Why the noise about local cap?

[WoW]

I have been searching for the last couple weeks for a top ISP account. In doing this search I noticed that all ISPs are talking about a 30gb local cap.

Now who gives a rats @ss about local bandwidth and secondly local has always been cap free, well on Telkom at least unless something has changed?

 

[bwana]

I have been searching for the last couple weeks for a top ISP account. In doing this search I noticed that all ISPs are talking about a 30gb local cap.

Now who gives a rats @ss about local bandwidth and secondly local has always been cap free, well on Telkom at least unless something has changed?

Local hasnt been cap free on telkom in years. Until recently Mweb was the only ISP to offer unlimited local but they've since rescinded that offer.

 

[davemc]

Some people prefer to purchase one product that they only use for international bandwidth and another much cheaper product that they only use for local bandwidth.

They typically use a little know program called routesentry in conjunction with RASPPPOE to enable both connections to be connected at the same time, and are drawing the cos benefits of using local content.

As a by-product, locally hosted websites are on the increase, encouraging the growth of our local internet services, and reducing our dependence on international services.

Questions?

 

[LCBXX]

Some people use VPN too, and that only requires local data.

 

[LazyLion]

LOL... there is a lot you can do with your local bandwidth. News Servers, Torrents... the Local List (www.locallist.co.za). It's a hot commodity if you know how to use it well. Local was unlimited up to 2005. Then Telkom cut everybody off (hard cap) from late 2005 onwards. When ICASA ruled that local bandwidth should be uncapped, Telkom started giving some free local cap along with international bandwidth, but they never really uncapped it. Mweb gave uncapped local for about a year in 2008, but they have also stopped that now. To date nobody has actually complied with ICASA's regulation.

 

[bwana]

To date nobody has actually complied with ICASA's regulation.

The problem lies with the ambiguity of the regulation in question - you can hardly blame a corporation for exploiting it.

As far as they're concerned they are complying and afaik no one has (successfully?) taken them to task in the courts.

 

[LazyLion]

The problem lies with the ambiguity of the regulation in question - you can hardly blame a corporation for exploiting it.

As far as they're concerned they are complying and afaik no one has (successfully?) taken them to task in the courts.

Um, ja. I think anybody who has spent a few minutes reading this board knows that by now. We all know that ICASA is the problem. Just read today's posted news section.

 

[Tun@]

Is there actually any other country in the world that has split local/international internet......here in SA is the 1st i ever heard of it.

 

[LazyLion]

Is there actually any other country in the world that has split local/international internet......here in SA is the 1st i ever heard of it.

yes, it is a big deal in many third world countries where state monopolization of the internet and limiting access to the outside world are a reality. You don't read much about it because those smaller "segregated" networks are for all practical purposes "closed communities" and they don't like to advertise the methods they use to get around the blocks. China is a prime example.

 

[davemc]

Is there actually any other country in the world that has split local/international internet......here in SA is the 1st i ever heard of it.

I have a fairy tale for you.

Once upon a time, Telkom, when questioned directly by somebody from our beloved government about the high telecoms and internet costs, Telkom said that the reason for the high cost is that the international bandwidth is super expensive.

Then, government, who used Telkom exclusively for inter-municipality communications, and who own most of Telkom, cornered Telkom into providing a local-only service to lower the costs of Municipality to Municipality communication.

This was the birth of the differentiation between normal internet (including voip) and local-only communication.

No happy ending in sight yet, but, municipalities have been spending our hard stolen tax money on building their own infrastructure to bypass Telkom for ages now.

 

[Tun@]

Interesting thanks,goverments mixed with Telcos don't you love em,seems to be a common bad mix where ever you come across it.
Both Nz + Aus state involved telco's don't have a large fan base either when it comes to charges/service.
Guess the competition will fix it once it comes as it did in Aus.

 

[Budza]

For the majority of users, 10GB is as good as uncapped. These are people that are using 1-3GB of data for browsing etc. For them to continue to access local sites (banking etc), they can browse all month for less than 10GB. If they don't download

For the newshost/torrent users however, the norm suddenly jumps to around 100GB. Several times that for the real hogs. This is far more than the average user needs. People just don't know what to do with their local data.

On my 384k line, I am on 96GB this month up/down combined. Imagine I had a 4MB line

 

[LazyLion]

For the majority of users, 10GB is as good as uncapped. These are people that are using 1-3GB of data for browsing etc. For them to continue to access local sites (banking etc), they can browse all month for less than 10GB. If they don't download

those people would probably use far more if they knew...

1) What was available on the internet for free
2) They weren't scared of being cut off or charged excessive fees for over-usage.

so saying that they live within their allowance is not the same as saying that they are average internet users. If you build it they will come.

 

[Mark2wain]

Telkom should boost local sites

Can anyone tell me why it is so difficult for Telkom to differentiate local from international usage at all times of the month---ie why is it that all usage is lumped together as international usage until one has exhausted the cap and then only do they switch you to local??
Surely if we all knew that we could save our international bandwidth by using local sites at all times during the month--it would be a tremendous boost for the local industry and even boost Telkom supported search sites like Aardvark and local hosting companies which are often supported by Telkom.
In short---I am requesting Telkom to differentiate local from international usage at all the times of the month which will create a huge boost for the local industry because we would all use local sites as much as possible to save our international cap!!!

 

[bwana]

Can anyone tell me why it is so difficult for Telkom to differentiate local from international usage at all times of the month---ie why is it that all usage is lumped together as international usage until one has exhausted the cap and then only do they switch you to local??

Maybe telkom wants you to use your international first so you will have to buy more.

 

[HideInLight]

Can anyone tell me why it is so difficult for Telkom to differentiate local from international usage at all times of the month---ie why is it that all usage is lumped together as international usage until one has exhausted the cap and then only do they switch you to local??
Surely if we all knew that we could save our international bandwidth by using local sites at all times during the month--it would be a tremendous boost for the local industry and even boost Telkom supported search sites like Aardvark and local hosting companies which are often supported by Telkom.
In short---I am requesting Telkom to differentiate local from international usage at all the times of the month which will create a huge boost for the local industry because we would all use local sites as much as possible to save our international cap!!!

Two Accounts + Route Sentry. Not gonna wait for a miracle to happen...

 

[Budza]

@ Gary.

True. More and more people are realising what is out there, hence the increased "noise".

The average SA user is, as you say, still "scared" of the internet, which is most unfortunate. As Mweb & Telkom have shown, there is no need to comply with ICASA. Due to the lack of competition (price fixing?) among products, the consumer is left with little choice but to cough up a hefty amount for internet access. The high cost of entry coupled with our unfortunate cap system has started people looking elsewhere for their bandwidth needs.

The turn to local internet is a good thing- it is stimulating local projects and innovation. While local is cheaper than international, it used to be free and should be again if only ICASA could get their wording right.

 

[WoW]

I have learnt something new.

 

[Blackhand]

There are completely legitimate reasons for using hefty amounts of data (100Gb) that don't involve piracy.

Very soon OnLive is coming as well, which will push the average Joes usage I would imagine close to 1TB per month if he wants HD quality gaming. Of course not here in South Africa, but everywhere else.

Average users would stream more, play more and share more (ie. actually use the internet) if bandwidth wasn't so restricted and priced so artificially high.

Back on topic, uncapped local bandwidth has great value if you know where to go. Telkom realized this back in 2005, and decided to introduce hard capping, so they could milk cash from local traffic as well (which essentially costs them nothing). It was a dirty move and hampered local internet growth.

Still though, local is making a come back. A big local cap has great value if you use a lot of local sites and game locally, even better if you can tunnel your traffic so it becomes international cap.

 

[WoW]

What a waste

I have learnt something new.

What a waste. I went to the local site area (www.locallist.co.za) excited about this new local area, yet I was so disappointed to always be requested for a login details and when I wanted to sign up, all I was presented with was "Invites only"

This is the thing, with international you do not have these issues but locally we do!