Will we ever match the u.k

Well iburst has said they will be offering 24meg connections for R400 in select estates.

We just need LLU for things to move faster.
 
killadoob said:
Maybe if we can reverse the 70%-80% poor we have in this country.
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Agreed. Take these stats into account:

SA:
Unemployment 25% :sick:
GDP per capita around $5000 :sick:

UK:
Unemployment 7%
GDP per capita around $43000

Australia:
Unemployment 5%
GDP per capita around $37000
 
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I think it's a mistake to look at the country as one big whole. I would like to see the cities getting faster speeds than the smaller towns, atleast initially. It's better than always holding back.

The thing which changes everything is fiber. Once a piece of fiber goes passed your driveway, you essentially are linked to near infinite bandwidth. I don't see why that person should then wait, i say link them up and give them super high speeds.
 
Why is everyone looking at % of population and not absolute numbers? Also, if you limit the stats to Johannesburg, Cape Town and a few of the main cities, the stats are much better, I mean all we need is better internet in these areas for now
 
gregmcc said:
SA:
Unemployment 25% :sick:
GDP per capita around $5000 :sick:
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Why do we have so many work less people?? BECAUSE WE HAVE A HUGE LACK IN SKILLED WORKERS!!!!..... If the government had only left the old education system as it was we wouldn't be having this problems... We are not even moving forward, may just barely but year after year this country is getting worse and worse, I'm not surprised it we end up like Zimbabwe:erm:
 
Arion said:
Why is everyone looking at % of population and not absolute numbers? Also, if you limit the stats to Johannesburg, Cape Town and a few of the main cities, the stats are much better, I mean all we need is better internet in these areas for now
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So the poor chaps in smaller places don't count?

My dad lives in Rhyl, North Wales, UK (look it up on GoogleMaps) ... it's a tiny little place on the northern shore of Wales ... NoWhereVille deluxe ... he's got 8Mb/s internet (which he hardly uses!) for GBP12 (+/-R190) ... and I had to explain the concept of capping to him ... he'd never heard of it.

The moment we start "limiting" the demographic we are looking at, we are being dishonest.

We just have to realize that we are a larger, lower density, lower GDP country & that it's NOT going to change ... It might improve, but it's impossible for use to match the UK, Netherlands, etc (Maybe Australia ... same type of geographical challenges ... however they have a much stronger work ethic there, so unless we change our mindset, we won't match them either)
 
cavedog said:
But don't you think that the high prices in communication and technology is the reason for very poor social development and poverty in the county/ I mean there would be millions more broadband subscribers if it was like R250 for 100mbs unlimited.
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Personally I think it would. But the "mentality" in South Africa doesn't work like that. Here if something is in demand, the prices INCREASE, instead of decrease like the do everywhere else in the world.

Recently while in the UK, EVERYONE I went to visit had ADSL. One friend doesn't even have a PC/Laptop at home but he had it. When I asked him why, He said because it came with the option he had selected for SKY and at least now when people like me came over they could use it. I almost cried when I found it it was a 8Meg line that he never used.

I was also reading in the paper, that the Borough of Swindon would be providing the entire town with free puplic wireless this year. Line rental will be free, It was not full speed and would be capped to a limit as well where customers could buy more or upgrade to 20meg if they wanted. This they said would allow "poorer" people to at least use the internet for the basics such as email and school projects that required research.

Personally I don't expect to see anything like this in SA for a very long time to come
 
pmbellis said:
So the poor chaps in smaller places don't count?

My dad lives in Rhyl, North Wales, UK (look it up on GoogleMaps) ... it's a tiny little place on the northern shore of Wales ... NoWhereVille deluxe ... he's got 8Mb/s internet (which he hardly uses!) for GBP12 (+/-R190) ... and I had to explain the concept of capping to him ... he'd never heard of it.

The moment we start "limiting" the demographic we are looking at, we are being dishonest.

We just have to realize that we are a larger, lower density, lower GDP country & that it's NOT going to change ... It might improve, but it's impossible for use to match the UK, Netherlands, etc (Maybe Australia ... same type of geographical challenges ... however they have a much stronger work ethic there, so unless we change our mindset, we won't match them either)
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My point is, its better to get the service to the middle and upper class, rather than no one at all. And I dont see why you cant limit the demographic, I mean technically a border of a country is 'man made' (or arbitrary in a way), unless you take tax and laws into account but those have little to do with this

And what do you mean when you say Australia has a stronger 'work ethic'?

And I really dont see why its not possible, your reasons are no excuse for our poor service from Telkom, have u seen there profits?
 
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The trick imho to getting better broadband in this country is to get more users, even if they dont have dsl etc.
for example Lets say you set up a Wifi mesh in Soweto you know have 3 million odd people with internet access. now lets say you charge them a set fee of R20/gig or even less if government subsidies you have now grown our broadband base from 5 to 8million people. Then you let ISP's in with acces to these large cables say giving 20mb/s but with a huge contention ratio so each person logging on will get a minimum of 512/384 but they still have internet access which is better than nothing.
As to them actually using something to see the web. Chinese have small netbooks for R1000 im sure you could get these in here and people could pay them off over a period of months.
 
Kalvaer said:
When I asked him why, He said because it came with the option he had selected for SKY and at least now when people like me came over they could use it. I almost cried when I found it it was a 8Meg line that he never used.
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The difference between UK and SA, is that broadband availability is being driven by the government. Its pretty much the same across all of Europe, or at least Western Europe. The UK needs to be competitive with them, so this is why its high on the governments priority. The infrastructure is too expensive to rely soley on private companies, hence the gov investment. They are pushing to upgrade to fibre optics and to extend coverage further(there are still places in UK that dont have broadband)and a going to be adding 50p onto everyones phone bill to help fund it.

Until you can get the SA Gov to drive this, broadband in SA will remain a "hobby."
 
Comparing us to the UK is pointless. We got what 4 cables? They've got plenty to many to mention and they got the sterling. Ferrari vs mini you can also go fast but not that fast and not in style. :-( Not enough is being done to get access to the people of our country especialy learners, in schools that have a matric failure rate of 100%, bet you none of them had access to the internet and if they did they might have passed. :-P

I vote for ADSL line rentals to be taken away. I mean the phone line is already connected. Its the same copper wire. Its daylight robbery. Most of the circuit its problematic anyway it - port errors!!?? eish. This will surely make it affordible for all.

Comparing us to other African countries...? Middle African countries, those people have better services than us and that is an outcry at the prices we pay.
 
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