Uncapped broadband: Google versus Telkom

I think it is a good article, it gives an indication of where SA should be heading...the question is are we listening? Neotel and a few other providers are on the right track...bring fibre to the premises, that is what everyone wants so make it happen.

In the mean time we will have to go through another copper period first as telkom relies on their copper and MSAN's to deliver VDSL. Come on man just go fibre and get it over with !!! Oh wait I forgot about the shareholders :-(

Also as a note is the fact that telkom has such an advantage when it comes to right of ways to lay fibre...if I had to go to my municipality and say I want to dig up roads to lay fibre they would probably laugh at me...Telkom however puts in the right of way app and almost 100% of the time gets it approved with no hassles.

So maybe the key here is to get private investment to build the fibre last mile...it is going to happen much quicker that way me thinks.
 
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eddief1 said:
So maybe the key here is to get private investment to build the fibre last mile...it is going to happen much quicker that way me thinks.
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1000% this. i3 Internet trenched my neighborhood months ago (those guys doing FTTH via water pipes), and I spoke to the guys doing the work - there's technically nothing stopping them connecting us all up, just have to put in the routers, etc. What the hell is everyone waiting for?! It's a sad, sad situation we're in that however bad Telkom is, they're the best we have :(

To improve a market, you need good competition. Look at what happened when Mweb took a gamble with uncapped ADSL. Whole market changed. For last mile, everybody's too scared to make the first move. The cables are all in the ground, all the permits are done. Very frustrating.
 
crackersa said:
i think the article is brilliant. it actually highlights the fact that south africans do nothing when they know they are getting shafted.
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Should we all band together and start laying fibre ourselves?
 
Dis om van naar te word!!! Why oh why cant we have it! I can then kick all my internet providers and DSTV under the butt!
 
I wanted to say something, but then decided against it as I could be held liable for a few things against a big fixed line operator in SA. So I won't. Hypothetically though, I'm sure any money grabbing telco company's executives' brains would explode if they read such an article. I doubt that they could comprehend anyone offering such a service for free without using it to extort money from people. :D
 
DarkStreet said:
Should we all band together and start laying fibre ourselves?
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In UK various rural residents did just that, with the cooperation of BT, so it could be a solution, but I suspect it may be too expensive for most of us.

To my mind a better solution is to to connect into the local council's fibre network as is going to happen in W. Cape.
 
Biggest issue in SA is investing in infrastructure that will justify ROI on a 1Gbps offering. Shareholders are concerned about profit not service, experince shows that both are not mutually exclusive
 
The point of the article is that technology exists that can give people 1GB/s connections at R600pm. Google are not going to sell services at at huge loss.

The main difference between USA and SA is the population spread. Also even R600pm may be a bit steep for some people in SA, but then there is the free 5MB/s service :)

So the question is, why is there such a huge difference?

I think this is like the case for cheap renewal energy. If the cheaper stuff is used then the large oil companies will lose revenue and profits. So progress is put on the back-burner for the benefit of a few large corporates at the expense of the people.
 
I dont get the free service offer ? Can someone please explain it too me as if I am a 5 year old ? I am serious
 
sparticus said:
I dont get the free service offer ? Can someone please explain it too me as if I am a 5 year old ? I am serious
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Google makes you pay a one-off cost to lay the fiber, etc, and give you a free 5mbit connection after that. It's a clever way to get the economy of scales needed to connect up the entire town without paying for the roll-out. Yes, they'll take a loss from that free 5mbit line, but they're betting over time everyone will be upgrading to the full $120 product. Projects of this scale only have to return a profit after 5-10 years.
 
While the article may be pointless to us, spreading the word in official media channels is not in vain. If these stories keep coming perhaps someone in the right place might notice or feel embarrassed and things will change.

This is South Africa, things need to be pointed out excessively before something get's done.
 
Garyvdh said:
The point of the article is to continue to highlight how pathetic Telkom is so that....
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Ok will agree on that,but..

It's not for us to feel crappy, the ones who should be embarrassed and disgusted are Telkom themselves (and their shareholders, and the government and ICASA).
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These okes are not accountable to anyone judged by the past,so disgusted and embarrassed is not part of their vocab,but i'm disgusted and embarrassed by Telkom overall.Ultimately it's me and the others who feel crappy as this article has illustrated.:D
 
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