Since Orange has imposed its Fair Usage Policy on us, there has been intense discussion here. The latest version of the FUP states that:
Your FUP threshold, i.e the amount of data that you can download will depend on the offer to which you are subscribed to. Monitoring of your downloads will be done on a monthly basis and if you exceed your FUP threshold over a period of 2 consecutive months, you will be subjected to FUP on the third month.
Orange then gives the following example:
(1) you exceed the FUP threshold for your package during months 1 and 2. (2) during month 3, you again exceed your threshold, say on the 21st. (3) after the 21st until the end of month, you will be subject to speed restrictions. (4) at the start of month 4, your speed will be back to normal as long as you do not again exceed the FUP threshold.
Naturally, there is a major unknown in this equation: what is the FUP download threshold per month?
It seems that the following has been said by the Orange people:
- FUP download threshold for Home 128K is 10Gb,
- FUP download threshold for MyT 256 is 3Gb.
The 3Gb monthly threshold is causing some uproar in the Mauritian Internet community as many feel that 3Gb is pathetically low. At first, I had the (wrong) impression that 3Gb was reasonable. But then I checked what I’ve been using on my own MyT 256 ADSL connection for the past six months:
- 1.6Gb in November 2007,
- 2.4Gb in December 2007,
- 3.1Gb in January 2008,
- 2.7Gb in February 2008,
- 2.5Gb in March 2008 and
- 3.2Gb in April 2008.
… and I realized that 3Gb is really too low a threshold!
As you can see, I’m dangerously close to the FUP threshold. But I am not a normal Internet user. For the time being, Christina and I browse a lot and we do indulge in some MP3 downloads from time to time but we don’t watch videos from YouTube a lot and we don’t download DivX movies at all.
BUT this might change anytime. Christina and I might like to start watching videos and listening to radio all day long and this is bound to make me a heavy downloader even though we’re just being normal (and very patient given the ridiculous speeds we have to endure here) Internet users.
I wonder how the Orange people came up with the 3Gb for the MyT 256. I guess they only did some simple divisions using their calculator. But they must realize that we are in 2008 now and video and streaming audio is the norm (ask Steve Jobs and Bill Gates). Sure, I understand the need to have a FUP (or else the whole system will just break) but 3Gb is too low. In my opinion, Orange must think carefully about this threshold and communicate clearly with its subscribers. I am sure that together, we can come up with a threshold which is more in line with how people use the Internet now. Of course, given the fact that the nature of information is changing rapidly on the Internet, this threshold will have to be reviewed upwards very frequently.
The Internet is a major enabler (like Computer Science in fact). It is a tool that allows people to innovate and to create wealth. Orange has a social responsibility towards the development of the country. Limiting the usefulness and potential of the Internet is going to harm Mauritius in the long run.
Get your sights right, Orange!
(PS to my readers: what has been your own Internet consumption over the last six months? Use the online tool to calculate this.)
Popularity: 3% [?]
May 21st, 2008 at 09:54
1 GB for 128 K is far tooooooooo low.
And 3 GB for 256 K is again far toooooooooooo low.
All of us use ADSL for online radio, YouTube movies and downloads. Talking of the speed (still World Wide Wait in Mauritius) is yet another issue.
I’ve downloaded Kubuntu 8.04 which is 700 MB approx a few weeks ago. So I should stop using my connection this month so as not to exceed? lol
What if I want the whole Ubuntu collection?
A few months ago we were complaining about speeds. Now we have to complain about data usage. In some time, what else we’ll have to fight for? For the connection itself? Orange might come up and say: “Too many Mauritians on the net. We don’t have to resources…”. lol
I think we should take things seriously and complain. That’s not fair. But what will that change and whom to complain to?
Perhaps the Government has to look at its policy concerning Internet usage. We’re told that Mauritius is THE knowledge society. In 2008, knowledge = Internet usage.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:01
Hi Dilraj,
I believe we need to initiate a conversation with the MT/Orange people to make our views clear. We really need to finalize that public letter to be sent to their CEO.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:09
Yeah, they definitely need to increase their limits… & we don’t even know what are the limits for 512k. I suspect it’s 20GB!
Nov - 12Gb
Dec - 11Gb
Jan - 17Gb
Feb - 12Gb
Mar - 11Gb
Apr - 13Gb
May - 9Gb
That’s my usage for the last 6 months on my 128k. Am I a heavy downloader? Definitely YES, bcoz i’ve gone beyond 10Gb almost each month. Now i’ve got to limit my usage… 15Gb would have been fair enough for 128k.
25Gb for 256k & 50Gb for 512k?
I think we need to go forward with the letter & demand that MT provides realistic limits & reasonable alternatives. The ADSL Busines “unlimited” 256k is Rs. 1860 - only the uber-rich can afford that (& rightly pretend they have a business).
May 21st, 2008 at 13:25
Hi Avinash,
The link for the online tool has been updated to :
https://internetaccount.orange.mu/
Kindly update your bookmarks
May 21st, 2008 at 15:52
Avinash i think many of us want this to happen, in fact we should show our disagreement to MT/ORANGE, we have already started a thread on the most visited mauritian online community
i invite users to read those comments & add their views
http://forum.mauritiusparty.com/showthread.php?t=8477
May 21st, 2008 at 17:22
Selfcare states:
Account Status: You exceeded your allowed credit.
Period Free Time Remaining: 0:00:00 hours
Internet Data Volume Balance: 0.00 MB
I usually download more than 500 Mb per day. I have a little rapidshare.com premium account business but I don’t do this for big profits. In fact, I have established a small download community within which we share stuffs (divx,software,ebooks etc). I havent yet witnessed a drop of download speed yet and my IDM still registers a stable 32kb/s from rapidshare.com servers.
Btw, I believe it is high time to create a local update repository at the university of mauritius (all other universities have their own repos) so that linux users do not consume ‘external’ bandwidth downloading the same thing. I have managed to build my little repo at home (one server, and two pcs running fedora 8). It is not a complex feat, just a little brainy. What do you think about this idea?
May 21st, 2008 at 21:36
Creating the repository is easy. I already have two servers with big enough disk space at the UoM. The big issue is the Internet connection. The uplink at UoM is a leased line. Who is going to pay for the additional transfer?
May 21st, 2008 at 23:32
Hmm here’s my usage for the past 6 months, i believe 10GB is okie, since i consider myself a normal user, downloading some porn now and then, some packages, reading some mail, sharing some files, some Bleach and dGrayMan and playing some games.
december= 11.13 GB <— i bet that was a lot of porn
january= 2.31 GB <— probably too busy to party around, discoverred trees
february= 2.50 GB <—- still amazed by the trees found
march= 8.48 GB <—- porn
april= 6.48 GB <— normal usage
may=13.34 GB <—- biased, 6 GB was for downloading twice the same thing!
considering my last three months… it seems that i am basically Fupped… OMG!!!!!
if i am to keep only to <3GB monthly, that’ll require lots of efforts from people who cultivate trees!!! Basically orange wants those people to grow more and more… this is a conspiracy of orange. This will bring a lot of law disorder, i bet the gov has decided to employ more people in the police department!
:p 10GB is acceptable, 3GB … that’s awful! Damned, didier lombard should try using only 3GB monthly… probably he’ll realize its awfully too minimal.
+$3|v3n
May 21st, 2008 at 23:37
btw, the local torrent stuff is definitely a great idea.:p, was talking about making our own closed p2p network locally … probably this will be done very soon.
May 21st, 2008 at 23:44
“Monitoring of your downloads”
Do you know what I see when I read this? “Invasion of privacy”. What are they monitoring? My file-types? My download sources? Or what? Just the size?
The 3 GB limit is way too low. I’ve got a 512K connection, and I consider myself a normal user. My monthly average fluctuates from 10GB to 15GB monthly. And for me, this is average use. I’ve got friends that go beyond 40GB monthly with a 512Kbps connection. Their FUP is not really well crafted and planned. We all gotta accept it, no questions ask. Is that what Orange expects?
I don’t really know what more to say about FUP. Just that it’s not well made. They could have implemented their restraints only during peak hours, and release them off-peak. No. They implement constant monthly monitoring and capping. This reminds me of the famous Comcast traffic shaping affair. Google it if you don’t know how it started, and how it ended.
Another thing now. Couldn’t Orange do something of an act of good faith and give UoM some good connections? Like 2x 2Mbps connections at a discounted price? That’s what I’d call sponsorship! Come’on, UoM is a major educational institution! Why is there no move to help it?
May 21st, 2008 at 23:48
Who is going to pay for the additional transfer?
A sponsor from MT. Its a win-win situation. They give us bandwidth facilities, we have less, what I would call, redundant-downloads (many users downloading the same thing) on their network.
Why should MT have to run after money, leading to dissatisfied customers, when they could help themselves (in the long run) by providing the local repositories (accessed fast at 2mbps? )
It a fact now-the government is stingy, penurious and thrifty and MT is avarious and covetous over money.
Who agrees with me on this fact?
May 22nd, 2008 at 07:32
February 10GB
March 10GB
April 21GB
May 14GB
May 22nd, 2008 at 07:48
It’s more or less agreed then that (i) we are ok with the FUP (ii) 3Gb is too low for MyT 256 - it should be raised to, at least, 10Gb and (iii) MT must help in providing local mirrors for regularly requested “files”.
As for having a mirror at the UoM, I’m in between two minds. On one hand, it’s feasible only if we manage to get bandwidth for cheap (or free). But on the other hand we want it to be transparent and therefore it’s better the ISP deals with that. Imagine having a mini Akamai at MT!
May 22nd, 2008 at 17:52
just noticed something..from the selfcare page.
normally i usually get Account status: you’ve exceeded your allowed credit..
even if i downloaded around 1-10 G.B.
and now with 16G.B (For the current month), the Account status was set to: ok.
I think that Orange have to change their advertisements and instead of the unlimited Home ADSL… write up something like ADSL 128k (10g.b)
The FUP gonna change the meaning of unlimited.
Having and ADSL 512K, i don’t think that it will be suitable for me to get a monthly downloaded data of 10-20 G.b.
Has the FUP Already Started??
May 22nd, 2008 at 21:45
how do i check how much i’ve been using?????
May 22nd, 2008 at 21:55
which username and password do i use? i dnt remember having any
May 23rd, 2008 at 07:49
Get a business account if you want to download 24/7 and don’t want to be crippled.
Otherwise, don’t download mp3 or video and you’ll will stay under their quota, Even using Youtube, I doubt you’ll exceed the quota. You can do a test for next month. Don’t download mp3 or video but use Youtube and other flash video sites.
I realise that the definition of “heavy user” varies. IMO, 10gig is not heavy, rather medium. 100gig is.
MT can save quite a bundle in bandwidth if they could implement one of the 2 solutions:
Transparent proxying
Traffic shaping for p2p and some download sites.
I prefer the latter but can cost a few 100k.
May 23rd, 2008 at 13:34
Transparent proxying is the way to go! But they need to proxy large files too… and I believe they just cache small files for the time being.
As for Bittorrent, maybe the solution is for MT to monitor what is being downloaded a lot and seed those massive files locally… but I doubt this will happen because of the piracy issues.
May 23rd, 2008 at 19:01
Hi!
I guess that we should be able to have local repositories for *nix-related things. The university should play a major role since in each country I see downloads from universities. Can´t a uni get sponsorship? That should be feasible. A ‘public’ up/down line for local access should be feasible.
Concerning other things like setting up proxy servers might be OK technically but the ¨CIA du KGB¨, in Titeuf’s term, might spy on us and that’s not good for our privacy. So I won’t place a safe bet here, given the actual government’s policies to sue people for ¨Gignol¨ materials.
I heard a local company is coming with a project of 100 Mbps line locally and a few Mbps up/down via satellite. But the bottleneck is again international access. And SAFE and all the things for Mauritians are still a myth. We don’t see that in everyday life.
Going for public petitions might be a good thing. And by public, everyone will see the initiative and might join. Rest to define what’s normal usage data limit and bandwidth acceptable. Hoping that this might change things
May 23rd, 2008 at 20:36
aw.. trackback doesn’t work? it was pinged successfully though.
anyway Get a business account if you want to download 24/7 and don’t want to be crippled.
you can’t. At least not at first sight.
Traffic shaping for p2p and some download sites.
that can’t be good. and it’s not the ISP’s pregorative to decide about that, no?
(i) we are ok with the FUP No. Not in its current form anyway. I was expecting something of the sort from the lowlifes at MT though. Instead of simply reducing connection speeds for the said regular downloaders only when there is high demand on the network, they would go do something completely fatuous as imposing a traffic volume limit on almost everyone.
but we definitely agree that their limits are too ‘effing low.
And I am definitely a “heavy user” by Orange’s skewed perception. Then again that’s 3 x power users + 2 casual users on the same 256K line. on average 30-40gb per month. myself I must be doing like 2-3 GB per week these days.
Has the FUP Already Started??
apparently yes. I’m getting about 4KBps on average on my myt line with frequent disconnections.
except the internet in this country is excessively erratic. a few days ago, I suddenly got a few hours @ 27KBps…. then it dropped to almost nothing just like that.
which username and password do i use? i dnt remember having any
it’s the same as your internet login/password. except you need to remove the @tplus if you are a regular ADSL user or remove the @myt for myt users.
If you can’t remember your login/password, contact their help services. A sweet voice should help you find what you’ve lost.
May 24th, 2008 at 00:54
What happens when people starts downloading game? A game nowadays is 4-7GB.
May 24th, 2008 at 09:58
Hi Dilraj,
Concerning “The university should play a major role since in each country I see downloads from universities. Can´t a uni get sponsorship? That should be feasible. A ‘public’ up/down line for local access should be feasible.”
Don’t forget that the “university” is an abstraction. It does not really exist. Rather, the people there make the university. I’ve discussed with one company who is willing to provide us with a server with adequate disk space but not the Internet connection as far as I understand. I’ve talked to a Google guy about this and he has told me that this is not something that Google does and that I should ask the local ISP. I’ve not discussed yet this with people from MT because I finally don’t think it’s a good idea.
The main reason is that the department of Computer Science (where I am) has a substandard server room with inadequate equipment to guarantee 24×7 operation. And, to be frank, there are only a few of us who know how to manage servers.
Of course, there is also CITS at the UoM but I don’t think they’ll be happy to do that (I may be wrong though).
So, IMHO, I think it’s better that MT does this transparently. They have the technical resources and, as this would make them save money on SAFE, maybe they’ll even find a nice business model for that.
Universities from elsewhere have mirrors because they are directly connected to the Internet. Here we are just customers of MT like mostly everyone else in this country…
May 24th, 2008 at 10:26
http://www.myt.mu/myt_formulaire.php
Check for Data Volume.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:40
Looks like an old form. The new one does not mention this.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:58
nooooo! godammit!! don’t give the link! the bastards at Orange will update/remove it!
arr… we can still make fun of them with it.
May 24th, 2008 at 14:57
Hi!
Getting some people who are ‘adepts’ of *nix and open-source movement might be nice so they can get things going on there and pushing forward MT hosting some images and providing them for local people.
And talking of university: i agree with Avinash that it’s the people who bring life to the buildings and that it’s again people who make things run.
Concerning gaming I think it’s high time we build some networks inside Mauritius. I already know some neighbors who are fans of DOTA and play night and day against each other over the local My.T line at 2 Mbps. Extending this idea might be good. But who will host the servers 24 hours a day? Perhaps a new business might pop up!
May 24th, 2008 at 17:39
“What happens when people starts downloading game? A game nowadays is 4-7GB.”
Why do we have to download such a big file which may at times be corrupt? Go save some money & buy it
May 24th, 2008 at 21:50
Well, till now i’ve downloaded around 20 G.B and my Account Status is still ok.
I have ADSL 512
May 25th, 2008 at 07:57
…
FUP in introduced akoz pu met tou dimoune egale ie, akoz ena tigit bandwidth zot p fair sa [or something else...]
be de tte facon , nu p paye zot bien cher pu sa vitesse connection la,, -.- comparer r lezot pays, zot ti cav servi sa cash la pu upgrade zot bann zafer -__-
olier organise bann zafer coma Orange Sitara ou alle fer sipaki napa encor
@avinash : i’d expect u to write about mbc soon
May 25th, 2008 at 16:45
Is anyone experiencing phantom usage?
Because from Orange’s usage reports(which I am disinclined to trust), I’ve used 1.6GB in last 24 hours, roughly.
which just does not seem possible. even counting upload, which they obviously do. Mine was the only PC turned on. and it wasn’t for the full 24 hours. and the amount downloaded+uploaded simply does not go beyond 400mb. the rest was simple web browsing. And I don’t see that making up for a whooping 1GB when I wasn’t even around….
and the damn thing even disconnected while I was typing this….
–
hey seriously, is anyone else writing that letter to the MT CEO? or do we just send him the link to this blog?
May 25th, 2008 at 18:59
Hello guys, well my monthly bandwidth consumption is around 60GB and account status is sill OK! So the FUP limit is indeed high..btw its Orange ADSL 1Mbit/s
Cheers
May 25th, 2008 at 21:43
I was thinking about the same thing for quite some time… Having a local network which can enable use to use the full 2MBps of our myT…
Well I had a look for this month data usage i found out that i have used about 25GB of data… :/ Well i downloaded one KDE4 version of the Hardy Heron, one DVD of the Kubuntu 8.04, the ordinary version and one Ubuntu 8.04 installation CD… and some other stuffs…
If am not mistaken the network usage is not only for downloads but also includes uploads… :s and i have uploaded a lot since i use the torrent client… so uploaded quite a lot while being a seeder…
Well i agree i have used quite a lot… :$
But still i will say the Fair Usage Policy is being Unfair by giving the myT 256k users only 3 GB of internet usage….
May 26th, 2008 at 01:40
My, that’s a really nice layout ^ ^
Nice blog man!
May 26th, 2008 at 01:41
p.s I really wished that green circle would glow on mouse over though
would be too cool
May 26th, 2008 at 10:59
“# Bilbo Says:
May 24th, 2008 at 17:39
“What happens when people starts downloading game? A game nowadays is 4-7GB.”
Why do we have to download such a big file which may at times be corrupt? Go save some money & buy it ;)”
try looking for Air Rivals or metin2 or silkroad online (or any of those free role playing game) and i bet this “attitude” of why download when you can buy would take a hike
and really dunno abt you bt since the time im downloading, i had only once a corrupted download (and was neither my fault nor my isp)
dedicated game servers….sounds like fun…problem is, would that be profitable (im thinking more of getting out of break even?)…
i think as from the start of the next month, i will try to have a look at the “official” download limit we are entitled to on https://internetaccount.orange.mu/
p.s. on Orange new catalogues, the download limit is said to be n/a (but there was a * next to the package name which said it was FUP :D) and only 1MB was officially written down as FUP… marketing ?
May 26th, 2008 at 19:57
In other news:
MTML Mauritius is currently offering Wireless Broadband Service, “Azu”, with a speed of “up to 2.4 Mbps” for Rs. 2199+vat in its Unlimited Package (which features Unlimited Upload & Download Volumes).
There are also other packages (all of the same speed) but with varying volumes (upload & download quotas) and pricing depends on data transfer not time used. I think this is a more judicious means of pricing since Internet, unlike telephony, can have different data transfer rates than telephony for the interval. However I am not sure if the tariff per additional MB (Rs 0.80) for the other packages is fair.
While this post may seem off-topic, it is not exactly the case, for my point is that the best way not be subject to Orange’s FUP without comprising on internet usage would be to switch ISP. That’s right, as consumers, the only votes we are able to cast are our rupees.
Full price list is as follows:
Package(GB): Cost(Rs.): Additional Data(Rs./MB)
1 299 0.80
2 549 0.80
5 1199 0.80
* 2199 0.80
EVDO PCMCIA Card: Rs. 3999
Installation Fee: Rs. 750
More info:
http://www.mahanagartelephone.com/mtml/index.asp?mode=azu_internet
http://www.mahanagartelephone.com/mtml/index.asp?mode=tariff_azu
May 26th, 2008 at 22:01
At Rs 2.2k & a 2.4Mbps speed, Azu seems very attractive, except that it’s only for laptops with PCMCIA. (pffff)
& coverage is LIMITED!!!
High speed Coverage in the entire Port Louis and Plaine Wilhelms areas and surfing speed upto 144Kbps in the rest of the island
Unless you live in the Plaine Wilhelms & Port Louis, you’ll be paying 2.2k for a 144kbps connection! LOL
& if when they’ve managed to extend the EVDO coverage & sell a USB Evdo modem… i guess Azu will be a victim of its own success - the speed won’t remain 2.4Mbps when hundreds of users start using it…
Back to square one then…
May 26th, 2008 at 22:10
“try looking for Air Rivals or metin2 or silkroad online (or any of those free role playing game) and i bet this “attitude” of why download when you can buy would take a hike
and really dunno abt you bt since the time im downloading, i had only once a corrupted download (and was neither my fault nor my isp)”
But not many would play free games, don’t you agree? I well said ‘it may be corrupt’. Sometimes, there’s a big risk and of course, a checksum for each part you’re downloading would have been nice. FYI, I never download games available from RS or other ‘crappy’ file hosting. I always download the original TAR release.
May 27th, 2008 at 04:31
At Rs 2.2k & a 2.4Mbps speed, Azu seems very attractive, except that it’s only for laptops with PCMCIA. (pffff)
Yeah, I agree that’s something they need to work upon.
& coverage is LIMITED!!!
High speed Coverage in the entire Port Louis and Plaine Wilhelms areas and surfing speed upto 144Kbps in the rest of the island
Unless you live in the Plaine Wilhelms & Port Louis, you’ll be paying 2.2k for a 144kbps connection! LOL
Nothing to laugh here. There are many businesses(and home users) located in this area so it is a good place to start while waiting for demand in other areas to increase.
Azu will be a victim of its own success - the speed won’t remain 2.4Mbps when hundreds of users start using it…
Calm down, we are not there yet, and will probably not reach such a point, because if Azu takes off and has an increased market share, expect Orange to respond…with better services, and Azu too…. This is called competition and such competition can only benefit consumers. Orange is taking advantage of being a monopoly so if we want to fight back, let’s kick it where it hurts, by switching. Btw, Emtel is also making moves to lower its prices. (Nomad coming soon?)
Back to square one then…
Why?
My point is Orange is exploiting us and that will persist unless we react. (or the government intervenes - but doh - does it ever??) I am not advocating for Azu/Nomad/Emtel, but for change, through choice. Power to the people! Let consumers wield the power of choice!
May 27th, 2008 at 11:50
Guys/gals,
3GB on MyT 256K is BULLSHIT! Get your facts right, instead of going on tangents based on hearsay. I got some inside info and it’s more like 15GB/month. Since I did 62GB last month (and yes I will qualify as a heavy user soon or already?), I am stomped…how am I supposed to download less series? I am addicted to them…let’s get a server and do some file-sharing so that I can get local seeds ???!!! Of course, it’s all ILLEGAL….but then what isn’t?
May 27th, 2008 at 12:43
@carrot.
there are PCI expansion slots that allow you to add PCMCIA cards to a desktop PC… except… I don’t know if you can buy those around here… and if you can they probably are far too expensive…
expect Orange to respond…with better service
or do like microsoft and sneer at Azu and Emtel and declare that “wireless internet at 2.4mpbs does not exist in mauritius”
It’s not likely to affect Orange’s monopoly on land lines. so they aren’t likely to react as promptly as you suggest. At least not until Emtel gets its own optical cables in the game.
Let consumers wield the power of choice!
yup yup! as soon as possible would be great. I believe the same thing. next week or sooner.
the only problem is that it’s mostly wireless… I like my wires… there used to be concerns about security with wireless but that was a fairly long time ago and thing must have moved up a bit since. If the MTML or Emtel alternatives are reliable, they might be worth a shot.
side rants:
I’ve been reading around, apparently the Orange situation is comparable to British Telecom. They do get megabit connections but I’ve overheard that it was only ADSL 1 and there’s a heck load of crap too about fair use policies too.
a random rand I found: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/02/british-telecom-like.html
ISPs worldwide feed on hatred. they are the spawns of satan.
May 27th, 2008 at 16:15
am currently using the emtel hsdpa, the initial price is quite high for the modem, but the speed is really nice and 2 gb cap is enough once you get use to it.
@ all heavy users
by experience i think many of you guys download the same series, movies and some actually porn.. y don’t you get a business line? expensive? then get together with some friends and take one business line and basically share when you are at university or at work..
May 27th, 2008 at 18:29
to 40. yups Bilbo, most dnt
bt the few who does have to bear that in mind that those games dnt come with little in size..the minimum i came across was 600Mb if i recall correctly….thank god i cant play warcraft >__>)
would want to quote this “”Tout ce qui est impossible reste à accomplir” - Jules Verne” bt we are more on this “Programmers are in a race with the Universe to create bigger and better idiot-proof programs, while the Universe is trying to create bigger and better idiots. So far the Universe is winning.” (second part seems nice and so near to reality >_<…read that somewhere bt got it again from here http://weblog.raganwald.com/2008/01/challenge-facing-programming-language.html )
XD
May 27th, 2008 at 23:03
p.s. damm i must stop thnking that im writing things which i am not
i forgt the exact words bt what i wanted to saw before the quotes (and this was the reason to this quotes) was that all of our contents are gearing towards downloading..even some companies are forsaking CDs for download {a nice example is itune}…what will happen if ever this trend was to become true in here… what of the “get what you want where you want”?
but with some persons at some key areas *cough*ICTA*cough*, i have some serious doubts with the full “liberalisation” of the net price and download limits in here…as a matter of fact, with that “mentality” of follows which most of us seem to like…i dnt see major things happening, not to mention the “i dnt care” attitude or the “pa mo travail sa{lol it is infact his :D}….alle guet X”
still i love those comments
{im having an odd feeling that the blog ate my comment in the middle Mr Avinash >_<..hence me trying to reword here lol..at least from what can i see before approval -_-..unless i messed up somehow ;-(}
p.s. if i somehow sounded odd, ignore it
p.s.2 someone linked something interesting in the other thread, here
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/146137/mauritius_telecoms_profit_at_record_high.html
“…With revenue of 6.5 billion rupees (US$232 million) and after-tax profit of 2.14 billion rupees, exceeding 2 billion rupees for the first time, MT is strengthening its position as one of the best performing companies in the Small Island Developing State in the Indian Ocean….”
June 1st, 2008 at 12:59
On the Web Self Care Page…
As from now, you can view session information for the current month and the past month only. We no longer keep session information for older months for practical reasons. If you like to keep records of your sessions, then you should print the Sessions Report when you view it every month. Thanks for your understanding.
So I guess the FUP is being applied starting from the month of June…
One more move that shows how evil Orange really is… why prevent users from seeing their usage? I don’t believe that they no longer keep the records - how else are they going to apply the FUP if they don’t keep the records??
Everyone should be advised to keep their own logs!
June 1st, 2008 at 15:07
myt 256 >_<
used uptil now on the first ~21MB
on home i see this
Account Status Ok.
Period Free Time Remaining 0:00:00 hours
Internet Data Volume Balance 818.91 MB
yaaay
June 2nd, 2008 at 17:37
My traffic usage is 650mb in 2 days…
Yesterday, it showed me OK.
& here’s what i see today…
Account Status: You exceeded your allowed credit.
Period Free Time Remaining: 0:00:00 hours
Internet Data Volume Balance: 0.00 MB
So the limit for 128k is 500MB??? WTF?
The system itself is BS… how will they monitor our usage?? (I’m not being FUPed yet)
Btw, what happened to the letter of protest to Orange/MT/papers/Gov/ICTA/etc??
Somebody needs to take the initiative…
June 2nd, 2008 at 18:13
<– you will not have any proof if you get fup’ed for no reason
June 2nd, 2008 at 20:20
To carrotmadman6:
I’m going to write the letter with the help of Yaasir and some others in a few days… I’m very busy right now with exam paper correction
June 3rd, 2008 at 03:38
I get a notification for comments on this post while your wife is on television. The Universe has strange ways of calling me to attention. (well that was the case when I started typing this. I got distracted by other things…)
sorry I haven’t been participating more. I haven’t exactly been busy though… more like sleeping a lot… (it *is* winter you know…).
There’s nothing really new to say. The new FUP is only marginally less shifty than the first. One new thing would be the very diffrent definitions of bandwidth. We might be thinking in terms of bits per seconds. Orange thinks of about of movies downloaded over a period 3 months at most. And as Eddy pointed out, anyone can “overuse” their connection in those first 2 months. They may have been trying to explain thing in layman terms but since most of the so called “heavy downloaders” would usually have some average knowledge of jargon used in this context, it makes the whole thing look even fishier to them.
We can make suggestions, optimising local bandwidth usage, even an alternate billing system (pay per use) that would be advantageous to light users. Since they are bloody insisting on capping us by bytes used, might as well just pay for what we actually use.
Except it’s not hard to imagine that most of our questions will get rebutted by copy pasted answers. And keep us going in circles for a while until we end up just accepting the state things out of sheer bloody habit… until we move to a MUCH better prospective ISP.
But as I mentioned in the first FUP related post comments, the FUP could be just a sinecure. There’s a chance it will be same same service we were getting before but instead of calling it “unlimited” connection, which it wasn’t really, its now just a “fair usage” connection. Another rebranding…
June 3rd, 2008 at 18:31
Hi Yaasir,
Nice insight in your last paragraph. I also think that most ISPs have to have FUPs. MT’s FUP is not as bad as it might have been a few years ago. The only major issue is their definition of a heavy downloader. This is something that we, as customers, need to know and, consequently, should ask.
The second thing is for having data locally whether using proxies or mirrors etc. This is also something that we need to discuss with the MT people.
I’ll draft a letter as soon as possible based on what you wrote previously. Obviously, I’ll have to censor some of it
June 4th, 2008 at 09:53
Well well..I do mostly 20gb to 55 gb per month using a myT 256..
which includes 10 hours online gaming everyday! ! !
June 4th, 2008 at 10:13
Sorry for my double post.Its only now that I read all comments..
I don’t have any session report..The site gives me something like this
“All your session reports have been deleted”
WTF ORANGE
I know that the last 3 months I did over 40gb since I’m in school holidays.
So, my daily use of internet is:
2 hours of chat and surf
15 hours of online gaming
7 hours of downloading
My highest usage was for March 2008 where I did 56GB.31 days of non stop internet usage{downloads and online gaming}
Now restricting myself to a rubbish 3gb will definitely get on my nerves..How the hell am I supposed to reduce my usage from 50GB to just a peanut of 3GB! !Wooooooow.Another stuff for my online friends to laugh about Mauritius and its crappy services! !Did I ever tell you that my online friends{Mostly being from France, Uk, Us, Australia, Germany, Malaysia, Spain}laugh at my so called broadband connection?And now when I will be telling them about a peanut 3Gb.They will be rolling on the floor laughing! ! !
By the way, Hats off to Orange.I’m downloading at a stupid and rubbish speed of 2KB/s since 18 mins! !
And if there’s any one from Orange who’s reading this.
STOP TAKING US FOR FOOLS.What will we do with that stupid local speed?surfing on ncb.gov.mu the whole day?grrrrr..I’m fed up with those customer care who make me everytime to
ale lor ncb.gov.mu download 1 file.ki speed ou gagner..b monsier..ou speed bon.
WTF..Are you people so stupid?or are you just doing parrot talking??As everytime its the same stuff..
Whoever I talk to the customer care, has the same and same answer to me! !
by the way.avant zot rentre travail..zot lire meme zafaire ki zot ena pou dire for the whole day?
My rant is over.Have a nice day everyone.
@carrot–>hahahaha..welcome on board.the site monitor dont always get updated…LoL..once on a 1st of a month i downloaded 10 mb..i log on the site..and it recorded that I have already exceeded my date usage..LoL..and I phoned them immediately.the nice cc told me that..to know the actual date usage.u need 2 phn them..LMFAO…anyway..This is MAURITIAN CUSTOMER CARE..{those who have read on NTA customer care on defi plus will understand this better}
June 5th, 2008 at 02:40
Still at the ranting stage?
Just pulling your legs y’all
Eddy.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:28
Has anyone received phone a phone call kindly asking them to rate, on a scale of 1 to 10, the services of Mauritius Telecom’s (and not Orange’s) customer support service?
June 5th, 2008 at 14:25
@Ketwaroo–>not yet..Only 1 to 10..Why no 0 and why no negative points?like -10 to 10..:p
June 5th, 2008 at 21:08
@Yaasir (for comment 58), yups i did, but it was always AFTER i had a technician look into my problem (the tech guy was superb though, and since i could relay the right info to him, my problem was solved quicker than expected)
June 6th, 2008 at 18:43
Hello guys/gals
Sorry to be off topic but check this out..
http://www.speedtest.net/result/280553053.png
Yes its true and its here in Mauritius 4mbit/s..but its not as your normal DSL line,its was on an MT IP-VPN!
Cheers
June 6th, 2008 at 20:34
@shaad, what is MT IP VPN? Care to explain?
Cheers,
Eddy.
June 6th, 2008 at 21:41
@shaad
4Mbps? What’s the fuss? It’s not available to the public is it?
Btw MT already use ADSL2 for our current connections - if we had enough bandwidth (3x SAFE), everyone would be using 1Mbps+ right now…
June 7th, 2008 at 07:57
Well I am a telecom tech from MT ’s network and information system dept and that the internet connection I get from my office. Internet Portocol Virtual Private Networking (IPVPN) has a direct connection to MT exchange Cisco router without passing throught the normal way like ADSL so there is less no. of hops and you get low latency…Any question please feel free
Cheers
Shaad
June 7th, 2008 at 08:08
@carrotmadman6
All that I can tell that MT does have lots of bandwidth on SAFE cable but its shared and btw 8Mbps ipvpn connection is also avialable. No unfortunatly it is not available to the public, for the time being I can tell you that you wont get speeds more than 2Mbps from MT because our networking structure and equipment does not support it!!
June 7th, 2008 at 16:34
MT has 8MBPS connection but it is not available to the public, i have got some friends who work at MT & have got 4MBPS connection at home
June 8th, 2008 at 09:46
No your wrong Sailesh, the modem may sync. at 4mbps but only 2mbps is assigned for internet as the DSLAM supports only 2.3mbps…And there cant have an IP-VPN at home as its costs a LOT
June 8th, 2008 at 13:46
shaad, I would not consider 482ms to be low latency. Typical latency from Reunion Isl. (to a European server) is around 200ms. Both Mauritius and Reunion are connected on SAFE, so why are the latencies so different ?
Eddy.
June 8th, 2008 at 15:18
All that I can tell that MT does have lots of bandwidth on SAFE cable but its shared A
That’s news to me…
Most of the bandwidth is shared between “super-business” users (other ISPs, call-centres, etc.)
So actually, MT is pretending that it is running our of bandwidth!?
June 8th, 2008 at 18:17
Well Eddy your right, but considering that there was 4 users on the internet at the time I did that test its preety much good..Indeed 200-250ms can be easily achieved on an ip-vpn..
Cheers
Shaad
June 9th, 2008 at 12:37
Action urged on broadband future
Moving to the next generation of broadband technology could deliver huge economic rewards, says a report.
Read on: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7440246.stm
Someone pass this on to Sithanen & explain to him why he should have provided some money for an international fibre link in his budget…
June 9th, 2008 at 16:34
carrotmadman6, according to the budget speech, money will be spent on upgrading the bandwidth on the SAFE cable.
Eddy.
June 9th, 2008 at 16:36
Surely, this must be a typo. Only four users can affect the latency!?
Eddy.
June 9th, 2008 at 16:47
Thats a good idea..:)
June 9th, 2008 at 18:27
@shaad,
how can my friend download at 475kbps?? i have used & download from his pc & it was for real. Any explanation?
June 10th, 2008 at 11:36
They know how to avoid your questions..Been trained for that..
Like I phoned Orange mobile customer care to ask for any reasonable explanation on why the hell I was not able to send messages nor make any phone calls! !
Do I need to say that they make as if I was the only one which that problem! !
When I told the nice lady that I know +50 people having the same problem..She was not aware of such a problem..I had to tell her that mo pou faire tou mo ban cam return zot sim handicaP ek prnd emtel.
June 10th, 2008 at 17:43
@Eddy
I did notice that.. but how can you buy more bandwidth on something that’s already clogged up?? It would not be enough…
)
(Unless SA decides to donate us bandwidth!
June 10th, 2008 at 17:45
@Eddy
Of course four heavy users (like me) can affect latency…
June 10th, 2008 at 17:50
@Sailesh
Indeed its 475kbps (kilo BITS per sec) that normal man. Its not KB/s (kilo BYTE per sec) dont be confused!! So this explain that he has 512kbps at home..so simple
June 10th, 2008 at 19:20
@carrotmadman6, where did you read the SAFE was clogged up?
@shaad, it must not be a very big pipe then.
Eddy.
June 10th, 2008 at 19:49
@Eddy
LOL
Anyone can deduce that…
What makes MT so desperate to apply a FUP, block RS.com, have such a high price grid??
Why does the whole network gets clogged up in peak times (during school holidays/public holidays/uni holidays)??
June 10th, 2008 at 20:18
No only 4mbps…
Shaad
June 11th, 2008 at 13:31
@carrotmadman6: No, we cannot tell for sure that the SAFE is clogged up from MT’s policy. SAFE does not belong solely to MT; it belongs to a consortium of which MT are a member. Like other members, MT have to buy bandwidth when needed.
Please get your facts straight before spreading rubbish like this. It does no one any good.
Eddy.
June 11th, 2008 at 14:47
@ Eddy
Please spread the facts(or whatever you may consider to be facts) straight before accusing of rubbish like that. It does not do you any good.
where did you read the SAFE was clogged up?
I have the impression that YOU, yourself, Eddy, suggested so. If anyone bothers to read around you own blog and the comments of the previous “what is the FUP” one, the might find some proof of that. Although I may be wrong but too lazy/can’t be bothered to go check. like I said, just an impression that you made the suggestion.
– — – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – –
My connection is annoyingly ok again… and has been for the past few weeks… it’s annoying because you can’t write a good complaints letter when everything works…
except it’s not so good at night…
question for shaad, do they turn off hardware at night? By accident because they switch off the mains when the last person leaves the building or on purpose to save on electricity? if they do either, I shall frown.
June 11th, 2008 at 16:08
Up for you Eddy
..indeed your right and by last Dec 07 MT had about 784mbps of bandwidth on SAFE and btw Nomad has about 20mbps only!!
Cheers
Shaad
June 11th, 2008 at 17:00
@shaad
Sorry it was indeed 475 kb/s
Sorry for that, so any explanation?
June 11th, 2008 at 17:39
@Eddy
& it does no one any good if you bury your head in the sand…
The whole SAFE network isn’t clogged up - but MT’s bandwidth is very very limited.
Read this for my explanation:
http://themediaguru.blogspot.com/2008/01/why-internet-in-mauritius-is-doomed.html
I would like to add that at that time the Internet was really crap!!! & i’m currently experiencing the same problems again (we are in Uni holidays right now) & my speed has reduced from 14 to 10KB/s. & at 8pm, I get exactly half my speed!!! (couldn’t watch those streaming matches online coz my connection is <65kbps)
I believe that at that time MT purchased more bandwidth on SAFE & the problem was solved. But once again, we are having the same problems. But for how long can they continue upgrading/purchasing bandwidth - SAFE does not have infinite bandwidth…
After I had posted this article, I had contact with a lobby (of call-centres) who wanted to publicize the bandwidth shortage issue & make the GM move towards investing into fibre links.
The conclusion is simple - we need more bandwidth. (& for that more fibre optic networks)
June 11th, 2008 at 23:32
@carrotmadman6 @ketwaroo: You are both punching way above your collective head.
I have NEVER stated that SAFE is congested; however, I have always said that MT have not commissioned enough bandwidth on the SAFE and that their allocated bandwidth is saturated. There is a difference, as subtle as it may be. Please do not be lazy and go check all my posts and comments before mis-quoting me.
@shaad: (At least, I feel we can have a sensible discussion together
The bandwidth of 784 mbps is very small, so I am no longer surprised that the ADSL connections are so bad? Do you know if that bandwidth is for both Internet and other communications? Or, is it just for Internet? Even if it is QoS bandwidth, it is still too small for MT to service all their customers.
On another note, have Orange engineers (from France) been optimising the bandwidth lately? In recent days, the latency has gone down to sub-300 ms, in case you haven’t noticed.
@carrotmadman6: Please go learn some more. Your statements are beyond ridiculous now and are only annoying me.
Eddy.
June 11th, 2008 at 23:56
@carrotmadman6: I skimmed your blog post. Lots of graphs, but no substance.
Eddy.
June 12th, 2008 at 00:15
yay flames.
I never wrote that you stated anything. but much in your tone and manner of writing suggested such a thing.
Asking questions you think you know the answers to then jump from under a hat in the middle of the pavement to proclaim “hohoho! u r so rong! i no soo mach moar then u! i plays on minute technicalities to pwnt u lulz”, not very nice.
for us humble lowlifes, who simply pay to use a service we want to use and do not necessarily conduct latency tests all day on their connection to justify being an IT professional (whatever that still means in this country…), SAFE and MT’s allocated bit of SAFE is the same thing. just typing SAFE is easier than prepending the “MT’s allocated bit of “. A bit of background knowledge is assumed common to all readers that we are talking about mauritians complaining about MT in mauritius. and not every bloody country connected to that blasted cable or some unholy consortium and their newts.
[below breath]and I do hope you are getting annoyed. avast ye and ye dark arts, black magician![/below breath]
and just to add something I forgot on last comment.
784mbps is stupid.
that can’t be right. I had been wanting to know just how much bandwidth MT really has at its disposal since the whole FUP thing came up but this is really stupid. and shaad says that it’s shared? meaning other countries also use those 784 at the same time? stupid…
June 12th, 2008 at 07:11
@Sailesh
Good its clear for you man,so its a 512k adsl and you should get about 85/90% of your speed announced thats all
June 12th, 2008 at 08:35
@Eddy
LOL
If you think i’m an ûber-Troll & you are the Ultimate Geek God, so be it. I sincerely hope I have more consideration than the dirt on your shoe… Peace.
Seriously, we all agree that MT’s network is too small? So why fuss?
As for the latency, I’m still have 1000ms+ latency, i get 144kbps instead of 128kbps, but my upload is 45kbps instead of 68kbps.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/282964637.png
(But then i’m an illiterate villager, so I’m not supposed to understand what’s latency)
@Shaad
784Mbps!?!?! That’s it?? OMG!
June 12th, 2008 at 10:38
@Eddy
The 784mbps is the international internet bandwidth that MT has on SAFE cable (figures dated Dec 2007), other services are not included, well its not that quite small! But MT gonna definitely buy more bandwidth on SAFE or/and join EASSy in the near future
June 12th, 2008 at 10:44
@Ketwaroo D. Yaasir
Man when did i say that the 784mbps bandwidth is share??WHEN??? I SAID THAT THE 4MBPS IP-VPN AT MY OFFICE IS SHARED OK…
June 12th, 2008 at 10:46
@carrotmadman6
Its the international internet connectivity that MT has on SAFE cable..
Cheers
Shaad
June 12th, 2008 at 12:53
YOU tell me. I am not the one who has been bashing MT/Orange vainly in the last gazillion posts. I have expressed my unbiased opinion about FUP and have even suggested that you people write to MT/Orange to get clarifications about it.
As much as Avinash’s post provided an opportunity for sensible discussion about the state of Internet in Mauritius, your unverified claims that you pass as facts and Yassir’s ramblings make it so I can no longer bear to contribute to the comments.
Eddy.
June 12th, 2008 at 19:53
CAPSLOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL, kiddo.
good thing firefox has that search thingy.
dun dun dunnn…