Telcos - How Do Developed Countries Compare? 59
armondf asks: "I live in South Africa and we are currently laboring under one of the most draconian Telecoms companies in the world (Telkom). Most South African geeks hate this company more than Microsoft. Here, basic ADSL services from our Telecoms provider are charged R270 - R480 - roughly $US40 - $US72 (and that's just for the *line rental*) - that excludes our ISP costs (at least another R200 or $US30) and there is a 3 Gig cap. Our Telecoms provider simply threatens to stop the service if our regulators impose stricter regulations. How do developing countries (like South Africa) become competitive with provision of Internet Services - such as ADSL as compared to Developed countries Telcos? Are there any other developing countries failing to implement affordable broadband solutions to the masses? Did developing countries go through the same teething problems?"
Not bad. (Score:2, Informative)
Aside from the 3gig cap, that's not too bad of a deal. With Qwest, you could get something like 256kbps for $30 or so per month. If you want a real ISP with some amount of freedom and no connection resets every couple of hours, it would probably cost you about $70/mo for a 768kbps line from th
Re:Not bad. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
Be that as it may the telco equipment to provide those services probably isn't manufactured in SA either!
Not to mention many countries have import duties as high as 100% on technology items. (Dunno if SA is like that...?)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
You're getting ripped if you're paying that much. Qwest offers 7mbit/1mbit DSL with "MSN" ISP for around $50 a month. If you don't install the MSN software (or if you use Linux), it's not so bad, and there aren't any connection resets.
Comcast around
Re:Not bad. (Score:1)
As far as comcast, don't forget to add the extra $10 if you don't also have Cable TV. And don't forget modem rental. And installation (even if you do it yourself, they'll charge you about $50). And Franchise fees. And taxes.
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
How do we get such good rates? One word, government regulations. Bell (our ex-phone monopoly) has to rent the lines for 7 $CAD/month to their competitors (for DSL). They dont get to pick the price.
Oh and on top of that, for a few years they had a price war with the cable company. Also helped by proper regulation..
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
These are minimums; higher bandwidths are generally available:
DSL is generally $35ish/month which is now ~1.5Mbps down, 256-384K up (this has gone up a bunch in the last year or two from 768 down, 128 up).
Cable is generally 1.5-6 Mbps down, 150-384K up (Comcast, the largest by far, is switching to all 6 down, 384 up or better, or about that). Price is a little higher, circa $45/month. In the last 2 years, it was
Re:Comcast vs. Time-Warner (Score:2)
The experience with Time-Warner is consistently good from my personal experience and those I have heard from others.
No port restrictions. They do get a tad uppity if they find you have port 25 open, but that's about it. For $45/mo, I get 3Mb down/384kb up, for $90/mo, I could up that to 6Mb/768kb. Transfer speeds seem to be very consistent, despite being shared bandwidth, leading me to believe that they are not overselling their network. Customer service is also very good.
A friend who has Verizon DS
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
Edmonton, Canada (Score:2)
Cable is $39.00/month, and it's 5.0M down, 1.5M up (at least mine is.)
There are no hard transfer limits (from any of the companies), but I've heard some people complain that they got letters from their ISPs saying they were using too much (I average 8-10GB/month on my Shaw cable account, and have never heard a thing from them.)
Depending on who you get your service through, support can be either good or bad. In my experi
Re:Edmonton, Canada (Score:2)
Shaw's Residental Plan is 5Mbps down, 512Kbps up with no "set" limits. The Extreme package gives you 7Mbps down, and 1Mbps up with a 50GB/month limit.
Re:Edmonton, Canada (Score:2)
Unless you're using a new definition of "wrong", which actually means "correct", you're wrong.
they are listed here for the basic speeds
The speeds listed on that page are for downstream only, and it says quite plainly that it's 5Mb/s - which is what I said. There are no references to upstream speeds on any of the pages.
I have Shaw, and I've measured my upstream at 1.5Mb/s.
Re:Edmonton, Canada (Score:2)
Also, check here [broadbandreports.com] for Broadband reports FAQ, as well as here [dslreports.com] for maximum speed tests reported by users.
Re:Ha! (Score:1)
Telus BC DSL (Score:2)
Re:Telus BC DSL (Score:2)
SBC/Yahoo! DSL (Score:2)
Do it yourself (Score:2)
Re:Do it yourself (Score:2)
my condolences for your country.
On the other side of the pond... (Score:2)
300kbps with 10Gb limit for about R$ 60, US$ 20-ish
600kbps with 15Gb limit for about R$ 100, US$ 30-ish
1Mbps with 20Gb limit for about R$ 170, US$ 60-ish
The service, in my case at least, doesn't suck.
I'm actually happy with the service they offer - ignoring the asshat spammers that scan my firewall every 0.0001 seconds for an open relay, it's not a bad service, IMVHO.
Re:On the other side of the pond... (Score:1)
Israeli ADSL (Score:2)
New Zealand (Score:1)
You can also get ADSL (dynamic ip), 256Kbps, throttled to 64Kbps after 1GB for US$27 (NZ$40).
There are many, many options in between.
Jason Pollock
Re:New Zealand (Score:2)
Do you live in Auckland? Looking for a development job?
Re:New Zealand (Score:1)
Actually, I live in Wellington. I'm currently on a contract, but I'm always open to opportunities.
Would this be with Orion?
Feel free to send me an email, jason@pollock.ca
Regards,
Jason
Re:New Zealand (Score:2)
Its fully routable, pretty reliable, and quick. I run serveral domains on a box at home.
In Japan... (Score:1)
Yahoo! BB gives 40Mbit/s down 1Mbit/s up for about the same price.
In some areas, you can can get 100Mbit/s fibre for about Y5000 = US$50 per month.
My ADSL is reliable, but contended at about 200:1, and I'm NATed.
Digitel, The Philippines (Score:2)
Australia (Score:2)
Welcome to Australia. Firstly, do you live in an area where the local telco exchange has third party DSLAMs installed? If so, forget whats mentioned below. You can get up to 24mbit ADSL2 you lucky barstard.
You don't? We'll, your're like me. Welcome to telco monopoly by default. Whats a Baby Bell? Sorry, Baby Bell everywhere in the country only means one word: "Toolstra". Pity, we're stuck with only up to 1.5mbit ADSL.
(I'm on 512/128k ADSL with 15gb cap for $50 which ain't too
Re:Australia (Score:1)
Optus have a similar cable offering for a similar price but with no client software requirement.
Cheap in Sweden (Score:2)
http://www.telepriskollen.se/Internet/Topplista.a
1 SEK = $0.13 or 0.11
Netherlands (Score:1, Informative)
800/256: 21,95 Euro
1600/512: 29,95 Euro
3200/768: 49,95 Euro
8000/1024 74.95 Euro
You do need to lease a landline (minimum around 10 E per month). Usually they throw in some promotion discounts (1st month free, free WIFI modem/router, etc.). Two or three years back it was much more expensive, probably twice or thrice the price, but competition has unleashed a pricewar of some sorts.
In Morocco (Score:2, Informative)
Your deal isn't too bad... (Score:2)
Is it blurring together or is it all the same? (Score:2)
To put it crudely, you get to choose who fucks you in the ass with a bowling pin (telco, cable, satellite). The choice lies in who uses a lubricant that you like the smell of (free install, package deals, free router etc). Meanwhile the regulators, local councils, and other government types are there with thier pliers clamped firmly on your genitals. Ultimately you are getting laid (fa
UK (Score:2)
The regulator ruled a few years ago that BT h
Re:UK (Score:1)
Some people have horrendous problems getting activated with Bulldog, but the silent majority are very happy with them. It's comical that BT Broadband and Pipex sell 1 or 2Mbps as a fast service.
Re:UK (Score:2)
Interesting, but they need some serious competition.
Bulldog (Score:2)
Bulldog recently billed me two hundred pounds for three months service (which should only be about a hundred quid). In the last fortn
Well duh! (Score:2)
Well duh! If you beat your dog don't be surprised if he growls at you.
You've got what is known as a "monopoly". The solution is simple. Take away their monopoly. With very few exceptions, monopolies are caused by government grants of monopoly. Stop subsidizing the monopoly, remove legal barriers to competition, stop favoring large corporations over small independents via the tax code and corporate privil
it can be difficult (Score:1)
Those prices do not seem that far off.
Call me old fashion, but I've been polluted into thinking anything under a few hundred a month, that is greater than 1.5Meg is a deal.
I pay $800.00/month for bonded ADSL (two six meg pipes combined) for a 12 Mbps connection with about 2 Mbps upstream.
A buddy of mine lives in australia, he's getting something like 768/256 for about $80 USD/
What about service levels? (Score:2)
Here in Sri Lanka ADSL feels much slower than in the UK (I think because of the lack of upstream bandwidth). It is also not terribly reliable and there have been a number of interruptions to service over the last few months (for about an hour this morning, although most have been briefer than that). Service is also restricted to a few areas: Colombo (the capital) and some surrounding areas, and even in these areas there is a waiting list thanks to lack of ca
Correction (Score:2)