Disgruntled Sentech MyWireless users have lashed out at Sentech again, saying the company's "excuses" don't hold water.
Following weeks of complaints, including the launch of a number of anti-Sentech Web sites, Sentech this week issued a series of statements and held a media briefing to explain why problems had occurred with its MyWireless service. The company promised to improve matters.
Among other things, Sentech stated that the reason for bandwidth problems was that some users were "abusing" the network.
"The past three months have shown that there are a small number of customers whose usage can be termed as 'network abuse' in terms of the paragraph headed 'excess utilisation of network resources' in our acceptable use policy," said Sentech's executive of sales and marketing, Marcel Raath, earlier this week.
"All users have accepted, and agreed to abide by, this policy and non-compliance is resulting in degradation, creating a knock-on effect for all MyWireless users."
Sentech free-for-all?
Creator of the mywirelessucks.co.za site, Roelf Diedericks, says he has found that Sentech's MyWireless proxy servers are "transparent", and therefore available for use by anyone - not only MyWireless subscribers.
An article on poopband.co.za outlines which Sentech ports are open for connection by any user.
Diedericks explains: "Sentech uses transparent proxy servers, called Netcache, to optimise use of international bandwidth. Sentech has two for the MyWireless network; they are typically configured securely so only subscribers can access them. But Sentech's are open proxy servers, so anyone in the world can use them.
"Every capped ADSL user looks for another transparent proxy server around the 15th of the month once they run out of available bandwidth. Sentech's have been listed on at least five of these public lists," he says.
"Not only are MyWireless users competing with each other for bandwidth, they are competing with everyone else in the world."
ITWeb readers also criticised Sentech for its statement that it does not cap its service, but that it will cut off users who exceed prescribed bandwidth usage.
Commenting in ITWeb's feedback section, many readers noted that a major drawcard to Sentech had been a statement on its home page that MyWireless "provides unlimited Internet access at one flat fee, across any network, any device from anywhere".
Readers said that by profiling users and cutting off service, Sentech provides limited access, contrary to its claims.
Sentech marketing GM Michelle Potgieter says the company is aware of the reports on transparency and reiterates that Sentech is in the process of dealing with existing problems.
"Sentech is currently in the process of refining the network, and progressive changes are being implemented on a daily basis. It is envisaged that the full changes will be implemented within the next six weeks."
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