Internet Solutions ADSL Capping Kicks In
Unlike most ADSL ISP accounts from SAIX where users are capped when they have reached their monthly allowance (like 3 GB), Internet Solutions have allowed free local usage (of up to 30 GB) after reaching their limit.
Until recently many IS customers were able to exceed this 30 GB limit, allowing users to download freely as long as the traffic was local. This ‘freedom’ has effectively come to an end this month with IS now enforcing their 30 GB hard cap limit much to the disappointment of some high-volume IS customers.
Many users have reported downloading up to 100 GB per month and are not entirely happy with the recent turn of events. Comments like “this is not making me love IS much more than Telkom ATM” and “Now I am stuck really” dominated the discussions regarding IS’s decision to enforce the cap.
Some users also feel that the policy is not entirely fair as it favours low-cap accounts. Since all accounts are hard capped at 30 GB, 10 GB accounts have 20 GB usage after reaching their ‘international’ cap while 3 GB accounts have 27 GB.
When IS announced that their ADSL ISP accounts will allow for up to 30G ‘free’ local usage after reaching the account cap it was widely welcomed by the ADSL community. The disappointment with the ‘new’ hard capping system is most likely because users have grown used to uncapped local accounts.
Internet Solutions said that they have been enforcing their 30 GB policy for the last few months already, and it are not entirely certain as to why some users got away with unlimited local usage.
IS further said that they will continue offering larger local caps as a means to stay one step ahead of Telkom and offer customers as much value as possible, but that they also have to protect their network against possible abuse which may occur in completely uncapped environments.
When Telkom launched their ADSL service back in 2002 it carried a 3GB international usage cap, but allowed for unlimited local use.
This changed to a hard-capping system after the launch of their usage based system in November 2005 where no differentiation is made between local and international traffic.
The change in capping policy from the incumbent was widely criticized by broadband consumers and ISP’s, especially because of the negative effect on the local IT market. ICASA’s ADSL Draft Regulations call for unmetered local bandwidth, something that will have a very positive impact on the South African IT industry.
It will be interesting to see how the Regulator handles Telkom’s new capping policy, which flies in the face of what ICASA has stipulated in their draft regulations regarding bandwidth restrictions.
In this regard IS appears to be more in line with ICASA’s wishes and in the process is effectively providing the support that the local IT industry needs.
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