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FREE NEWSPAPER IN SA Aangewys as die Nr. 1 Onderdeleverskaffer in die Wes-kaap (Die Burger, 30 Oktober 2017). Baie dankie aan al ons kliënte en verskaffers vir u volgehoue ondersteuning en aan ons lojale personeel vir hul toewyding. By Goeie Hoop Onderdele gaan ons uit ons pad om ons klante tevrede te stel. TROTSE DIENS
Woensdag, 4 April 2018 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | e-pos: nuus@tygerburger.co.za
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Blitse in Kaap van Storms Leser Jacques Smith van Brackenfell het die ongelooflike oomblik vasgelê toe ’n donderstorm verlede Woensdagaand in die Kaap uitgebreek het. Die foto is in Proteahoogte geneem. FOTO: JACQUES SMITH
BRACKENFELL FIBRE: COMPLAINTS OVER SLOW INTERNET SPEED
Internet users ‘throttled’ DESIRÉE RORKE @dezzierorke
T
he snail’s pace internet speed experienced by some Brackenfell residents after recently connecting to fibre is not due to compromised fibre cables, but rather excessive throttling by some internet service providers (ISPs). One such resident measured speeds far below 1MB/s (megabyte per second) during peak times on his 20MB/s line and can hardly use his internet in the evenings. “We were all over the moon when we heard Vumatel was coming to Brackenfell, but there seems to be a big problem somewhere. The whole affair seems to be a farce,”
he told TygerBurger last week. Vumatel was responsible for the mass fibre cable roll-out in big parts of Brackenfell and is currently starting in Kuils River. “On my 20MB/s line I was told that after 200 gigabytes (GB) I will be throttled after 18:00 in the evening and my speed will come down somewhat. I asked how much. The answer was, four or five MB/s, which I was okay with. But it seems that the standard is to go below 1MB/s,” he says. He says he expected a better service when the new fibre cables were advertised, only to discover that it would only be during offpeak periods when he is not even home. “Then there are many times when the service is interrupted. If I am paying for an un-
capped 20MB/s service, then 0.14MB/s is ridiculous. What people should know is that they are sold a 20MB/s service, but what they do not know is that it seldom gets to that. They pay for uncapped, but after 200GB it gets throttled down to less than 1MB/s when most people need the service. I am sure that people are not told this by the sales people in general. You are also not told where the threshold is for throttling,” he says, adding that his ISP has not answered to any of his complaints. The various ISPs from which residents can choose are listed on the Vumatel website. Regional manager for Vumatel, Giorgio Iovino, explains that the physical fibre line is not throttled. “You always get the speed you pay for
from the physical line – this is the part that Vumatel is responsible for. However, it is the flow of the data over the physical fibre that is managed by the ISP and can be (not for all packages) throttled,” he says. “The important distinction to make is the separation of the physical fibre and the data service (the data that flows over the fibre). The two need to be seen as separate parts of the overall fibre service,” says Iovani. According to Iovani some ISPs do throttle their data packages, while others do not. He advises unhappy customers who are being throttled to cancel and change their ISP to one that does not throttle their services. V To page 2.