What the deuce ... ???

[Trent242]

Lulu Letlape, Telkom group executive of corporate communications, responds that Telkom never sold a 30GB account.

"Wholesalers purchase a 3GB account and then sell it as a 30GB account and end-users are put under the impression that they are buying 30GB accounts. Abuse is also committed in another area, where a 3GB account is bought from an ISP and deliberately abused. One such instance is a TelkomInternet end-user using 296GB, in September, effectively 97 times more than what she paid for," Letlape says.

So hey, I am under the impression that I have a 30 Gb account, and didn't notice the fact that my line speed dropped to 5kb/sec once I went over the 3Gb limit.

 

[xanex]

there was never an official 30gb account it was a loophole that they found.

 

[mbs]

... it's all a load of hogwash, anyway. As far as anybody knows, the 3Gb ceiling was purely arbitrarily determined in the first place. Telkrap have to date never divulged the basis on which that figure was determined, as far as I'm aware. On the other hand, I'm more inclined to think that the 30Gb was reasonably calculated by the re-sellers, taking cognisance of capability, profitability, and so on.

 

[bwana]

there was never an official 30gb account it was a loophole that they found.

It may have started as a loophole but it developed into a fully fledged legitimate offering.

 

[Roman4604]

I'm more inclined to think that the 30Gb was reasonably calculated by the re-sellers, taking cognisance of capability, profitability, and so on.

Hardly.

Cost from SAIX to ISP for 3 Gig account = R167
Cost from SAIX to ISP for 30 Gig account = R167

Do you not see anything slightly loophole'ish in this?

developed into a fully fledged legitimate offering.

Define legitimate.

Ask yourself were all ISPs allowed to sell 30Gig accounts. Did Telkom themselves retail 30Gig accounts?

 

[Trent242]

But why doesn't ICASA aknowledge that Telkom is just milking the ADSL market for all it can and prohibit them from doing so ? Fine them, penalise them or do SOMETHING. I mean : why advertise that movies, gaming etc can all be done, but only to a degree, a level that Telkom determines ? Anything over that is considered abuse, and all of us turn from generally accepted in society to full-blown ADSL misfits ( I wanted to do a wordplay, something to do with crack-wh0re, but too much effort), because we want more ? Its not that we want more, we just want what we are paying for. And ICASA is constantly doing their studies and surveys and whatnots, but the reality is that Telkom uses these reports for Toilet Paper.

Even after Hellkom, and petitions and all the best efforts of all the ADSL users and users-to-be, we still end up biting on the short end. Think about this : what were we all moaning about a year ago ? Some issue with Telkom, I'm sure. But look at what they've done now ! This is worst than what any of us could've envisioned. So, from one year ago, despite everyone's best efforts, conditions have worsenend for us.

How now, brown cow ????

 

[bwana]

Define legitimate.

Ask yourself were all ISPs allowed to sell 30Gig accounts. Did Telkom themselves retail 30Gig accounts?

Legitimate - how about sanctioned by telkom then? Confirmation by WebAfrica http://www.mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=274542&postcount=112 and SAOL - http://www.mybroadband.co.za/vb/showpost.php?p=274499&postcount=108

Telkom could have stopped the ISPs from offering the 30gb accounts at any time if they'd wanted to - no reason to wait until November. However, had Telkom themselves offered the 30gb accounts the public outcry would have been enormous when they introduced the r50 per gb. This way the big users were hooked by the isp and will now either pony up huge amounts for bandwidth or cut down cold-turkey.

 

[R4tt3xx]

ICASA cannot fine Telkom as Telkom DOES NOT SUPPLY BANDWIDTH.

 

[xanex]

It may have started as a loophole but it developed into a fully fledged legitimate offering.

of cos it was, thats why telkoms changing everything.

 

[bwana]

ICASA cannot fine Telkom as Telkom DOES NOT SUPPLY BANDWIDTH.

SAIX is clearly part of Telkom.

 

[bekdik]

ICASA cannot fine Telkom as Telkom DOES NOT SUPPLY BANDWIDTH.

Asolutely. SAIX provides the bandwidth.

And SAIX is:

The South African Internet eXchange (SAIX) is Telkom's answer to Internet access in Southern Africa. SAIX is a wholesale provider of raw connectivity to the Internet for Southern African Internet Service Providers (who sell value-added services on top of the SAIX service to dial-up subscribers and dedicated customers).

So it has absolutely nothing to do with Telkom?

 

[eye_suc]

nothing to do with Telkom? erm, please explain, since Telkom OWNS them and they use TELKOM PROVIDED bandwidth that they steal through the sat3 cables and what not.

who owns the landing rights for the cables in SA?

 

[Kalvaer]

I think the above with SAIX and Telkom is in reference to an email that was posted on the forums from somebody in ICASA with regards to SAIX and Telkom. Cant remember where also seem to think there was a counter email posted later.. I'm getting old and cant keep track anymore

 

[bekdik]

If I call my cat a dog do I now need a dog license?

 

[R4tt3xx]

LOL. Ok. So government unbundle the local loop already.

 

[bekdik]

LOL. Ok. So government unbundle the local loop already.

Now you've named the real culprit!

 

[Roman4604]

Legitimate - how about sanctioned by telkom then?

Nobodys disputing this, the question is why would they?

Why suddenly offer 30Gigs for the price of 3Gigs? ... and only to a select few small ISPs?

The reality is that Telkom were just caught out technically. Before the 30Gig era, some self-authenticating ISPs were letting 3Gig accounts run to the end of the month (i.e uncapped).

When Telkom moaned about this, the ISPs would protest that all the traffic, except the first 3Gigs, was local. Telkom had no technical means to disprove these claims, at that stage.

To prevent the potential uncapped flood, Telkom made a temporary agreement with the ISPs to turn a blind eye till 30Gigs.

So yes, they did sanctioned it, but they were coerced into it by their own technical inability.