[N]Haja
17 Aug 2006, 21:20
Good news if they can pull it off, bad news if it just kills our BW even more :
The ICASA ADSL Regulations, of which ITWeb received an early copy, brings some good news for consumers although the pricing of ADSL is not really addressed. The two most contentious issues among ADSL subscribers are the high ADSL access charges and the low monthly usage limits. These two issues seemed to have been left untouched by the regulations.
The regulations call for a pricing structure of an installation charge, a ‘monthly rental for provisioning and maintenance of ADSL lines’ and a bandwidth charge. It is however not clear whether the ‘monthly rental’ refers to the current line rental or current ADSL access charges.
Should the ‘monthly rental’ that is being referred to be the same as the current ADSL access charges it means that the basic ADSL pricing structure will remain unchanged.
Good News
There is however a fair amount of good news for ADSL users in the regulations.
The regulations call for uncapped local bandwidth, something that will definitely boost the local IT and broadband arena.
It is interesting to note that Telkom’s initial ADSL offering, launched in 2002, had uncapped local bandwidth, but that changed on the 1st of November 2005 with the introduction of usage-based bandwidth billing.
More good news for consumers is that the regulations call for an installation period of no longer than 30 days. It further states that port prioritization, also known as traffic shaping, shall not be allowed.
A very interesting regulation is that it calls for guaranteed minimum broadband speeds. This is, according to the regulations, to ensure that the service does not lose its broadband characteristics.
Currently ADSL is a best-effort service, and this regulation will provide consumers with some protection against vastly oversubscribed offerings. Here the regulations also call for the publication of ‘key performance indicators’ including contention ratios, average latency and packet loss.
Other good news for consumers is that the regulations call for no periodic resets of the ADSL service, something that should give users static IP addresses.
Some consumer concerns addressed
The ICASA ADSL regulations will most likely not have a significant influence on the pricing of the service, but it should improve service levels.
Faster install times, uncapped local bandwidth, un-prioritized traffic, guaranteed minimum throughput and a service level agreement will give consumers something to smile about.
ICASA has indicated that they will address the ADSL pricing issues after it has received Telkom’s COA/CAM reports, and it is hoped that this will result in significant reductions in the price of ADSL.
source : www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=3907
The ICASA ADSL Regulations, of which ITWeb received an early copy, brings some good news for consumers although the pricing of ADSL is not really addressed. The two most contentious issues among ADSL subscribers are the high ADSL access charges and the low monthly usage limits. These two issues seemed to have been left untouched by the regulations.
The regulations call for a pricing structure of an installation charge, a ‘monthly rental for provisioning and maintenance of ADSL lines’ and a bandwidth charge. It is however not clear whether the ‘monthly rental’ refers to the current line rental or current ADSL access charges.
Should the ‘monthly rental’ that is being referred to be the same as the current ADSL access charges it means that the basic ADSL pricing structure will remain unchanged.
Good News
There is however a fair amount of good news for ADSL users in the regulations.
The regulations call for uncapped local bandwidth, something that will definitely boost the local IT and broadband arena.
It is interesting to note that Telkom’s initial ADSL offering, launched in 2002, had uncapped local bandwidth, but that changed on the 1st of November 2005 with the introduction of usage-based bandwidth billing.
More good news for consumers is that the regulations call for an installation period of no longer than 30 days. It further states that port prioritization, also known as traffic shaping, shall not be allowed.
A very interesting regulation is that it calls for guaranteed minimum broadband speeds. This is, according to the regulations, to ensure that the service does not lose its broadband characteristics.
Currently ADSL is a best-effort service, and this regulation will provide consumers with some protection against vastly oversubscribed offerings. Here the regulations also call for the publication of ‘key performance indicators’ including contention ratios, average latency and packet loss.
Other good news for consumers is that the regulations call for no periodic resets of the ADSL service, something that should give users static IP addresses.
Some consumer concerns addressed
The ICASA ADSL regulations will most likely not have a significant influence on the pricing of the service, but it should improve service levels.
Faster install times, uncapped local bandwidth, un-prioritized traffic, guaranteed minimum throughput and a service level agreement will give consumers something to smile about.
ICASA has indicated that they will address the ADSL pricing issues after it has received Telkom’s COA/CAM reports, and it is hoped that this will result in significant reductions in the price of ADSL.
source : www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=3907