comes down to profits, and as we all know, Telkom only care about that.

There is no way in hell that Telkom will provide a 10, 20 or 30 gig cap AND local uncapped service.

At the end of the day, I see this capped local as a move by Telkom to dominate the voice market. It is anti competitive in every way and a gross infingement of our fundamental rights to communicate.

Garf
 
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add to a 10Gig cap for the same price a further option of having an uncapped local account (seperate) for R200pm

We all have different needs - one of my needs is to have uncapped local access - the current situation of 3Gig capped with uncapped local works fine for me with 2 accounts - I have international access all month with uncapped local.

Local does not cost telkom anything (or very little in terms of maintenance) - therefore they should make an uncapped local only option available at very little money for those who want it
 
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To answer your question munwaal, as an alternative to 3GB local/international then unlimited local and no international when capped, I would be "satisfied" (for now) with a 10GB limit which included both international and local. 10GB would cover my immediate needs. It would allow me to download some things I really need, but can't download on a 3GB cap, but it would still protect Telkom. Surely, it can't be that much of a strain on Telkoms bandwidth to offer a 10GB cap - I think thats a very reasonable request on our part.

Obviously we all want uncapped at a good price, but thats just not going to happen right now. Although we must never stop demanding/pushing and working for exactly that.
 
I am an ISDN user who basically leaves the connection on from 19:00 to 07:00 every weeknight and from 19:00 Friday night to Monday Morning at 07:00 . During the day I am on a Site in a IT Support team. ISDN used for Remote Support from Home and other General Internet work "After-Hours". This basically costs me approx R400.00 to R500 per month for a " Slow uncapped when I need it Service". I am still waiting for the ADSL debacle to iron out first before jumping in. I would rather stay with ISDN and have a reliable (but slow) service than find that I cannot use the net due to a cap kicking in. - I must say I am very keen on the Access 384/10GB Service

Now if they offer an Uncapped ADSL out of Business hours service with a decent Speed (512) and then limit the Business hours link to Port Restriction with Web,Mail, FTP etc etc at say 128Kbs during Business Hours for approx R500, I would be the first to Jump at It. The reverse could be an option for Business Users. This would enable workable Business Hours ADSL Connectivity, not affected by the Download and P2P warriors during the day.

What is amazing to me is that the Internet Connectivity Market in SA seems to be a one style catches all, but we actually have 4 distinct markets.

The Home User
The SOHO Market
The Business Market (08:00 to 17:00)
The Enterprise Business Market 24x7x365 Operations. (Diginet Rules here)

I think we need to take it as a Given that true bandwidth will only happen in SA with a well managed WiMax Service which I think is approx 2 to 5years away. The Telkom local loop is just not reliable enough

I hope this is a worthwhile contribution to the debate.
 
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