Note: This column represents the opinions
of the writer and as such, is not purported as fact
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Although there has been a trend towards capping broadband connections
overseas, there are still plenty of suppliers in the USA and other
countries who will sell you a flat-rate DSL connection.
Unfortunately the number of ISPs willing to offer a flat-rate DSL
connection here in New Zealand is dwindling and the recent woes
experienced by Snap Internet
shows why.
Some Snap Internet customers became so frustrated when their DSL speeds became
even slower than a dial-up connection that they began
this discussion
on the usenet newsgroup nz.comp.
The Aardvark PC-Based Digital
Entertainment Centre Project
Yes, at last, this feature
has been updated again! (31 Mar 2003)
To get the good oil on why a supposedly 128Kbps connection was providing such
lousy performance I contacted Andrew Smyth from Snap.
Andrew explained that the current problem has been caused by the growth
in "heavy users" who were attracted to Snap Internet's flat-rate JetStart
service.
Snap Internet is one of the few ISPs willing to offer an "all you can eat"
DSL connection these days so it's only natural that those who consider the
5GB or 10GB cap imposed by other ISPs to be too onerous will be attracted.
The result is: too many users, not enough bandwidth -- and a major degradation
in service for everyone, even those who are only "light users".
Given the obviously adverse impact that this is having on Snap's business
I asked Andrew whether any ISP could offer flat-rate DSL in New Zealand
under Telecom's current pricing structures.
He admitted it wasn't and added "Our losses on DSL were manageable until
recently but the problem we found was while a lot of companies are offering
it the heavy users are spread around and therefore manageable but each ISP
that stopped offering flatrate pushed those customers onto an ever smaller
group of ISPs until the load became too much basically creating a vicious
circle"
When I suggested that perhaps it would make sense to give the "heavy users"
their own bandwidth pool so that their excesses didn't impact those who
were more modest in their online use Andrew told me "We have considered
the different bandwidth pool for heavy users and while its simple its not
very nice."
Andrew says that Snap's alternative to such a system will be to implement
an "off-peak" system whereby heavy users will be encouraged to do most of
their data transfer at times when fewer users are online (1am through 8am).
A 4GB cap will apply to all international data transferred outside the
"off-peak" period.
I guess this old saying applies even to high-speed Internet connections:
Choose only two: Fast, Cheap, Reliable.
Your Tax Dollars At Work
You may recall that recently I reported how the NZ government lined a
cybersquatter's pockets to the tune of $1m in order to secure the
domain name newzealand.com.
Well before that, they spent $18,734.54 on some rather evil skulduggery
that saw the domain name newzealand.biz unfairly wrestled from its
legitimate holder.
So what have taxpayers gotten for their $18,734.54?
Well they've gotten this.
(Screendump)
Are you impressed?
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have your say.
Yes, You Can Donate
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publication of Aardvark, the bills still exceed the income by a fairly
significant amount. It is with this in mind therefore that I'm once
again soliciting donations from anyone who feels they're getting some
value from this daily column and news index. I've gone the PayPal
way of accepting donations because the time involved in processing a bunch
of little credit-card billings sometimes exceeds the monetary value they
represent. Just click on the button to donate whatever you can afford.
NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally donate twice
what you were intending :-)
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