Bandwidth packages come in many different forms, price ranges and sizes and choosing the one that is right for you can be a challenge, says Shane Chorley, executive head of Network and Operations.
“The first question to ask before signing up for any bandwidth package is, ‘What experience would I like to have?’ We all use the Internet in different ways and certain packages are simply better suited to data-hungry applications such as gaming and live streaming than others,” says Chorley.
“A good friend of mine in the digital space was using an uncapped, shaped account for video and content uploads. He found that his service was quite slow during the day, but much better at night due to simple throughput constraints that usually doesn’t affect users who don’t use as much data as he typically would.
“By moving to an unshaped, capped account he was still able to use the 150Gb of data he needed per month but without the degradation of service he had experienced before – at a lower cost. He realised the value of switching very quickly.”
Chorley was instrumental in developing the Vox Telecom Fat pipe offering – sophisticated, unshaped, capped ADSL.
“It’s ideal for users with large 10Mb, 20Mb or 40Mb pipes who require high-speed Internet at all times, but most users will find that the experience of using Fat pipe internet is of much better quality than your run-of-the-mill ADSL offering. The price, at R4 per Gig, is comparable to most ADSL offers on the market.”
The fact that the service is capped should not be a deterrent to users, even ones who are may classify themselves as heavy data users.
“We did a detailed analysis of uncapped Internet users and found that most of them rarely use more than 40Gb of data per month, which makes this product ideal, particularly when one considers the fact that unused data keeps rolling over from month to month. This means that you could potentially accumulate large amounts of data for periods of heavy use – such as the holidays – without having to upgrade your account or purchase more data.”
Customers that sign up for a 24-month Fat pipe contract of 100GBs or more per month before 31 January 2014 will receive an Apple TV, absolutely free.
“The product is perfectly suited to Apple TV,” says Chorley. “Users can easily store their files in iTunes and stream them directly to their Apple TV, without quality concerns. It’s the perfect entertainment device for online viewing.”
