‘Free bandwidth campaign’ launched
The website, hosted at http://www.fbc.org.za/ , states that users should “stand up for your Internet rights with the Free Bandwidth Campaign. Demand your right to free local Internet. Act on 30 June 2007 to force Telkom to obey the laws of South Africa just like any other responsible corporate citizen.”
“The local bandwidth regulation was gazetted as Notice 1112 of 2006, and clearly defines ‘Local Bandwidth Usage’ to mean data that can be transferred from South African based Internet Protocol addresses’. Most importantly, Notice 1112 clearly states that ‘local bandwidth usage shall not be subject to any cap’. But ADSL users are all too well aware that when their monthly cap is reached, their internet connection is effectively switched off,” an article on the website reads.
When Telkom first launched ADSL in 2002, local bandwidth was uncapped and unlimited, and this model continued until November 2005 when hard capping was introduced. Telkom said that the change was needed to avoid abuse of the system.
In a recent meeting between Telkom, ICASA and MyADSL, which focused heavily on the local bandwidth capping issue, the incumbent operator was not willing to commit to either lifting local bandwidth allowances to 30 GB – as an interim compromise – or even opening local websites to capped users.
“To open local websites to capped users or even allow for 30 GB of ‘free’ local usage will not allow for the abuse previously reported by Telkom with uncapped local bandwidth, and it is regrettable that the company did not want to commit to these reasonable interim solutions,” said Rudolph Muller from MyADSL.
“We certainly believe that local bandwidth should be uncapped, un-metered and free, and we hope discussions between Telkom, ICASA and MyADSL can achieve this goal,” Muller concluded.
Test the network
According to the Free Bandwidth Campaign, Telkom claims its network cannot support the traffic of all ADSL users who are entitled to free local bandwidth.
“If it doesn’t have the capacity, it has no excuse not to invest in it. If Telkom does not have the capacity or invest, how will it be ready to provide network capacity for the 2010 Soccer World Cup?” the FBC website asks.
This campaign aims to test the Telkom ADSL network by asking users to download a free software application which will activate at midday, 30 June 2007. “It will connect to local sites and download as much local content as possible, in unison with the machines of thousands of concerned Netizens around the country.”
“It will put Telkom’s network to the test and prove whether or not Telkom can meet the needs of the people it is supposed to serve. It will throw open to the world the capacity and capability of Telkom’s network with results which will be collected and published.”
The FBC says that the program will uninstall itself automatically after this test and that it will leave no footprint on the user’s computer.
“Stop Telkom milking us, the Internet user, for profit. It’s time to Free Bandwidth and ‘cut the cap’,” the campaign email concludes.
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