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Orange policy disturbs
- By Yannick Rivet
- Published 16th May, 2008
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From now on, all local broadband users' downloads will be monitored by MT. The FUP policy adopted by the local Internet Service Provider (ISP) MT, proposes to monitor downloads and reduce transmission speed in cases of “abusive and excessive usage”. Though this measure seems to be technically necessary to enhance broadband quality, the application and transparency issues involved in this MT “monitoring” remain unclear to the public.
“Only 1% of our 28,500 broadband customers are heavy users, downloading practically 24/7. Though their number is small, their excessive downloads use up lots of network capacity, thus affecting the overall broadband service,” says Jean-François Thomas, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer, Mauritius Telecom.
“The use of file sharing softwares, music and video downloads is primarily responsible for this decrease in speed connection. The FUP will hence enable the monitoring of these heavy users and in case of repeated “abusive usage” MT will cut down their connection speed,” Thomas says.
The first controversial issue raised by quite a number of Mauritian bloggers on the web, concerning FUP, relates to its application. “The FUP does not clearly state what 'excessive and abusive downloads' refers to. Why is MT so vague concerning the download caps that will be applied?” a blogger asks.
The
terms used in the FUP indeed do not state clearly the download caps that will be applied to the different ADSL packages to evaluate the download limits.
According to MT, the FUP threshold will depend on the service to which the customer has subscribed. For instance, the usage of a customer having ADSL Home 512 will be considered as excessive when he is downloading over 5,000 tracks per month or more than 30 movies per month.
Another issue emerging from FUP's application is that of transparency. Avinash Meetoo, IT lecturer at the University of Mauritius, questions the objective implementation of the FUP: “What happens if the child of an MT big boss or that of a Minister uses too much bandwidth? I have some doubts as to whether they will limit his bandwidth. Moreover the fact that MT does not provide clear numbers for customers to compare their downloads, the application of the FUP remains nebulous.”
Meetoo also says that the “monitoring” issue is quite intriguing. “The FUP is technically a good initiative but is it ethically correct that the downloads of a customer be monitored? Will the same threshold principle be applied to all?” he asks.
The arguments put forward by MT concerning transparency highlight the issue of anonymity, however they are not very convincing “The technicians will not be directly in contact with the different users and we may consider setting up an automatic monitoring system but only if the abusers increase drastically,” MT representative says.
“Only 1% of our 28,500 broadband customers are heavy users, downloading practically 24/7. Though their number is small, their excessive downloads use up lots of network capacity, thus affecting the overall broadband service,” says Jean-François Thomas, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer, Mauritius Telecom.
“The use of file sharing softwares, music and video downloads is primarily responsible for this decrease in speed connection. The FUP will hence enable the monitoring of these heavy users and in case of repeated “abusive usage” MT will cut down their connection speed,” Thomas says.
The first controversial issue raised by quite a number of Mauritian bloggers on the web, concerning FUP, relates to its application. “The FUP does not clearly state what 'excessive and abusive downloads' refers to. Why is MT so vague concerning the download caps that will be applied?” a blogger asks.
The
According to MT, the FUP threshold will depend on the service to which the customer has subscribed. For instance, the usage of a customer having ADSL Home 512 will be considered as excessive when he is downloading over 5,000 tracks per month or more than 30 movies per month.
Another issue emerging from FUP's application is that of transparency. Avinash Meetoo, IT lecturer at the University of Mauritius, questions the objective implementation of the FUP: “What happens if the child of an MT big boss or that of a Minister uses too much bandwidth? I have some doubts as to whether they will limit his bandwidth. Moreover the fact that MT does not provide clear numbers for customers to compare their downloads, the application of the FUP remains nebulous.”
Meetoo also says that the “monitoring” issue is quite intriguing. “The FUP is technically a good initiative but is it ethically correct that the downloads of a customer be monitored? Will the same threshold principle be applied to all?” he asks.
The arguments put forward by MT concerning transparency highlight the issue of anonymity, however they are not very convincing “The technicians will not be directly in contact with the different users and we may consider setting up an automatic monitoring system but only if the abusers increase drastically,” MT representative says.
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10 Responses to "Orange policy disturbs" 
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said this on 26 May 2008 2:52:23 AM MUT
monitor what?hahahaha,most funniest stupid thing almost sound unreal,a joke.....I pay 500 roupies for 2 Mb/s here(not mauritius),they must be kidding
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said this on 17 May 2008 6:47:10 PM MUT
icta la zis pou ban petit copain sa apart sa li pena mem role , nou bien bizin changement dan nou ban l'idee moris mo truve
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said this on 17 May 2008 3:44:58 PM MUT
ICTA is just a beautiful lady. That's all. It has been initiated just like we say in creole 'faire zoli'.
where have you seen in the world a company dictating an authority, the ICTA..Unbelievable... c'est ca qui m'enerve les journalistes ne posent jamais des questions qu'il faut!! |
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said this on 17 May 2008 3:16:10 PM MUT
guys no matter orange deal was done sou tapi personne pas interese kombien cash orange inn gagne combien million bribe in donne moricien ki paye tou finaleman nou future generation ki pou paye tou sa ban debt la
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said this on 17 May 2008 9:06:41 AM MUT
Well i do agree that there is a priority limit in the contract of myt i think it is 1 GB and the steps taken is to be fair in their policy very good. Note i am a user since last sept and have never downloaded more than 1 GB per month. Still in peek time i got problems. If they are introducing the FUP will it reduce the problems. Also note that there are months that the cost of internet should have been down.
I would like where is the ITCA which is responsible for the regulation. It is we the customer who are suffering by paying for a high price. I think ITCA is not working as it should have been. |
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said this on 17 May 2008 8:47:51 AM MUT
zis nom ki orange...service en couyonade. Btw,vrai meme...quand nu ti signe contrat pas ti ena sa FUP la.
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said this on 17 May 2008 8:06:34 AM MUT
fanna I envy you then :)
Like we say, Mauritius will always lag 50years behind developped countries, in mentality which definitely will impact on technological innovations. And I say again, the Minister of Technology should be someone who hold at least a degree in I.T, not someone who's got an LLB who doesn't know the subtilities of this sector. Ask him the difference between KB/s and kb/s, I bet you he won't know! |
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said this on 17 May 2008 1:19:03 AM MUT
still high prices for internet me in hungary i pay like 400 rupees for tv,internet ,phone + i have a free mobile fone no download restriction this shows how much MT sucks and we call ourselves cyberisland
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said this on 16 May 2008 6:16:37 PM MUT
I have to add what really p. me off is, why MTML is taking an eternity to introduce its broadband?
I cannot see big innovation with the Nomad Improve neither. Lastly, Emtel...They could have introduced a broadband service too..they've got the communication network and every techonological aspect.. Lastly, Orange range of services when will they be available in Mauritius? That is the unlimited calls locally together with the ADSL and the TV package all inclusive for a price not exceeding Rs1,500 in comparison with the price practiced in all the countries where Orange is located. When???? Perhaps you journalists, you should make some more intrusive reporting into such matters. |
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said this on 16 May 2008 6:11:28 PM MUT
I'm sorry but when we agreed to our contract, this new clause of FUP was not present. Till now, we have a written contract with MT (myT), Wanadoo (TP), correct me if I'm wrong for the companies whereby this clause is not included.
They have introduced the FUP without even notifying the users "personally". With billions of profits they made, why the hell MT don't want to invest in bandwidth for god's sake??? Brand Name has changed but mentality has stayed archaic! |
