The Media Guru

Nov 27, 2010



Orange_-100

Earlier this month, the ICT minister announced that Mauritius Telecom no longer have a monopoly over SAFE (Open Access Policy). & yesterday, the ICT minister unveiled the new prices that Mauritius Telecom have decided to apply (to counter the competition), taking effect as from the 1st December.

All prices are VAT inclusive.
ADSL Home 128K (available in Rodrigues only) & 256K 3GB - from Rs 499 to Rs 399.
ADSL Home 512K - from Rs 848 to Rs 759.
ADSL Home 1M (old subscribers only) - from Rs 1549 to Rs 1353.

A decrease of around Rs 100. Peanuts.
My.T users (without TV option) should have the same price decrease while those paying the full package will have to wait for Orange to reveal the new pricing (or new TV channels if they decide to 'upgrade' the offer).

ADSL Pro 256K 3GBfrom Rs 920 to Rs 847.
ADSL Business 512Kfrom Rs 2875 to Rs 2745.
ADSL Business 1Mfrom Rs 5750 to Rs 5620.

gwGiV0

That pretty much confirms that this year we'll have no speed double (as in March last year) nor new speed offers available, despite the connection of Eassy to Mauritius. Let's cheer to our "awesome" Internet speeds!
(That's a 512k connection speed above - as experienced by @tushal2)

As mentioned in the budget, there will be a 16% to 24% decrease at the start of 2011 in the International Private Leased Circuit and Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network. So expect further price decrease in 2011 (or as we all wish, a speed double!).

Speaking of fibre optic cables, this new Open Access Policy on SAFE meant more competitive prices as other ISPs can use SAFE bandwidth while paying only a small access fee. Great news? End of MT's Internet monopoly!?
Far from it. In fact, what MT did was end one monopoly & start another one on... Eassy. They are perfectly in their rights to maintain exclusive access to Eassy because they're the only one who invested in it. So the other ISPs are left to fight over SAFE, which is (coincidentally) nearing full capacity. Mauritius Telecom's stranglehold on Mauritian Internet is nowhere near its end...

Users-on-Internet_thumb[1]



Update:

Huge update as Orange have finally announced the new My.T prices... which remains unchanged. Instead, we have a speed double! :)

(VAT included)
No TV option (pre-March 2009 My.T users only) - NO SPEED DOUBLE & NO PRICE DECREASE! (see below)
My.T 512kbps -> My.T 1Mbps - Rs 848
My.T 1Mbps -> My.T 2Mbps - Rs 1549
My.T 2Mbps -> My.T 4Mbps - Rs (no idea!)



With My.T watch (new & current My.T users)
My.T 512kbps -> My.T 1Mbps - Rs 999
My.T 1Mbps -> My.T 2Mbps - Rs 1699
My.T 2Mbps -> My.T 4Mbps - Rs 2999
+ 3 new (useless) IPTV channels - Boing, MCM Top et Motor TV.

Happy, aren't you? :P

Sorry to ADSL users, but there'll be no speed double for you. That's because of a technological limitation - ADSL uses ADSL while My.T uses ADSL2/ADSL2+. ADSL provides slower speeds over a long distance while ADSL2 provides faster speeds over a short range.
If you want faster speeds, you'll have to upgrade to my.T - provided that you're eligible, i.e., the line attenuation between your home & the nearest exchange (DSLAM) is acceptable for ADSL2 to work.
With the exception of ADSL users, this speed double is the best deal for everyone. However, with no unlimited offer under Rs 500, this means decent broadband Internet still isn't accessible to everyone.

Now, as illogical as it may sound, I was pretty confident that we would have a speed double this year, just like I've been having for the past 3 years. :D
2007: 56Kbps -> 128Kbps
2008: 128Kbps -> 256Kbps
2009: 256Kbps -> 512Kbps
2010: 512Kbps -> 1Mbps
So next year, expect another speed double. 2Mbps. You heard it here first. ;)

The 4Mbps offer is a direct consequence of Eassy & an upgrading of the existing network. Back in September, I had tweeted that the bandwidth of My.T connections have been upgraded from 4Mbps to 5Mbps. That was when they were testing that 4Mbps. ;)

If you check your My.T ADSL stats, it'll probably look like the above. If you have G992_3_A, that's ADSL2. If you have G992_5_A, that's ADSL2+. & if you have a bandwidth greater than 8000 Kb/s, well, congratulations! You have fibre! :D

That's my speed right now on my 512K. Let's hope by Wednesday, this will double.

PS. Nomad user? Totally screwed. (Just give up with that zombie ISP...)

 

Update 2:

Good news. There's no FUP on any of the My.T offers. Not that it was being enforced on the first place...

 

From L'Express - Baisse de l’internet : Polémique autour des forfaits proposés par Mauritius Telecom

Yes, they are partly right that it's unfair there has been no reduction in prices for My.T & MT refuse to give an affordable offer that'll make broadband available to everyone (128K or 256K unlimited).
& I doubt such new offers will be made available in the future for a few reasons - the market in Mauritius is too small, no cut-throat competition between ISPs & MT have fixed their prices at a profitable margin (which they won't readily decrease).

Do people really want a price decrease instead of speed double? I just did a small poll on Twitter & FB, & the overwhelming majority want more speed. My suggestion to commenters on the article - please come back to reality. We do need faster broadband!

 

Update 3:

SNR margin? Atténuation? Here's the explanation, copied from here.
Terminaison locale - From DSLAM to Livebox (downstream)
Terminaison distante - From Livebox to DSLAM (upstream)

SNR
SNR means Signal to Noise Ratio. Simply put divide the Signal value by Noise Value and you get SNR. You need high SNR for a stable connection. In general, a higher signal to noise ratio will result in less errors.

  • 6bB. or below = Bad and will experience no line synchronisation and frequent disconnections
  • 7dB-10dB. = Fair but does not leave much room for variances in conditions.
  • 11dB-20dB. = Good with little or no disconnection problems
  • 20dB-28dB. = Excellent
  • 29dB. or above = Outstanding
Note that most modems display value as SNR Margin and not pure SNR.

SNR Margin
You can think of SNR margin as the measure of quality of the service; it defines the ability of the service to work error free during noise bursts.

This is a measure of the difference between your current SNR and the SNR that is required to keep a reliable service at your connection speed. If your SNR is very close to the minimum required SNR, you are more likely to suffer intermittent connection faults, or slowdowns. You need a high margin to ensure that bursts of interference don't cause constant disconnections.

With traditional broadband, the higher the SNR Margin, the better. With MaxDSL the faster speeds are only available as a trade-off with what your line can reliably support. The Target SNR Margin is about 6dB. If your broadband is provided through an LLU (Local Loop Unbundled) network, this target SNR Margin may be as high as 12dB.

Line Attenuation
In gerneral, attenuation is the loss of signal over distance. Unfortunately, dB loss is not just dependent on distance. It also depends on cable type and gauge (which can differ over the length of the cable), the number and location other connection points on the cable.
  • 20bB. and below = Outstanding
  • 20dB-30dB. = Excellent
  • 30dB-40dB. = Very Good
  • 40dB-50dB. = Good
  • 50dB-60dB. = Poor and may experience connectivity issues
  • 60dB. and above = Bad and will experience connectivity issues

Line attenuation also affects your speed.
  • 75 dB+: Out of range for broadband
  • 60-75 dB: max speed up to 512kbps
  • 43-60dB: max speed up to 1Mbps
  • 0-42dB: speed up to 2Mbps+

If you want a more detailed explanation, check here. ;)

 

Update 4:

NO SPEED DOUBLE NOR PRICE DECREASE FOR MY.T USERS WITH NO TV OPTION!!!
My.T users with no TV option, that is, those paying My.T 512k for Rs 848 (Rs 750+VAT) with only free channels, will NOT get a speed double nor any decrease in price!

So I've been screwed by Orange Mauritius...
Is that even legal? I'm neither getting a price decrease nor a speed double (which is indirectly a price decrease). & you tell me to pay more for a faster connection so that I can benefit of a decrease?
What happens to people who have chosen My.T but can't receive any TV channels? Upgrade to a faster connection while paying for a non-existent service? That's a scam!

 

Update 5:

Emtel Prepaid Web Packages
Offers:

  • 500MB = Rs 360
  • 1GB = Rs 480
Speed - up to 3.6Mbps
Excess - Rs 3/MB.
Validity - 30 days. Balance accumulated.

 

Update 6:

I've blogged once again on this - Cheated by Orange Mauritius

 

Update 7:

Mr Sarat Lallah, CEO of Mauritius Telecom/Orange Mauritius on Radio Plus, Explik Ou Cas. Excerpt - "Nou ena My.T 1 mega. Nou ena My.T 2 mega. & nou ena My.T 3 mega."
Download here.

 

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Tushal said...

Isn't it funny how Orange Mauritius didn't "inform" us of their policy towards 750+vat users? We came to know that through 3rd parties. Oh well, 1 thing is sure. The day there is another proper ISP, Orange will be losing quite a lot of users.

Mediatek said...

Etat de la ligne ADSL Opérationelle
Standard ADSL G992_1_A
Débit montant 384 Kb/s (Fast[LP1] )
Débit descendant 4096 Kb/s (Fast[LP1] )
Atténuation Terminaison locale : 17.0 (d
Terminaison distante : 13.5 (d
Marge SNR Terminaison locale : 18 (d
Terminaison distante : 22 (d
Nombre de HEC 0
Logiciel 0xe200314
Compteur 15 min ES 0
Erreurs de CRC 2
Compteur 1 jour ES 0


This is my livebox stats...Can somebody explain the Erreurs de CRC? Is it bad? Should I phone myT? Also can someone check if anything on my stats is ok?

Thank you...@ carrot I looked at all the previous comments...but couldnt see what erreurs de crc means n if it's a big problem????

carrotmadman6 said...

@Mediatek
HEC is Header Error Checksum & CRC is Cyclic Redundancy Error - both are error-checking features. They give an indication of how much traffic is lost on your line due to the low quality/huge traffic on your line.
You shouldn't worry about this unless the errors go beyond 4 digits.

Inf said...

@Sab: "@Inf, @carrotmadman6: how about if you could boost your internet speeds when you are not watching TV, i.e use the full capacity e.g 5Mbps for internet if you were MyT?"

How come no one commented on that yet? Does that mean, if we move to MyT 2Mbps, we'll be able to use the full 5Mbps? For international downlink?? It sounds strange to me. Is that even possible?

The solutions offered are too clumsy! It's as if it's a half-thought-out move by Orange. Or a devious plan to make more money. I'm inclined towards the latter.

carrotmadman6 said...

@Inf
No, that's not possible.

I didn't comment on that cos I knew MT would never do such a thing (no one watches TV anyway). A pointless suggestion.

Yes, everything is always about money...

Anonymous said...

HI all,
can someone explain this to me . I am on the Myt 512 without IPTV. I can get 2 mbit/s when i am surfing on local sites (mirrored websites in maurituis ) and 512 kbit/s for international. i want to get the 1 mbit/s for international.
This should be possible since the speed is already at 2mbit/s local.

HOWEVER, the myt eligibility test is failing ! Myt call center is telling me that my line cannot support the 1 mbit/s! But it is already.

I suspect that MYT is selectively reducing the number of people who can access the 1 mbit/s to allow a higher Quality of service to the rest.

carrotmadman6 said...

@Anonymous
The reason is pretty simple. Your line needs to support at least 4Mbps, which it doesn't. Remember than My.T is an Internet+TV offer, 2Mbps for Internet & 2Mbps for TV.
MT have changed their policy for My.T - you are not eligible unless your line can support 4Mbps.

The only options for you is to stick to your My.T 512k (Rs 848) or downgrade to ADSL 512K (Rs 759).

Anonymous said...

since i can download at 2 mbit/s , they could technically allow me 1 mbit/s on international ! it is just a software setting. I do not want the iptv !

Inf said...

@Anonymous: I doubt many want the iptv anyway...

@Carrot: That's what I thought too, about that 5Mbps thing. Marketing speak...

carrotmadman6 said...

@Anonymous
For the same reason why the 1Mbps ADSL offer is no longer available... ;)

They don't want you to have 1Mbps Internet-only connection. You must take the whole package or nothing.

Anonymous said...

:-(

Tushal said...

Before myT tells me that my line sucks or whatever. Let me post it here. :p
To be use for after wards:


Eligibilité de votre ligne téléphonique
You are eligible to MyT 1M, MyT 2M and MyT 4M.

I bet that myT will tell me that my line can't have 1mbps connection.

carrotmadman6 said...

@Tushal
You should post your telephone number as well, so that MT can't contradict you.

Anonymous said...

My stats :(

Etat de la ligne ADSL Opérationelle
Standard ADSL G992_1_A
Débit montant 128 Kb/s (Intlv[LP0])
Débit descendant 2048 Kb/s (Intlv[LP0])
Atténuation Terminaison locale : 45.0 (dB)
Terminaison distante : 26.0 (dB)
Marge SNR Terminaison locale : 23 (dB)
Terminaison distante : 31 (dB)
Nombre de HEC 28
Logiciel 0xe200314
Compteur 15 min ES 0
Erreurs de CRC 26
Compteur 1 jour ES 0

Another anonymous said...

Quote from Carrotmadman6: "You shouldn't worry about this unless the errors go beyond 4 digits."

Erreurs de CRC 1568

Mine goes beyond 4. Does someone has an idea what happens when there's a lot of cyclic redundancy check errors of that sort?

carrotmadman6 said...

@Another Anonymous
Means that your line is bad (loads of traffic or bad wiring). Packets are being lost/corrupted.

When downloading, that shouldn't be a problem because it'll recover the lost packets.
However, if you're watching TV, then it means pixels are being lost.

Another anonymous said...

Its OK I don't have TV. For the info, the CRC errors change everytime; it may much fewer (zero sometimes) or more.
Thank you for the quick reply and your knowledge.

Anonymous said...

goodnews for myt user with no tv option you gonna recieve a three month trial that mean you will recieve a 1 mbps and 15 channel for three month.

Jens said...

Line Attenuation 42.0 db 24.0 db
Noise Margin 29.6 db 30.0 db

with such stats i think I'm eligible to my.T 1 mb , my.T 2Mb or 4mb.
But on the my.T site, they say I'm only illegible to 1MB/2MB.
i don't understand.

I went to an orange shop to-day, to move from ADSL to My.t
I applied for the 2Mbps one, since the connection will be shared between me and another relative.
I just hope that i'm eligible to the 2Mbps.
I have to wait for 12 days to get the my.T. Damn...

Anonymous said...

Hey guys i have myT 512Kbps Rs750+Vat (=Rs848) for a long time now. i phoned My T services 2day asking if i cud keep the package unchanged. well zey told me zey no longer have zis package and i must either upgrade to the new myT 1MB +TV package at Rs999 or downgrade to the ADSL 512 Kbps at about Rs759 (VAT Inclusive.
It means i can't stay on the same package 512Kbps Rs750+Vat (=Rs848)
WTF!!!

Vik said...

I finally got the 4Mega working.
But with MYT there is always a catch.
Although my line's bandwidth is 7mega, when I download 500KB/s, the Tv does not work. Well, as such the tv channels are a load of bull. But cheating people is not acceptable. Right ?
I have a 24/7 complaint lodged with Telecom. Almost every alternate day they call, and send a technician over. But the Tv still does not work when the nets on. So I guess..I ll enjoy the net and the company of MYT Technicians till they keep sending them over :-)

yoyo said...

I have myt 512k and 17 tv channels.My download speed remain 49kb and from the line eligibility test i got:
You are eligible to MyT 1M, MyT 2M and MyT 4M

Anonymous said...

@vik-post a screenshot of your ongoing downloads

jens said...

anyone living in quatre-bornes with my.t 2mb and willing to share his login details with me?

i need to do a test, i just got my.T but my download speed on international servers is around 1mbps

jens said...

@Vik what was the problem with your connection?

i am having the same problem as you, my download speed on international servers is stuck to 1mbps although my line has become 2mbps.

Please add me on msn jens_242@hotmail.com

thanks.

Anonymous said...

mo my.t 1m + tv in vin 881.74 kuma sa.. kiete sa my.t.... zamain mo pay sa avan.. premier foi mon ggn sa dan mo bill telephone.. help me plz

ashley said...

Hi
Am actually new to networking ..
Can someone explain me a bit.
So on my live box ..there is upstream 384kb/s and downstream 4096 kb/s
My actual speed is 512K ...not upgraded to 1Mb
Now am doing a speed test and am getting downstream 1.8 -1.9 Mb/s ....How's dat ??

So correct me if am wrong upload n download is in kilobits ??
and connection speed is in kilobytes ???
Coz if i divide the 4096 /8 i get 512 (considering 1 byte= 8bits).

plz clear fing out for me maybe am missing sfing


Thnks

carrotmadman6 said...

@Ashley
First of all, do not use the Mauritius server when testing your speed.

On your Livebox, it says 384 kb/s upstream & 4096 kb/s (that's kilobit).
That's your bandwidth allocated by MT.

Out of the 4Mbps given by MT, 2Mbps is reserved for TV, 2Mbps is for Internet. The 2Mbps is your maximum local connection speed. While 512kbps (still kilobits) is your maximum international speed.

That's why when you test with the Mauritius server on SpeedTest.net, you get 2Mbps.
If you test with any other server (say South Africa), you'll get your actual 512kbps. Try it. :)

The great thing is that you can make use of this 2Mbps speed to download at around 250KB/s (kilobyte!) on websites hosted in Mauritius.

leveen said...

Etat de la ligne ADSL Opérationelle Standard ADSL G992_1_A Débit montant 384 Kb/s (Intlv[LP0]) Débit descendant 5984 Kb/s (Intlv[LP0]) Atténuation Terminaison locale : 38.0 (dB) Terminaison distante : 26.0 (dB) Marge SNR Terminaison locale : 13 (dB) Terminaison distante : 31 (dB) Nombre de HEC 1412 Logiciel 0xe200314 Compteur 15 min ES 0 Erreurs de CRC 186 Compteur 1 jour ES 0

Can someone tell me what is G992_1_A and if its good And also if the stats is good for a 1mb line.

Posted from htc desire hd.

carrotmadman6 said...

@leveen
G992_1_A is ADSL1 (like the one used by Orange ADSL).

Your stats are decent enough for 1Mbps. I would say you live quite near to the exchange for them to be still using ADSL1...

leveen said...

@carrotmadman6

can you tell me why my " nombre de HEC and Erreurs de CRC " keeps on increasing. today, around 8pm, it was

Nombre de HEC 28327
Erreurs de CRC 1618

carrotmadman6 said...

@leveen
Problem on your line. If it gets worst, contact MT.

KM said...

Mode: ADSL2+ AnnexM EU-56
Type: Fast
Line Coding: Trellis On
Status: No Defect
Link Power State: L0

SNR Margin (dB): 32.8 33.6
Attenuation (dB): 51.0 28.1
Output Power (dBm): 10.0 17.0
Attainable Rate (Kbps): 5516 1217
Rate (Kbps): 512 124


So according to the above stats from my Beetel 450BX ADSL2+ modem, I can conclude that my modem is well on ADSL2+ and is capable of syncing speeds up to 5516Kbps downstream which gives enough bandwidth for MyT Triple play services (i.e. 3mbps for IPTV & 2Mbps for Internet). I agree line loss is a bit high (approximating my distance from exchange to 3.6KMs), but when the line can provide adequate bandwidth for MyT, why is it that I can't have MyT?

ps: Line is not on FTTC, I've been hearing that there are FTTC projects for my region since more than a year, still no FTTC seen.

Anyone has information about the various FTTC deployment projects?

Anonymous said...

Hey guys just a question can I use my.t 4m to download a 7gb files

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous
There's a limit to write nonsense :P

Cramires7 said...

Hi, am using a current plan of 512 k.But when am going to 192.168.1.1 it`s like this.What should i do  

Line Rate - Upstream (Kbps):126Line Rate - Downstream (Kbps):255

Cramires7 said...

Help to solve this???

carrotmadman6 said...

Contact MT. You are getting half of what you're paying for. There's definitely a problem somewhere.

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