Due to the prevailing trend of high bandwidth costs, Internet users in South Africa have become accustomed to preserving every precious megabyte of data at their disposal. Many ISPs offer local-only data packages which are cheaper than blended international bandwidth packages.<\/p>\n
ADSL traffic splitting applications<\/a> have been developed by valiant MyBroadband community members to help South African ADSL users better manage their blended and local accounts.<\/p>\n With local-only bandwidth packages typically dwelling in the 30GB region, what can one do with all that extra local data that accumulates near month end? Sites such as Local List<\/a> do a good job of aggregating links to local sources of media and downloadable content, but there is a world beyond HTTP to explore.<\/p>\n Usenet<\/strong><\/p>\n The Usenet is a logical network running on the global Internet system and is comprised of content servers that automatically propagate data between one another. Individual users may post or request ‘articles’ which fall into any number of categories, known as ‘newsgroups.’<\/p>\n In the case of file sharing, the term article refers to a single file on a Usenet server, and typically carries the extension *.nzb.<\/p>\n Each *.nzb file has a unique ID which ensures the correct file is accessed from a Usenet server.<\/p>\n IS and SAIX both host Usenet servers and in order to access them one needs an ADSL account with either. The SAIX server cannot be accessed with an IS account, and vice versa. The servers will cache articles for a certain period of time, and these cached files will download somewhat faster than uncached files.<\/p>\n Uncached files which are residing on international servers can still be downloaded through the local Usenet servers – all one need do is connect to the local server and request the relevant *.nzb file. There are a couple of private local servers such as NZBSA<\/a> and Newshost<\/a> but these are currently only open to new members through invitation.<\/p>\n In order to connect to a Usenet server a client program or Web-frontend is required. For Windows, Alt.Binz<\/a> or GrabIt<\/a> are popular choices. For Mac one can try Unison<\/a> and for Linux, Pan<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are Web-based frontends such as Google Groups<\/a> or Ninan<\/a>. A lengthy discussion on the Usenet can be found in the MyBroadband forums<\/a>.<\/p>\n Torrents <\/strong><\/p>\n There are a few local torrent trackers but they are typically closed groups reluctant to accept new members. Both Ninja Central<\/a> and BitFarm<\/a> currently appear closed to new membership registrations, but invitations might still be handed out by a friendly user.<\/p>\n GreenLab<\/a> seems to be taking membership applications to join their forums and from there one can post a request for an invitation.<\/p>\n File Transfer Protocol Servers<\/strong><\/p>\n The files on these servers can typically be explored and downloaded through a Web browser but an FTP client or browser extension usually streamlines the experience. One multiplatform client option is FileZilla<\/a>, or one can try the FireFTP add on<\/a> for Firefox.<\/p>\n The FTP servers contain numerous builds of free operating systems, productivity suites, applications, drivers and game patches. The amount of available content is rather extensive and will require some poking around to find everything on offer. Below is a list of some of the large public FTP servers one can access: Hopefully this overview of the local Internet scene will help ADSL users make the most of their local data packages.<\/p>\n
ftp:\/\/ftp.is.co.za<\/a>; ftp:\/\/ftp.saix.co.za\/<\/a>; ftp:\/\/ftp.up.ac.za<\/a>; ftp:\/\/ftp.mirror.ac.za<\/a>; ftp:\/\/ftp.uwc.ac.za<\/a>; ftp:\/\/ftp.agasa.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n