Where ADSL is going in SA: capped vs uncapped

[MartyMarts]

I value simplicity far more than a few hundred Rand

I see. Cool.

 

[LaraC]

Why anyone would move from Uncapped to Capped baffles me

For me it wasn’t due to poor internet service that I changed from a 4Mb Uncapped account to a capped account. It was due to my usage.
On average I consumed ±30Gb per month at a cost of R770.
A new product was made available which offered me a 10Mb line and a 50Gb cap at a cost of R699.

 

[JStrike]

For me it wasn’t due to poor internet service that I changed from a 4Mb Uncapped account to a capped account. It was due to my usage.
On average I consumed ±30Gb per month at a cost of R770.
A new product was made available which offered me a 10Mb line and a 50Gb cap at a cost of R699.

It seems like such a hassle to even know how much you use. But each to their own

 

[siraman]

The only way to go for ADSL in SA from an ISP perspective is for a every account(2Mbps,4Mbps,10Mbps+VDSL's) to be guaranteed it's maximum theoretical download speed if hammered 24/7 per month as it's capped quota(+-550GB on 2Mbps?) + unshaped/unthrottled to that point, thereafter softcap.

This way an ISP will know they have a number of 2Mbps/4Mbps/10Mbps accounts(and provision x% for growth) therefore buy X amount of IPC capacity+overheads and then price accordingly(preferably cheaper by, say...paying 15% more for IPC and getting double the existing IPC capacity?) and then it's over to Telkom to fix it's ageing copper infrastructure or simply dismantle it piece by piece and replace with FTTH.Obviously I'm putting this suggestion here in it's raw form without having done or gone through the calculations,but hey just a thought.

 

[JStrike]

The only way to go for ADSL in SA from an ISP perspective is for a every account(2Mbps,4Mbps,10Mbps+VDSL's) to be guaranteed it's maximum theoretical download speed if hammered 24/7 per month as it's capped quota(+-550GB on 2Mbps?) + unshaped/unthrottled to that point, thereafter softcap.

This way an ISP will know they have a number of 2Mbps/4Mbps/10Mbps accounts(and provision x% for growth) therefore buy X amount of IPC capacity+overheads and then price accordingly(preferably cheaper by, say...paying 15% more for IPC and getting double the existing IPC capacity?) and then it's over to Telkom to fix it's ageing copper infrastructure or simply dismantle it piece by piece and replace with FTTH.Obviously I'm putting this suggestion here in it's raw form without having done or gone through the calculations,but hey just a thought.

I would rather not subsidise people hammering their downloads

 

[sparticus]

Mweb got the prettiest rep

 

[LaraC]

The only way to go for ADSL in SA from an ISP perspective is for a every account(2Mbps,4Mbps,10Mbps+VDSL's) to be guaranteed it's maximum theoretical download speed if hammered 24/7 per month as it's capped quota(+-550GB on 2Mbps?) + unshaped/unthrottled to that point, thereafter softcap.
/snip

It would be impossible and unaffordable if ISP’s were required to provide sufficient IPC for all their users to be online 24/7 at full line speed.
Using your example and an ISP had a million customers, each with a 4Mb line, they will be required to have access to 4Tb IPC.

 

[siraman]

It would be impossible and unaffordable if ISP’s were required to provide sufficient IPC for all their users to be online 24/7 at full line speed.
Using your example and an ISP had a million customers, each with a 4Mb line, they will be required to have access to 4Tb IPC.

Point taken(for now ).Just a quick question,how much capacity are the undersea cables bringing in vs your scenario above? Again assuming/knowing that there are indeed +-1 million ADSL subscribers(as per Telkom) spread over 5-10 1st tier ISP's.

 

[LaraC]

Point taken(for now ).Just a quick question,how much capacity are the undersea cables bringing in vs your scenario above? Again assuming/knowing that there indeed +-1 million ADSL subscribers(as per Telkom) spread over 5-10 1st tier ISP's.

I have no idea what the capacity for all the cables are. I’ve seen an article on the forum where Seacom boosted that they could provide a network capable of 12Tb.

 

[Chevron]

On the subject of uncapped internet.

Home Uncapped internet = snake oil

is a useful equation to keep in mind

FTFY

 

[Chevron]

Let me set you straight mate:

Uncapped:
* Internet virtually unusable during the day. Wanna use GMail? FORGET IT!
* Have devices at home that depend on internet? Apple TV, etc? They will complain about not being able to reach Apple's servers
* At 17:00:00 the internet suddenly works, then everyone gets home, and starts up Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc and the internet goes back to being crap until after 11pm.
* Download more than 200 Gbytes in a month? Depending on ISP, throttling will start...

Capped:
* Always works, even during the day
* You get what you pay for (if you are on Afrihost, this is NOT the case)
* Not shaped / throttled into the ground
* Works okay-ish during peak times
* Good for those like me who need stuff to work during the day. Thinking of using IP cameras?, VPN, etc.. This is what you need.

Sounds like you used an Afrihost home account.

Just remember that you get what you pay for. Get a decent Business uncapped account and you'll be happy.

 

[system32]

As long as you know what the thresholds are for Mweb uncapped and keep below, then performance is good.
For 6Mbps ADSL, that's about 150GB/pm.
When I exceed that I switch Vox FatPipe 100GB.
More cost effective that going to 6Mbps premium.
Use openwrt + cron + curl to check the ISP and automatically switch as required.

 

[Azg]

Mweb got the prettiest rep

+1. She also seems to speak the most sense!

 

[Azg]

It would be impossible and unaffordable if ISP’s were required to provide sufficient IPC for all their users to be online 24/7 at full line speed.
Using your example and an ISP had a million customers, each with a 4Mb line, they will be required to have access to 4Tb IPC.

If that's the case then the best we can hope for are larger caps at lower prices. If the cap is large enough, then for the majority of users it's indistinguishable from uncapped and the ISPs still get to manage their networks.