The Undersea Cable, how will it affect all of us?

[Frankincense]

@ Superscenic "The Undersea Cable, how will it affect all of us?"

In my opinion - It will affect those who use it and allow it to define their lifestyles and philosophies, whether consciously or subconsciously, in a very negative way as it will assist in catching more flesh in the web....(if we care?)...we could chat about reduced financial costs for gaming and business'ing...broader bandwidth ...and inevitably...virtual Joy...and finally...virtual reality.

It would seem good at first glance, but too me there's an underlying judgment that comes along with it....

It will be in the wrong hands from the start to end.

[Superscenic]

It will be in the wrong hands from the start to end.

We'll isn't that a constant with most forms of bureaucracy/ government?

At the risk of sounding like an esoteric cliche: I believe positive thinking works and good will triumph over evil. Us "little" people have plenty of power if we just stay informed and speak out.

I choose to believe that this is the era for the small business owner to step up and benefit from change and opportunity. That is also why I like forums like these where I can stay in touch with good, honest, level-headed business individuals to cure me of those nagging dysfunctions like fear of conspiracy and racism.

I look forward to creating bandwidth intensive video clips to promote myself and my colleague's business in the future when the capacity for such things here have improved. As art is my primary ability I favor visuals and graphics.

[Dave A]

It will affect those who use it and allow it to define their lifestyles and philosophies, whether consciously or subconsciously, in a very negative way...

My thought is that the same argument could be used against books.

I'm with Superscenic - you've got to look at the positive effects and you can't blame (or worse still, stunt) the technology because of the presence of the negative.

It's how people use it. Educated, informed people make better decisions and this helps us achieve better informed, more educated people.

A classic example was Verwoed's resistance to television. We've had television here for years now and were his concerns valid? Yes, it can produce couch potatoes, but it also has been a great tool for education too.

[twinscythe12332]

if the cable can get "uncapped" into a more reasonable view, I'll be happy. I don't mind 512k, or even 1Mbit connection, it's having the "per GB" associated to it that just makes internet here... suck.

[msmoorad]

i have been following this issue quite closely-
mid 2008, many "analysts" etc were saying that seacom would mean 10 times faster & upto 90% cheaper internet with little or no capping.
now these same people together with reps of ISP's are saying we should realistically only expect caps that will be 3 times bigger .
WTF!
what about faster & cheaper? and only 3 times bigger caps-thats nothing much.
there is collusion amongst the bigger ISP's together with Telkom & ICASA & Dept of Telecomms.
i know that many ministers are private shareholders in Telkom and Telkom throws parties etc where they entertain the good folks of ICASA-
talk about sleeping with the enemy!
i thought that Neotel will be better- but they also appear to be in cahoots with the rest, their offers/pricing etc are only just a bit better than telkoms.
why should they lower prices?
they can all have high prices and make a fortune since we have no option.
Icasa is a toothless dog- and the monkeys & babboons employed by them have no real idea of what real internet usage is : 1,2 &3 GB caps, what a joke
when do we get to do real P2P sharing?
you need at least 40-45 GB monthly for that.

i think thats enough for now

[Dave A]

They do need to recover their capital investment, and it is substantial. Perhaps there is a critical number of players that have to be in the game before real competitive pricing becomes a reality.

[twinscythe12332]

either that, or a competition monitoring system that doesn't switch off when fed money.

[msmoorad]

They do need to recover their capital investment, and it is substantial. Perhaps there is a critical number of players that have to be in the game before real competitive pricing becomes a reality.

if that really was the case , then Telkom recovered ALL their capital investment and much more LOOOOONg ago. actually it was (maybe still is) one of the MOST PROFITABLE companies in SA!
-in my humble opinion 2 competitors is enough but if there is collusion , price fixing & corruption then even 100 competitors would not make much difference.

[Frankincense]

The cables and the webs they support can be used for both good and evil. Agreed? In order to enslave rich and poor, free and bond with a mark does involve the usage of these types of facilities and technologies(not books). If we blindly wish to focus on the benefits of "educational greatness"(in line with Superscenics' esoteric cliche), then that suites "Telkom" and those who are buzy planning your destruction just fine, as you will be advocating this in the name of education, while they sharpen their teeth for all free and bond!

We cannot stop it, so we try make the best of it. To identify it's main purpose, or at least that of it's owners, would be wise, or are we not sufficiently educated still?

[garthu]

So in a forgotten post i mentioned Neotel and an option it could be....

Heres my recent experiences. Today Sunday, i did a speed test as really slow upload at 23kbps and down at 53kbps. Bearing in mind when i got Neotel, we were in a very "hot" area in terms of signal, actually full strengh... Still get 3 bars of 5.

Also had a really huge run in with accounts - cant do a eft from Absa!!!!!! They want me do manual deposits!

I guess the moral of this story is if you have Neotel, write it out, post it snail mail, it'll get there faster.....