{"id":80747,"date":"2015-09-01T06:30:02","date_gmt":"2015-09-01T04:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=80747"},"modified":"2015-09-01T01:16:29","modified_gmt":"2015-08-31T23:16:29","slug":"the-adsl-shaping-and-throttling-policies-of-isps-in-sa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/broadband\/80747-the-adsl-shaping-and-throttling-policies-of-isps-in-sa","title":{"rendered":"The ADSL shaping and throttling policies of ISPs in SA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Uncapped ADSL services have attracted controversy since the term \u201cuncapped\u201d was first used to describe the offering\u00a0in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Whether due to service providers marketing post-paid usage-billed broadband as \u201cuncapped\u201d, degrading network quality, or pricing, complaints have followed the services for years.<\/p>\n

In 2010, MWEB changed the uncapped broadband landscape in South Africa when it launched affordable uncapped ADSL accounts<\/strong><\/a> that used shaping to manage traffic volumes rather than throttling.<\/p>\n

While some warned that MWEB\u2019s uncapped ADSL prices were not\u00a0sustainable, other Internet service providers soon followed suit \u2013 driving prices even lower.<\/p>\n

New classes of uncapped ADSL accounts emerged: cheaper home uncapped<\/em> services; premium uncapped<\/em> ADSL for more demanding users; and business uncapped<\/em> packages.<\/p>\n

However, the honeymoon did not last.<\/p>\n

Uncapped services came with a fair use policy (FUP) \u2013 which is also called an acceptable use policy (AUP) \u2013 and soon service providers had to implement these policies<\/strong><\/a> more strictly as subscribers stretched the capacity of their networks.<\/p>\n

This resulted in a consumer backlash, especially when MWEB announced it would throttle heavy users. Subscribers then demanded that ISPs reveal the usage thresholds at which their speeds would be decreased.<\/p>\n

Several years on, we asked some of South Africa\u2019s largest ISPs how they handle their uncapped ADSL accounts now.<\/p>\n

\n

MWEB<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Derek<\/a>

MWEB CEO Derek Hershaw.<\/p><\/div>\n

MWEB\u2019s usage thresholds are much the same as before, though the price of its 4Mbps Premium uncapped ADSL account has come down.<\/p>\n

The ISP said only downstream usage (downloading) is counted towards the threshold.<\/p>\n

Usage is measured over a 30-day rolling window and should you exceed the thresholds listed below, your speeds may be throttled.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
MWEB Uncapped ADSL account usage thresholds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Standard accounts<\/td>\nPrice<\/td>\nThreshold<\/td>\nR\/GB (before AUP)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
2Mbps<\/td>\nR199<\/td>\n\u00b170GB<\/td>\nR2.84<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4Mbps<\/td>\nR239<\/td>\n\u00b1110GB<\/td>\nR2.17<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6Mbps<\/td>\nR359<\/td>\n\u00b1150GB<\/td>\nR2.39<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10Mbps<\/td>\nR539<\/td>\n\u00b1250GB<\/td>\nR2.16<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Premium Accounts<\/td>\nPrice<\/td>\nThreshold<\/td>\nR\/GB (before AUP)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1Mbps<\/td>\nR199<\/td>\n\u00b1100GB<\/td>\nR1.99<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2Mbps<\/td>\nR369<\/td>\n\u00b1200GB<\/td>\nR1.85<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4Mbps<\/td>\nR539<\/td>\n\u00b1400GB<\/td>\nR1.35<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6Mbps<\/td>\nR699<\/td>\n\u00b1600GB<\/td>\nR1.17<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10Mbps<\/td>\nR999<\/td>\n\u00b1950GB<\/td>\nR1.05<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Prices listed are for MWEB\u2019s account-only options<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n
\n

Webafrica<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"WebAfrica<\/a><\/p>\n

Webafrica classifies uncapped subscribers into various categories based on their usage, and applies throttling and shaping rules accordingly.<\/p>\n

Home uncapped subscribers are rated according to a 5-tier \u201cStar Rating\u201d system (5 being the highest), while Business uncapped users are classified into one of three categories based on their usage patterns.<\/p>\n

Usage for both home and business uncapped accounts is measured over a 10-day rolling window, and\u00a0traffic between midnight and 06:00\u00a0is not counted towards the\u00a0usage.<\/p>\n

Web Africa noted that deprioritisation will usually\u00a0only take effect when the network is under load, so a low star rating will not always mean you will see degraded performance if there is spare network capacity available.<\/p>\n

Network load is\u00a0higher during office hours, so you may expect slower performance for non-crucial services and protocols during that period on a lower star rating.<\/p>\n

The table below details the rating system Webafrica and Internet Solutions uses to determine how to shape home uncapped users.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Webafrica Home Uncapped Star Rating<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Service\/protocol<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Voice over IP<\/td>\nGood<\/td>\nHigh<\/td>\nHigh<\/td>\nVery High<\/td>\nTop<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gaming<\/td>\nGood<\/td>\nHigh<\/td>\nHigh<\/td>\nVery High<\/td>\nTop<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Video & Audio streaming<\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nGood<\/td>\nHigh<\/td>\nVery High<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Secure web (HTTPS)<\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nGood<\/td>\nHigh<\/td>\nVery High<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Security (VPN)<\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nGood<\/td>\nHigh<\/td>\nVery High<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
File Transfer<\/td>\nBest effort<\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nGood<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Peer-to-peer<\/td>\nBest effort<\/td>\nBest effort<\/td>\nBest effort<\/td>\nBest effort<\/td>\nBest effort<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other<\/td>\nBest effort<\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nGood<\/td>\nGood<\/td>\nHigh<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

The next table summarises the category system Webafrica uses for its business uncapped accounts.<\/p>\n

As with its home uncapped product, usage is measured over a 10-day rolling window.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Webafrica business uncapped categories<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Category<\/strong><\/td>\nGreat experience<\/td>\nAffected<\/td>\nHarshly Affected<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Description<\/strong><\/td>\nGreat usage on all services and usage types<\/td>\nHigh volume protocols throttled to 10% line speed between 06:00 and 18:00<\/td>\nSevere traffic management. All usage types affected. Throttled to 5-10% of line speed.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Users impacted<\/strong><\/td>\nAround 95%<\/td>\nAround 5%<\/td>\nLess than 0.1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Why you would be placed in this category<\/strong><\/td>\nYour usage within a 10-day rolling window falls within average usage patterns.<\/td>\nYour usage within a 10-day rolling window was flagged as being very high in hours 06:00-18:00 and\/or 18:00-00:00. High usage from midnight to 06:00 does not affect your category.<\/td>\nYour usage within a 1\u2013day rolling window was flagged as being extremely high in hours 06:00-00:00. High usage from midnight to 06:00 does not affect your category.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

Different accounts are further grouped under bandwidth profiles<\/a><\/strong>, which assign priorities to specific types of Internet traffic.<\/p>\n

\n

Telkom Internet<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"Telkom<\/a><\/p>\n

One could argue that Telkom Internet\u2019s basic \u201cSoftCap\u201d product is a kind of uncapped service.<\/p>\n

While these accounts do come with a \u201ccap\u201d, the ISP doesn\u2019t cut you off \u2013\u00a0throttling your speed instead.<\/p>\n

Usage from midnight to 07:00 does not count towards the cap, and you can also buy a bolt-on for gaming traffic for R49 per month that gives you unlimited data to services such as Steam, Battle.net, and PlayStation Network.<\/p>\n

On its uncapped accounts, Telkom Internet\u2019s fair use policy is more generic. Those with higher usage patterns during peak periods will be subject to\u00a0Telkom\u2019s fair use policy<\/strong><\/a>, the ISP said.<\/p>\n

Similar to its SoftCap account and Webafrica\u2019s uncapped services, Telkom said uncapped subscribers who schedule downloads for\u00a0off-peak periods between midnight and 07:00 will be able to generate a lot more usage.<\/p>\n

\n

Afrihost<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"Afrihost<\/a><\/p>\n

Afrihost said it doesn\u2019t implement thresholds on uncapped accounts, and instead uses shaping based on overall network demand.<\/p>\n

The ISP said it analyses subscriber usage patterns, including the amount of data moved and the period over which data was moved, and indexes them accordingly.<\/p>\n

Therefore, a client who uses 100GB in a day would be considered a heavier user than a client who moved 100GB in a week.<\/p>\n

An algorithm then determines which users should be shaped, from heaviest first to lightest users last, in order to meet demand.<\/p>\n

When overall demand decreases, users are unshaped using the same index \u2013 from the lightest users first to the heaviest users last.<\/p>\n

\n

Cybersmart<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Lauri<\/a>

Laurie Fialkov.<\/p><\/div>\n

Cybersmart said it does not implement a straight-up usage-based indexing or threshold system.<\/p>\n

Instead, its thresholds are based\u00a0on the profitability per user.<\/p>\n

Its acceptable usage policy kicks in when the rate per Gigabyte it recovers\u00a0from subscribers is too low to be sustainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously as bandwidth prices drop, that will naturally adjust the thresholds \u2013 assuming we do not have to drop prices,\u201d said Cybersmart.<\/p>\n

\n

This article originally appeared on MyBroadband<\/a> and is republished with permission.<\/h4>\n

More local internet connectivity news<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fastest and highest average ADSL speeds in South Africa<\/a><\/p>\n

Most affordable uncapped ADSL deals in South Africa<\/a><\/p>\n

50Mbps uncapped, unshaped fibre-to-the-home for just R1, 350<\/a><\/p>\n

Most affordable capped ADSL data bundles<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An insight into the state of uncapped ADSL in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":80759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8812],"tags":[15657,293,2289,15655,2674,1567,15651,15653,15649,4964,217,15647,2776,15645,291,3987],"class_list":["post-80747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadband","tag-acceptable-use-policy","tag-adsl","tag-afrihost","tag-aup","tag-broadband-1","tag-cybersmart","tag-fair-use-policy","tag-fup","tag-internet-connectivity","tag-isp","tag-mweb","tag-shaping","tag-telkom-internet","tag-throttling","tag-uncapped","tag-webafrica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}