The bandwidth explosion will mean cheaper broadband for internet users

Ironically, despite the lack of interest in Seacom capacity at launch, the entire allocation of capacity has been sold out. Neotel's executive head of technology Angus Hay confirms that the operator is in discussions with Seacom to have more capacity lit up.
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I never realised that...
 
Seacom's total capacity is 1.27Tbps, but only 10Gbps was provisioned to South Africa.
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This puts things in perspective. Thinking about the article the other day about 1 Gbps connections in Hong Kong, seacom can carry only 200 connections at a 20:1 contention ratio. This will obviously be a lot more if you think about Sat-3, but it shows how far behind we still are.
Not much bandwidth intensive content is hosted locally, so we still use the cables for most things.
 
The only thing that has changed is that ADSL data is cheaper. MTN, Vodacom, Telkom 3G, iBurst, Neotel are still at the same prices before this happened. What is it going to take to get these companies to drop prices or increase caps?
 
Nuro said:
This puts things in perspective. Thinking about the article the other day about 1 Gbps connections in Hong Kong, seacom can carry only 200 connections at a 20:1 contention ratio. This will obviously be a lot more if you think about Sat-3, but it shows how far behind we still are.
Not much bandwidth intensive content is hosted locally, so we still use the cables for most things.
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The contention on one of those 1gbps accounts is probably a lot higher than 20 to 1. Who knows, you probably wouldn't even notice a speed drop if it was contended to 500 to 1.

Watching a 100mb hd youtube video would fill the tubes for less than a second.
 
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We still have a lot of catching up to do.

Less than 5 years ago Telkom and Finland telecoms were competing for the title of most expensive telecoms company. Today 1mbps ADSL is considered a human right in Finland.
 
Shred said:
The only thing that has changed is that ADSL data is cheaper. MTN, Vodacom, Telkom 3G, iBurst, Neotel are still at the same prices before this happened. What is it going to take to get these companies to drop prices or increase caps?
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Actually of all the providers, and i stand to be corrected, MTN has lowered the price on "some" of their Data bundle packages. No matter which way you look at it, it creates competition in the mobile broadband space and all the competitors are sure to follow and create more attractive pricing models.

Yes the current prices are no where near amazing, but as always it's a matter of time.
 
Shred said:
The only thing that has changed is that ADSL data is cheaper. MTN, Vodacom, Telkom 3G, iBurst, Neotel are still at the same prices before this happened. What is it going to take to get these companies to drop prices or increase caps?
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These operators will only drop their prices once WACS is online which they paid for to install. Keep using minimum amounts until your own line is lit up.
 
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My question still stands....When we had a shortage of int bw why did telkom not increase the bw?
Suddenly when Seacom landed they upped it? wtf? am i missing something?
 
how to tell Telkom to unbundle the local loop:

step 1 : purchase (or borrow) a small/medium/large petrol generator. (the bigger the better)
step 2 : find a telkom distribution box in the area and break it open (might need some kit for this)
step 3 : once open, find the trunk lines (the ones coming in from the bottom) and cut them all off.
step 4 : this takes a while - but strip all those loose ends and twist as many together as possible.
step 5 : screw these wires (remember - as many as you can) into a standard 220v plug. Doesnt matter which goes on which side ( live or neutral )
step 6 : plug this plug into the generator and fire it up.
step 7 : stand back.
step 8 : let your setup run for about 30 seconds - then pack up and get the #$%# out of there.
step 9 : get wireless internet.
 
I'm just hoping data center bandwidth costs will decrease to the point where one can actually consider hosting full servers locally. Or, alternatively we need symmetrical connections for cheap so one can host at your business/home. Upload speed is the big problem for me.
 
bleh69 said:
how to tell Telkom to unbundle the local loop:

step 1 : purchase (or borrow) a small/medium/large petrol generator. (the bigger the better)
step 2 : find a telkom distribution box in the area and break it open (might need some kit for this)
step 3 : once open, find the trunk lines (the ones coming in from the bottom) and cut them all off.
step 4 : this takes a while - but strip all those loose ends and twist as many together as possible.
step 5 : screw these wires (remember - as many as you can) into a standard 220v plug. Doesnt matter which goes on which side ( live or neutral )
step 6 : plug this plug into the generator and fire it up.
step 7 : stand back.
step 8 : let your setup run for about 30 seconds - then pack up and get the #$%# out of there.
step 9 : get wireless internet.
Click to expand...

That should toast a switch or 2 lol...
 
bleh69 said:
how to tell Telkom to unbundle the local loop:

step 1 : purchase (or borrow) a small/medium/large petrol generator. (the bigger the better)
step 2 : find a telkom distribution box in the area and break it open (might need some kit for this)
step 3 : once open, find the trunk lines (the ones coming in from the bottom) and cut them all off.
step 4 : this takes a while - but strip all those loose ends and twist as many together as possible.
step 5 : screw these wires (remember - as many as you can) into a standard 220v plug. Doesnt matter which goes on which side ( live or neutral )
step 6 : plug this plug into the generator and fire it up.
step 7 : stand back.
step 8 : let your setup run for about 30 seconds - then pack up and get the #$%# out of there.
step 9 : get wireless internet.
Click to expand...

petrol or diesel generator....? lol
 
bleh69 said:
how to tell Telkom to unbundle the local loop:

step 1 : purchase (or borrow) a small/medium/large petrol generator. (the bigger the better)
step 2 : find a telkom distribution box in the area and break it open (might need some kit for this)
step 3 : once open, find the trunk lines (the ones coming in from the bottom) and cut them all off.
step 4 : this takes a while - but strip all those loose ends and twist as many together as possible.
step 5 : screw these wires (remember - as many as you can) into a standard 220v plug. Doesnt matter which goes on which side ( live or neutral )
step 6 : plug this plug into the generator and fire it up.
step 7 : stand back.
step 8 : let your setup run for about 30 seconds - then pack up and get the #$%# out of there.
step 9 : get wireless internet.
Click to expand...

That would be fun to watch!
 
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