SEACOM Fibre Optic Cables

[Tigman_1]

I am sure most of you would have heard about the fibre optic cables. The question that I am posing is what are the advantages and when do they arrive?


From June 2009, the 1.28Tbps 15,000km undersea fibre-optic cable system will provide African retail carriers with equal and open access to inexpensive bandwidth, removing the international infrastructure bottleneck and supporting east and southern African economic growth

...

SEACOM is focused on the last one and will bring that price down by 90 to 95 percent.


This is what I have managed to pull off http://www.seacom.mu/faq/faq.html however, I have not noticed any advantages yet.

Any theories?

[Aesir]

I am sure most of you would have heard about the fibre optic cables. The question that I am posing is what are the advantages and when do they arrive?



This is what I have managed to pull off http://www.seacom.mu/faq/faq.html however, I have not noticed any advantages yet.

Any theories?

I also seached this subject, and while they say prices will come down, all the media and any other financial websites I could find said that the prices will remain relatively the same, only changing the slightest. And according to what I have read Neotel controls the seacom line into SA so... our pings will only be 200 woot!

But I hope we will see some dramatic changes in the future. We can only hope...

[Darkmag]

Heard about his in networking, but I doubt prices will lower, becuase if that happens then the ISPs will lose money, what might happen is our ISPs might increase our CAP and speed without any extra cost. Although Neotel owns the only license to the cable so they might offer cheaper alternative adsl packages.

[Wesley]

I am sure most of you would have heard about the fibre optic cables. The question that I am posing is what are the advantages and when do they arrive?

This is what I have managed to pull off http://www.seacom.mu/faq/faq.html however, I have not noticed any advantages yet.

Any theories?

Read the links below to get an idea of what Seacom offers. And I doubt you would see any advantages anyhow, seeing as though you aren't on a Neotel acount :-P


I also seached this subject, and while they say prices will come down, all the media and any other financial websites I could find said that the prices will remain relatively the same, only changing the slightest. And according to what I have read Neotel controls the seacom line into SA so... our pings will only be 200 woot!

But I hope we will see some dramatic changes in the future. We can only hope...

The prices will come down by a huge amount. All the major cellphone providers are talking about a 50% drop in bundle prices, which would put the out-of-bundle data rates at R1 per megabyte. The prices for the accounts will remain the same (e.g. MWEB with their cheapest account being R200 per month), but the price per gig will fall, so in about six to eight months you will be looking at R200 for a 5GB 384kb/s ADSL line.

Oh, and Seacom is actually open to any/all ISPs, its not a monopoly by Neotel like Telkom has managed for the last 15 years.


Heard about his in networking, but I doubt prices will lower, becuase if that happens then the ISPs will lose money, what might happen is our ISPs might increase our CAP and speed without any extra cost. Although Neotel owns the only license to the cable so they might offer cheaper alternative adsl packages.

Like I said, the account offerings wil remain the same. In JP's first article which quotes an MTN representative, it costs the company the same amount in money to administer a 384kb/s ADSL line as it would for a 4Mb/s line, therefore they can only decrease the price per gig to lower the costs.

Also, speeds won't go up, just the data cap. The speed increases will take a bit longer to reach us.

Bandwidth for Africa - JP Dormehl (http://nag.tidemedia.co.za/?p=1521)

What?s next? That?s EASSy - JP Dormehl (http://nag.tidemedia.co.za/?p=2141)

All your bandwidth are belong to us - JP Dormehl (http://nag.tidemedia.co.za/?p=2010)

[RaptoR]

Virgin Media are the only company in the UK that offer Fibre Optic Broadband, although not all streets are on their fibre optic network. The cap on all virgin broadbands are unlimited but its just the speed that differs. 2meg and 50meg min and max speeds respectively. The speed is greater as it doesnt matter how far you are from your telephone exchange as the service comes through your satellite cable and plugs into a cable modem. Its the way forward!

[samwise]

Thanks for the info Wesley, just another quick question:
How long do you think it will take before we start seeing unlimited data packages being released as the standard option, rather than us paying for the amount of gigabytes we can use per month?

[Chevron]

Thanks for the info Wesley, just another quick question:
How long do you think it will take before we start seeing unlimited data packages being released as the standard option, rather than us paying for the amount of gigabytes we can use per month?

You already get uncapped adsl. It's R1000 excluding line rental. During office hours they limit you to 384Kb, but after hours you get full 4Mb.

You can get around 800gigs a month done with it.

[samwise]

Yes I know you can get uncapped adsl, but its huge cost means it's only a viable option for businesses. I'm asking when we'll see unlimited data packages that are cheap enough for the average consumer to buy, which would replace the standard 3 gig/5 gig bundles.

[Boggle24]

Openweb are also about to launch some new offerings near the end of the month.

You can get an uncapped 384k service (line rental excluded) for about R599 per month, the line will be throttled during the day though and as far as I know they're still figuring out to what speed it should be throttled, could be as low as 64k.

so after hours (and during weekends I presume) that's not too bad.

They are also aiming at offering a 384k 10GB service at about R349 a month, this is just a straight forward 10GB limit, no speed limits during office hours or anything, and should also be the cheapest 10GB package I've seen so far from an SA ISP.

[Sanguinus08]

Currenly, the World is on the Broadband and Fiber-optic Superhighway.
SA? we are on the pathway...

I cant wait till my CAP gets increased and when The speeds increase ill be waiting, and so will plenty of other people.

[Wesley]

Yes I know you can get uncapped adsl, but its huge cost means it's only a viable option for businesses. I'm asking when we'll see unlimited data packages that are cheap enough for the average consumer to buy, which would replace the standard 3 gig/5 gig bundles.

Optimistically? 5 years. Realistically? 10 years.

If you watch the American markets and follow their news, you'll notice that ISPs in the US and most of the world are beginning to avoid charging people flat rates for internet per month and opting for a monthly cap instead, which nets them more cash.

Cellphone giants like AT&T especially are sticking to monthly caps and data charges to help fuel their greed, with the drawback that customers aren't always aware of how much data they're downloading. There are still a lot of companies in Europe, Russia, and Japan that rely on flat rates to attract customers (Virgin Media is a great example). But lets face it; considering that Telkom is a government-controlled company (we all know it is, dont tell me its not), they're not going to go the flat rate route except for uncapped lines.

[KraMGarD]

Optimistically? 5 years. Realistically? 10 years.

I think it all depends on where you live in this country of ours. Rural areas (including farming areas - where I live) will probably never see ANY form of broadband as long as our adoring TELKOM is at the helm. Well at least that is what they told me when I wanted to know if our factory lines are broadband able. They only said that they "don't plan any upgrading of lines in this area in the near OR distant future". The irony is, our nearest town is only about 18km away and their lines have been upgraded already AND there are PLENTY of businesses in our region that I know for sure of that use the internet extensively, but because of TELKOMs sometimes incompetent approach, they will have to make do with only a 56k telephone connection...

[Wesley]

I think it all depends on where you live in this country of ours. Rural areas (including farming areas - where I live) will probably never see ANY form of broadband as long as our adoring TELKOM is at the helm. Well at least that is what they told me when I wanted to know if our factory lines are broadband able. They only said that they "don't plan any upgrading of lines in this area in the near OR distant future". The irony is, our nearest town is only about 18km away and their lines have been upgraded already AND there are PLENTY of businesses in our region that I know for sure of that use the internet extensively, but because of TELKOMs sometimes incompetent approach, they will have to make do with only a 56k telephone connection...

The thing is, ADSL is actually a very complicated and expensive line to install, and something like ISDN or POTS lines (POTS = Plain Old Telephone System) turns out much cheaper. That's why they'll stick to the older specifications until they have enough interested customers to install the new lines.

Also, who did you talk to when you phoned Telkom? If it was a normal helpdesk twit, then they wouldn't know jack **** about line upgrades in rural areas. if it was a techie on the other hand, then I might be inclined to believe them.

If you are stuck without wired internet, then perhaps you must look to someone like Vodacom or MTN for 3G bundles. This is very quick and reliable, and service will only improve in the coming months. I myself use my Nokia on an EGDE connection to go onto the internet when I'm not at college, and it works out very well for me because I don't stay in one place too much.

Also, Neotel has commited themselves to improving the internet service in the country, so you can expect them to come to your rural town eventually (Neotel is a wireless service that is more stable and gaming-friendly than 3G, so a lot of businesses are going to be interested in it).

Traditional phonelines will be dead by 2025 (http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15072/1/)


Survey says landlines are going the way of the dodo


Traditional landline telephones seem to be going the way of the telegraph in America, analysts say.

Americans are unplugging their phones in favour of mobiles at a rate of 700,000 a month, and one in four households now relies solely on mobiles. At the current rate...

[Antharias]

Wesley, do you know of anybody that uses Neotel for gaming online or not?

If there are any forumites who do use it for gaming, please could you let me know what it is like and whether it will be worthwhile dropping my current adsl and hitting the uncapped version on Neotel for a slightly increased price.

[Chevron]

Wesley, do you know of anybody that uses Neotel for gaming online or not?

If there are any forumites who do use it for gaming, please could you let me know what it is like and whether it will be worthwhile dropping my current adsl and hitting the uncapped version on Neotel for a slightly increased price.

The only Neotel option that's even remotely good for gaming is the NeoFlex option which doesn't an uncapped option. If you game a lot, stick to adsl.

Have you tried looking into this:
http://www.axxess.co.za/uncapped.php

Full speed after hours.

[Wesley]

Wesley, do you know of anybody that uses Neotel for gaming online or not?.

No, I don't know anyone who is on Neotel personally, but perhaps Chevron, Geometrix, or a few other forumites will. I think Geometrix himself tested out a Neotel line a while ago, so PM him and see.

But like Chev said, Neotel pales in comparison to the online gaming performance of ADSL. If you are still interested in their service, here is a link to their pricing guide to the NeoPrime Connect tarrifs (http://www.neotel.co.za/neotel/action/media/downloadFile?media_fileid=2010). Here is a link to their NeoFlex page (http://www.neotel.co.za/neotel/view/neotel/en/page49740?oid=68468&sn=Detail), and their new NeoGo Data card (http://www.neotel.co.za/neotel/action/media/downloadFile?media_fileid=2164) (beats 3G in terms of price by far, sucks that they only cover Joburg, Durbs, Pretoria and the mother city).

[KraMGarD]

Also, who did you talk to when you phoned Telkom? If it was a normal helpdesk twit, then they wouldn't know jack **** about line upgrades in rural areas. if it was a techie on the other hand, then I might be inclined to believe them.

If you are stuck without wired internet, then perhaps you must look to someone like Vodacom or MTN for 3G bundles.

I have defenitely talked to a helpdesk twit then. I actually failed to mention that I recently did get a 3G modem from MTN and it works quite well since they (thank heavens!) upgraded the MTN tower in our area, but it is obviously still too slow for online gaming - so I'm missing out big time...

[Wesley]

I have defenitely talked to a helpdesk twit then. I actually failed to mention that I recently did get a 3G modem from MTN and it works quite well since they (thank heavens!) upgraded the MTN tower in our area, but it is obviously still too slow for online gaming - so I'm missing out big time...

Yeah, thats the thing about wireless internet. The more people you have in an area using 3G for internet means that there are more latencies as everyone fights for a connection to the internet through the tower. I've seen it in action in Jeffrey's Bay, where two years ago my dad's 3G connection was blisteringly fast, but today its much slower and barely touches the 1.8Mb/s download speed that 3G is capable of.

Its a pity that we haven't adopted Wi-Fi as quickly as the Americans and Europeans, because that would be the ideal solution in a town such as yours where new cable installations are needed.

[hawk]

Wesley, do you know of anybody that uses Neotel for gaming online or not?

If there are any forumites who do use it for gaming, please could you let me know what it is like and whether it will be worthwhile dropping my current adsl and hitting the uncapped version on Neotel for a slightly increased price.

I have the Neofex 10GB package, and I frequently play TF2 on it.

My pings are not terrible avg at around 75 which is certainly playable with no problems, although its still a bit higher than my ADSL line at home. I've also played Babo and DotA online with it with no problems at all.

If you have any other questions just ask.

[B4warn3d]

hmmm...Yes, Any person can see the great positives of SEACOM that has finally landed. Promises of up to 90% cheaper prices, Faster internet, Lower Pings ect. ect.

Now everyone is asking why they are not seeing any actual changes yet?

Let's put it this way, Many of the current ISP still have contracts with Telkom and will have to wait until the contracts are done before they can switch to SEACOM and we can finally see any prices coming down, As for the speed ect. I don't think we will be seeing anything "extraordinary" anytime soon yet...Yes, SEACOM does have all the potential to give us all our heartly gaming speed needs BUT that is not where the issue is...

The issue is that the local infrastructure in South Africa just is too outdated and insuffecient to actually utilise SEACOM's full potential. And that is where the problem lies my friends, We won't be seeing any speed boosts anytime soon I'm afraid, Not until our Local infrastructure is updated and serviced like it was supposed to ages ago. (Thanks Telkom)

But to see some light at the end of the tunnel, Everywhere in the JHB area we've been seeing Neotel putting down some new infrastructure, And soon (hopefully) We will be seeing some great packages for us gamers to finally be able to get great internet speeds and caps and hopefully much cheaper uncapped broadband internet.

[Wesley]

hmmm...Yes, Any person can see the great positives of SEACOM that has finally landed. Promises of up to 50% cheaper prices, Faster internet, Lower Pings ect. ect.

Fixed ^_^


Now everyone is asking why they are not seeing any actual changes yet?

Let's put it this way, Many of the current ISP still have contracts with Telkom and will have to wait until the contracts are done before they can switch to SEACOM and we can finally see any prices coming down, As for the speed ect. I don't think we will be seeing anything "extraordinary" anytime soon yet...Yes, SEACOM does have all the potential to give us all our heartly gaming speed needs BUT that is not where the issue is...

Well, we're clearly not seeing changes yet because Seacom is still being tested and the cable laying isn't completed yet. (or has it? I don't know)

Although, once it is done we may see more of a choice of ISPs because of Seacom being open to all and sundry. This means that we won't have companies who go through Telkom for bandwidth, a very good thing I'm sure you can all agree.

Also, Seacom brings speed increases in the sense that pings are lowered for international connections. The actual speed increases we all hope for lie solely at the discreation of Telkom, and for those users on ADSL, those speed increases won't come very soon. For those on Neotel accounts and 3G services, however, speed increases are something you can look forward to.


The issue is that the local infrastructure in South Africa just is too outdated and insuffecient to actually utilise SEACOM's full potential. And that is where the problem lies my friends, We won't be seeing any speed boosts anytime soon I'm afraid, Not until our Local infrastructure is updated and serviced like it was supposed to ages ago. (Thanks Telkom)

A lot of what I have now said is the same as what you have just said, but there's something wrong with this. Seacom brings more bandwidth to the country and will allow bandwidth prices to drop massively. Its been rumored that the price drops for ADSL customers and Neotel subscribers could go as low as R10 per Gigabyte of data, as and much as 50% for cellular users (which I'm very excited about). The ability to use all this cap isn't dependent on our infrastructure (ask me. I'm running on EDGE, and I go through 1GB a month!)

[B4warn3d]

Fixed ^_^



Well, we're clearly not seeing changes yet because Seacom is still being tested and the cable laying isn't completed yet. (or has it? I don't know)

Although, once it is done we may see more of a choice of ISPs because of Seacom being open to all and sundry. This means that we won't have companies who go through Telkom for bandwidth, a very good thing I'm sure you can all agree.

Also, Seacom brings speed increases in the sense that pings are lowered for international connections. The actual speed increases we all hope for lie solely at the discreation of Telkom, and for those users on ADSL, those speed increases won't come very soon. For those on Neotel accounts and 3G services, however, speed increases are something you can look forward to.



A lot of what I have now said is the same as what you have just said, but there's something wrong with this. Seacom brings more bandwidth to the country and will allow bandwidth prices to drop massively. Its been rumored that the price drops for ADSL customers and Neotel subscribers could go as low as R10 per Gigabyte of data, as and much as 50% for cellular users (which I'm very excited about). The ability to use all this cap isn't dependent on our infrastructure (ask me. I'm running on EDGE, and I go through 1GB a month!)


Lol, Thanks for fixing that :D My bad. But a lad can dream can't he. xD

Seacom is complete and is already up and running my friend :) check out their website on www.seacom.mu

Yes that is correct that new ISP's will obviously give you some of the SEACOM pie, But most of our current ISP's are still stuck with Telkom, And Many of us are binded with 1 to 2 year contracts If I'm not mistaken, So many people will just have to wait before they can switch to a new ISP.

Yes Seacom brings us lowered pings for international servers and online gaming goodness. As for the speeds, I remember reading somewhere that Telkom does not intend to increase speeds anytime soon, And it's because our local South African internet infrastrucure cannot handle anything faster at the moment. And because Neotel is laying down new infrastucture, I can agree with you 100% that Neotel customers can expect faster speeds than what Telkom currrently offers. So you are perfectly correct there.

Once again you are correct :) We can look forward to price drops per GB at any new ISP's using SEACOM, but as for 3G and any Cellular service...I don't think the prices will drop drastically yet, As we all know that all 3 Cellular Companies are still binded to a Telkom contract...But please do correct me if I'm wrong :)

[Wesley]

Lol, Thanks for fixing that :D My bad. But a lad can dream can't he. xD

Ha ha, I wish it were so dude, 90% price drops would actually force me to install ADSL at some point.


Seacom is complete and is already up and running my friend :) check out their website on www.seacom.mu

It looks like it has gone live in the East-African countries on the coast, but the landing site for S.A. is still undergoing testing, AFAIK. We'll see it go live towards the end of this year, probably at the same time the Core i5 gets released.


Yes that is correct that new ISP's will obviously give you some of the SEACOM pie, But most of our current ISP's are still stuck with Telkom, And Many of us are binded with 1 to 2 year contracts If I'm not mistaken, So many people will just have to wait before they can switch to a new ISP.

This is true, but I know that Mweb is going to offer clients the option to switch over to the new cables once Seacom goes live, regardless of your current contract (at least that's what I'm told). Hopefully other companies follow suit (looking at you, Telkom).


I remember reading somewhere that Telkom does not intend to increase speeds anytime soon, And it's because our local South African internet infrastrucure cannot handle anything faster at the moment.

Go ask Chev about the company he works for, how fast their lines can go ^_^ 20Mb/s is the highest they offer, and that's achieved by binding five 4Mb/s ADSL lines together to one modem. Our infrastructure can definitely handle the speed, its just Telkom who must move its arse into gear to upgrade it.


Once again you are correct :) We can look forward to price drops per GB at any new ISP's using SEACOM, but as for 3G and any Cellular service...I don't think the prices will drop drastically yet, As we all know that all 3 Cellular Companies are still binded to a Telkom contract...But please do correct me if I'm wrong :)

Well they haven't made any changes yet, but MTN has promised consumers a 50% drop in prices when they make the switch towards the end of this year! Woohoo, I can't wait for my 2GB cap ^_^