Your voice needed for SA broadband

[rpm]

MyBroadband, with the help of Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions, is assisting the Department of Communications (DoC) in the direction which they will take regarding their broadband policy making.

MyBroadband will provide the DoC with written submissions for both its future broadband vision and for the country’s ICT Policy.

This is where you come in. We need you to share your knowledge on what you think should be done to boost broadband in South Africa and how ICT policy and be improved in the country.

All relevant comments will be included in our official submissions to the DoC, giving you a voice into the DoC’s policy making and planning.

We are even throwing in an Apple iPad 3 for the best comment, so please share your thoughts in the threads below. No spam comments please – only high quality submissions will be considered.

--What needs to be done to sort out broadband in South Africa?

--National Broadband Network (NBN) for South Africa?

--ICT Policy DoC feedback

 

[Ho3n3r]

Naked ADSL for the win!

 

[stjulien]

Broadband takes many forms , its application can be argued till the cows come home .
The bottom line as I see it ,is that WIMAX or a similar technology whith its inherant large footprint ( a WIMAX transmitter can support a 50km radius ) is the only way to guarantee penetration to the rural areas .

In my case Northern Drakensberb where the only form of "fast" internet is fed by microwave links and businesses are forced to use 128kb leased lines that cost upwards of R3k pm how is that affordable ?
Put WIMAX in and not only will business apreciate the proper high speed internet but so will the many rural comunities with the schools , the rest will take care of itself, but only if the infrastructure is put in place.

Up till now Telkom has not installed WIMAX or similar in these areas as its concerned for ROI , instead they install in Cities where 3G and ADSL are the order of the day?
Come on guys look a littel further , if the next generation are not given a foot up then what hope have we ?

Never mind all the secondary benifits that come with fast internet.

 

[Faultyboy]

We need to move away from copper and towards fiber to homes.. and better wireless capabilities like the mentioned wimax..

 

[bekdik]

Telkom's stranglehold on ADSL needs to be broken for two reasons:

1. Lack of competition.
2. Lack of resource. Telkom's network is becoming the major bottleneck.

 

[Reelix]

Dear People In Charge,

C:\ping 165.165.38.147
(The IP if the local Google Server.)

See those numbers that appear?

If the "time" is higher than "30ms" - Then something is wrong with the lines (Less than 10ms would be awesome.)

The lower those numbers are, the happier the people with internet will be (Some awesome countries have that sitting at 1ms, and those people are VERY happy )

Hint: To fix it, run a:

C:\tracert 165.165.38.147

To see where the problems are.

Thanks for your time,

- A South African Internet User

 

[ichigo]

Telkom's stranglehold on ADSL needs to be broken for two reasons:

1. Lack of competition.
2. Lack of resource. Telkom's network is becoming the major bottleneck.

From what I read it needs to be posted in one of three threads to enter and same with others here

 

[mne_GK]

Well.. I think the best solution would be to have free WiFi Hopspots EVERYWHERE .. And maybe they would use a proxy server.. You could sign up on a website register a username and password you'll use to access the internet via that proxy.. And you could buy data at reduced prices.. Maybe R50 for 5GB .. The Wifi should be Accessible everywhere in the country if not 90% of.. Small towns.. Major cities.. Malls.. Universities.. Suburbs.. Townships.. Schools.. EVERYWHERE!!!

 

[pjjdp]

Naked fibre to the home.

Nough said

 

[tonnies]

As an internet user who don't know all the technical lingo, I think we should get cheaper internet prices so that everybody can get access. Some people in rural areas still don't even know how to get onto the Internet, because they never had access to it. More access means more demand for broadband, and a better competitiveness in the global Internet arena.

Cheaper Internet applies to 3G as well. For some people this is the only way to get onto the Internet, and high prices restricting them is restricting South Africa from supplying a digital product.

 

[g-d-zilla]

From what I read it needs to be posted in one of three threads to enter and same with others here

All ADSL speeds need to be increased free of charge. We already pay more than sufficient for our ADSL service(s)..

 

[bengine]

* Replace ICASA with something that has a pair
* Focus on Fibre (campaign to inform that ripping up fibre not the same as ripping up copper)
* Kill the ADSL Telkom subscription cost
* Kill interconnect fees
* Unbundle the local loop - allow competition into exchange and to supply connection to households / businesses
* WiMAX and other wireless technologies - only as an absolute last resort and then take heed of growing information on dangers these technologies potentially pose.

 

[Pavan]

My advice to the DoC - set up the necessary processes to effectively manage convergence amongst the many misaligned policies and procedures. Wireless and Fixed line will both play pivotal roles in true broadband penetration, the key is to allow these technologies to leverage of one another to produce the most efficient solution.

Here's some useful advice for our Government from the broadband strategies toolkit:

• 
  ■Government should focus on maximizing competition, including removal of entry barriers and improving the incentives and climate for private investment
  ■Government should provide for specific, limited, and well-justified public funding interventions only in exceptional circumstances (e.g., where governments are trying to promote growth of underdeveloped markets).
  ■Government funding or policy should not compete with or displace private sector investment.
  ■Government should maintain a level playing field for competition even with public investments by avoiding favoring one company (or access technology, e.g., telephony vs. cable) over another.
  ■Subsidized networks should be open access (i.e., offering capacity or access to all market participants in a nondiscriminatory way).
  ■Government may need to regulate dominant providers to avoid market concentration or other adverse impacts on overall market competition.
  ■Government should eliminate barriers to content creation and refrain from blocking access to content, including social networking sites, or restricting local content creation.
  

And lastly, there is a MASSIVE need for aggressive government policies to generate demand, expand networks, and reach underserved areas and communities.

 

[Deanos]

WOW! This is a tricky subject to focus on! Too many problems and the wrong people to try and deal with them!

OK, let's start...

1) Get more stable lines! One day I connect at 6-7MB, next day it connects at 2-3MB! They have been digging up the roads for months now, laying huge orange fibre optic cables everywhere, but I still don't see any difference! They said that they were combating the issue of distance from the DSLAM's by "bringing them closer" using fibre optic! Just too unstable if it is already in effect!

2) Telkom control the market! That reminds me, what ever happened to AT&T coming here a few years back...? OH Yes! Government wanted too much! So, between the current government and Telkom, we are a bit screwed on this one!

3) Telkom had better catch a wake up before the mobile broadband knock them out totally! I just cannot believe that their own mobile products (8ta) actually work out cheaper that their fixed line products!

So, in a nut shell... Stabilize the lines, upgrade/update the exchanges and take note of what others are doing price-wise in the market!

 

[KagisoMadihlaba]

I would love to have cheaper,faster and more reliable broadband packages.I hate dropped out connections especially when downloading

 

[yusufwadee]

Main thing would be the price, i believe if cheaper more people would use it, 2nd, quality of support service, have someone that knows whats happening when you have an issue, 3rd would be speed, also if we get faster speeds, it needs to be stable at that speed

 

[Superspeed]

1) Peer all cache servers to avoid unnecessary bandwidth usage
2) Naked ADSL
3) Drop the MTR to 20 cents
4) Get the Minister of Communications and ICASA to stop messing around and start doing their jobs.
5) Relax the barriers to entry on cellular and spectrum networks.

 

[BrendanMc]

When does this close?

 

[uncapped_shady]

I just had a thought that would almost certainly guarantee better up time and speeds.
That would be to incorporate broadband to homes by means of satellite. You would have a satellite dish mounted on your roof or wall that gets "tuned in" to face a central satellite that in turns distributes broadband to your home.
I mean think of DSTV and how it works, and the idea doesn't sound that far fetched at all to supply bandwidth to homes by using that means.

The problems it will solve are the following:>Cable theft would not affect your internet
>No cables to get wet or disturbed by your homes electric fence for instance
>Limits the amount of technical staff required to go and repair faulty cards on the
exchanges in all the different areas (as there won't be any )
>Have internet in hard to reach places or where laying copper or fiber is not possible
>The satellite signal has no limitation with regards to range.

the only cons i can think of would simply be that you could experience broadband issues when the weather gets really bad or will it?

Anyways, i thought that with the ever-changing technology this would be a really cool way to have internet almost anywhere.

 

[BrendanMc]

Guys,

You need to post in one of the following sections, and not here.

--What needs to be done to sort out broadband in South Africa?

--National Broadband Network (NBN) for South Africa?

--ICT Policy DoC feedback

See the original post on Page 1 by RPM.

Thanks