Category: IT

Seacom goes live, connects Mauritius?

by
Inf

That’s the latest news on submarine cables that come near Africa.

I have read before that there was some buzz about the Seacom cable connecting Mauritius in 2009, and will offer even higher speed internet to our small island.

The BBC reports that the Seacom cable has gone live! What does this mean to Mauritius? Higher internet speed soon? Lower costs?

But first things first. Are we even connected to the cable? From the picture, it connects to the SAFE cable that connects to Mauritius. Does that mean we are connected? I haven’t heard any news about this. I’ve looked in the newspapers I have available, and haven’t found anything recently, unless I missed some small article somewhere.

The last I heard about Seacom cable was that it was having some troubles because of the pirates in the region. Nothing on Mauritius getting connected to it so far.

The most relevant article I found was from L’Express, dated 15 January 2009. It does mention that there are 5 submarine cables being laid in our region, and that we will “benefit” from those cables. There’s another article with nearly same content, again from L’Express, for those who want reading material.

For now, we’ll patiently wait for the next speed boost while keeping the price same.

What are your views on this matter? Do you think we’ll see any boost or benefit anytime soon?

Africa Submarine Cables

New ISP in Mauritius soon?

by
Inf

Internet Speed

Or so L’Express Newspaper claims.

The offer seems interesting. They, yes “they” since the article doesn’t mention what ISP it will be, but I suspect it will be Outremer Telecom, since it’s already in Mauritius. There is no confirmation yet, so it’s just my supposition.

Continue Reading »

Is Microsoft THAT afraid of Firefox?

by
Inf

EDIT: They changed it! Ahhh they finally found some reason! Note the different tone of language. Note the less number of points! Good good!

The New Version of the 10K lol-ad!

Hey readers, check out what I found in my feeds today! It’s a competition hosted by Microsoft! 10K prize money offered. The catch? You need to have Internet Explorer 8. The ad in itself is really funny, almost laughable. It seems Microsoft is really scared about losing market share to Firefox especially, and other browsers considering the tone of the ad. I’ve included a copy below, and for your viewing pleasure, here’s the original link.

A small comment: Since the page can only be opened in IE8 which got a lousy score in ACID3 test, it the page where the money is hidden must be so quirky that Firefox refuses to even find it! Also, note point #2! “Microsoft’s best ever browser” but not simply “best ever browser”. Does Microsoft itself know that its browser is not the best out there?

Enjoy your lulz, and comment! Seriously, I lol’d hard! Couldn’t resist blogging this as soon as I saw it! 😀

MS 10k competition

Click the image for the larger version

Original Source

Internet Connection Price Decrease: Not everyone is happy

by
Inf

As strange as this seems, not everybody is happy with Orange’s price cuts and speed boosts. However, there is one major difference here: it’s not the users that are unhappy. It’s the other ISPs.

(Btw, as from now, when I say Orange, I am including MyT in it too)

This news piece was reported by L’Express some days back. I can’t tell you the exact date since I no longer have the paper, but it must be from the previous week, in the Techno section. We can easily guess who is unhappy and why. I bet it’s MTML and Nomad leading the pack, and it’s quite understandable.

With the price cuts and speed boosts, Orange has now become the ISP with the best offers around, in terms of price and speed. Orange is offering prices that smaller ISPs will never be able to match without sacrifices or losses. And if you ask me, I find that to be quite unfair towards them.

We know that Nomad’s service is not what you can call the most reliable service around, and that MTML’s dial-up replacement offer is not very satisfactory because of the capping. (I think the capping must still be on, but I’m not sure). Also, their speeds are not the fastest on the market now. MTML’s main offer is the 144Kbps and Nomad’s maximum is 512Kbps as far as I know. On the other side, you have Orange that has migrated its users to twice the speed for the same price. I don’t know how you call that, but I term it “unfair competition”.

I’m neutral in that I am not pro-Nomad or pro-MTML or anything. I’m just a normal Internet user, but I kind of feel pity for the other ISPs. But, and it’s a big but, I’m really happy with the boost in speed as a customer. What would have been better is some kind of compromise. It’s as if the State (or ICTA?) has accepted the recommendations about prices and speeds too easily, without considering everybody’s case.

Personally, I can’t find workable solutions. There is one that would work, but I’m pretty sure will not be implemented in Mauritius. This solution is the breaking of Orange’s monopoly over the SAFE cable, so that other ISPs no longer need to actually buy bandwidth from Orange. I doubt this will work since I guess that the other ISPs can’t afford bandwidth directly from SAFE. Something like “degroupage” in France, if you want.

Next would be a drastic reduction in the price that Orange sells bandwidth to the other ISPs. That price keeps falling, but if smaller ISPs need to have a fighting chance, it’s still too high according to the losing parties.

What can I say? ISP business in Mauritius is a cut-throat activity, and if you can’t fight, you go down, no matter how much you invested in the first place. That must be quite a large sum for Nomad and MTML, considering that they installed antennas and all the other equipments to provide wireless access so that they don’t have to use MT’s wires and cables.

Funnily enough, Emtel remains silent till now about the boost. It’s 1.8Mbps offer is directly threatened by Orange’s 1Mbps. I’d like to know what they are planning.

Sadly enough, this boost which is a great thing for us users might bring back what we fear most: Monopoly. This could happen if other ISPs decide to pack up and go.

What are your views on this? What do you think can be done to help smaller ISPs?

Orange Mauritius being generous: ADSL prices fall, MyT speed doubles! (updated)

by
Inf

I did say I was going to blog about Orange some time again. There was a news item that told how Orange suggested that prices remain constant and that speed increases, and ICTA wanted that prices fall while speed remains constant, which is plain stupid. However, something nicer appeared on the front of Le Mauricien today (Edit: Today = 26th Feb 2009, I am blogging this article after midnight).

If the news is correct and if what it says really happens, we are going to have a 35-45% price fall in ADSL prices. Do you believe that? A friggin 45% decrease in ADSL prices! MyT is going to follow soon according to that same article! New prices applicable as from 1st March 2009!

Seriously, this is wicked cool. Is it really? Wait a bit, you will see.

There is something I didn’t catch. There is X allowance (X is an integer) and Fair Usage Policy (FUP). I think allowance is a quota where you pay more after exceeding it, while fair usage, you don’t pay but speed falls. That’s me, so don’t consider these words to be a fact.

First lemme give you the prices and other stuff. Everything below refers to ASDL, so no MyT’s for now. 128K refers to 128K ADSL. All prices exclude VAT. Got it?

128K home (1 GB allowance) goes to 256K with 3 GB allowance. Price goes to 434 from 650. 33% fall.

Nothing yet for 128K home (with FUP). It was not mentioned in the article, saying the info was not obtained from MT.

512K home (with FUP) falls to Rs. 750 from the current Rs. 1360.,

The very best news now: There is a new package! 1 Mbps (with FUP) priced at Rs. 1360! That’s the price of the old 512K connection! Theoretically, you can now get twice the speed for the same price!

Then for ASDL Pro, for those who interested. Vat Included I think.

256K goes to Rs. 800 from Rs. 950 (3GB cap).

512K goes to Rs. 1300 from Rs. 1540.

For Rodrigues, same thing for ADSL home. For ADSL home 256 goes to Rs. 1600 from Rs. 1860.

Personally, I think this is good news. If not for the ridiculously low capping. (3GB on 256? Seriously? That’s less than a Linux distro DVD!) I also appreciate the introduction of the fair-priced 1 Mbps and I might even consider moving to that one when the new price policies start. That’s how 1 Mbps should have been priced from the very start! Now I can call it accessible. And I can finally thank Orange for listening to me: More speed for the same price. They did just that. I don’t know why ICTA was initially rejecting that, but they were not being rational.

Also, as you noticed, the FUP does not tell what exactly is the limit. I’d greatly appreciate some more information on that. Not this time I guess.

I am done now. Let’s hear your views. Happy? Not happy? What about the capping? Fair? Fair Usage Policy? Love it? Hate it? Suggestions?

EDIT:

Today (Today = 27th Feb 2009), news about MyT offers came out, and it’s very good news for them: Their speed doubles for the same price! 256K users will now have 512K. 512K will have 1Mbps and 1 Mbps will have 2 Mbps! Amazing!

Some new offers were also added, such as a MyT 512K with added TV channels (15 of them) for Rs. 999 / month. There will also be a 2Mbps offer will be available at Rs. 2999/month!

However, as Morinn has pointed out, there must be a catch!

I believe personally have two theories. Either Orange had the possibility to offer those speed and prices from the very start, but for some weird reason, they did not.

Or the more sombre reason: Capping and FUP will now be strictly enforced. As you probably noticed, for some users, even if they exceeded the unknown FUP limits, their speeds were not affected. I don’t know the limits, but I guess they must be around or less than 10GB. The question is: how can Orange offer twice the speed to all users, without making any upgrades to their networks or buying more bandwidth on the SAFE. Maybe I have missed something that was announced, or that it was done internally, but without upgrades, there is no logical way this can be done! Unless capping is strictly enforced.

This will keep heavy downloaders from leeching all the bandwidth, and redistribute the saved bandwidth to other users.

This is just a supposition, but a terrifying one none the least. We don’t know the limits, and therefore, don’t know when or how we are going to be capped.

Also, a commenter mentioned that 3GB capping. There seems to be a difference between capping, properly said, and Fair Usage Policy. As I said above, the “capping” policy is that if you go over the limits, you pay for additional MB’s downloaded. Whereas for FUP, it’s just that your speed decreases. Probably some kind of limit imposed, or that your connection is given less priority.

Another scarier issue: if capping (as in speed reduction) is enforced, it means that connections of users will be monitored to know what they are doing, how much and what they are downloading and from where. All this is just suppositions, but isn’t this called invasion of privacy?

Btw, remember how I was ranting about how my speed on Rapidshare was breaking and resuming every 4-5 seconds? It’s back! My download manager reports a download speed, but my router lights don’t flash. Ewww!

Note: My connection was automatically upgraded to 1Mbps today. I am having around 90-95KBps even 100+ KBps download speeds! AMAZING!! I noticed my upload went to 256 from 128! (Here I come, online gaming!!)

Ok, I stop here now to let you folks talk. I’m out of ideas. Let’s hear yours! 😛

Some Updates (and one rant)

by
Inf

Hello readers! No, I am not dead nor kidnapped by aliens nor anything else. I am just extremely busy with my life. Hell, CSE eats time. It just ATE my holidays! Who in their sane minds give 3 major assignments in a 2-months holidays?? Blame my lecturers!

I am just here to say sorry that I am unable to blog often now, but hey, it’s life. From now on, I’ll TRY (I say TRY) to blog about short tidbits here and there, instead of long articles. That’s until I end my Year 2, and all the assignments and whatever else associated with it.

For me to get some more sympathy, consider this: I got a test week (6 modules’ tests in one week!) in 3 weeks time. I got to submit 3 assignments (that’s till now, possibly more to come) by the end of the semester. And to conclude it all, I got exams (6 modules again!) that will cover the whole 2nd academic year’s content!! What the HELL! (Same for Guru btw) :/

Therefore, I ask for comprehension from your part. Don’t expect updates too often.

And now, time for the rant. You can guess towards what. ORANGE! :/

Damn them! I just noticed something funny today. I got a router, and I can see lights flash on it when I download. Well, guess what. Every 5 secs, the lights stop flashing, as if the download momentarily pauses. Then it resumes. I just timed it using a stopwatch. Every 5 seconds, there is a break!

Do you think this is normal? I bet this is some new form of capping or download regulation for “heavy” downloaders. I still haven’t exceeded 10GB download this month, so I really want to know what they consider to be “heavy downloading” for a 512K user.

Also, I got something to blog about Orange/Mauritius Telecom. They don’t do everything badly, as one would expect. This article will come soon, probably tomorrow hopefully, so wait for it. It’ll be a short one, I guess.

Pious Maha Shivratree to all. And bye, dear readers. 🙂

Orange’s Capping Policy hit L’Express Newspaper

by
Inf

… and people are not happy! If you want a snapshot of the page, here goes: (Sorry for the quality. I’ve got no scanner)

Orange Article in L\'Express Newspaper

(L’Express of Wednesday 10th September 2008, Page 7)

This article talks about a number of interesting points worth mentioning. It seems that a number of users are not aware that capping policies were put in place, and continued downloading as they used to without caring for a limit. And now, Orange is surprising them by saying “Hey! You downloaded too much dude! You will be capped!”.

Personally, I don’t know anybody who got a warning for over-downloading (yet). We know there are capping policies, but I didn’t hear of anybody getting a letter or call, or anything like that to inform them of going over the cap limits.

Next, it seems ACIM (Association des Consommateurs de Maurice – I think) is not very pleased with Orange’s practices, reporting that even if Orange applied their capping in other countries, it should not do so here since there is hardly any competition in the ISP (Internet Service Provider) sector. Abroad, if you are not satisfied with your ISP, you can choose from a dozen others, while here, you are stuck with two or three, like Nomad, DCL and Emtel if you can afford the modem. Azu of MTML is not on par yet, with lowly cap limits of 1GB I think.

ACIM giving the matter focus is a good thing for us all, even if you are not a heavy user. What is heavy usage anyways? Orange says [2000 MP3s or 14 Movies] for ADSL 128K Home and [3000 MP3s or 28 movies] for ADSL 512K Home per month.

Seriously, is this how you measure bandwidth usage? In terms of MP3s or movies? It’s like measuring the speed of an airplane by how many clouds go by in 1 hour! Please, just tell us what is the real cap! Just tell us plainly “You are allowed x GB of bandwidth per month”!

Things like MP3s and Movies have varying sizes. I can say an MP3 has an average size of 5MB and I’m being conservative. A movie, assuming a DVDRIP is 700MB. Notice that no format is given. What is the movie encoded in? AVI? MKV? The size would greatly vary, almost in a 1:2 ratio! Ok, so I assume 700MB, then I estimate the cap to be around 9800MB or 10GB for 128K and 20GB for 512K? We are not told!

And what’s with the idea of telling people they can “download movies” and “download MP3s”? Is that  some kind of condoning of piracy? What I read here is this: “Pirate a bit, but not too much, else your speed goes down”!

Another issue: we are not told by how much our speed decreases. What if my speed goes down from say, 512K to 128K if I go over the cap? That’s 4x less than what I’d be paying for! Plain unfair!

And finally, in countries where caps are implemented, there is the concept of peak time and off-peak time. Caps are only implemented during peak time, and you can leech to your heart’s content off-peak. That is, if ever you find your speed reduced because you went over-cap, then the reduction only applies during peak hour, and the limits are lifted off-peak. This is a good idea, if ever caps are to be implemented. And duh, anyways, the caps abroad are > 200GB! Consider Comcast’s 250GB limit, compared to our paltry 20GB. And we don’t even come close to Comcast’s speed packages, so it’s definitely not worth comparing us with them.

On this, I leave you to your conclusions and comments… 🙂