kaspaas
Expert Member
Hi,
just a recap for newer guys...
The digital divide is a reality. ADSL is one of the access technologies widening the gap between the two parts of the divide.
South Africa is only just managing not to fall down the cliff into the digital forget-about-me-in-the-digital part of the world economy. Telkoms ADSL offering raps the knuckles trying to hold onto flimsy rocks of the digital success age. Telkom's ADSL offering bears the signs of caring only for short term shareholder profits, and not for the long term well being of South Africa.
ADSL is a major technology in the world to provide broadband access to the masses at an affordable price.
Most of us on this forum believe that the Goverment protected monopoly Telkom (and the SNO whenever it gets going) should deliver World Class Service at World Competitive Rates - but isn't.
Telkom ADSL is currently overpriced when compared with our trading partners and competitors.
Two examples:
In the USA one can get ADSL (Line + ISP) for USD 30 (around ZAR 210) per month. In Germany an ADSL line will set you back E20 (around ZAR 160) with another E20 buying you unlimited bandwidth (Total around R320). There are examples for at least Korea, Australia and the UK listed in this forum.
Telkom charges R680 (R800 if you are a business) for the line and another R219 for limited bandwidth per month. Especially the line charge is not comparable with International norms.
Telkom has a policy of not providing any Service Level Agreement (SLA) regarding ADSL except to state "best effort" or something similar. What they mean by "best effort" is obvious with the large number of complaints listed on the forum during the past few days.
It is practice with many (if not most) overseas ADSL offerings to state the contention ratio applied (typically 1:50 for domestic users). Telkom is not prepared to commit itself to any such ration. For all we know, they run a line from your premises able to provide the speeds which they sell into an exchange which without providing sufficient bandwidth from the exchange into the internet to provide a service of international quality. Anecdotal evidence (such as the complaints on the forum recently) support this suspicion.
Telkom obviously does not know what the internet is about. One only has to read what they say to realise that Telkom views the Internet as a place where one only browses the web and send some e-mail. The port prioritization rules bears testimony of their ignorance on this issue. HTTP (web) and sending email (SMTP) is prioritised, as long as you don't want to download such mail (POP3). The many other Internet services is rendered almost useless. Examples: Updating your PC clock via the internet; Connecting to remote offices via VPN's etc.
Forgive me if a left out major points - the cap, or rather the minimal size of it, being such an issue.
Why do we use ADSL if we are not happy wih the service?
Simply, we don't have a choice in South Africa. Telkom ADSL is for many of us the least rotten apple in Telkoms internet connectivity suite.
just a recap for newer guys...
The digital divide is a reality. ADSL is one of the access technologies widening the gap between the two parts of the divide.
South Africa is only just managing not to fall down the cliff into the digital forget-about-me-in-the-digital part of the world economy. Telkoms ADSL offering raps the knuckles trying to hold onto flimsy rocks of the digital success age. Telkom's ADSL offering bears the signs of caring only for short term shareholder profits, and not for the long term well being of South Africa.
ADSL is a major technology in the world to provide broadband access to the masses at an affordable price.
Most of us on this forum believe that the Goverment protected monopoly Telkom (and the SNO whenever it gets going) should deliver World Class Service at World Competitive Rates - but isn't.
Telkom ADSL is currently overpriced when compared with our trading partners and competitors.
Two examples:
In the USA one can get ADSL (Line + ISP) for USD 30 (around ZAR 210) per month. In Germany an ADSL line will set you back E20 (around ZAR 160) with another E20 buying you unlimited bandwidth (Total around R320). There are examples for at least Korea, Australia and the UK listed in this forum.
Telkom charges R680 (R800 if you are a business) for the line and another R219 for limited bandwidth per month. Especially the line charge is not comparable with International norms.
Telkom has a policy of not providing any Service Level Agreement (SLA) regarding ADSL except to state "best effort" or something similar. What they mean by "best effort" is obvious with the large number of complaints listed on the forum during the past few days.
It is practice with many (if not most) overseas ADSL offerings to state the contention ratio applied (typically 1:50 for domestic users). Telkom is not prepared to commit itself to any such ration. For all we know, they run a line from your premises able to provide the speeds which they sell into an exchange which without providing sufficient bandwidth from the exchange into the internet to provide a service of international quality. Anecdotal evidence (such as the complaints on the forum recently) support this suspicion.
Telkom obviously does not know what the internet is about. One only has to read what they say to realise that Telkom views the Internet as a place where one only browses the web and send some e-mail. The port prioritization rules bears testimony of their ignorance on this issue. HTTP (web) and sending email (SMTP) is prioritised, as long as you don't want to download such mail (POP3). The many other Internet services is rendered almost useless. Examples: Updating your PC clock via the internet; Connecting to remote offices via VPN's etc.
Forgive me if a left out major points - the cap, or rather the minimal size of it, being such an issue.
Why do we use ADSL if we are not happy wih the service?
Simply, we don't have a choice in South Africa. Telkom ADSL is for many of us the least rotten apple in Telkoms internet connectivity suite.