iBurst surprises

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 24 June 2007

iBurst has suspended the network access of some of their users until the 1st of July, while others received warnings in regard to their ‘excessive usage’.
 
In what came as an unpleasant surprise, iBurst called a number of their users this month, ‘…warning them that they will be hard capped unless they stop their ‘excessive usage’ (iBurst gets tough on caps, MyBroadband, 21 June 2007).
 
In other words, iBurst is cracking down on users who fail to adhere to iBurst’s ‘capping limit rules’.
 
Others were cut off without any warning…
 
One user said: “The bastards cut me off a few hours ago for this same reason, not even a warning” (iBurst gets tough on caps, MyBroadband, 21 June 2007).
 
In other words, some users were denied network access without any prior warning (according to them).
 
Why the sudden ‘crack down’ on users?
 
Tools of enforcement are now available…
 
“In the past, iBurst hasn’t capped subscribers for on-net data usage. Capping limit rules have always existed, however. We now have the tools to enforce these rules and will implement limits to ensure that certain subscribers do not use excessive amounts of data and congest the network” (iBurst gets tough on caps, MyBroadband, 21 June 2007).
 
In other words, iBurst is ‘cracking down’ on users because they now have the tools to enforce the rules that have ‘always existed’.
 
What constitutes ‘excessive usage’?
 
It’s unclear what constitutes ‘excessive usage’ because iBurst failed to give specific details.
 
‘Currently iBurst Pro subscribers are subject to a soft cap and are slowed down to a maximum of 64Kbps once their cap is reached’ (iBurst gets tough on caps, MyBroadband, 21 June 2007).
 
In other words, details on what constitutes ‘excessive usage’ remain sketchy at best, although the arrangement is that iBurst Pro subscribers are switched to a throttled service once their monthly cap is reached.
 
How many users fall in the ‘excessive usage’ category?
 
According to iBurst only 8…
 
‘…only 8 out of more than 40 000 subscribers fall into this category’ (iBurst gets tough on caps, MyBroadband, 21 June 2007).
 
In other words, only a very small percentage of iBurst’s subscribers can be described as ‘excessive’ bandwidth consumers.
 
ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) does not want to take sides in this matter because we’re sure guilty parties can be found on both sides.