In response to the announcement by Telkom last week that its Internet service provider subsidiary, Telkom Internet, was slashing the cost of both consumer and business uncapped digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband data, rival MWeb has hit back with new packages and lower tariffs that undercut Telkom’s new rates.
MWeb says it will introduce six new throttled uncapped products, which will “complement” its existing “premium” uncapped DSL product suite. The new packages will be avaialble from 1 February.
The service provider’s new 2Mbit/s and 4Mbit/s data-only and data-plus-line products will be R10 cheaper than Telkom’s new prices. MWeb’s 1Mbit/s uncapped package will remain unthrottled at the same price of R199/month.
“While MWeb has always promoted an unthrottled, uncapped connection as being the best way to experience the Internet, we have recognised that there is some demand for cheaper, throttled uncapped accounts and have therefore extended our product range to cater for this,” says MWeb Internet service provider CEO Derek Hershaw.
“The new packages adhere to all MWeb quality standards and are well suited to moderate Internet users who still wish to benefit from an uncapped experience with a fixed monthly bill,” the company says.
An MWeb spokesman says the throttling is based on a fair-use policy where heavy users will be throttled to maintain network performance. The new products are also shaped, meaning that certain Internet activities such as e-mail and Web browsing will be prioritised over bandwidth-intensive services like peer-to-peer file sharing during peak times.
A certain percentage of heavy users may be moved to throttled connections, at MWeb’s discretion. When this happens on the 2Mbit/s plan, users will be throttled to 192kbit/s and on 4Mbit/s they will be throttled to 256kbit/s. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media
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