Johannesburg, 12 Aug 2003
The greatest dissatisfaction with SA`s asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) service has been with the monthly download limit of 3GB. Local Internet service providers (ISPs) have responded by extending the Telkom service by introducing a variety of solutions involving load balancing and utilising additional user names.
Telkom`s corporate communications senior manager Hans Van der Groenendaal says ADSL is aimed at providing fast Internet access for the residential and small business market and is optimised for that.
"However, for those who wish to use ADSL for peer-to-peer connections, Telkom is investigating the possibility of introducing an additional ADSL service." He says such a service will require expensive international bandwidth and will therefore cost more.
Meanwhile, ISPs like Tiscali are making additional user names available to subscribers, effectively increasing the download limit by 3GB with each additional user name or ADSL plug-in purchased.
Tiscali`s business-to-consumer manager Michelle Branco says although Telkom aimed the ADSL at the small business market, up to 70% of ADSL users are online gamers and downloaders of MP3 and video. She says Tiscali decided to offer additional "raw plugs" after Telkom conceded it was "powerless to block this method of bypassing the 3GB cap".
Telkom says although this approach may increase the cap, it does not increase the capacity of peer-to-peer communication required by those who are most dissatisfied with the initial ADSL offering.
For small businesses wishing to make the best use of what ADSL provides within the constraints set by Telkom, some business solution providers have introduced the necessary load balancing between up to five simultaneous ADSL links.
Network Sentinel Solutions director Gregory Nietsky says his company is offering server-based software that manages the connectivity. "Each additional ADSL link from a client`s ISP is dedicated to a specific service and allocated a service level to ensure the 3GB limit is not reached before month-end."
Nietsky says to achieve the benchmark of downloading 20GB a month, a user would need about seven ADSL links, and although this will cost around R3 000 each month, "it`s a lot cheaper than the R5 000 to R6 000 it would cost for a leased-line".
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