The problem with uncapped mindset in SA

bekdik said:
I just don't understand the childishness of the arguments advanced here. If you buy a wheelbarrow you will not get the capacity of a 18 wheeler Mac truck. If you need a Mac truck, then buy one, don't buy a wheelbarrow and bitch.

If you don't like what you are offered, then don't buy it. it's yout choice, as it is the choice of the ISP to offer what they want. If you feel that the ISP is lying go to the appropriate authority and lay a charge.
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But if you walked past your local hardware store and saw a wheelbarrow advertised as an 18-wheeler Mac truck for R150 would you just shrug and say, "Oh well, it's as good as an 18-wheeler for those who are never going to use its capacity"?
 
BLaZor2 said:
Take it from someone who knows. Having uncapped for many years, the effect wears off after a few weeks...
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This is true... but there are also legitimate uses for heavy usage. People who back up massive amounts of data to online sites. People who maintain constant voice communications to businesses around the world. All of these guys have a need for large amounts of bandwidth... but their companies are not so huge to be able to afford dedicated lines. Maybe they will one day be able to afford it... but only when their business grows to that point. When they buy an "uncapped product" they don't expect to be told that it is actually capped after all.
 
bekdik said:
I just don't understand the childishness of the arguments advanced here. If you buy a wheelbarrow you will not get the capacity of a 18 wheeler Mac truck. If you need a Mac truck, then buy one, don't buy a wheelbarrow and bitch.

If you don't like what you are offered, then don't buy it. it's yout choice, as it is the choice of the ISP to offer what they want. If you feel that the ISP is lying go to the appropriate authority and lay a charge.
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Can we please have less of these brain dead analogies?
 
bekdik said:
If you buy a wheelbarrow you will not get the capacity of a 18 wheeler Mac truck. If you need a Mac truck, then buy one, don't buy a wheelbarrow and bitch.
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Wrong... this product is being advertised as a mac truck at the price of a wheelbarrow. That's what we are complaining about.

bekdik said:
If you don't like what you are offered, then don't buy it. it's yout choice, as it is the choice of the ISP to offer what they want. If you feel that the ISP is lying go to the appropriate authority and lay a charge.
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I believe some have already done so. In the meantime we are free to comment on all products on this message board whether we use them or not. It's called free speech. Look it up.
 
Rodent-Boy said:
But if you walked past your local hardware store and saw a wheelbarrow advertised as an 18-wheeler Mac truck for R150 would you just shrug and say, "Oh well, it's as good as an 18-wheeler for those who are never going to use its capacity"?
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exactly... it's false advertising. If I am offered a mac truck... I expect a mac truck... not a wheel barrow.
 
Garyvdh said:
So we shouldn't complain when people like Juilus Malema slowly erode away our rights and tell us that it is still free speech, we are just not allowed to crtiticise him or complain about the ANC.

Fark that... I will exercise my free speech when and how I want to.

I full intend to enjoy the benefits of low prices... but I also intend to keep the ISPs to an honest standard.
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The point I was trying to make is that nothing or no one is truly free to have or do or say anything regardless of what certain actions or products or whatnot are called. There will always be a catch.

Regarding Malema; I'm so against the trash that guy spews out of him everyday.
 
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test3r said:
So basically, it's not uncapped. Uncapped by definition implies that I can use my 4mbps line at full capacity 24/7 using maximum bandwidth without any restriction or consequence.
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No it doesn't. Uncapped means that ypu will be able to continue downloading.

Nothing is said or implied about speed.
 
Garyvdh said:
This is true... but there are also legitimate uses for heavy usage. People who back up massive amounts of data to online sites. People who maintain constant voice communications to businesses around the world. All of these guys have a need for large amounts of bandwidth... but their companies are not so huge to be able to afford dedicated lines. Maybe they will one day be able to afford it... but only when their business grows to that point. When they buy an "uncapped product" they don't expect to be told that it is actually capped after all.
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Too right mate. I know many people who use uncapped for sending large project files from one pc to another via ftp/dropbox.
 
OK, anyway... I made my point! I'm out for now. I'll let you guys duke it out. :p
 
Garyvdh said:
This is true... but there are also legitimate uses for heavy usage. People who back up massive amounts of data to online sites. People who maintain constant voice communications to businesses around the world. All of these guys have a need for large amounts of bandwidth... but their companies are not so huge to be able to afford dedicated lines. Maybe they will one day be able to afford it... but only when their business grows to that point. When they buy an "uncapped product" they don't expect to be told that it is actually capped after all.
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Carrier pigeon will be quicker. :p
 
So what if I want to download 500 gigs a month?

I understand that this product has a limit of 200 gigs, but what if I am willing to pay more for more? Calling this product uncapped leaves no space for higher usage accounts.
Next we will have "Uncapped" followed by " True Uncapped" followed by "Absolutely True Uncapped". None of them actually uncapped.

I pay 999 to axxess for an after-hours uncapped account. No strings, no bull. Now what if I'm willing to pay that to get the speed during the day? Not because I have 3 terabytes to download, but because I don't want to be throttled.. I download everything I want now + more, at my current speed and I still only download about 300 odd gigs a month on average, sometimes more but usually around that mark.
Now Mweb and Afrihost come along and overshadow this account by calling theirs "4096 Uncapped". It may be cheaper but with those limits its far inferior to the Axxess express account.

I would rather pay more to know that I wont get some nasty email calling me an abuser and cutting my access.
 
My opinion is this...

People's mindsets would be different if they had uncapped from the get-go. Let's say that when Telkom launched ADSL, they decided that the accounts would be uncapped. Everyone using the internet then would have had the mindset of 'Hey, I've got the internet... And it just works. If I want something off the internet, I'll just download it when I feel like it'. So, would there be a few users that would download as much as they could, just to have it? Yes. But they would be a minority. Every country in the world has these guys.

Instead, they imposed a scarcity mentality on us. So, instead of me thinking of it as something that I can access whenever I want, with little cost, I need to check my usage stats. Make sure I don't go over my threshold. Make sure that I get my money's worth by downloading as much as I can at the end of each month. If I want something off the internet, I check with my buddy first to see if he has it before getting it, who had to download it. So, when uncapped comes along, hey, I gotta download the crap out of it. Get everything while I can. Push the downloads to the max, so that I get my moneys worth.

With decent prices on uncapped, this mindset will eventually change. Who cares if I don't use the internet for a week or if I haven't used up my GB's by the end of the month? Who cares if I decide to download 70GB of stuff I need this weekend? Why download all the "Ubuntu ISO's" just in case i need them and I might run out of bandwidth by the end of the month. I'll just download the ones I want. Usage will eventually drop off for most users. ISP's will then be able to cross-subsidize the big downloaders with the guys like me that will probably push a maximum of between 10 and 50GB a month. For me, a 200GB 'fair use' limit is fine... I doubt I could find that much stuff to download each month. I understand there are people who can though, and that's fine as well... I'm sure there will be services which they can use, and pay a premium for. For people like me, 200GB is virtually uncapped. I'd imagine that for most average users, this too is the case.

At the moment though, with uncapped being all new and shiny, I'm hitting that line as hard as I can. Why? Same reason starving people gorge themselves on food when they finally get it. For years I've had to watch what I do on the internet. I've had to buy topup's and plan my youtube browsing sessions. I've had to have backup accounts in case I got capped. I've had to ration family members and staff. Now, I'm free to do whatever I like. Of course I'm going to run around like a kid in a candy store. But, the novelty will wear off, and in a few weeks time, I'm going to be back to normal habits... and so will (almost) everyone else.
 
BLaZor2 said:
That sentence right there is the problem with the users in this country.
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Why? Because I'm willing to pay more for more? Its called economics, you will find out more about that next year in Grade 8. Run along now, the adults are talking.....
 
The only reason why uncapped home can be cheaper is because the majority of usage at home will be after hours and weekends, a lot more bandwidth will be available then, it's not structured for 24/7 downloading, it's there for people who want to use the internet from 5pm till the next morning when they will be at work again.

Bussiness uncapped is much more expensive because a lot more people will be using the network during the day and not on the weekends, it's all a balance.
Bussiness uncapped is not expected to be utulised heavily at night and on weekends, and home uncapped is not expected to be utulised heavily during the day but more in the evenings and on weekends.
 
The effects of overuse and loss of service was seen with the uncapped local from mweb a while back. Some people just do it for the challenge, others just find a lot of things to download. The people do ruin it by downloading 1Tb a month but it's the use and abuse mentality. I'm sure that their business model is looking at it and saying that there will be a massive spike in the beginning but the majority of people will run out of stuff to download and it will work out. Kinda just have to wait and see
 
Masataka said:
I'm sure that their business model is looking at it and saying that there will be a massive spike in the beginning but the majority of people will run out of stuff to download and it will work out. Kinda just have to wait and see
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That's true, after a few months people will go back to using a normal amount, and will have the freedom to download when they need something. An initial spike but then when it becomes the norm people won't feel the need to max out their lines.
 
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