Telkom has come under fire over the last couple of days, as a large number of its LTE Uncapped customers complained of being unfairly throttled for reaching the softcap.
Telkom’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) in place for Uncapped LTE packages where the line speed will be throttled once the user reaches 250GB. Many have complained that the drop in line speed makes connecting to the internet next to impossible.
The company has now increased the softcap to 300GB per month (effective immediately), and once a users hits that amount, the line will be throttled down. It has also implemented a sliding scale of how the line will be reduced.
Telkom has on the other hand, recognised that many might want to cancel their LTE Uncapped packages after the debacle, and it said that those wishing to do so, can without fear of a penalty that is usually associated with a 24-month contract.
If you have a 10Mbps line, as an example, once you hit the 300GB softcap your line will be reduced to 4Mbps. Once you go 50GB over that it will again be reduced to 2Mbps with 50GB increments halving your line speed.
“We are confident that our revised Fair Use Policy offers greater value for our high data usage customers without compromising the connectivity experience of our other customers. In the few instances in which we are forced to apply the FUP, we have ensured that customers still have a fast enough connection to ensure that their service is still usable for the remainder of the month,” explained Telkom spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan, in a media statement.
“Our decision to implement the Fair Use Policy is premised on our commitment to deliver a quality connectivity to experience to all our customers. Even in instances where our FUP is applied the reduction in speed will still allow for content streaming,” she continued.
Telkom also added that included an additional 50GB data allocation for peer-to-peer services such as BitTorrent and Skype, pushing the P2P traffic limit to 100GB.
Throughout today, many LTE users have taken to Twitter so say that their line speed has improved, but it is still uncertain if it is related to Telkom upping the AUP cap.
Consumer Hermann Otto wrote a scathing letter to O’ Sullivan, suggesting that it make the change it just has.
Otto suggested: “An immediate suspension of your wrongheaded 250GB AUP cut-off, and a return to having usage other than p2p and NNTP unthrottled and unlimited. In conjunction with my other proposals there should be no need for a specific, arbitrary limit other than the justified 50GB p2p/NNTP allowance.”
“That was perfectly clear from day one, and accepted by all who signed up. If a cut-off point is to remain, this should be no lower than the 400 – 500GB mark, after which usable speeds should be maintained,” he wrote.
It is certainly a step in the right direction, but it might be a little too late for some consumers who have already started the cancellation process.
