jackshiels
Expert Member
Ok, commence rant...
It has been getting to me lately how far behind the rest of the world South Africa is at the hands of Telkom. Having previously lived in Dublin, Ireland the contrast is quite stark. Back then I was on a 25mb uncapped cable provider line for roughly R530 a month - including a phone line (line rental was 5 euro/R50). If I hoped to get anything like that here I would be paying well into the thousands and this is simply not an option. What makes this worse is that Ireland is one of the worst broadband equipped countries in Europe - even the monolithic incumbent Eircom can supply 24mb at relatively low prices.
To belatedly sum up my question to Telkom - when can we see some real change?
Apparently they are busy with the whole VDSL thing right now, but how can we trust a company that is, after 18 months of upgrading, only 10% the way through adding 10mb DSLAM capacity? I rent a house in Constantia, Southern Suburbs and can barely get a 3500kb sync rate - how can you make out that VDSL is even a possibility when my nearest (4mb max) exchange is nearly 3km away (let alone that fact that I certainly don't live in the middle of nowhere)?
Apparently VDSL needs to be within at least 1km to be worthwhile in terms of sync rates - why, then Telkom are you considering this when your company is in share freefall? What the hell is going on??? There will need to be thousands of VDSL IMAX installations all over the country to justify this end - can you actually afford it? Let alone the extra fiber capacity that will be required to supply the demand for 40mb and 20mb IPTV...
I am personally getting sick of hearing 384kb called broadband. Lower your opening package to 1024kb, make 1024kb 2048kb and hurry the hell up with the VDSL (if it can even be done!). The country is being held back by your petty need to cling on to monopolistic ideals - LLU COMETH!
Roll on November...
</end rant>
It has been getting to me lately how far behind the rest of the world South Africa is at the hands of Telkom. Having previously lived in Dublin, Ireland the contrast is quite stark. Back then I was on a 25mb uncapped cable provider line for roughly R530 a month - including a phone line (line rental was 5 euro/R50). If I hoped to get anything like that here I would be paying well into the thousands and this is simply not an option. What makes this worse is that Ireland is one of the worst broadband equipped countries in Europe - even the monolithic incumbent Eircom can supply 24mb at relatively low prices.
To belatedly sum up my question to Telkom - when can we see some real change?
Apparently they are busy with the whole VDSL thing right now, but how can we trust a company that is, after 18 months of upgrading, only 10% the way through adding 10mb DSLAM capacity? I rent a house in Constantia, Southern Suburbs and can barely get a 3500kb sync rate - how can you make out that VDSL is even a possibility when my nearest (4mb max) exchange is nearly 3km away (let alone that fact that I certainly don't live in the middle of nowhere)?
Apparently VDSL needs to be within at least 1km to be worthwhile in terms of sync rates - why, then Telkom are you considering this when your company is in share freefall? What the hell is going on??? There will need to be thousands of VDSL IMAX installations all over the country to justify this end - can you actually afford it? Let alone the extra fiber capacity that will be required to supply the demand for 40mb and 20mb IPTV...
I am personally getting sick of hearing 384kb called broadband. Lower your opening package to 1024kb, make 1024kb 2048kb and hurry the hell up with the VDSL (if it can even be done!). The country is being held back by your petty need to cling on to monopolistic ideals - LLU COMETH!
Roll on November...
</end rant>
