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Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2004
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- 968
Ok so the "fix" is now in place. We all know it is far from ideal. What I'd like to do is try to understand Sentech's logic on it, and get input on the steps to take from here.
To sum the fix:
1.) Local and intl are now differentiated.
2.) Contention now seems to be applied regardless of whether or not there is anyone to contend with. (Read the 48k cap)
3.) Latency on local is by all accounts fairly stable, international is irratic.
4.) The contention cap is not distinguishing properly between packages.
5.) Packetloss is much better on local, but intl still has issues.
6.) Towers have been rearranged in some areas.
7.) New peering has been added through MTNNS
8.) Some kind of shaping is happening?
I think splitting intl and local was a good move, mainly because at least now we can get close to package speeds locally.
It would seem they may have bought more local bandwidth for this.
The network as a whole appears more stable as a result of their fixes, packetloss and latency has improved locally.
So overall has the fix improved anything?
I would say yes it has from a local browsing perspective, but not from an intl side.
The fix highlights that the main problem lies in the availability of intl bandwidth and the management thereof. Clearly something needs to be done to improve this side.
Sentech needs to find a better solution than the capped speed story for intl.
Obviously their thinking is that at least then everyone gets a fair shot at the bandwidth, and everyone gets a minimum.
The problem is that it is not reflecting the true contention status - one would expect speeds to increase past 48k during lower contention periods (eg. late at night).
My suggestion is that they build on this capped story and add bursting into it, at least then one can get more than 5k every once in a while.
Another one of Sentech's biggest problems is actually in the relative stability of their network. People can stay connected for days at a time, with scheduled downloads running continuously. Couple this with the fact that a lot of users bought Sentech in order to download in a big way. I don't think there are enough light users on the network, and usually the light users subsidise the heavy users.
This means contention goes out the window.
On ADSL this isnt a problem because of the cap - Telkom simply kicks users off the intl link when their data allocation is up. Sentech cant do this. So even with lower contention, intl is going to get raped 24/7.
Either Sentech buys more bandwidth (which is probably not affordable cos of the price), or they get more light users on the network (and then can afford more bandwidth), or they look at proxying intl as much as possible.
I think Sentech needs to do all 3.
Particularly proxying - storage is cheap these days. If Sentech dropped R100k on a proxy cluster consisting of terrabytes of storage, and simply stored everything that came through the intl link, I'm sure that would help.
Essentially bringing the popular intl internet sites local. Obviously torrents/p2p/gaming can't really be proxied, but that would be less of a problem with a full-on proxy solution.
Sentech should also look at changing their advertising in a big way.
<font color="blue">Telkom needs a leash, ICASA needs some guts, and the </font id="blue"><font color="red">SA consumer</font id="red"><font color="blue"> needs to make it happen</font id="blue">
To sum the fix:
1.) Local and intl are now differentiated.
2.) Contention now seems to be applied regardless of whether or not there is anyone to contend with. (Read the 48k cap)
3.) Latency on local is by all accounts fairly stable, international is irratic.
4.) The contention cap is not distinguishing properly between packages.
5.) Packetloss is much better on local, but intl still has issues.
6.) Towers have been rearranged in some areas.
7.) New peering has been added through MTNNS
8.) Some kind of shaping is happening?
I think splitting intl and local was a good move, mainly because at least now we can get close to package speeds locally.
It would seem they may have bought more local bandwidth for this.
The network as a whole appears more stable as a result of their fixes, packetloss and latency has improved locally.
So overall has the fix improved anything?
I would say yes it has from a local browsing perspective, but not from an intl side.
The fix highlights that the main problem lies in the availability of intl bandwidth and the management thereof. Clearly something needs to be done to improve this side.
Sentech needs to find a better solution than the capped speed story for intl.
Obviously their thinking is that at least then everyone gets a fair shot at the bandwidth, and everyone gets a minimum.
The problem is that it is not reflecting the true contention status - one would expect speeds to increase past 48k during lower contention periods (eg. late at night).
My suggestion is that they build on this capped story and add bursting into it, at least then one can get more than 5k every once in a while.
Another one of Sentech's biggest problems is actually in the relative stability of their network. People can stay connected for days at a time, with scheduled downloads running continuously. Couple this with the fact that a lot of users bought Sentech in order to download in a big way. I don't think there are enough light users on the network, and usually the light users subsidise the heavy users.
This means contention goes out the window.
On ADSL this isnt a problem because of the cap - Telkom simply kicks users off the intl link when their data allocation is up. Sentech cant do this. So even with lower contention, intl is going to get raped 24/7.
Either Sentech buys more bandwidth (which is probably not affordable cos of the price), or they get more light users on the network (and then can afford more bandwidth), or they look at proxying intl as much as possible.
I think Sentech needs to do all 3.
Particularly proxying - storage is cheap these days. If Sentech dropped R100k on a proxy cluster consisting of terrabytes of storage, and simply stored everything that came through the intl link, I'm sure that would help.
Essentially bringing the popular intl internet sites local. Obviously torrents/p2p/gaming can't really be proxied, but that would be less of a problem with a full-on proxy solution.
Sentech should also look at changing their advertising in a big way.
<font color="blue">Telkom needs a leash, ICASA needs some guts, and the </font id="blue"><font color="red">SA consumer</font id="red"><font color="blue"> needs to make it happen</font id="blue">
