Nashua Mobile and WebAfrica recently announced that they would begin selling uncapped ADSL accounts. They also revealed that as with other uncapped offerings in SA, theirs would also be subject to an acceptable use policy (AUP).<\/p>\n
An AUP, also sometimes referred to as a fair use policy (FUP),\u00a0often allows the Internet service provider (ISP) to throttle or shape traffic on its network, usually with the stated aim to supply bandwidth fairly among its users.<\/p>\n
Some of these policies explicitly define the thresholds a user has to reach before being throttled, while others are vague.<\/p>\n
To see how the FUPs of various uncapped ADSL ISPs compare, we’ve reproduced the relevant sections from each below.<\/p>\n
We will manage bandwidth usage to the best of our ability during peak periods, however, it remains a best effort service.<\/p>\n
We reserve the right to manage our network in order to optimize its efficiency for the benefit of all our subscribers, including, without limitation, by way of the following:<\/p>\n
We may take any other action we deem appropriate in order to help ensure the integrity of the network experience for all subscribers, including limiting your data traffic by controlling your network and\/or bandwidth usage.<\/p>\n
We manage all of our uncapped accounts on an hour to hour basis depending on the performance of our network at that time.<\/p>\n
It is our goal to ensure the best possible experience for both the biggest and smallest of our clients given the parameters we have and as such we reserve the right to manage Uncapped ADSL accounts as we deem necessary to ensure optimal performance across our network for all of our clients.<\/p>\n
justSurf \/ yourSurf<\/strong><\/p>\n This uncapped account is for web-based e-mail and browsing. It is not suitable for application-to-application and\/or application-to-server services and downloading is restricted.<\/p>\n justUncapped \/ Uncapped<\/strong><\/p>\n This account is governed by a priority system.<\/p>\n Internet Solutions will calculate your usage on an hourly basis against the average usage across all Uncapped users. If you fall within the top 20% of users (384k, 512k & 1024k accounts) or top 50% (4096k account), your traffic priority will be lessened by lowering your star rating on the network.<\/p>\n Users with a higher star rating will have a better experience.<\/p>\n Axxess says that if there\u2019s no congestion (mostly after hours), even a 1-star account can have a good experience. This is because the network is designed to make all available bandwidth accessible to its users.<\/p>\n justUncapped Express+ \/ ADSL Uncapped Fibre<\/strong><\/p>\n Daytime Policy<\/em><\/p>\n Should a product threshold be exceeded during any 10 consecutive calendar day period, the speed for the respective service will be halved between 08:00 and 20:00 during weekdays.<\/p>\n After Hours Policy<\/em><\/p>\n Between 8pm and 8am the account speed will be restored to full line speed up to 10Mbps (not account speed).<\/p>\n Similar to normal uncapped account, this account is governed by a priority system, but only throttles if you fall within the top 20% of users.<\/p>\n Telkom has explicitly defined daytime throttling policies for their \u201cup to\u201d 384kbps and 1024kbps accounts.<\/p>\n However, Telkom also has a FUP in place in the event that they need further control over network capacity when there is \u201cexcessive usage\u201d.<\/p>\n When asked what \u201cexcessive\u201d means, Telkom\u2019s Steven White said that it is difficult to put a number on it, as it\u2019s not about the usage necessarily but about the effect that usage has on other subscribers.<\/p>\n \u201c500GB is probably excessive, but if the rest of the pool allows it to happen, then it will happen,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n Nashua Mobile calls their AUP a \u201cfair service for all policy\u201d and it looks exactly like the Internet Solutions AUP.<\/p>\n Usage is monitored on a rolling 10 day period and does not reset at the beginning of each month, Nashua Mobile said. Should usage remain less than 80% of the average user for each product, the service will remain unaffected.<\/p>\n If your usage exceeds 80% of the average user, then the following levels of moderation start kicking in:<\/p>\n WebAfrica also has an AUP that is based on a rolling window, similar to that of IS.<\/p>\n Where it differs from Internet Solutions, however, is that there are two windows and data limits are explicitly defined.<\/p>\n Usage between 00:00 and 07:00 doesn\u2019t contribute to overall usage.<\/p>\n WebAfrica and Telkom, two of the newer entrants into the uncapped ADSL market, have the most straight-forward AUPs with well defined throttling conditions.<\/p>\n Mweb and Afrihost continue to have vague policies, while Internet Solutions offers some idea of how they calculate throttling thresholds but with no way for users to know when their rating will be reduced.<\/p>\n It is encouraging to see so many players in the market offering a variety of consumer uncapped products. Subscribers that wanted a more clearly defined AUP for uncapped ADSL can now choose an ISP that has one.<\/p>\n Web Africa unveils home uncapped ADSL service<\/a><\/p>\n Nashua Mobile\u00a0launches unshaped, uncapped ADSL<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n
\n Connection speed<\/th>\n 10 day rolling window<\/th>\n Lowered to<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n 384kbps (192kbps upload)<\/td>\n 5GB<\/td>\n 192kbps<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 512kbps (256kbps upload)<\/td>\n 10GB<\/td>\n 256kbps<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1024kbps (384kbps upload)<\/td>\n 20GB<\/td>\n 512kbps<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n Telkom uncapped ADSL fair use policy<\/h3>\n
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\n Uncapped Internet Products<\/strong><\/th>\n Daytime Restrictions<\/strong><\/th>\n Internet Uncapped Price<\/strong><\/th>\n ADSL Line Price<\/strong><\/th>\n Combined Price<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n\n \n Do Uncapped 384kbps<\/td>\n \n \n
R219<\/td>\n R152<\/td>\n R371<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Do Uncapped 1Mbps<\/td>\n \n \n
R369<\/td>\n R289<\/td>\n R658<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Do Uncapped 4\/10Mbps<\/td>\n None<\/td>\n R2,097<\/td>\n R413<\/td>\n R2,510<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n Nashua Mobile \u201cfair service for all policy\u201d<\/h3>\n
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WebAfrica acceptable use policy<\/h3>\n
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\n \nPackage<\/th>\n 6 hour limit in GB<\/th>\n 7 day limit in GB<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Home Uncapped 384kbps<\/td>\n 0.305<\/td>\n 4.25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Home Uncapped 1Mbps<\/td>\n 0.79<\/td>\n 11.07<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Home Uncapped 4Mbps<\/td>\n 3.165<\/td>\n 44.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Home Uncapped 10Mbps<\/td>\n 7.91<\/td>\n 110.74<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n Conclusion<\/h3>\n
Related links<\/h3>\n