What is absolutely needed for a ADSL line?

[sege5641]

American here that works in IT. I still for the life of me don't understand what accounts are absolutely needed for a active ADSL line. I never really question this since I'm afraid the line will be cut and it will take months to restore.

Heres the deal. I often jump around to the different ISP's depending on the month. So I clearly understand you must have some sort of data service. Second is the ADSL line rental that I keep with Web Africa just because I can contact them at all hours. That still leaves the damn phone bill from Telkom. I don't even have a phone plugged in at my house but everyone tells me the landline is still needed. Three bills just for ADSL service. Am I missing something here?

What is the point of the ADSL line rental when the phone line is still needed!

 

[Grouter]

No naked adsl service in SA. Blame........Telkom?

 

[Geoff.D]

To be able to get an ADSL service, you need a physical line. To get a physical line, you need to have a telephone service. Simple, not Rocket Science.

If you want to blame someone, blame ICASA for not uncoupling line rentals from telephone services.

When ADSL started, there was such a thing as an AS , short for Access Service .
The idea still exists but the cost are not always separated.

So practically, you need a line which means a Line Rental.
Then you need the equipment to provide a service on the line which means a charge for an ADSL service. Together, these two make up an ASP.
Then on top of that you need an Internet Access Service, which means an ISP.

If only we could get to the idea of calling things the right names.
A telephone service needs a port on the telephone equipment, and, an ADSL service needs a port on the ADSL equipment.
This would then mean for an ADSL service, a charge for the ADSL Port and a Line Rental.
A telephone service would mean a charge for the telephone service Port and a Line Rental.

 

[fundutzi]

Geoff.D answered you.

I will explain as follow.
In South Africa for ADSL you need and must pay for:
a. A Telkom phone line. +- ZAR 200/m {Can order from ISP, I strongly advise you order this from Telkom}

b. A DSL connection in an exchange. {Can order from ISP, I strongly advise you order this from Telkom. You indicate you pay WA}
You pay for the speed you want to connect with your router/modem, even with zero data use you must pay this fee. "Like 2nd lien rental"
Examples of costs {see more here}:
i. For 2Mbps it will cost +- ZAR170 /m
ii.For 10Mbps it will cost +- ZAR430 /m
iii. For 20Mbps it will cost +- ZAR500 /m
==> Ensure you are +- 2 km from exchange for good connection.
Real hassle as you do not know what speed you will get till you ordered this all.

c. A data package.
This can be unlimted, limited, a prepaid data package.
You can buy this from anyone, say Telkom or any other ISP. It is in effect a valid username and password that unlock whatever data package you bought.
{I advise you to buy this from whatever ISP this forum recommend. I will also advise you buy prepaid data till you happy with the ISP}
{You already do this it seems}

 

[Nithan15]

Don't forget the tears of an angel as well

 

[Icemanbrfc]

Geoff.D answered you.

I will explain as follow.
In South Africa for ADSL you need and must pay for:
a. A Telkom phone line. +- ZAR 200/m {Can order from ISP, I strongly advise you order this from Telkom}

b. A DSL connection in an exchange. {Can order from ISP, I strongly advise you order this from Telkom. You indicate you pay WA}
You pay for the speed you want to connect with your router/modem, even with zero data use you must pay this fee. "Like 2nd lien rental"
Examples of costs {see more here}:
i. For 2Mbps it will cost +- ZAR170 /m
ii.For 10Mbps it will cost +- ZAR430 /m
iii. For 20Mbps it will cost +- ZAR500 /m
==> Ensure you are +- 2 km from exchange for good connection.
Real hassle as you do not know what speed you will get till you ordered this all.

c. A data package.
This can be unlimted, limited, a prepaid data package.
You can buy this from anyone, say Telkom or any other ISP. It is in effect a valid username and password that unlock whatever data package you bought.
{I advise you to buy this from whatever ISP this forum recommend. I will also advise you buy prepaid data till you happy with the ISP}
{You already do this it seems}

What happens to your internet, if you unplug your telephone line, or cancel your phone line with Telkom? My phone line was once conpletely dead, still had connectivity and no issues.

 

[Rickster]

Two bills if you bundle the DSL line rental with your ISP.

 

[Geoff.D]

What happens to your internet, if you unplug your telephone line, or cancel your phone line with Telkom? My phone line was once conpletely dead, still had connectivity and no issues.

It is possible for you to unplug the phone without affecting ADSL connectivity, or to have a phone service fault that does not affect the ADSL service. A line fault will take both down.
Cancelling the phone line will cause both services to go down.

 

[Icemanbrfc]

It is possible for you to unplug the phone without affecting ADSL connectivity, or to have a phone service fault that does not affect the ADSL service. A line fault will take both down.
Cancelling the phone line will cause both services to go down.

Pity... I thought about it a while back and was wondering if naked Adsl was then possible based on that. I'm pretty sure it is, and that Telkom is shafting users by disconnecting both dsl and the phone line, when the dsl side doesn't need to be..

 

[sege5641]

Ok thank you everyone.

So no wounder Fiber is taking off. Its cheaper then ADSL if you look at ALL the costs included.

 

[Geoff.D]

Pity... I thought about it a while back and was wondering if naked Adsl was then possible based on that. I'm pretty sure it is, and that Telkom is shafting users by disconnecting both dsl and the phone line, when the dsl side doesn't need to be..

Technically, It IS definitely possible to provide "naked ADSL" (a really stoopid term BTW). Again , as in so many things, it takes a conscious management business decision to do it.

OR, sit back and wait until the regulator forces the issue.