ADSL South Africa - Punitive Measures deployed by ADSL Broadband Providers

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Whether you are a so called 'bandwidth hog' or high-end user of bandwidth or not, you should find this section of ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) very interesting, not only do we list many of the punitive measures deployed by ADSL Broadband Providers, but we also bring the case for true Uncapped ADSL Broadband to the table in a straightforward and simple manner.

Punitive Measures

Punitive measures can include: Shaping, throttling, soft capping, time based thresholds and even the banning of high-end users.

• Shaping: Without getting too technical, an ADSL Broadband offering is "shaped" when certain Internet services or protocols (email, et cetera) enjoy a higher priority than other Internet services or protocols. "Shaped ADSL Broadband" slows down one's Internet connection when you use it for online gaming, peer to peer file sharing, VoIP, share trading, etc.

• Throttling: The deliberate throttling (slowing down) of the Internet connections of high-end users or 'bandwidth hogs'.

• Soft Capping: You will have the option to buy additional bandwidth when the cap is reached or will be switched to a throttled service (slower connection). In some instances you will also be allowed to surf local sites and make downloads from local sites.

• Time based Thresholds: Without getting too technical, the idea with the running of time based thresholds is to hamper high-end users to go about their normal business of making downloads, etc.

• Banning: They basically boot you off their network.

In other words, given the above, it’s clear that ADSL Broadband Providers have the option to deploy more than one punitive measure (shaping, throttling, soft capping, etc.) against ‘bandwidth hogs’.