SEACOM prices announced – some light at the end of the tunnel?
From http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/2911.html:
Brian Herlihy, SEACOM president, said that the idea behind the cable is to offer international bandwidth at a lower price but to increase usage to ensure profits.
In a move seldom experienced in the local telecoms arena, SEACOM revealed their wholesale pricing structure and strategy to the media.
The company will have a four tiered bandwidth pricing approach where bandwidth prices for larger products, in this case STM-64, STM-16 and STM-4 connections, are sold at reduced rates to the standard STM-1 connection.
Their price for an STM-1 connection however sets a roof for the resale of bandwidth by larger bulk-bandwidth buyers thereby ensuring that smaller players receive a competitive rate.
The price for an STM-64 connection, supplying 9.6 Gbps of bandwidth, is $ 1 663 875 or R 267-00 per Mbps per month. The price per Mbps per month for a STM-1 (155 Mbps) service is R 673-00 while a STM-4 (600 Mbps) connection costs R 575-00 and a STM-16 (2.5 Gbps) service will cost R 435-00.
or in other words:
| STM-1 (155 Mbps) | R673 per Mbps per month |
| STM-4 (600 Mbps) | R575 per Mbps per month |
| STM-16 (2500 Mbps) | R435 per Mbps per month |
| STM-64 (9600 Mbps) | R267 per Mbps per month |
As I understand it, this means the cost for an always on 128 KB/s connection will cost between R267 and R673 per month, but we still don't know the contention ratio, so I can't speculate too much.
Certainly good news though, but I'll wait to see the actual cost to the end consumer before I start jumping for joy. Only the bigger ISP's will be able to afford STM-64, although, considering the current cost of bandwidth, STM-1 will be far less than the current offerings anyway.
At least we have a specific date and pricing this time. Hopefully change is more imminent now than the imminent change promised by DoC in the past...
Lila: An Inquiry into Morals
Just finished the book Lila: An Inquiry into Morals. A definite must read. If you've read Pirsig's first book, you will know what to expect, but I liked this one even more. It's somehow more practical and provides a fresh view on the big questions in life.
But it is difficult to read. Well, I suppose it's not a simple subject, and his meticulous exploration of every detail is necessary. And that is partly what I like about his books as well. It's not just some easy to read feel good book, that provides you with feel good catch phrases on a plate. You reason with the author, exploring and following his train of thought from beginning to end.
Unfortunately this is why many people will not read this book. Even though it provides much more than just a rehash of new age values (like the recent The Secret) it is not as accessible. You have to dig a little.
Quod Libet plugin for Facebook
Still very rough and hackish, but it works ;)
Quod Libet plugin to change your Facebook status message
The quodlibet plugin is just a quick hack of the gajim plugin, the python class is easy to use anywhere...
Snow in Joburg
It recently snowed in Johannesburg for the first time in 26 years. I was 4 years old the last time it snowed there.
I have a lot of memories from early childhood but that one stands out as one of the more detailed ones. I can remember the snowman we built, my mother being pregnant and a woman that was stuck in our yard with her volksie. But I never realized that I was only 4 years old when it happened until now -- for some reason I felt older when thinking back to that day. Maybe because I'm thinking now with an older brain, an older sense of myself.
I wonder how old I'll be in my memories the next time it snows in Joburg...
